Health and the People: 1500-1800 Early Modern Flashcards
When was the Early Modern Period?
Approx. 1500-1800 Overlapping periods the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, the Age of Reason.
What trends and factors were active in this period?
Globalization, travel & discovery, colonization and empire, trading economies (mercantilism), The Protestant Reformation questioning religion, experimental science, technology including printing, nation states with centralised secular governments.
What was the Renaissance?
‘Rebirth’ – the period after the middle ages focused on a rediscovery of classical learning and values from art to science.
Who wrote the anatomy textbook ‘The Fabric of the Human Body’ in 1543?
Andreas Vesalius
Whose theories did the scientific approach of Renaissance doctors challenge?
Galen
What techniques were developed by the French barber surgeon Ambroise Paré?
Wound dressing and ligatures instead of cauterization
What did William Harvey discover?
That blood circulated around the body, veins contained valves and the heart was a pump. ‘On the Motion of the Heart’ was published in 1628
When were the first microscopes invented?
1590
What is a bezoar stone?
A stone from the stomach of a goat that was believed to be an antidote for all poisons. Pare did an experiment that proved it did not but it was still used in medicine for decades after.
When was the Great Plague?
1665
How many people died of the Plague in London?
About 15%. 68,596 deaths were recorded in the city, the true number was probably over 100,000.
Where were the earliest cases of the Plague in London 1665?
A parish outside the city walls called St Giles-in-the-Fields.
What time of year did the plague deaths peak?
The hot summer months
Who left London during the plague?
Anyone who could; King Charles II, lawyers, merchants, doctors.
What were some of the methods of Plague prevention issued by the King and Lord Mayor?
Quarantine, watchmen, searchers, marked infected houses, food provision, restriction of trade and movement, certificates of health, no public gatherings, fires and fumes to correct the bad air, no rotten food, burn infected clothes and possessions, fumigate houses.
What did people think caused and treated the plague?
Causes; impure air, god
Treatments and preventions: Bleeding, smoke and heat, smoking, sniffing a sponge soaked in vinegar, prayer
What detailed document kept records of the types of deaths in London?
Bills of mortality
What famous Londoner kept a diary that detailed the impact of the Great Plague?
Samuel Pepys
How long were plague infected houses shut for?
40 days with a red cross then 20 days with a white cross
Who wrote the fictional ‘A Journal of Plague Year’ in 1722?
Daniel Defoe
What is a Quack?
Sellers of fake and fraudulent medicine with exaggerated claims of their curative properties.
What did Thomas Coram open in 1741?
The Foundling Hospital (to provide care for abandoned children)
What replaced religious hospitals after the dissolution of the monasteries?
Voluntary hospitals set up by inherences or private subscriptions. They focused more on treatment rather than just care and prayer.
What did Robert Burton blame and recommend for mental illness in 1621?
Causes: Lack of exercise, idleness, excess pleasure, excess study.
Cures: Fresh air, exercise, music and laughter.
