Medicine- Renaissance Flashcards
What ideas of causes changed and stayed the same in the Renaissance
Change: fewer believed in supernatural and religious causes
The Church had less influence so less people believed God caused disease
A more scientific approach began when diagnosing.
Continuity: miasma was still believed and was popular during epidemics
Four humours was still an accepted explanation but by 1700, little physicians believed in it.
Who is Thomas Sydenham and what did he do
He wrote Observationes Medicae (1676) outliining his theories.
He observed his patients and recorded symptoms in detail and was key in the idea that disease had nothing to do with the person who had it.
Based treatments on the disease, not individual symptoms.
Sydenham (and others) influenced the work of physicians and they stopped using astrology and urine charts for treatment and diagnosis.
Physicians now carried out more direct observations of their patients.
What two ways allowed new ideas to be communicated across the world
Printing press: invented in 1440 by Gutenberg allowed many exact copies of text to be produced quickly; therefore books with scientific ideas could be shared more effectively and quickly without the Church preventing its publication.
Royal Society: aimed to share scientific knowledge and ideas through recording results of experiment.
It sponsored scientists for research and from 1665, they published the Philosophical Transactions where scientists could share their work and build on each other’s research and theories could be confirmed or dismissed and this news could be spread very quickly.
How did hospitals change
By 1500, hospitals were treating more sick people with most having their own apothecaries and frequently visiting physicians.
In 1536, the dissolution of the monasteries in England by Henry VIII caused most hospitals to close.
Some free hospitals were set up but not until the 1700s did the number of hospitals return to pre-dissolution levels.
More pest houses were built where people with specific contagious diseases could go for care.
Physicians began to run hospitals as they focused on treating the sick.
Who is William Harvey and why is he important
Carried out public dissection’s and discovered the process of blood circulation.
Disproved over 300 of Galen’s theories and questioned others.
He showed how the body worked and inspired others to find out more as his work was being taught by 1700.
He used observation and dissection to get his results and diagnosis’- this was copied by others.
His discoveries left unanswered questions, encouraging others to further experiment.
Studied medicine at Cambridge, then Padma and became a lecturer of anatomy in London.
What did Harvey find out about the circulation of blood
He researched Vesalius’ theory that blood flowed towards the heart and proved it by dissecting bodies.
He disproved Galen’s theory that blood was produced in the liver and absorbed into the body.
He was influenced by mechanical water pumps which made him think that humans worked the same.
He discovered that veins and arteries were part of one system and that blood was pumped around the body by the heart.
What changed and stayed the same for apothecaries and surgeons
Change: Trained through guild systems as apprentices, becoming masters eventually and needed a license which were only issued after completing training.
Continuity: Not given training, seen as inferior to physicians and were cheaper.
What changed and stayed the same for physicians
Change: More variety of medical books and detailed drawings, new anatomy ideas led to more practical and experimental physicians; dissections were legalised but took time to be common.
Continuity: Still trained, training took many years and was based on textbooks, not practical experience.
What few changes in preventions and treatment were there
More emphasis on removing miasma by removing rubbish.
People changed clothes regularly to keep clean.
New herbal remedies were discovered but only some were effective.
Transference led people to rub objects on them to transfer their disease to that object.
Alchemy caused chemical cures using metals/minerals to be popular.
New knowledge had a limited impact because: new ideas were slow to be accepted, they had no direct use in improving treatment or prevention and they didn’t improve understanding of causes.
Who is Vesalius
Studied medicine in 1533, did many dissections making many discoveries and wrote his famous book: On the fabric of the Human Body in 1543.
He improved understanding of the human body making the study of anatomy central to medicine.
Disproved some of Galen’s theories encouraging others to question his work, he also influenced others to carry out dissections and make further discoveries.
His work was widely published which included detailed illustrations of the human body.
What new treatments and causes were believed during The Great Plague, 1665
Causes: miasma was by far the most commonly believed cause.
Far less people believed it was caused by an imbalance of the Four Humours.
It was known that disease could spread from person to person.
Treatments: many used herbal remedies mixed by apothecaries or quack doctors.
The theory of transference led people trying to transfer the disease to an object by rubbing it on themselves.
It was believed the disease could be sweat out, so people would be wrapped in thick blankets close to a fire.
How did the government try to prevent the spread of The Great Plague, 1655
Theatres were closed and large gatherings banned.
Dogs and cats were killed.
Barrels of tar were burned in streets.
Carts collected the dead bodies every day and buried them in deep mass graves.
A household was boarded into its home for 40 days or taken to the pest house if a member caught the plague.
Fasting and prayers were ordered.
Plague doctors wore a bird mask with herbs to ward off miasma, a waxed cloak so the disease couldn’t be absorbed and the beak to make the plague leave the patient.
