HOM 1-27 Flashcards
The book starts by comparing humans and animals and the birth rates between the two. What did the book say about birth rates? What was the average life expectancy of men? Women?
animal birth rate- loses 80% of children
human birth rate- raises 70-80% of children
Men life expectancy- 35 Years
Woman life expectancy- 30 Years
What other interesting adaptations did early man have that animals did not?
Humans could live past their reproductive years, allowing them to explore and be with family more
How did most nomadic humans die? Why did women die sooner than men?
died due to fights, climate
woman died sooner- stress of pregnancy and shifting camps
Why did settling down shorten lifespan?
less nourishing diet, diseases caused more harsh impacts, increased trade, human waste build up, mosquitoes
Give three examples of why life expectancy (how long the person lives) increased, and three reasons life expectancy decreased.
Increased- Easier to care for Sick,
Immunity to common infections, more food
Decreased- increased trade, permanent housing, human waste buildup
The textbook talks about some diseases early man came in contact with. Pick three
diseases you want to research and use the internet to describe those three diseases. You only need a
sentence about each disease.
Bacterial infections- Increases in the number of bad bacteria in the body, they are bad since they give off by products that are poisonous to our body
Rabies- A deadly virus spread to people from the saliva of infected animals, causes brain disease/ death
Gangrene- tissue dies from lack of blood supply
Explain Trepanation. What did it treat? Where was it carried out?
a prehistoric medical procedure where a hole is cut into the skull
helps skull fractures, headaches, epilepsy, and mental illnesses
happened in Neolithic Gaul, Bohemia, North Africa, Asia, Tahiti, New Zealand, and South America
What is papyrus? Why was it used?
A plant, it was abundant so it was cheap to use and easy to write on.
Explain the differences between the three branches of Egyptian medicine. (Physicians, Surgeons, Sorcerers/exorcists)
Physicians – attempted cures by means of internal and external remedies. Lettuce, onions, alum, hippo fat, human excreta. Physicians specialized on specific areas of the body.
Surgeons – primarily treated external wounds and injuries.
They never opened the
abdomen. They focused on skin and surface operations like, circumcisions, lancing boils, and cutting out cysts.
They had scalpels, knives, forceps, and probes.
Sorcerers and exorcists- fought evil with incantations and amulets, they fought diseases with positive thoughts
Where did the Egyptians believe disease came from?
from evil spirits that entered the body through the mouth, nose, ears, or wounds and devoured the victim’s vital substance.
In what ways was mummification helpful in understanding the body? In what ways was mummification not helpful?
helpful- allowed dissecting and studying the body to be more common
not helpful- they thought heart was where intelligence was, didn’t understand the anatomy, due to sloppy handling of organs
What was cuneiform? How did it differ from papyrus? How were their beliefs different?
Cuneiform is one of the earliest known forms of written expression.
differed-
cuneiform on clay, papyrus on paper
Cuneiform could tell where different diseases came from, found that STDs came from intercourse
The medical profession consisted of sorcerers (ashipu) and physicians (asu). Explain how they differed.
Sorcerers (ashipu) employed charms and incantations worked closely with the physicians
physicians (asu) who were primarily involved in primitive first aid.
What is jaundice?
yellow color in skin, eyes, or mucus
comes from breakdown of red blood cells
How did physicians wash wounds?
Beer and Hot water, also used poultices and bandages