history of medicine sheet

Question 1

Asclepius (1200 B.C.)

Answer 1

Believed in the provision of healing through believe in the supernatural.
-Much of his primitive healing philosophy was based in ancient Greek mythology.

                 -Asclepius was believed to travel with a staff with a snake wrapped around it.  This would be the basis for the modern symbol of the medical profession-the Caduceus, which has two snakes wrapped around a staff-one representing health and the other disease.  On the top of the Caduceus are wings which represent the messenger of the Greek gods-Mercury.
									 
               -There was a need for a practice of healing based on compassion/empathy, logic, and natural means.

Question 2

Hippocrates

Answer 2

A contemporary of Asclepius, believed in the natural, compassionate, and logical approach to healing. Considered the “Father of Modern Medicine”

-Had a good understanding of anatomy but DID NOT PERFORM ANATOMICAL DISSECTIONS.

Question 3

Claudius Galen (200 A.D.)

Answer 3

-Roman physician and philosopher who was interested in the “why” of body functions.

                         -Conducted dissections on animals-mainly fetal pigs.
                        - Demonstrated the heart was involved in the pumping of blood through cutting (incision) into fetal pig cardiac muscle and observing massive blood splatter.
                        - Galen did not perform human dissections.  Although he observed the function of the heart, he did not know that the blood circulated throughout the body.
                        - Galen is considered the “Father of Experimental Physiology”

Question 4

Andreas Vesalius
(Mid-Sixteenth Century (1500s)

Answer 4

Considered “Father of Anatomy” due to his many detailed dissections of the human cadaver which were illustrated in great detail by many of the artists of the time.

Question 5

John Hunter
(Mid 1700s)

Answer 5

anatomist who performed many autopsies (2000 +)

                         -Was able to provide detailed anatomical studies of the ways in which disease and illness could alter the structure of normal human anatomy.

Question 6

William Morton
(Mid Nineteenth Century)

Answer 6

dentist who was the first to carry out the first successful use of general (surgical) anesthesia.

                        - Used ether to remove a tumor from the jaw of a patient.