Medicine Test 1

Question 1

People in medieval England followed the teaching of which church?

Answer 1

The Catholic Church

Question 2

True or False- Medieval people were very religious.

Answer 2

True, the church was an important part of medieval people’s lives.

Question 3

What is a tithe?

Answer 3

A part of your salary that you give to the church

Question 4

What is malnutrition?

Answer 4

The result of eating a diet that does not have the proper nutrients.

Question 5

What is famine?

Answer 5

An extreme lack of food.

Question 6

Why did the Church support the idea that God sent disease as a punishment for sin?

Answer 6

It meant that people connected what they did wrong with illness. When people got better they claimed it was a miracle and could then say God was real and made people better.

Question 7

How were lepers treated?

Answer 7

Lepers were banished from communities and isolated in leper houses. There was no formal care for lepers, only a few lazar houses did help people suffering from it.

Question 8

How did astrology link to the idea of illness and disease?

Answer 8

The alignment of the planets and stars was considered very important in diagnosing patients. During the Black Death was believed to have been caused by a bad alignment of the planets.

Question 9

What was a zodiac chart?

Answer 9

The zodiac chart represented the different parts of the human body and depending on the positioning of the moon, whether a medical procedure could be carried out on that part of the body.

Question 10

Was the Theory of the Four Humours natural or supernatural?

Answer 10

Natural

Question 11

Name the four humours

Answer 11

Blood, Phlegm, Black bile and Yellow bile

Question 12

In what state did the Four Humours have to be for a patient to be healthy?

Answer 12

The humours has to be in balance

Question 13

How did the Four Humours supposedly link to nature?

Answer 13

An example was winter, which was cold and wet, meant the body produced too much phlegm causing coughs and colds in the patient.

Question 14

Which ancient Greek doctor established the Theory of the Four Humours?

Answer 14

Hippocrates

Question 15

How did the ancient Roman doctor, Galen further develop this Theory?

Answer 15

Galen developed the ‘Theory of the Opposites’ where the humours were balanced by using the opposite humour, e.g. too much phlegm in the winter was balanced yellow bile in the summer.

Question 16

Why were these two theories so significant?

Answer 16

They were important as the theories covered almost every type of illness that occurred, because there was no other scientific explanation for the cause of disease.

Question 17

How did the church link to the ideas of Galen?

Answer 17

Galen believed in the idea of the soul which fitted in well with the ideas of the church, who believed God created man in his image, and so they promoted his teachings.

Question 18

Did physicians (doctors) spend more time reading classical books or treating their patients?

Answer 18

Medieval physicians spent more time reading books.

Question 19

How much scientific understanding of the world existed during the medieval period?

Answer 19

There was a lack of scientific understanding meaning knowledge was limited. Physicians and students tried to make new discoveries fit into old theories, rather than experimenting to explain the discoveries.

Question 20

What is vivisection?

Answer 20

Criminals sentenced to death by vivisection had their bodies cut open (dissected) and examined by physicians and medical students.

Question 21

What was a barber surgeon?

Answer 21

Barbers worked with sharp knives, so as well as giving people haircuts, they also carried out medical procedures such as blood-letting. Overt-time, they took on smaller surgeries.

Question 22

What was the miasma theory?

Answer 22

The belief that bad air was filled with harmful fumes and caused disease.

Question 23

What did physician use to help examine urine?

Answer 23

Physicians used urine charts. They would carefully check the colour, thickness, smell and even taste of the urine before making a diagnosis.

Question 24

During the medieval period was there more change or continuity regarding medical ideas? And why?

Answer 24

Continuity, very few changes.

There was little understanding because of the lack of scientific understanding and the power of the church. There was still a lack of knowledge that held back developments of treatments that worked but there was some success in how people prevented disease. They just didn’t know why.