MEDICINE - Renaissance And The Great Plague Flashcards
When did the Great Plague start?
1665
Differences to the Black Death?
Although the diseases were the same, treatments and prevention methods were different.
For example, fewer people believed the theory of Four Humours and there was an understanding that it could be transmitted person to person.
What are plague doctors?
Plague doctors were doctors who wore a costume including a bird-like mask with sweet-smelling herbs in the beak and a long wax-coated cloak to prevent the contraction of the plague.
Birds were also seen to attract disease to help cure the patient.
How did the government take action?
There was a much better response to the Great Plague.
For example, the king ordered regular street cleanings, banning of cats and dogs, isolation time periods, Carts collecting the dead bodies and large gatherings were banned.
New treatments for the Great Plague?
The theory of transference - people tried to transfer the plague to other animals such as birds.
“Sweating out the disease” - Wrapped in blankets and put by fire to “sweat” the plague out of them.
Herbal Remedies mixed by Quack Doctors or Apothercaries.
What type of plague was the Great Plague?
Bubonic ( carried through animals)
What is the estimated death toll?
There was over 100,000 deaths from the plague.
Was there much progress from the Black Death to the Great Plague?
Many new treatments and understandings were created in the Great Plague that did not exist in the Black death. There was some progress such as “Governmental Action”.
What was the name given to the new philosophy the belief that people should make up their own minds when discovering the truth around them, not be dictated to by old ideas and authorities?
Humanism
This theory inspired key individuals such as Andreas Vesalius to reject Galen’s ideas and the authority of the Church by dissecting humans.
Thomas Sydenham’s key idea
It was better to find the root cause of an illness, rather than treat the symptoms separately.
In around 1440, Johannes Gutenberg, a German goldsmith, invented the first…
Printing press
This enabled medical books containing new ideas and theories to be distributed around Europe, weakening the control of the Catholic Church
In 1662 The Royal Society received its royal charter form which English Monarch?
Charles II
The Royal Society’s motto was ‘ Nullius in verba’ which translates from Latin into English as….
Take nobody’s word for it
In this time period physicians visited hospitals and hospitals had their own apothecaries to mix the required herbal medicines. Is this information an example of continuity or change?
Change
In 1536 Henry VIII dramatically changed the availability of hospital care in England by destroying monasteries. What is the correct historical term given to this policy?
The dissolution of the monasteries.
