Medicine - Unit 2 : Renaissance Medicine Flashcards
What was the Renaissance?
- Late 1400s - 1700s
- Means rebirth in Italian and began in Italy seeking knowledge and education
- Interested in improving histories previous scholars’ ideas
- Church ideas were being challenged in favour of scientific ideas
- Reformation in Europe
Illnesses and Treatments
- Biggest diseases were : fever, teeth, gripping in the guts and convulsions
- Bloodletting still used
- Herbal remedies (Nicholas Culpepper)
- Surgery = less risky and more surgeons were getting their degrees
New discoveries in medicine
- Microscope revolutionised scientific work and the printing press = more medical books published
- Studying corpses = better understanding of human autonomy
- Opium, lemons, limes and tobacco used as a treatment
Vesalius in Renaissance medicine
- Belgian medical student who used frequent dissections to accurately illustrate the human body
- Disproved Galen’s teachings = disapproval from some of Europe
- Textbook explained how parts of the body worked e.g. skeleton, muscles, veins and the reproductive system
- Found an audience in England = inspired barber surgeons
- Published a book called ‘The Fabric of the Human Body’
Similarities between Medieval and Renaissance
- Still used similar treatments such as bloodletting and still had barber surgeons and apothecaries
- Scientific discovery was still influenced by the Church
- Limited knowledge about lots of diseases
- Treatment = still dependent on money
- Many still supported Galen and his incorrect teachings
Differences between Medieval and Renaissance medicine
- Introduced Quacks
- Dissection of humans (Vesalius) = better understanding of human autonomy
- Church had a decreased influence on medicine
- The 4 humours were a less supported medical theory
- Some treatments e.g. trepanning were unfavourable
- New discoveries = new ideas and treatments
- Surgeons got more training and separated from barber surgeons
Who was John Hunter?
- Specialised in childbirth and started an anatomy school
- Showed talent in precise dissection and anatomical research
- Served as an army surgeon (gunshot wounds and amputations)
John Hunter’s Findings
- Made discoveries on nature of disease, infections, cancer and the circulation of the blood
- Experimented on himself : injected himself with the pus from sores of a gonorrhoea patient who also (unknowingly to him) had syphilis and took 3 years to recover using the standard mercury treatments
- Helped a man with an aneurysm by cutting of the blood flow above the aneurysm without using amputation. The man’s leg was okay afterwards
- Collected a selection of anatomical specimen (around 3000 stuffed or dried)
John Hunter’s successful contributions to medical progress in England
- Contributed to anatomical research
- Discovered better treatments for disease (aneurysm)
John Hunter’s unsuccessful contributions to medical progress in England
- Took three years to recover from an illness
- Robbed graves to get corpses
Who was Ambrose Pare?
- French barber - surgeon then became a French army surgeon
- Went on to be a surgeon to 4 French Kings
Ambrose Pare’s findings
- Use if cream of rose oil to soothe a patients wounds (gunshot wounds) ; they previously used boiling oil, egg white and turpentine to treat wounds which hurt the patients.
- Encouraged use of ligature to stop bleeding after amputation rather than cauterisation
- Began designing artificial limbs for patients
- Translated Vesalius’ findings from Latin - French = increased their understanding anatomy amongst the surgeons
Ambrose Pare’s successful contributions to medicine
- Books circulated Europe
- Number of English surgeons followed, questioned and observed his findings
Ambrose Pare’s unsuccessful contributions to medicine
- some findings took a long time, likely that people used other findings in the meantime
Who was William Harvey?
- An English doctor who studied at Cambridge and in Italy
- Doctor to King Charles I in 1632
William Harvey’s findings
- Disproved bloodletting by saying it was impossible for the body to have too much blood
- made discoveries on the circulatory system - that the heart was responsible for the circulation of blood and blood only flowed on one direction
William Harvey’s successful contributions to medicine
- Used other people’s work (Vesalius, Renaldo Columbo) and built upon it
- His ideas were vital to modern medical developments e.g. blood transfusion
William Harvey’s unsuccessful contributions to medicine
- Challenged Galen
- Took 50 years for work to be taught in universities
- Accused of being a quack
What happened to Edward Jenner when he was young?
He was treated for smallpox using inoculation :
- starved him for three weeks
- blew powdered scabs from a smallpox patient up their nose
- waited for them to recover
What did Edward Jenner do when he was older?
- Became a family doctor and looked for a better solution to treat smallpox.
- Milkmaids said that cowpox prevented smallpox
- Jenner took a young boy - James - and gave him pus from the milkmaids cowpox sore then gave him a dose of smallpox and after a few days the boy was completely fine.
- named his treatment vaccine after the Latin for cow - Vaca
Successes of the smallpox vaccine
- Had 16 successful experiments
- Had support from the Royal Family
- By 1800 doctors were using techniques in the USA and Europe
- 1853 : smallpox vaccination made compulsory by British government
- Late 1800s : parents were fined if they didn’t vaccinate their child
- 1970 : smallpox completely eradicated
Failures of the smallpox vaccine
- Couldn’t prove why his vaccinations worked so doctors were unwilling to accept it
- Doctors liked making money from smallpox inoculation
- Two physicians tried it with contaminated equipment and their patients died
- Jenner didn’t understand why the vaccination worked
The Great Plague 1665 - 1666
- Started in Spring in London in 1665
- Began in Asia and spread through trade
- Victims died within days
- Rich people fled the city (King etc.)
- Lord Mayor’s remained to keep order and prevent disease spreading
- 100,000 people died in London and it ended due to the Great Fire of London (killed all the rats)
Traditional cures to the Great Plague
- Animals (e,g. Frogs, snakes, scorpions, chickens) used to draw out the poison
- Fires were lit to try and remove poisons in the air
- Bled with leeches
‘Scientific’ cures to the Great Plague
- Move to the countryside to avoid it
- Plays or games (large crowds) banned
- Paid ‘women searchers’ to identify the sick and quarantine them in their houses
Similarities between the Great Plague and Black Death
SYMPTOMS
- Lumps under armpits
- Vomiting
- Fever
- Buboes
CAUSES
- Miasma
- Astrology
- Punishment from God
- Yersinia Pestis
TREATMENTS AND PREVENTIONS
- Quarantine
- Strapping Chickens to Buboes
- Fled to other towns
- Bloodletting
CONSEQUENCES
- Lots of death
- Push for better hygiene
Differences between the Great Plague and the Black Death
SYMPTOMS
- BD : bubonic dominant
GP : pneumonic dominant
CAUSES
- BD = Believed Jews poisoned their water
GP = believed it was stray animals rather than religion
TREATMENTS AND PREVENTIONS
- BD = mercury and flagellation
- GP = quarantine was more strictly and thoroughly enforced
CONSEQUENCES
- BD = nationwide epidemic
- GP = contained to London
