Medicine through time- Renaissance Flashcards
When was the renaissance?
1500-1700 or the 16th to 18th centuries
Which factors impacted medicine in the renaissance period?
governments, artists, scientific methods, printing press, discovery of the new world, invention of new weapons, church reform
Who was Thomas Sydenham?
scientist who publishes Observationes Medicae, theorising that illness was caused by external factors and not the four humours
Who was Andreas Vesalius?
Famous anatomist that disproved Galen’s theory on the human body and encouraged dissection
Who was William Harvey?
Responsible for the theory that blood circulated around the body, disproving Galen’s idea that it was produced in the liver
How did the church change medicine in the renaissance period?
The reformation and the dissolution of monasteries in 1536 meant there was much less church influence on medicine, decreasing the amount of hospitals but allowing for greater growth and new scientific ideas
What was alchemy?
An early form of chemistry
what was humanism?
people who rejected the idea that God created the universe and was responsible for everything
What was transference?
the idea that you can transfer a disease to something like a live chicken to get rid of the disease
What did people use barometers and thermometers from?
Instruments to measure weather conditions to investigate a link between weather and outbreaks of disease
What was medical chemistry?
Chemical cures for disease as opposed to relying on herbs and bloodletting
What was a quack doctor?
someone with no qualifications that sold their services as a doctor or apothecary
What were plague/pest/pox houses?
new types of hospitals that isolated and catered for people suffering from the plague, smallpox and other diseases
What ideas about medicine remained the same from the medieval period?
Miasma, God’s punishment/test, urine charts
What were the royal society and what did they do?
Wrote scientific journals, academic books and made discoveries, endorsed by the king. Members included Newton, Pepys and Halley
Why was the royal society significant?
gave funding for translations of texts and encouraged members to write in English as well as making the scientific journals publicly available so they would be accessible. Also, they gave information without a religious influence and were endorsed by the King to give them credibility
What did Leuwenhoek discover?
He discovered bacteria which he called animalcules
What did Hooke do?
Used his own microscope to draw animalcules
How did the printing press improve medical knowledge?
Allowed books and ideas to be spread across Europe and produced more quickly as well as translations and new texts
Who was Pare?
physician who translated Vesalius’ works into French and wrote ‘works on surgery’
When was the Great Plague?
1665
What were ligatures?
material used to tie the blood vessels during surgery
What did Vesalius discover?
found over 300 mistakes in Galen’s works, discovered that the jaw came in two parts, published fabric of the human body
What did Harvey do and discover?
royal doctor for James I, proved that blood was pumped around the body, wrote anatomical account of the motion of the heart and blood in animals
What did Sydenham do and discover?
wrote Observationes Medicae, discovered disease to be separate from the body, encourages observation of patients
What did people believe caused disease in the renaissance period?
decreased belief- urine charts, astrology, four humours
continued/new belief-miasma, animalcules
What did people use to treat disease in the renaissance period?
chemical cures, transference, bleeding and purging
What was the death toll in the great plague?
100,000 people died (1 in 5 londoners)
What did people believe caused the great plague?
astrology, God’s punishment, miasma, other people
How did people treat the great plague?
quarantine with family, sweating the disease out, strapping live chickens to buboes and herbal remedies
What action did the government take in the great plague?
decreed regular fasting, banning mas gatherings, public cleanings and fires on street corners, cull on street animals, plague victims quarantined for 28 days in pest houses or had a red cross painted on their own houses
How did physicians and healers recommend preventing the plague?
plague water, smoking tobacco, catching syphilis, changing diet, carrying pomanders
What did people do to try and prevent disease in the medieval period?
superstition and prayer, regimen Sanitates, avoiding miasma, removal of sewage and public cleaning
