Medicine through time 1500 - 1700: Renaissance

Question 1

How had new Renaissance technology advance development of medicine?

Answer 1

• Art meant people could depict the body more accurately
• Exploration brought intercontinental co-operation and new plants
• The printing press made mass production of books possible
• New machinery helped people comprehend the body, for example the pump inspired Harvey when learning about the heart.

Question 2

How had changing attitudes in the Renaissance influenced development of medicine?

Answer 2

• People were encouraged to experiment thanks to people such as Vesalius and Paracelsus
• The Reformation’s effect of the reduced power of the church led to challenging old ideas and moving away from the supernatural.
• There was now practical training in hospitals
• The spread of dissection led to rapid advancement in anatomy

Question 3

What was the Royal Society and how did it influence medicine?

Answer 3

Due to the scientific revolution logic and reason were now fashionable, leading to the founding of the Royal Society in 1645. It gave money to adventurous scientists and translated foreign books.

Question 4

Who was Vesalius? What did he do?

Answer 4

A professor of surgery born in 1514 in Brussels.

• Wrote The Fabric of the Human Body in 1543
• Jawbone is one piece not 2
• No holes in the septum
• Breastbone made of three parts not seven
• Liver has no lobes not five

Question 5

Who was Harvey and what did he do?

Answer 5

Born in 1578 in Kent and was an anatomical lecturer.
-Published book on heart circulation 1628
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