Medicine: Renaissance Flashcards
What was the Renaissance?
The end of the Middle Age and the rebirth of ancient ideas
How far did ideas about disease change during the Renaissance?
During the renaissance there were still the same ideas about the cause of disease but more people looked to the rational causes and fewer turned to a God to cure disease
The 3 main reasons for the changes in attitudes were:
-power of church
-printing press
-scientific revolution
How far did ideas about disease change during the Renaissance?
-THE POWER OF THE CHURCH
- Power was declining
- Science questioned the bible (Copernicus: we are not the centre of the universe = astrology not cause of disease)
- Henry VIII set up CofE which caused reformation of monarchy
How far did ideas about disease change during the Renaissance?
-PRINTING PRESS
- Invented around 1450s
- Printed quickly and accurately
- Ideas could spread further and faster
- Communication was not controlled by the Church (less limited)
How far did ideas about disease change during the Renaissance?
-SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
- More science in education
- Printing press meant greater access to ideas
- Realised ‘the Ancients’ loved inquiry, inspired Paré’s bezoar stone, criminal and poison experiment
- Used scientific methods to find answers
Charles II
- He ruled over England from 1660 to 1685
- He represents the ideas of Renaissance well:
- On one hand he helped science develop by setting up the Royal Society
- On the other, he believed he had power to cure scrofula by touch
What can we learn about Renaissance medicine from the case study of Charles II?
- Ignorance and attitudes of physicians hindered progress
- When Charles II had a stroke in 1685 his physicians repeatedly bled and purged him, amongst a few supernatural techniques, until he died of blood loss 4 days later
- Charles II died because his physicians were scared of change and didn’t trust the new science-developed ideas and cures because they were too new and different to what they had grown up learning
- Their old theories had already been reliable to them since Ancient Rome and were familiar and comfortable
What was the Royal Society?
- Took place weekly in London, 1645
- Discussed new ideas in physics, astronomy, medicine, etc.
- Was named ‘Royal Society’ in 1662 when King Charles II attended meetings
Who was Thomas Sydenham?
- He believed that each disease was different and that it was intranet to identify the exact disease so the correct remedy could be used to cure it
- His ideas included taking a patient’s pulse pulse to make the correct diagnosis, as well as doctors taking a full history of the patient’s health health and symptoms and recording the illness
- Wrote detailed descriptions of illness so people could study and recognise it, e.g. Scarlet fever
What was William Harvey’s anatomical investigation in Padua?
- In dissections of the heart he tried to pump past the valves in the veins, but couldn’t
- Also measured amount of blood moved by each heartbeat and calculated how much blood was in the body
What was William Harvey’s anatomical investigation in England when he returned from Italy in 1602?
- On his return, became successful physician working for King James I
- Continued his research on heart by conducting vivisection on cold-blooded animals (slow heartbeats) so he could see the movements of each muscle in the heart
How did William Harvey prove Galen wrong?
- Galen had thought new blood was produced in liver to replace blood that was burnt up in body
- Harvey discovered that blood flowed just one-way and proved that heart worked like water pump, pumping blood around body again and again
What was the POSITIVE immediate impact of William Harvey’s discovery on blood circulation?
+ 1628 published his findings in a book entitled ‘An Anatomical Study of the Motion of the Heart and of the Blood in Animals’
What was the LIMITED immediate impact of William Harvey’s discovery on blood circulation?
- Doctors struggled to believe Galen was wrong
- Harvey’s ideas didn’t improve health in Renaissance as he failed to develop new or better treatments
- Doctors didn’t understand blood transfusions and used methods which were fatally unsuccessful
What was the long term impact of William Harvey’s discovery on blood circulation?
+ 50 years after his discoveries first published, University of Paris taught Harvey’s ideas instead of Galen’s
+ 300 years later, when blood groups were discovered, Harvey’s ideas used to create first blood transfusion