GCSE Medicine Through Time Flashcards
During the medieval era, what influence did the church have on views of disease?
A big influence lol as it was a massive part of people’s lives and controlled education. So a lot of people thought CAUSE= God punishing for sins TREATMENT= Pray for it to all go away
What was the Hippocratic Oath?
Doctors must swear not to intentiontially hurt their patients
What was Hippocrates’ theory of disease and how did it differ from religious theories of disease
Four Humours
It differed because it argued disease was natural, observable, and predictable.
“The cognitive foundation on which scientific medicine was built”
How did Galen add to Hippocrates’ Four Humours theory?
Theory of Opposites- If a patient has too much of a humour they would give them something of the opposite to equal it out. Like a cold would be treated with a spicy pepper.
Who was Galen?
A very well respected Greek physician.
What were Galen’s false claims? And why was it bad that he thought this
Blood is created in the liver, goes to the heart and mixed with air, and then slops around the body.
Bad because wrong anatomy leads to wrong treatments. Its because of these false claims that bloodletting was used.
Why was Galen’s ideas accepted during Medieval time (and tbh Renaissance too but thats a different story girl).
Because the Church loved him because his work aligned with the Church teachings (i.e.) we have a soul
What was Miasma Theory?
CAUSE= disease was caused by “bad air” that arose from the ground and rotten stuff
TREATMENT= smell nice stuff like flowers
What were hospitals like during the Medieval era?
Very religious lol. Treatment was to pray for them and provide hospitality. I mean the praying was a dud. Obviously giving someone rest cant hurt, but it could still be better…
Who wasn’t allowed in medieval hospitals?
People with “infectious diseases”. Cared for in separate facilities. So at least they know it can pass from person to person..
Regarding how the community tried to help treat ill people in the medieval times, what their barber surgeons all about?
Barbers who also did minor surgery work as a side hustle.
Used Four Humours theory by bloodletting.
Regarding how the community tried to help treat ill people in the medieval times, what were apothecaries all about?
They were like a chemists and sold herbal treatments. I don’t think herbal treatments aligned with a particular theory, but was more just experimental stuff and maybe helped to balance the four humours.
People just relied on them because there was little knowledge about how disease was caused or spread so.
How many people died during the Black Death 1348?
30%-40% of the population.
What were the two forms of plague inflection during the Black Death 1348?
Bubonic and Pneumonic
During the Black Death 1348, why was there more of a focus towards preventing the disease rather than treating it.
Obviously, they had lots of different theories as to the cause of the plague (and therefore lots of ideas for possible treatments) but people died so quickly that there wasn’t really any time for it.
So best to just avoid it in the first place!!!
During the Black Death, how did normal people try to prevent getting the disease?
Did with whatever aligned with their theory of disease:
Religious- confession, fasting
Miasma- carry nice-smelling posies around
During the Black Death, how did the government try to prevent getting the disease?
Quarantine laws- people had to quarantine for 40 days before they could enter
Infected had a mark on the door
Religious processions banned
During the Black Death, why were authorities attempts to prevent disease kind of a fail?
Because church had so much power, and so thought that just praying was the answer and so encouraged people to just do that.
Why did the Church lose a lot of influence over people during the Renaissance period?
A combination of reasons tbh.
- The reformation meant a break away from the Catholic Church
-Humanism encouraged people to think critically and not just focus on religion
-Printing press was invented and so new ideas could be circulated
What was Humanism?
An intellectual movement during the Renaissance which was basically like humans are great, we can do great things, we just need to explore worldly matters and think critically and educate everyone broadly..
Humanism was a new way of thinking. It stated that us as individuals should discover the truth around us using our human experience rather than relying on old ideas. So like humans and morality and ethics can fulfil our lives rather than religion
What was the Royal society which emerged during the Renaissance?
Founded by Charles II in 1660. It was an academy of distinguished scientists and scholars, where ideas would be discussed and debated.
What is Vesalius’ story?
Fascinated by anatomy, but the church always saw it as indecent. Now they arent as powerful anymore, a local magistrate allowed Vesalius to dissect the bodies of executed criminals.
What were some of Vesalius’ discoveries?
-Impermeability of the cardiac septum- blood doesn’t flow into the heart through invisible holes in the septum, but is diffused through it.
-One kidney was not right on top of the other
-Breastbone has three parts, not seven
What was the significance of Vesalius’ findings about anatomy?
-Taught people that you need to learn from observation rather than just relying on ancient books. Authority-based knowledge to empirically based, scientific inquiry.
-Unprecedented level of understanding of the human body which has served as a foundation of modern human anatomy
How did Vesalius’ findings challenge the Four Humours theory of disease?
By working out how the human body actually looked, he proved that many of Galen’s descriptions of human anatomy which formed the basis of explanations of how these four humours governed the body (i.e. structure of heart, location of the liver), were wrong. Cast doubt on Galen.
Vesalius’s meticulous anatomical descriptions and illustrations offered a much more detailed and accurate account of the human body’s structure. This level of detail allowed for a better understanding of bodily functions, which was not fully compatible with the simplified, theory-driven explanations of the humours.
How does a better understanding of anatomy mean a greater understanding of disease?
Firstly, it means an improvement to surgery. And while surgery is not used to treat infectious diseases (that’s antibiotics job), it can be used to treat other diseases such as cancers.
It can also be used to further explore a condition for the purpose of diagnosis such as a biopsy.
Also more generally, an accurate understanding of where everything is in the body is very important to know when understanding different diseases because then we know what to focus on when treating???
Who was William Harvey?
Was the Doctor to Charles I and was also an anatomist who had a bit off a kick at galen while he was down.
