Medicine Stands Still Flashcards
What did people think caused disease?
God, bad smells, everyday life, supernatural, Four Humours.
What was the theory of the Four Humours?
Hippocrates and Galen thought that the body was made of the 4 elements and that an imbalance in the elements caused people to be ill.
Who was the first physician that regarded the body as a whole rather than as individual parts?
Hippocrates
Who believed that diet and rest were important for a patient’s recovery?
Hippocrates
Who believed in the importance of listening to a patient’s pulse?
Galen
What did Galen dissect to better understand the human body?
Animals (NOT HUMANS!!!)
Why couldn’t anyone criticise Galen?
The Church liked his ideas as he referred to the ‘Creator’ and believe in the soul. Therefore they thought his ideas were right and couldn’t be improved.
Who treated patients?
Physicians (doctors who were trained at universities), barber surgeons, apothecary chemists, wise women, travelling healers, herbalists in monasteries.
What methods of diagnosis were used?
Using urine charts and zodiac charts, used the theory of the Four Humours.
What methods of treatment were used?
Bloodletting, herbal medicine, purging, amputation, cauterisation.
Name a similarity between Greeks and Islamic.
Both loved learning and this encouraged them to make medical developments. Both believe in the importance of hygiene. Both believe in the Four Humours.
Name a difference between Greek and Islamic.
The Greeks believed in God curing sick people. The Islamic believed in doctors curing sick people.
What did Rhazes (c865-c925) do?
Distinguished measles from smallpox for the first time, wrote over 150 books, was critical of Galen- wrote Doubts about Galen.
What did Avicenna (980-1037) do?
Wrote the Canon of Medicine which listed the properties of 760 different drugs and discussed anorexia and obesity.
What did Ibn al-Nafis do?
Concluded that Galen was wrong about how the heart worked, claiming that blood circulated via the lungs.
