Health and Medicine [c1000 - Present day] Flashcards
Who was Hippocrates?
A Greek Doctor, who developed the theory of the Four Humours and the Hippocratic oath.
What were the Four Humours?
The belief that the body was made up of 4 basic elements;
- Blood
- Phlegm
- Yellow Bile
- Black Bile
and when the Humours were out of balance it made the person ill.
What is the Hippocratic Oath?
An oath taken by doctors, promising to be ethical and not harm patients.
Who was Galen?
A physician who encouraged dissection [although it was illegal] and developed the Theory of Opposites.
What is the Theory of Opposites?
The idea that if one of your 4 Humours were out of balance you should restore the balance by giving the patient the ‘opposite’ of their symptoms.
What were some of the natural approaches to disease?
- Using herbs to make ‘medicine’
- Burning herbs to create a strong smell getting rid of miasma
Name 3 supernatural approaches to disease?
- Astrology; the position of moons and stars were responsible for illness
- Praying; Illness was a punishment from God
- Flagellation (whipping oneself); to show god they were sorry for their sins
How did people study Medicine in the medieval era?
- Read the books of Hippocrates and Galen’s ideas.
- Students were trained by observing patients and watching dissection of bodies.
4 characteristics of how Medieval Hospitals were like?
- They were clean
- ‘Care’ rather than ‘cure’; didn’t treat the sick just offered hospitality .
- People shared beds
- Funded by the rich
State 2 negative consequences of the Church and Medicine being closely linked?
- Belief in supernatural stopped doctors from attempting to find the true reason for illness
- Dissection was forbidden; so there were many wrong ideas about the anatomy of the body
How did the Church possibly have made a progression in medicine?
- They ran most hospitals
- Encouraged people to go to the Crusades; which put them in touch with more skilled and knowledgeable Islamic doctors.
What was the Crusades?
A religious war between Christians and Muslims over ‘holy’ land
3 characteristics of Islamic medicine?
- They challenged ancient ideas
- They believed that there were natural medication for every illness
- Creation of Pharmacies [the science of preparing and giving out medicine]
What were some of the problems in medieval surgery?
- Infection; they were unaware that dirt carried disease
- Shock and pain; Surgeries were so painful they could lead a patient to be in a state of shock or even death [due to the excessive bleeding etc…]
What were barber surgeons?
‘Surgeons’ who travelled the country treating Soldiers who had been wounded in battle.
- They were unqualified and learnt on-job
Who was Albucasis?
A famous Islamic Surgeon who invented new surgical instrument and wrote books on surgery, how to treat patients etc…
Who was Hugh of Lucca?
A famous surgeon who found that Wine was very good for treating wounds. [Served in the army during the crusades]
Who was John Ardene?
An English Surgeon who developed a pain-killing ointment made of opium and hemlock.
[Served in the battlefields as a surgeon]
Explain 3 Characteristics of a Medieval Town that could have led to disease
- Houses were close together so faster spread of disease
- Contaminated rivers [with Human waste]
- No rules for getting rid of waste [rubbish all over the streets]
3 things Medieval Monasteries did to stay clean and hygienic ?
- Took water from upstream [before it was contaminated]
- Monks and nuns had some remedies/herbs
- Had an importance on keeping clean
Give an example of a Medieval town that made efforts to clean up.
A town in Coventry, who banned fly tipping and removed toilets built over rivers.
What was the Black Death?
An Epidemic which was spread though rats and fleas.
How did people attempt to cure themselves of the Plague?
Provide 2 natural and 2 supernatural ways
Natural:
- ‘Correcting’ the imbalance of humours via theory of opposites
- Smelling strong herbs to avoid ‘miasma’
Supernatural:
- Praying for forgiveness
- Flagellation [To show god your sorry for your sins]
3 impact the Black Death had Socially and Economically?
- It killed both the rich and poor
- Panic
- Demand of increase in wages from workers; as there were less people to work certain jobs
What was the Renaissance? [1400-1700]
A time of new ideas and interest.
[The Printing Press made during this period]
Who was Vesalius?
[contreversial brudda with da book]
A Professor of Anatomy who;
- Wrote a book named ‘On the Fabric of The Human Body’, correcting 300+ of Galen’s mistakes.
- Argued the importance of learning from dissection rather than books.
Who was Pare?
A Barber Surgeon who invented a new way of sealing wounds using Ligatures
Ligature; Material used to tie something in surgery, made of gut, silk etc…
Who was Harvey?
A Physician who;
- Proved that blood circulates around the body and that the heart acted as a pump for the system.
[Essentially, the basis of the circulatory system.]
What were quacks?
Dishonest medical practitioners who mixed herbal ingredients promising patients it was the cure.
What is the Scientific approach?
Using human participants for medical research
What was the Great Plague?
A return of the Bubonic Plague but thiss time worse than before.
What were some of the beliefs about the cause of the Great Plague?
- Once again people continued to believe it was a punishment from God
- That the disease was created from miasma
How did people again attempt to treat the Great Plague?
- Balancing 4 humours [By blood letting etc…]
- Burning Herbs to not smell miasma
None of these worked, shows the continuity.
What were some of the preventive measures for the Great Plague?
- Closing borders with Scotland
- Infected houses were locked up
- Strict orders about movement of people
- The Lord Mayors orders.
Even though the plague continued to rise some historians argue it could’ve been worse.
What where some of the changes in Hospitals [During the late 18th century/Early 19th Century]?
- Moved from just Caring to Treatment
- Hospitals became cleaner [especially after Pasteur’s’ Germ theory]
- Nurses had a more central role caring for patients and assisting doctors
Who was Florence Nightingale?
A nurse who published books on Hospital Organisation - after she had helped decrease the death rate from 42% to 2%, during the Crimean war.
She also set up Britain’s First Nurse School.
