c.1500 - c.1700: The Medical Renaissance

Question 1

What were the continuing ideas about causes?

Answer 1

• Four Humours and Theory of Opposites
• Miasma
• Religious ideas

Question 2

Why did ideas about causes develop?

Answer 2

People were being encouraged to examine the body themselves to get their own ideas about how the body worked

Question 3

What was the difference in ideas of causes between citizens and physicians?

Answer 3

• Citizens tended to believe in the Four Humours and Miasma more
• Physicians were starting to question ideas as they started to explore their own ideas

Question 4

Was the influence of the church still as prominent?

Answer 4

No. Protestantism was becoming more influential so although religion was still important, they did not control medical teaching as much

Question 5

When was the College of Physicians set up?

Answer 5

1518

Question 6

What were the key parts of medical training?

Answer 6

• Reading books by Galen
• Studying recent medical developments
• Dissection

Question 7

What did the College of Physicians encourage?

Answer 7

Licensing to stop the influence of Quack doctors

Question 8

What was a Quack doctor?

Answer 8

A doctor who sold fake medicines

Question 9

How did exploration affect medicine?

Answer 9

Newer medications could be bought back from abroad such as guaiacum for syphilis and ipecac which is an emetic

Question 10

When did Henry VIII close the monasteries?

Answer 10

1530s

Question 11

Why did the dissolution of the monasteries affect hospitals?

Answer 11

Many hospitals were run by the monasteries so many hospitals were shut down which was bad for people’s health

Question 12

What were the monastic hospitals replaced with?

Answer 12

Free hospitals that were paid for by charitable donations which were run by trained physicians and focused on treatment of illnesses

Question 13

Who was Vesalius?

Answer 13

An Italian medical professor born in 1514 that believed successful surgery would only be possible with a proper understanding of the anatomy

Question 14

How did Vesalius study the anatomy closely?

Answer 14

He performed dissections on executed criminals

Question 15

Which books did Vesalius write?

Answer 15

Six Anatomical Pictures - 1538

The Fabric of the Human Body - 1543

Question 16

What did Vesalius influence?

Answer 16

• Encouraged others to question Galen

- Showed that dissection was important

Question 17

Did Vesalius’ work have an immediate effect?

Answer 17

No. His works were distributed by the printing press but he set the foundations for further medical developments

Question 18

Who was Thomas Sydenham?

Answer 18

A renaissance physician who worked in London

Question 19

What did Sydenham believe about diagnosis?

Answer 19

That different types of diseases could be discovered using patient’s symptoms rather than treating the symptoms individually

Question 20

What did Sydenham write?

Answer 20

Observationes Medicae - 1676
It was used as a textbook for 200 years and had detailed descriptions of conditions like gout to help other physicians make diagnoses

Question 21

Who was William Harvey?

Answer 21

Worked in London at the Royal College of Physicians born in 1578

Question 22

What was believed about the blood before Harvey?

Answer 22

• Purple blood produced in the liver and then flowing up through the veins to the rest of the body were it was consumed
• Bright red blood produced in the lungs and flowed through arteries to the body where it was consumed

Question 23

What gave Harvey the comparison?

Answer 23

A new water pump had been invented around Harvey’s birth which gave inspiration

Question 24

What did Harvey discovery?

Answer 24

That blood must circulate around the body

Question 25

What could not have been done without Harvey’s discovery?

Answer 25

• Transfusions

- Complex surgery

Question 26

What did Harvey show about Vesalius?

Answer 26

That Vesalius was right about the importance of dissection

Question 27

What impact did Harvey’s discovery have?

Answer 27

No one believed him so took a long time for it to have an effect. Bloodletting also continued even after Harvey proved it was wrong.

Question 28

When was the printing press set up?

Answer 28

1440

Question 29

What were the effects of the printing press?

Answer 29

• Students in universities could have their own textbooks to study further
• New ideas could be spread more easily and quickly
• People could read what they wanted and start to question what was originally believed

Question 30

When was the Royal Society set up?

Answer 30

1660

Question 31

Why did the Royal Society have high status?

Answer 31

It was supported by King Charles II

Question 32

What was the Royal Society’s motto?

Answer 32

Nullius in verba - take no-one’s world for it

Question 33

What was the scientific journal released by the Royal Society?

Answer 33

Philosophical Transactions which allowed people to read about new inventions and discoveries

Question 34

Which book did the Royal Society publish and when?

Answer 34

Micrographia by Robert Hook which showed drawings done using a microscope in 1665