Medicine Through Time Flashcards
What does ‘People Eat Green Rolos During Rows In Turkey’ stand for?
prehistoric, egyptian, greek, romans, dark ages, renaissance, industrial, twentieth century
What are the themes in medicine?
Disease and infection, surgery and anatomy, public health
What time periods are included in the ‘ancient world’?
Prehistoric, egyptians, greeks, romans
What is the definition of disease and infection?
The story through time of what people thought made them ill and how they tried to treat it.
What is the definition of surgery and anatomy?
The story of developing understanding of how the human body worked and improving operations
What is the definition of public health?
The story of different governments through history and what they did to improve the health of their people
What theme does the prehistoric belief that ilness was caused by evil spirits in your body relate to?
Disease and infection
Why did many people in the pre-historic era develop osteoarthritis?
Because they had physically demanding lifestyles, which involved the continual tasks of hunting and gathering food for survival.
What was trephining/trepanning ?
An operation in which a hole was made in a person’s head and a piece of skull was removed.
Why was trephining/trepanning done?
Because people in the prehstoric era though that it was a way to let out evil spirits and to stop the pain/ilness
What type of people could treat you in the pre-historic era ?
Medicine men and witch doctors. A witch doctor would sometimes dress up like an animal when treating you
What are some examples of herbal treatments used in the prehistoric era?
Chickweed leaves to treat ulcers and violets, which were used as an antiseptic.
What do antiseptics do?
Antiseptics prevent bacteria and germs from getting into open wounds
Which member of the family was usually involved in treating ilness in the prehistoric era?
The women of each family
How long did people in the prehistoric era live up to?
Usually no more than 40 years old
Where does our knowledge of prehistoric medicine come from?
Archaeological remains and studying aboriginal people in australia
What is a “change” in the history of medicine?
Something to do with D&I, S&A or PH, which is different between time periods.
What is a “continuity” in the history of medicine?
Something to do with D&I, S&A or PH, which stays the same between different time periods.
What is the Egyptian channel theory?
The Egyptian belief that illnesses were caused by blocked channels in the body. There was no scientific proof behind this and it was belief based. However, the channel theory lead to a change in how ill people were treated, even though it didn’t work.
What theme does the channel theory belong too?
Disease and infection
Who was the Egyptian Goddess of war?
Sekhmet
What did Egyptian believe that Sekhmet had the power to do?
The power to cast illness upon anyone she wanted and so this was a continuation of the belief of supernatural causes of illness.
How did embalming help surgery and anatomy in the Egyptian era?
Embalming lead to the identification of the organs in the human body, which meant that there was now a new understanding of how the body worked.
What did the Egyptians develop to help with surgery?
Bronze, surgical tools
What was a change in public health in the Egyptian era?
The Pharaoh would send ‘help’ to an ill person;however, only if he knew you and liked you. This was the beginning of public health, as a government was influencing the health of a country.
What is a “natural” cause of disease?
If the explanation for the disease is based on scientific deduction, observation and physical evidence.
What is a “supernatural” cause of disease?
If the explanation for the disease/illness is based on beliefs, rather than any physical or scientific evidence.
What is a general change in Egyptian medicine across all the themes?
The development of papyrus and hieroglyphics because unlike the prehistoric era beforehand, people were actually able to write down medical procedures/information, which allowed for more communication to occur between different areas.
What are the 7 factors used in medicine?
war, communication, government, individuals, chance, science & technology, religion
What is an example of a factor impacting Egyptian medicine?
Religion- this is because it was ritual at the time to remove all organs from the body and prepare them for the after-life, which led to a wider understanding of how the whole body worked.
What happened at Asclepions in the Greek era?
People would go to pray to the Greek God of healing (Asclepios) and exercise, in a attempt to get better.
Who was the Greek God of healing?
Asclepios
What is a corpus?
A collection
What was Hippocrates nicknamed?
The Father of medicine
Who created the idea and job of being a doctor?
Hippocrates
What are some things Hippocrates believed in and do?
- Each disease having a natural cause
- He came up with many detailed cures/treatments and the Hippocratic corpus holds all his work
- Diagnosis and treatment
- Told others’ to approach patients in a caring manner
- Wrote many detailed books
What is the Hippocratic oath?
an oath stating the obligations and proper conduct of doctors , formerly taken by those beginning medical practice.
Why is Hippocrates so important in the history of medicine?
- He helped prove his belief that all sicknesses and diseases were the cause of natural occurrences, rather than the supernatural
- He began the idea of diagnosis then treatment to see any patterns in certain illnesses ( this is still a method that is used to this day).
Who invented the 4 humours theory?
Aristotle, although it was developed by hippocrates.
What season and humour does air belong to?
Spring and blood
What season and humour does fire belong to ?
Fire and yellow bile
What season and humour does earth belong to ?
Autumn and black bile
What season and humour does water belong to?
Winter and phlegm?
What are the 4 humours?
Black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood
What did Greeks believe made you healthy?
Balanced humours
What did Greek medicines aim to do ?
Balance peoples’ humours
How did Greeks try to balance humours?
Through bleeding, purging, vomiting and by making sure people were in warm and dry conditions
How many years was the 4 humours theory followed through for?
2000 years, as there wasn’t really any science behind the egyptian channel theory
What were changes for disease and infection in the greek era ?
- Hippocrates believed that all diseases had natural causes, so this was a change to the previous supernatural beliefs in the Egyptian era.
- The 4 humours theory actually worked sometimes and there was science behind this theory.
- Alexandria had the biggest library in the world, which was great for training.
What was a continuity for disease and infection in the greek era?
Asclepions were places that sick people would go to pray to the greek God Asclepios , in an attempt to get better. Hence this was a continuity, as the egyptians would also pray to their supernatural God, Sekhmet
