History - Medicine Flashcards
What treatment was used to treat the four humours?
- purging was the most common as you could get rid of the excess humours
- bleeding vomiting and clearing bowels
What were Roman ideas about medicine?
- took ideas from the greeks (Hippocrates and Galen)
- believed in gods and viewed diseases as a punishment from God so they built temples in order for them to be able to worship the gods so they would cure them
- they believed bad air and smells could cause sickness so they built their cities away from swamps
What public health facilities did the Romans have?
Public toilets and sewers - washed away waste from the cities to nearby rivers
Public fountains- for drinking
Public baths - for washing
Water pipes - built from lead to carry clean water into towns for everyone to use
Aqueducts - these were built to transport water from rivers and lakes into towns and cities
What were the four humours?
The body was made up of humours- blood phlegm black bile and yellow bile
- too little or too much could lead to a imbalance of humours
What happened when the Roman Empire collapsed?
- war broke out between countries that had been part of the roman empire
Public health - systems were destroyed
Libraries - medicine books were dismantled
Education- invaders did not know hoe to read and were not interested in education or the works of Galen
War- money spent on armies and war took priority over medicine
What were the ideas about the causes of disease in the middle ages?
- Hippocrates and Galen and 4 humours as this is what the church believed and they had the most impact
- illnesses were caused by punishment from God so they had to pray for forgiveness and to get better
- bad air and smells
What was the treatment in the middle ages?
- physicians and doctors had some medical training at church run universities
- studies urine charts and astrology
- doctors only treated the rich but most illnesses were dealt with by the village healer
- doctors did not attend child birth but women did
- wise women provided herbal treatments
- hospitals were for resting and no infectious diseases or terminal ill patients they were usually monasteries
What influence did the church have on middle ages medicine?
- illnesses were sent from God as a punishment and it was alright for the person to suffer and cures should only come from God
- Galen and Hippocrates ideas fitted in the Christian idea of there only being one God and it created all the humans
- monasteries had the best libraries and provided training for doctors they taught the theory of 4 humours and could not prove Galen wrong
What were public health and living conditions like in the middle ages?
- city streets were covered in dirt, rubbish and animal waste
- government laws were difficult to enforce
- monasteries and convents were generally healthier as they had there own public health system with fresh water and toilets
What were the roman ideas about the causes of disease?
Bad air
- bad air and smells cause disease so they lived away from swamps
Four humours
- Hippocrates came up with the idea of the four humours and galen developed it to the theory of opposites
- imbalance would cause the disease so they recommend bleeding and purging to get rid of excess humours
Herbal remedies
- passed down through generations, oil and wool, saffron salve for eyes
Punishment from gods
- pray to souls, the god of health or Asclepius the god of healing, they also worshipped and prayed to the gods for a cure
What was the influence of the Roman empire during the Roman empire?
The roman army was well organised and offered medical training for surgeons to treat soldiers
Quickly set up sites and provided water
Spread of violent entertainment meant that doctors had a lot of wounds to treat and therefore became skilled
Administered herbal remedies
Medical knowledge spread throughout the empire
Romans were responsible for the spread if Christianity
What was the influence of the Roman empire after the Roman empire?
When they left a lot of medical knowledge was lost
Libraries were dismantled of destroyed and army doctors returned to rome
Christian church was left
Church like galen as it fit with bible which continued to Britain
What were the features of Roman public health?
Public baths
- roman towns usually had public baths which were cheap therefore people visited baths daily this help keep the population clean and led to better health. The waters were believed to have clean powers, it was also a social place
Aqueducts
- transported water from rivers and lakes into cities where it was needed the most. Wroexter could transport 2 million gallons a day
Water pipes
- built from lead and they carries clean water into the towns and distributed it among the population, everybody was entitled to clean water
- they had public fountains which they were able to collect water from, they had public baths and any remaining water was sent to the rich
Public toilets
- sponges on sticks and water took waste away
Sewers
- carried waste away into nearby rivers
Roman government
- made central decisions and organised resources, it also provided funding and man power
Communication
- good quality roads made communications easier and quicker, central roman control from rome and regular official change kept Britain up to date with the new ideas, and the mixed population in army allowed them to spread
What is the positive and negative parts to the public health in 1350s?
+ rich had a high standard of living, they sometimes had a privy that was separate and outside
+ supplied water to houses of merchants and dignitaries came from lead pipes
+ high hygiene standard in monasteries and convents
+ some councils provides fresh water and public baths known as stews
- lead pipes for water were only laid if they could be privately funded
- lead pipes were leaky and gave water a bad taste
- water was contaminated
- rubbish human waste and animal waste which attracted rates
- gov laws were hard to enforce
- most places there was no public provision of clean water
What was the impact of religion?
The church was the only constant authority and missionaries came to Britain to keep the church alive
The church was the monopoly on treatment and training, it controlled booms and therefore medical knowledge
Sick were encouraged to pray to saints
Church gave some of the power to the king and put holy oil over him in his coronation this gave him healing powers
