Lecture 3: Medicine as Art: History as Science Flashcards
What is the humeral theory (western-Greek)?
stresses a focus on the body to explain disease
What are the 4 humors?
black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, blood
What did the humeral theory look more at?
body and reactions
What was the ayurvedic theory?
stresses universal connectedness of human, health, and universe (spiritual and environmental)
-nutrition
what does the ayurvedic theory look more at?
bodies in the context of their environment.
What did ancient medicine stress?
the importance of the function of the body over it anatomy
-how bodies behave and react to stimuli
At a point was human anatomy illegal?
yes
When anatomy was illegal, what did they use to apply to the human body instead?
animals
Dissection and vivisection for teaching purposes was performed on___when anatomy was illegal.
animals
what is dissection? what is vivisection?
dissection -on dead matter
vivisection- on living matter
12-15th century medicine was shaped by which 3 ancient Greek approaches?
- Hippocrates
- Asclepious
- Galen
When and where was Galen born?
129 A.D.
-modern Turkey
What did Galen do?
Experiment with animals and extrapolated his findings to humans. He would look at the physiology and anatomy of animals and make images and texts using animals as the basis for human anatomy.
What did Galen write?
Anatomical Institutions (most authoritative medical text)
What did Galen ascribed to the liver and vascular network in the brain? What was the vascular network in the brain called? Where had he extrapolated it?
-5 lives to the liver and vascular network in brain called rate miracle which he had extrapolated from the pig and rhesus monkey
When was the ban lifted on dissection?
300 BC
What was dissection limited to in 300 BC?
criminals (alive or dead)
What was the dual purpose that lifting the ban on dissection in 30 BC?
-Responded to request from the medical community to investigate the anatomy of the human body, and reminded criminals of the consequences of their activities.
In 300 BC after the ban was lifted, why did only a select few dissect human bodies?
due to cultural and religious taboos
When did the trend of a lack of dissection after 300 BC continue until? Why did this change?
Continued throughout the history of anatomy and was only changed significantly int eh 20th century as individuals began donating their bodies to science.
Why types of people were often the ones performing dissections?
illiterate or slaves
Dissections after Galen were more___than information-seeking.
rituals
Galen’s texts served as___for human anatomy.
authority
Why were Galen’s texts authority for human anatomy?
because the idea was that he had already discovered the way the human body worked and looked.
When did legal human dissection increase (especially with criminals)
during the 13th and 14the century
Why did legal dissection increase during the 13th and 14th century?
had to do with political and cultural changes
Ex. churches had less control over university curriculum, and artists became interested in observation and anatomy became an important part of depicting the human form
Why was there a rise in cultural scepticism around Galen’s authoritative text?
- new anatomist emerged during this period who slowly refined Galen’s work
- the plague also led to questions
What became the standard body that informed anatomy?
Gladiators
How were imperfections in bodies explained when compared to Galen’s texts?
As deviations in the individuals as a result of their criminal nature
When did skepticism towards Galen’s teaching emerge?
during the Renaissance (1400-1600)
What was the significance of the plague? (how many people died, why did the church receive criticism?)
- The plague (1348-1351) “the Black Death”
- roughly 1/4 of the population died
- brought more criticism to the church because “good” as well as “sinful” people died suggesting that faith in Christianity was not enough to starve off illness.
When was there a renewed interest in classical art and representations of the human form?
the Renaissance
Why was Leonardo Da Vinci an advocate for dissection?
because he argued to do good art, you have to do good dissections
How many dissections did Da Vinci claim to have performed?
over 20
What social changes contributed to skepticism towards Galen’s teaching?
question of state’s capacity of government to control diseases
-renewed interest in the classics (what the ancients knew)
What were the three reasons that there was skepticism towards Galen’s teachings?
- the plague
- renewed interest in classical art and representations of the human form
- social changes (state’s capacity to control disease and interest in the classics)
Andreas Vesalius: son of ___, grandson of___.
- apothecary
- physician
What did Vesalius train as before going to medical school?
humanist
How old was Vesalius when he was awarded a doctorate of medicine and became professor of surgery and anatomy at Padua?
23
Did Vesalius perform his own dissections? Who did he work closely with? What did he challenge?
- yes
- with local artists who recorded his findings
- challenged Galen’s mistakes
What did Vesalius believe we needed to focus on?
direct human evidence
What did Vesalius realize about Galen’s work? (What was Vesalius’ “blinding flash” in 1540)?
that Galen had extrapolated from animal dissections
When did Vesalius publish Fabrica?
1543
Fabrica contained___,___, and___.
- woodcuts
- illustrations
- texts
Who do people called the father of “scientific anatomy?
Vesalius
Vesalius emphasized___and___over textual authority.
experience and observation
What was the major change that Vesalius advocated for?
Idea that as a medical student reading isn’t enough, you have to go in and dissect yourself.
Vesalius:__to the hands.
Homage
What was Vesalius’ trademark?
muscles
What do we get a better idea of through Vesalius’ direct observation?
nerves, skeleton, arteries
What part of the body held symbolic significance for Vesalius?
hands
What did the hand represent for Vesalius?
Represented a revival of anatomy done by physicians with their own hands.
How did Vesalius repeat some of Galen’s mistakes?
By transposing some of Galen’s animal characteristics to the human body,
Why was there a lot of opposition to Vesalius work?
because he openly argued with elders about role of authority versus experience.
Why is the title page from Fabrics symbolic?
- In it he includes the barber-surgeons. These men are now being displaced in favour of medically-trained men
- the animals are cast aside
- also the seat above where the professor sat was replaced by a skeleton suggesting that Galen’s texts were as good as dead.
How many mistakes did Vesalius claim to have found in Galen’s work?
300+
What wer discrepancies between Galen’s anatomical drawing and the dissections explained away with?
Intricacies of criminal bodies–the idea that criminals have physically different bodies.
Who was William Hogarth?
British illustrator, series on law and medicine
What was Hogarth’s caricature on?
What anatomy has become. Has it gone to far? Using criminals before they died?
Why were very few female bodies dissected?
Some were deemed as having imperfect bodies. They were not strong enough to handle male medicine.
How were female genital organs explained in comparison to males? Why?
as lesser due to differences in size, complexion, and orientation.
What raised the question of whether it was ethically okay to use bodies?
Eduard Pernkopt, Atlas of Human Anatomy
-bodies from concentration camps
Does anatomy, in the way that Vesalius revived it, modernize medicine?
He as a realist. Wanted to see direct evidence.e Without him, we would not have been introduced to a new way of thinking about bodies.
Does anatomy separate medicine from other forms of healing?
Still playing out in medical discussions
Ex using wax figures instead of real bodies in medical school.
Does anatomy bond the profession together in ritual and training through an intimate interaction with bodies and mortality?
You might get more out of it then reading book.. Learning respect, it’s useful, learning ethics, and learning morals.
What has the study of modern medicine relied on?
Contested notions of the role of experience over standardized learning.
Anatomy focuses on the individual body while emphasizing what?
universal or standard representations of what is normal
