Chapter 2 - The Beginnings Of Change

Question 1

What was the Renaissance

Answer 1

It was triggered by the rediscovery of a love of all things classical

Led to people challenging ideas and beliefs in science, technology and how the world was viewed

Led to many Eminent people to question the beliefs of Galen and other classical scholars

New inventions such as the microscope revolutionised the work of both scientists and physicians

Inventions of caxtons printing press enabled the more rapid spread of ideas across Britain

Question 2

Who was Andreas Vesalius

Answer 2

1514-1564 challenged galens works on human anatomy and developed much more accurate views of the inside of the human body, by unlike Galen dissecting humans rather than animals

Carried out his own dissections

Believed anatomy was the key to understanding how human body worked

Published de humani corporis fabrica in 1543 which changed attitudes to medicine

Question 3

Tell me about being ill in the seventeenth century

Answer 3

Biggest killer diseases in 17th century were fever, consumption, teeth, grilling in the guts and convulsions - not so different from 16 or 15tj century

Treatments not so very different than before

Question 4

What changed during the Renaissance

Answer 4

Introduced idea of a more scientific method which was readily adopted by some people and scorned by others

Question 5

Who was ambroise paré,

Answer 5

A French barber surgeon, became a surgeon in French army

He ran out of oil for cauterising wounds so made a mixture of egg yolk, turpentine and oil of roses to dress wounds - much less painful and much more effective at helping healing

Also used ligatures to tie off wounds after amputation instead of cauterisation - found wounds healed better

Later developed artificial limbs for those who had lost a hand or leg due to wounds

Time as an army surgeon allowed paré to observe his patients and treat them more effectively

Published experiences in a book “Les oeuvres in 1575” and became famous across Europe

Considered one of the fathers of modern surgery

Question 6

What part did art play in improving people’s health during the Renaissance

Answer 6

Artists like Leonardo da Vinci went to great lengths to study the human body so they could better represent it in their drawings and paintings

Began to study corpses to help them accurately draw humans

Short step from dissecting parts of body’s to see how muscles and sinews worked

Artists also illustrated the medical books, helping to spread new knowledge and ideas

Question 7

Tell me about the Renaissance and Galen

Answer 7

Many of galens works retranslated into Greek and Latin - compared and efforts made to get back to the original meaning

Galen regarded as the font of all medical knowledge
- but this didn’t last

More artists and surgeons studied anatomy and the more humans dissected they began to notice discrepancies between what Galen said and what they were discovering for themselves

Initial reaction was that Galen was right, and the current anatomists were wrong

Gradually enough opinions grew to successfully challenge Galen and cast doubts on his observations - once challenged on anatomy then other challenges followed

Medical world split in 2 - physicians who learned from texts such as Galen and surgeons who were exploring the human body on a daily basis and we’re learning by experiment

Scientific discovery played a part in this as new tools like the microscopes - so both scientists and medical men could look at things in ever more detail

Question 8

Tell me about William Harvey

Answer 8

Most famous work was on the “on the motion of the heart” was published in 1628, challenged the work of Galen and the ancients

While studying In Padua, Harvey was taught that veins in the human body had valves and blood pumped only 1 way but no one knew how or why

Harvey experimented on animals and discovered blood was pumped around the body in a circular motion - lead to discovery of circulation of blood

Discovery made as a result of theoretical work as he was unable to see capillaries in bloodstream and made due to experiment and observation

Work on amphibians allowed him to see the blood circulating much more slowly

Showed in diagrams blood only flowed one way

Also able to show that galens belief that the liver not the heart was the centre of the human body was completely wrong

Galen believed liver made new blood to prescribe that lost around the body

But circulation of blood proved this wrong and also challenged bleeding as a cure - if Harvey was right then it was impossible for body to have To much blood

Question 9

How was Harvey’s work reacted to

Answer 9

Those who supported Galen heavily rejected it

Argued Harvey couldnt see capillaries and therefore couldn’t prove their existence

Most we’re conservative and resistant to change - Harvey lost a lot of patients due to his crazy ideas

Question 10

Who was Thomas Sydenham

Answer 10

Said to be English Hippocrates

Said best medical book was to read Don Quixote

Believed in close observations of symptoms of a disease and as little intervention as possible

carefully Monitor I symptoms and treatments given that way to build up a body of knowledge
B

Believe each disease had different characteristics

Developed a successful treatment to treat smallpox- used piled blankets on the patient and administered lots of hot drinks trying to sweat the disease out of body. Sydenham divised a cool ther lay prescribing lots of fluids, very moderate bleeding and keeping the patient as cool as possible - has echoes of 4 humours

Question 11

What was the don Quixote

Answer 11

First published in 1605

Follows adventures of Don Quixote as he travels around the country, righting wrongs and having adventures

Regarded as one of the best novels in any country at the time and would have been well known by educated people in Britain

Question 12

Tell me about John hunter

Answer 12

1728-93
Was a famous surgeon and anatomist and came to believe the best way to heal deep wounds was to leave as much as possible to nature

Served as a surgeon during the seven years war where he dealt with gunshot wounds and amputations

Edward Jenner was one of his students

He was known as the father of scientific surgery

Question 13

Summarise the impact of the Renaissance in Britain

Answer 13

Initially Renaissance strengthened the ideas of Galen in the way disease should be treated

The Renaissance also brought about a more questioning approach to the work of Galen and Hippocrates

Harvey and Sydenham Made advances in the way people understood and treated diseases

Some people supported the new ideas while others opposed them, sticking closely to galens teaching

It’s difficult to decide to what extent these new ideas impacted on health and the people

Question 14

Were people more likely to survive surgery then in medieval times than in early modern Britain

Answer 14

Ambrose paré improved surgery

Surgeons skilled improved too, still no reliable anaesthetics although wine and opium began to be. Used widely with unpredictable results - an incorrect dose could prove fatal

Question 15

Tell me about Samuel Pepys

Answer 15

Gave an example of how ordinairy people viewed the prospect of an operation

On March 26 1658 he underwent an operation successful to remove s stone from his bladder

Question 16

Tell me some of the changes in the status of training surgeons

Answer 16

In 18th century more than half of practising “doctors” seem to have been men who just served an apprenticeship

Only 4% had a medical degree from an English university

You had to have a license now and no one could practice as a surgeon within 7 miles of the city of London unless examined by the Royal college of surgeons
In 1811 regulations insisted that to be a surgeon ylu had to Attend at least one course in anatomy and one in surgery

In 1813 further decrees you must have a minimum of one years experience j. A hospital

World of the surgeon was beck in more regulated

Question 17

Tell me what London was like 1665

Answer 17

Plague struck in 1665. The mayor of London ordered watchmen to guard houses to make sure the sick and their families stayed shut up

House owners were ordered to sweep the streets outside their homes

Taverns and theatres were closed to stop plague spreading

More ideas and cures about

Question 18

What medicines were used in early modern Britain

Answer 18

By this time most towns would have had at least one pharmacy, sometimes run by ex monks. Most people continued to be treated by local wise women or with family remedies. Although a market was developing in self help medicine books

Question 19

Tell me about lady Johanna St. John

Answer 19

Typical local lady, had a book of cures, grew many of the herbs she needed in the walled garden - cures like a bleeding nose

Collected successful remedies from her London friends - sent them to lydiard house to be made up into medicines which were sent back to London

Went well beyond dosing up servants on the estate with traditional family treatments

Question 20

Tell me about Nicholas culpeper

Answer 20

Published his complete herbal in 1653 and still in print today, wrote in English

Server an apothecary in London then set up his own shop

Treated people for free and talked to people rather than looking at urine

Culpeper classified herbs and plants by uses. Tried to combine the use of herbs with doctrine of signatures and astrology

Wasn’t a modernist

Question 21

Tell me about using ingredients from around the world to deal with disease

Answer 21

Tobacco found and rhubarb for herbal remedies - smoking a pipe was an excellent way to keep plague at bay

Question 22

Tell me about quackery

Answer 22

In 17th and 18th century there was a huge increase in people inventing and selling medicines

So quacks (someone who boasts loudly about his cures) sold medicines not understanding what they did or if they worked and they often moved on before purchasers realised the product didn’t work or if they did it was by accident

Main ingredients of quacks were opium and alcohol

Success in quackery often depended on sellers personal charm and charisma

Question 23

Tell me about daffys elixir

Answer 23

Claimed it cure convulsion, fits, consumption, agues, piles, fits and more and sold across Britain and the empire until the 19th century, main ingredient was brandy -

Only thing t would cure was constipation as it was a laxative

Question 24

Tell me about the growth of hospitals

Answer 24

Thomas coram opened the foundling hospital in 1741 to provide care for abandoned children

Spent over 10 years collecting funds

Hospital arranged for foster families to care for children and then be educated

Question 25

Tell me about voluntary hospitals

Answer 25

Started to appear in the early 18th century usually funded by inheritances

Fill the gap left left by the abolition of the monasteries

Developed their new ideas of dealing with disease while working there, although nurses were still untrained and usually unskilled

Question 26

Tell me about Robert burton

Answer 26

Published a study of mental illness in 1621 - blamed lack of excercise, idleness, excessive pleasure and too much studying

For melancholy he recommended fresh air, excercise music and laughter as a remedy

Question 27

Tell me about Jane sharp

Answer 27

In 1671 she published the midwives book which combines the medical knowledge of the time of midwifery with personal anecdotes. Argued midwifery should be reserved for women at a time men were taking over the trade

Practical advice was widely read and used

Question 28

Tell me about sir John floyer

Answer 28

Published his “a treatise on asthma” in 1698 and was the first to identify the causes of the disease and offer a regime for treating it - including clean air and diet

Question 29

Tell me about George Cheyne

Answer 29

Published “and essay on health and long life” in 1724 and was enormously successful

Argued that obesity and nervous disorders were caused by heredity and poor lifestyle

Argued people should take responsibility for their health and prevent illness rather than rely on doctors if they were ill

Question 30

Tell me about James lind

Answer 30

In 1753 he came up for a cure for scurvy - a disease prevalent among sailers who were deprived of fresh fruit and vegetables

Made to drink lime juice every day to stop catching scurvy

Scurvy killed more British sailors than war

Question 31

Summarise dealing with disease

Answer 31

People were more likely to survive surgery than earlier times although still very risky

New medicines introduced to Britain from around the world

Printing meant it was easier to spread new ideas

Many health professionals still opposed changes to their practices

Most people still had very limited access to medical treatment