Early Modern Medicine - The Beginnings of Change Flashcards
What was the Renaissance?
began in mid 15th century - old ideas were challenged and new technologies e.g. the microscope 1590 and Caxton’s printing press 1451
What were the most common killers of the 15th century?
“fever, consumption, teeth, gripping in the guts and convulsions” - little was known of the causes of diseases and therefore not cures
Who was Vesalius?
a professor of surgery and anatomy in the 16th century (1514-64)
How did Vesalius change medicine?
- dissected humans rather than animals and used scientific observation to develop more accurate views of the anatomy than Galen
- researched best places for bloodletting
- De Humani Corporis Fabrica explained how different systems worked (skeleton, muscles, nerves and veins)
- his work found its way to England and barber surgeons in London used his ideas
What did Vesalius write?
De Humani Corporis Fabrica
What did the De Humani Corporis Fabrica feature?
ideas about how systems in the body worked; veins, nerves, muscles and skeletons
What was the opposition to Vesalius’s and Paré’s ideas?
- English physicians were resistant to change - Catholic Church still supported Galen
- some people said that the anatomy was different to Galen’s idea because that particular body was different
Who was Paré?
french barber surgeon in the 16th century (1510-90) - considered the father of modern surgery
How did Paré change medicine?
- adopted the new “scientific methods”
- trained at Hotel du Dieu in Paris
- became army surgeon, at the siege of Milan he ran out of oil for cauterisation - mixed egg yolk, turpentine and oil of roses to dress wounds - less painful more successful
- used ligatures to tie off wounds after amputation (rather than cauterisation)
- invented “crow’s beak clamp” to halt bleeding of blood vessels
- developed artificial limb
- Les Oeuvres 1575 used by barber surgeons in England - even used by queen’s surgeon William Clowes
What book did Paré write?
Les Oeuvres 1575
What did Paré use instead of oil for cauterisation?
egg yolk, turpentine and oil of roses
What did Paré invent and what did it do??
Crow’s beak clamp - halted bleeding of blood vessels
Where was Paré trained?
House du Dieu in Paris
Who used Paré’s book?
barber surgeons in England including the Queen’s surgeon - William Clowes
How did Leonardo da Vinci change medicine
Studied the human body and represented it in drawings and paintings (more advanced than the wound man)
When was Galen’s work republished and in which languages?
1525 in greek and latin
How did Harvey change medicine?
- “On the Motion of the Heart” challenged Galen
- experiments on cold-blooded amphibians (slow blood flow) led to the discovery that blood pumped around the body in a circular motion
- one experiment showed blood flowing in a patient’s heart, proved that it was impossible to produce too much blood
- proved that heart worked as a pump
- long term useful for understanding heart/kidney disease
What opposition did Harvey face?
- Galen supporters rejected his findings - capillaries weren’t seen for another 60 years
- didn’t like his use of experimentation
- “crack pot” ideas and that he was a quack
Who was Sydenham?
“the english Hippocrates” 17th century (1624-1689)
Why did Harvey use cold-blooded amphibians in his experiments on circulation?
Because blood flows slowly so it can be observed
What book did Harvey write?
On the Motion of the Heart
When were capillaries discovered?
60 years following Harvey’s discoveries on the heart
How did Sydenham change medicine?
- member of Parliamentary Army in the English Civil War
- 1663 set up at physician in London
- believed in observation
- successfully treated man with ague (malaria) with cinchona bark from a tropical tree
- came up with successful treatment of smallpox “cool therapy” - fluids, moderate bleeding and keeping cool
Why did people think Sydenham was eccentric?
he claimed it was best not to treat a patient unnecessarily
What could Sydenham treat successfully?
ague and smallpox (“cooling therapy” - echoes of 4 humours w bleeding, fluids and keeping cool)
Where did Sydenham work?
in the English Civil War as a member of the Parliamentary Army
Who was John Hunter?
- 18th century doctor who specialised in childbirth
- became army surgeon in 1760 in Severn Years War
- Surgeon to King George III
- “father of scientific surgery”