Medicine through time: The renaissance era Flashcards
What ideas continued from Medieval times?
The theory of miasma. The slight change was that people developed the idea that seeds in the air carried disease.
The idea of the four humours was challenged by educated people, but continued to be believed amongst lower uneducated classes.
How was Francastro’s Theory of Contagion a change from Medieval times?
It was the first time (1546) that the theory that disease could spread from person to person was written down. Before this, it was just a hunch.
How did the work of Thomas Sydenham improve diagnosis?
He developed the idea that diseases come in “families”.
His observations classified as well as diagnosed illnesses.
He believed disease happened because of something attacking the body, not because of imbalances within it.
What was the influence of the Printing Press in causing change?
Written ideas could be widely circulated, read and used to inspire further research theories.
It was harder for authorities like the Catholic Church to restrict the spread of new ideas that challenged old logic.
What role did the Royal Society play in causing change?
The Royal Society was established with the motto “take nobody’s word for it”. The principle was that the Society would make sure any new breakthroughs would withstand the attempt of authority to stop developments in knowledge.
The Royal Society receiving the backing of King Charles II meant that they were legitimised in publishing new work and ideas that were peer reviewed by leading scientists and medics in Britain.
They published work by Thomas Sydenham, Antonie Van Leeuenhowek’s work on tiny invisible microbes not visible to the naked eye and William Harvey’s work on circulation of the blood in the body.
What were continuities in prevention and treatment of disease?
Herbal remedies. The slight change was they became more exotic; coffee and cinchona bark was used for the first time.
Bleeding, sweating and purging remained popular treatments even as people lost faith in the idea of the Four Humours.
People still linked herbal treatments to the colour of humour. E.g. Yellow herbs were used to treat jaundice and red wine was used as a treatment for Smallpox.
The Regimen Santiatis was still followed but became less popular towards the end of the Renaissance.
What treatment and care in the community continued from Medieval times?
Before 1536, hospitals still offered a good diet and visits from a physician and/or apothecary.
How did treatment and care change?
People experimented with the arrival of coffee to cure depression and constipation.
In the second half of the Renaissance, people began to experiment with medical chemistry.
The Pharmacopoeia Londinensis published in 1618 included details on 122 chemical treatments including mercury and antimony, which was shown to cool the body down if given in small doses.
Pest Houses replaced Monastery Hospitals after 1536. Many towns and cities had one or more pesthouses accompanied by a cemetery or a waste pond nearby for disposal of the dead.
Upper class people far preferred treatment at home. Lady Grace Mildmay became famous for her home curing remedies.
What improvements were made in medical training?
Physicians were contracted to hospitals where they would visit patients and even, now, prescribe cures. This represented a change from Medieval times when they would have diagnosed patients but not prescribed treatments.
Physicians retrieved better training in universities and used more detailed textbooks that covered detailed descriptions of the human body and new forms of treatments such as medical chemistry.
From the 17th century onwards, learning became more hands-on and less about learning from ancient books.
What was the influence of the work of Vesalius?
Vesalius published “The Fabric of the Human Body” in 1543 which demonstrated the correct structure of the muscles, ligaments and bones in the human body. He corrected the mistakes Galen had made in Ancient times.
What was the impact of Harvey’s discovery of how blood circulates the body?
The quality of surgery greatly improved at the end of the Renaissance and more complex surgery could now take place.
In the long-term, the knowledge we gained from Harvery was very important in allowing blood transfusions to take place.
His willingness to observe, research and then abandon old knowledge was inspirational to future people of importance in medicine such as Thomas Sydenham, Edward Jenner and John Snow.
What attempts were made to treat the disease? (great plague)
Sweating the disease out by wrapping it in thick woolen cloth and lying by a fire.
Exotic spices such as nutmeg which had arrived from the New World were used as basic treatments.
Strap a live chicken to a bubo or lance it with a chicken feather.
What attempts were made to stop its spread?
Quarantining of people who had the Plague, and their families, for 28 days.
Tar was ordered to be burned in the middle of towns.
Around 40,000 dogs and 200,000 cats were killed.
Searchers and wardens were sent from house to house. If the Plague was present, either the house would be quarantined for 28 days or the people would be taken to a Pest House.
