Medicine 2 Flashcards
What happened to Galen’s work in the Renaissance
- people began to question his work or first time
- continued to be studied
What happened to Christianity during Renaissance
- 16th century - Protestant Christianity spread to Britain during Reformation
- Catholic church influence reduced - no control over medical teaching
When was the printing press invented
1440s
Who invented the printing press
Johannes Gutenberg
Importance of printing press
- books could be quickly/easily copied
- didn’t have to be copied out by scribes (monks)
- ideas could be shared faster - old could be questioned/discussed, new could be widely discovered
Vesalius - work
- judge recognised his work - allowed him to dissect criminals
- criminal dissection findings contradicted Galen
- encouraged students to do own dissections
- made surgery/anatomy relevant
Vesalius - discoveries
- 1536 - discovered spermatic vessels
- 1539 - human bodies quite different to animals - contradicting Galen
- no holes in septum of heart
Vesalius - writing
- 1543 - ‘Fabric of the Human Body’
- high quality illustrations of body
- first public disagreement of Galen - encouraged other disagreement
About Paré
- learned surgery as apprentice to brother in Paris
- became French army surgeon
Paré - work
- ran out of hot oil for cauterisation (people thought gunshot wounds were poisonous - used only white + cream of rose oil, wounds quickly healed
- retrieved Galen’s ligature method - tying blood vessels
- designed ‘crow’s beak clamp’ to hold bleeding when tying ligature
- designed false limbs for soldiers
Paré - writing
- 1561 - Anatomie Universelle
- 1575 - Works on Surgery
- includes many translations of Vesalius - most surgeons didn’t speak Latin
What prompted Harvey’s work
- 16 - went to medical school in Padua
- tutor ‘Fabrius’ taught him about valves in veins
- Harvey returned to London fascinated - wanted to more about heart, specifically if heart was like water pump
What did people believe about blood before Harvey
Galen taught blood was regnerated
Harvey - work
- dissected cold blooded animals (lizards) with slower heartbeats to see how they work
- pushed metal rods down veins to prove blood circulated 1 way
- measured amount of blood pumped by heart to measure amount in body
What medical process did Harvey’s work aid
1901 - blood transfusions
Harvey - writing
- 1628 - published about movement of heart
- people lost patience + rejected ideas as he couldn’t prove arteries and veins connected by capillaries
Why did people continue to use medieval methods in Renaissance
- reluctancy to change
- whilst printing press was big development, most people couldn’t read/write
Medieval methods still used in Renaissance
- bloodletting/purging
- herbal remedies from apothecaries / barber surgeons - doctors expensive
- superstitious + religion - King’s touch curing scrofula
New Renaissance treatment methods
- Quacks sold medicines that didn’t work - College of Physicians licensed doctors to stop quackery
- 1700s - electricity used in some medical treatments, rarely effective
When did Great Plague hit London
1665
Similarities in Great Plague + Black Death response
- superstitious treatments - lucky charms, amulets, prayers, fasting
- bloodletting - worsened things (wounds to become infected)
- flagellants
- belief in miasma - carried herbs/flowers
- cleaned streets (gong farmers this time)
New responses to Great Plague
- victims quarantined when detected by examiner - house locked with red cross on door, watchmen made sure they didn’t leave
- crowded places (pubs) closed
- mass graves for plague bodies away from houses
- wild animals roaming London killed
What did people think ended Great Plague
Great Fire of London - sterilised parts of London by burning down houses
Why were there so few hospitals in Britain until 18th century
- 1530s - dissolution of monasteries, Henry VIII closed down most monasteries
- most hospitals had been set up + run by monasteries
Places on treatment in 18th / 19th century
- charity hospitals - Middlesex Infirmary
- dispensaries
- workhouses
- hospitals at universities or medical schools - King’s College Hospital
- cottage hospitals
Charity hospitals
- funded by rich
- free treatment to poor
- some specialised in certain illnesses
- some provided somewhere for mothers to give birth
Who could go to charity hospitals
- people who’d recover quickly - lack of space
- poor people with hardworking lives more likely to be admitted
Dispensaries
- free non-residential care for poor people
- non-surgical services - dentistry + midwifery
Workhouses
- large buildings peoples went to if they were to old/ill to work
- 1850s - successful movement improved conditions in workhouse infirmaries
University / medical school hospitals
Used as training schools for doctors + conducting scientific research
Cottage hospitals
- opened in 1960s
- ran by GPs
- care for people in rural areas
What did Florence Nightingale do in the Crimean War
- horror stories emerged about Barrack hospital in Scutari
- Sidney Herbert (Secretary of War + family friend) asked Nightingale to sort out nursing care
- army opposed women nurses, went anyway
- took 38 nurses with her
- ensured wards were clean + hygienic
- death rate 42% - 2% in 2 years
Florence Nightingale - writing
- 1859 - Notes on Nursing
- explained her methods
- emphasised need for hygiene + professional attitude
- standard textbook for next generation of nurses
Nightingale School of Nursing
- in St. Thomas’ Hospital London
- set it up with £44,000 raised by public
- gave nurses 3 years training before qualify
College of Physicians
- set up 1518
- read books by Galen
- studied recent medical developments
- doctors trained to get license - improved reputation, separated them from quack doctors
How did war impact surgery
Surgeons had to quickly find new treatments when dealing with injuries they hadn’t seen before (new weapons - cannons + guns)
How did explorations abroad impact treatment of disease in Britain
- brought back new ingredients for drugs
- guaiacum - supposedly cured syphilis
- quinine - for malaria
- bark from Cinchona
Surgeons reputation in renaissance
Not well respected compared to doctors
When were first set training standards for surgeons
1800 - London College for Surgeons - improved status
Hunter’s work
- robbed bodies from graves to dissect
- experimented on himself to learn about venereal diseases
- 1785 - treated aneurysm in man’s thigh without amputation (tied blood vessel to encourage blood flow)
- carried out tooth transplants
- surgeon to George III
Hunter’s school
- Hunter + brother William opened anatomy school in London
- taught more sophisticated/effective surgical methods - raised surgery’s status
- dissecting human corpses big part of teaching - Hunter at 2000 dissections over 12 years
- teacher to Edward Jenner
Hunter’s writing
- History of Teeth
- History of Venereal Diseases
Smallpox in 1700s
- one of most deadly diseases of time
- 1751 - over 3500 died in London
How was smallpox prevented before Jenner
Innoculation
Where did inoculation come from in Britain
Promoted by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu who learnt about it in Turkey
Inoculation
- small cut in patient’s arm
- soaked cut in pus from swelling of someone who’s had mild form of smallpox
Problem with inoculation
- had to experience smallpox before immunity
- many died as result
Jenner’s discovery
- heard milkmaid didn’t get smallpox but did get milder cowpox
- 1796 - injected James Phipps (small boy) with pus from sores of Sarah Nelmes (milkmaid with cowpox)
- six weeks later - gave boy smallpox germs but didn’t get disease
- 1798 - published findings
- doctors didn’t usually test their theories
Opposition to Jenner’s vaccine
- many worried about giving themselves disease from cows
- inoculation doctors saw it as threat to livelihood
- compulsory vaccination 1853 - campaigns formed against it, didn’t like government telling them what to do
Jenner’s vaccine sucess
- 1802 - parliment gave Jenner £10,000 for vaccination clinic, further £20,000 later
- 1840 - vaccination free for infants
- 1853 - compulsory
Problem with Jenner’s discovery
Didn’t know why vaccine worked so couldn’t develop more
