Medicine through time Flashcards
What is spontaneous generation?
(around 350 BC)
The idea that living organisms can spring into existence from non-living matter. Disproved by Pasteur in 1864.
What was Pasteur’s ‘Germ Theory’? (1861)
Bacteria are the cause of disease.
Germ theory states that specific microscopic organisms are the cause of specific diseases.
How did Pasteur prove that microbes were in the air?
He heated multiple liquids and left only one exposed to the air.
Who was Robert Koch?
(1876)
He proved Pasteur’s ‘Germ Theory’. He proved that specific microbes caused specific diseases, examining the blood of cows that had died of anthrax. Developed cure to TB.
What was the Black Death, how did it start?
(1346-52)
An epidemic of the Bubonic plague.
It started after a Crimean and Asian boat docked in Sicily holding disease-ridden rats.
How did people try to treat the Black Death? How many died in England?
Quarantining and keeping distance. Antiserum.
Between 30-40%, around 2,000,000
What was the scientific method?
Francis Bacon created the scientific method. The practice of experimenting, observing and creating a conclusion.
Who was Thomas Sydenham and what did he do?
(1676)
In ‘Observationes Medicae’, Sydenham released information about the differences between Scarlet Fever and The Measles.
What did Sydenham state about the causes of disease and how to treat them?
Sydenham wrote that diseases were caused by external factors. Diseases should be treated based on the disease as a whole and not on each individual symptom.
What was the Royal Society?
(1660)
The Royal Society was founded to bring together leading scientists and members of the public to bring about new ideas. Charles ll gave it a Royal Charter that assisted in it becoming extremely well respected among all members of society.
What did Andreas Vesalius do?
(1543 - ‘The Fabric of the Human Body)
Vesalius had people steal the bodies of hanged criminals and dissect them to gain a deeper insight into the human body. He employed people to draw out his discoveries for physicians to have an improved understanding and enhanced surgical techniques.
Who was William Harvey?
Harvey taught the importance of doctor’s observing and recording a patient’s symptoms rather than relying on old textbooks. He influenced Sydenham and proved Vesaluis’ theory.
What did Harvey discover about blood?
(1628)
Harvey discovered the process of blood circulation by researching Vesaluis’ theory that blood flowed towards the heart (which opposed Galen’s). Harvey discovered that arteries and veins were part of one system and that blood was pumped around the body by the heart.
What was Hippocrates’ ‘Theory of the Four Humours’?
Phlegm, Yellow Bile, Black Bile and Blood made up the human body. An imbalance of humours caused disease and illness.
What was Galen’s ‘Theory of Opposites’?
The theory stated the opposite of a humour should be applied if imbalanced. Galen gained his information by dissecting pigs and monkeys.
Treatments linked to the ‘Theory of the Four Humours’:
- Herbal Remedies?
-Uroscopy?
-Leeches?
-Phlebotomy
-Cupping?
-Purging?
-Herbal Remedies were made from herbs, roots, minerals and animal parts. Mostly onion, garlic and honey - usually applied by womanly figures.
-Uroscopy was examining the patient’s urine for smells, colours, even taste.
-Phlebotomy is drawing blood to examine it.
-Cupping is applying multiple heated cups to the back to ease pain.
-Purging is self-vomiting.
What was the Bubonic Plague?
(1347-1351)
The more common plague, carried through the bloodstream of rats. When fleas bit the rats they became infected and then hopped onto other rats and/or humans then bit them and moved onto another.
What was the Pneumonic Plague?
(1348-1349)
Less common, more deadly. It was caught by breathing in the germs released by an infected person when coughing or sneezing.
Explanations of the Black Death (bubonic) at the time?
Flagellants blamed the Lord, going from town to town whipping themselves an unknowingly spreading the disease.
Doctor’s blamed miasma - bad smells in the filthy towns.
Preventions of the Black Death at the time?
General public’s advice…
The Church’s advice…
The Doctor’s advice…
General public stated that people should:
- sing and dance and avoid anything sad
- stop visiting the infected
- follow the Church’s advice
The Church said:
- pray, pilgrimage
- stop sinning
- self-flagellate
- give money to the Church
Doctors stated:
- escape outbroken areas
- carry a posy of flowers or fragrant herbs
- avoid bathing as it lets in miasma
What did Galen say about the human body?
Galen stated that the role of the liver was to produce blood which was constantly being burned up in the body, in the same way as food.
He said that veins carried blood and air through the body.
Blood passed from one side of the heart to the other by invisible holes in the septum.
How did Harvey disprove Galen’s ideas?
He dissected cold blooded animals whose hearts beat slowly enough for Harvey to observe the movement of.
He calculated that the amount of blood flowing through our bodies was three times the weight of a man which meant it had to be continuously pumped around the body as we could not burn it.
How did Marcello Malpighi solve
What was Aseptic Surgery?
(1865)(1890s)
Medical equipment was steam sterilised whilst the room was air sterilised to kill germs. All medical staff had to wash before entering the surgery and wore clean gowns and rubber gloves.
Joseph Lister’s Carbolic Acid.
