Medicine 1250 - 1500 Flashcards
what did astrology have to do with cause of disease in the medieval age
the alignment of planets and stars was thought to cause diseases
astrology was oftentimes used to diagnose patients
what are the four humours
created by Hippocrates and was the idea that humans had four humours in their bodies that made people ill when they were unbalanced blood phlegm yellow bile black bile
what is the theory of the opposites
Galen developed the theory of four humours futher more, as well as bledding , purging he reccommended balanceing the humours by giving the opopsite of thier symptoms
give an example of the theory of opposite
if they had too much phlegm (linked to water and cold) they’d be given a hot pepper
what are the four humours linked to
phlegm - water and winter (wet, cold)
blood - air and spring (wet, hot)
yellow bile - fire and summer (hot , dry)
black bile - earth and autumn (dry, cold)
what was miasma
bad air that people thought carried disease, was related to God because bad smells = sins
why was Galen important on middle age medicine
he drew detailed diagrams of the human anatomy using the knowledge he gained from operating on wounded gladiator and carrying out dissections (on animals)
why did Galen dissect only animals bodies
because the church was against dissecting humans bodies so he had to dissection animals
name two rational treatments during the medieval ages in connection to the four humours
bloodletting - to balance humours was done by cutting a vein , using leaches or cupping, occasionally preformed by physicians but mostly barber-surgeons or non-medical persons
purging - to re-balance humours involved making patient vomit or go to toilet to remove food from body, emetics (enemas) or laxatives mixed by apothecaries or wise women
name four methods of preventing illness by religious/supernatural methods
1) carrying lucky charms or amulets
2) chanting incantations
3) self-punishment (flagellation)
4) living Christian life (praying, going to church and obeying the commandments
name six rational methods of preventing illness
1) purifying the air (bon fires, lighting candles)
2) bleeding and purging
3) not overeating
4) exercising
5) bathing and washing
6) trying to keep streets clean
what was the most common type of remedy
herbal remedies which were to be drunk, sniffed or bathed in, made by apothecaries
name some religious treatments
praying
fasting
going on pilgrimages
praying for a special mass to be said
name some supernatural treatments
they included specific ideas for certain illnesses e.g. hanging a magpie beak around your neck to cure toothache
named the four people that treated the sick
1) barber-surgeons
2) apothecaries
3) physicians
4) care in the home/ women
what qualifications did barber-surgeons have to treat people
barbers with no training who performed bloodletting, pulling teeth and lancing boils also cut hair
did basic surgery like amputation (very low success rate)
cost less than physicians
what qualifications did apothecaries have to treat people
people who received training but no medical qualification, mixed medicine and ointments based on own knowledge or direction of a physicians
cost less than physicians
what qualifications did physicians have to treat people
medically trained at university and passed exams
diagnosed illnesses and treatments, or sent patients to the apothecaries or barber-surgeons , expensive, so mainly used by wealthy people
very few of them, with women physicians incredibly rare
how did people get treated at home
village ‘wise woman’, often times the lady of the manor would also tend to the sick in her homes for free
what did physicians do
observed patients symptoms and checked pulse, skin colour and urine (for both colour and taste) and consulted urine charts in handbooks
consulted zodiac charts to help diagnose the illness and work out best time to treat and either treated patients themselves or sent them to barber-surgeons or apothecaries
what were medieval hospitals, give an example
places for travellers and pilgrims to to stay on journeys,they were a place for recovering , for old people and those that couldn’t look after themselves rather then the sick run by the church e.g. St Bartholomew’s in London
when did the black death breakout
1348
what percentage of England did the black death kill
40%
what was the black death
the bubonic plague carried by fleas living on the back of rats which is passed to humans when an infected flea bites them and the diseases enters the blood
name three ways people thought was how the black death happened
religion: God sent the plague as a punishment for people’s sins
outsiders: strangers or withes has caused the diseases
miasma: bad air or smells caused by decaying rubbish
name three ways people try to avoid the black death
praying and fasting: because people believed that God had sent the diseases, it made sense to show God they were sorry by punishing themselves
not letting unknown people enter the town or village
clearing up the rubbish from the streets, carrying herbs and spices to avoid breathing the ‘bad air’
what the symptoms of the black deaths
swelling of the lymph glands into large lumps filled with pus
fever and chills
headaches
vomiting, diarrhoea, and abdominal pains
what were the treatments fro the black death
praying and holding lucky charms
cutting open the buboes to drain the pus
holding bread against the buboes, then burying it in the ground
eating cool things and taking cold baths
