History of Medicine

Question 1

What were Hippocrates’ key methods?

Answer 1

Hippocrates invented the theory of the four humours:

• black bile
• yellow bile
• blood
• phlegm

He believed that they needed to be balanced for the body to be in perfect health.
eg bleeding
He also believed in Clinical Observation
And was the founder of the Hippocratic oath

Question 2

Who was Hippocrates?

Answer 2

Greek physician of the Age of Pericles (Classical Greece), who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine.

Question 3

Who was Galen?

Answer 3

Galen worked in the 130AD -200AD and built upon Hippocrates’ theories although he did not dissect any bodies

Question 4

What were Galen’s key theories or discoveries?

Answer 4

Galen discovered his “Theory of Opposites” which was to cure by giving a ‘wet’ illness a ‘dry’ opposite.
However he also believed that the human jawbone was in two pieces like that of an ape’s as he only dissected apes
he also believed that blood was made in the liver.

Question 5

Why weer his ideas adopted by the Catholic Church?

Answer 5

Although he wasn’t a Christian his theories about the four humours did not give a cause and this cause could therefore be God.

Question 6

When was the Black Death?

Answer 6

1346-1353

Question 7

If the cause of the Black Death was God’s punishment, how was it prevented or treated?

Answer 7

The Flagellants believed that it was a punishment for their sins so they punished themselves via whipping and walking the streets. people also prayed and blessed those to prevent or treat.

Question 8

If the cause of the Black Death was Bad Air (miasma theory), how was it prevented or treated?

Answer 8

It was believed that bad smells caused illness so disease could be prevented by always smelling something nice. It is theorised that “Ring o’ Roses” comes from the plague era with the ‘posy’ of scented flowers.

Question 9

If the cause of the Black Death was the Impact of the Planets, how was it prevented or treated?

Answer 9

The French King was told by the Paris medical faculty that a conjunction of three planets in 1345 caused a “great pestilence of the air”

Question 10

If the cause of the Black Death was the Theory of the Four Humours, how was it prevented or treated?

Answer 10

Because patients were becoming sick and coughing up mucus and phlegm it meant the body was trying to balance itself
(the four humours)

Question 11

What was the role of women helping the sick?

Answer 11

women were the general healers and were midwives, surgeons and ‘wise-women’. however they could not become physicians.

Question 12

Give an example of a medieval hospital and who they cared for:

Answer 12

St Bartholomew’s hospital in London (12th Century)

The hospital cared for the old and the rich but not those who were genuinely ill

Question 13

Who set up charity hospitals?

Answer 13

Physicians often set up charity hospitals or hospitals where those who could afford it were treated

Question 14

What could surgeons do or not do?

Answer 14

They could:

• let blood
• perform enemas
• perform minor surgery
• cut hair
• distribute medicine

They could not:
-do operations

Question 15

Why did the Church mean there was little change in Medieval medicine?

Answer 15

The Church controlled everything and everyone as the belief in God was so strong.
It also gave a cause for everything: God.
the Church owned land, money and controlled Government.

Question 16

Why did Education mean there was little change in Medieval medicine?

Answer 16

the church controlled education of men and not women, physicians could only be trained with church approved texts by Hippocrates, Galen and Arab Physicians (as they also had a monotheistic religion and gave the cause as an omnipotent creator God).
Doctors were not encouraged to think for themselves and they had to follow the rules set out by Galen.
Books were rare and the church controlled who read them and which books could be read so that education was controlled.

Question 17

Why did the respect for tradition mean there was little change in Medieval medicine?

Answer 17

The Church was the root of all tradition and people respected the traditions as they were set out by God and Religious figures.

Question 18

Why did individuals mean there was little change in Medieval medicine?

Answer 18

Only a few tried to challenged general medicine as the church’s control was so stringent.
People did not try to prove theories wrong as they believed so strongly in God.
Also the current ideas were logical, reassuring and easily understandable.

Question 19

Why did the Government mean there was little change in Medieval medicine?

Answer 19

The country was controlled by the King who was chosen by God and therefore the government agreed with the church’s rules and disagreeing with God’s power meant that they were committing treason

Question 20

Who invented the printing press and when?

Answer 20

Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1439

Question 21

What did the Printing Press enable?

Answer 21

The Printing Press enabled the widespread making of books and increased literacy rates. However the church still controlled books.

Question 22

When was the Great Plague?

Answer 22

1665

Question 23

Give five details of the plague

Answer 23

• It is thought that it started in the parish of St Giles in the Fields outside of the walls of the city of London in 1664
• The hot summer may have caused it to become an epidemic
• Possibly over 100,00 people died
• By August 1665 it had reached a peak of 7000 deaths per week
• It died out during the cold winter.

Question 24

How was it treated and prevented then?

Answer 24

Pretty much the same

Question 25

When was the Renaissance?

Answer 25

1500-1700

Question 26

Who was Thomas Sydenham, what did he believe, do differently and why did his ideas have a limited impact?
RENAISSANCE

Answer 26

Sydenahm believed in Clinical Observation, he also believed that previous illnesses that the patient had could affect the patient’s current illness. He told his students to “Go to the bedside”.
He had a limited impact because he did not really treat them and people wanted miraculous cures for their ailments.

Question 27

Who was William Harvey, what did he believe, do differently and why did his ideas have a limited impact?
RENAISSANCE

Answer 27

William Harvey proved that blood was constantly re used and was always being pumped around the body by the heart. He proved Galen wrong as Galen thought he showed that the liver does not pump blood. he also proved that blood was only red and changed colour due to oxidisation .However he could not explain his findings.
HE WAS AN ANATOMIST AND NOT A DOCTOR

Question 28

What was the book that William Harvey wrote called?

Answer 28

An Anatomical Account of the Motion of the Heart and the Blood

Question 29

Who was Andreas Vesalius, what did he believe, do differently and why did his ideas have a limited impact?
RENAISSANCE

Answer 29

He wrote many books upon the Human Anatomy and he helped prove Galen and Hippocrates’ theories wrong and he also found the correct use of the heart.
He proved that humans did not have many similarities with apes as Galen thought.
he also proved that the human skeletal system was the framework for the body.
However all his colleagues were Galenists

Question 30

What was the book that Vesalius wrote called?

Answer 30

De Humani Corporius- anatomical drawings

Question 31

When was the Industrial Revolution?

Answer 31

1700-1900

Question 32

What are vaccines?

Answer 32

Vaccines are weakened or other forms of a disease that are injected to force the body to produce antibodies to fight off the disease. The body then knows how to respond when the disease is actually caught

Question 33

Who was Edward Jenner?

Answer 33

Edward Jenner was known as the ‘Father of Immunology’ and he invented the Smallpox vaccine in 1796
-Dairy maids showed him their cowpox sores on their hands and told him they would not contract smallpox after they had cowpox