Medicine - Unit 2 : Renaissance Medicine

Question 1

What was the Renaissance?

Answer 1

• 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

Question 2

Illnesses and Treatments

Answer 2

• 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

Question 3

New discoveries in medicine

Answer 3

• 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

Question 4

Vesalius in Renaissance medicine

Answer 4

• 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’

Question 5

Similarities between Medieval and Renaissance

Answer 5

• 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

Question 6

Differences between Medieval and Renaissance medicine

Answer 6

• 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

Question 7

Who was John Hunter?

Answer 7

• 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)

Question 8

John Hunter’s Findings

Answer 8

• 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)

Question 9

John Hunter’s successful contributions to medical progress in England

Answer 9

• Contributed to anatomical research
• Discovered better treatments for disease (aneurysm)

Question 10

John Hunter’s unsuccessful contributions to medical progress in England

Answer 10

• Took three years to recover from an illness
• Robbed graves to get corpses

Question 11

Who was Ambrose Pare?

Answer 11

• French barber - surgeon then became a French army surgeon
• Went on to be a surgeon to 4 French Kings

Question 12

Ambrose Pare’s findings

Answer 12

• 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

Question 13

Ambrose Pare’s successful contributions to medicine

Answer 13

• Books circulated Europe
• Number of English surgeons followed, questioned and observed his findings

Question 14

Ambrose Pare’s unsuccessful contributions to medicine

Answer 14

• some findings took a long time, likely that people used other findings in the meantime

Question 15

Who was William Harvey?

Answer 15

• An English doctor who studied at Cambridge and in Italy
• Doctor to King Charles I in 1632

Question 16

William Harvey’s findings

Answer 16

• 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

Question 17

William Harvey’s successful contributions to medicine

Answer 17

• Used other people’s work (Vesalius, Renaldo Columbo) and built upon it
• His ideas were vital to modern medical developments e.g. blood transfusion

Question 18

William Harvey’s unsuccessful contributions to medicine

Answer 18

• Challenged Galen
• Took 50 years for work to be taught in universities
• Accused of being a quack

Question 19

What happened to Edward Jenner when he was young?

Answer 19

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

Question 20

What did Edward Jenner do when he was older?

Answer 20

• 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

Question 21

Successes of the smallpox vaccine

Answer 21

• 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

Question 22

Failures of the smallpox vaccine

Answer 22

• 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

Question 23

The Great Plague 1665 - 1666

Answer 23

• 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)

Question 24

Traditional cures to the Great Plague

Answer 24

• 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

Question 25

‘Scientific’ cures to the Great Plague

Answer 25

• 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

Question 26

Similarities between the Great Plague and Black Death

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Differences between the Great Plague and the Black Death

Answer 27

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