Medieval Medicine (KT1) Flashcards
1123
Britains first hospital, St Bartholomew’s was set up in London
1348-49
The Black Death kills 1/3 of England’s population.
1388
Parliament Passes the first law requiring streets and rivers to be kept clean by the people.
The Four Humours
These humours linked to elements and seasons ( Black Bile, Yellow Bile, Blood and Phlegm). Hippocrates believed that if these humours became unbalanced you would get ill. To get better you needed to balance them.
Theory Of Opposites
Galen developed the four humours. To heal illness suggested using hot to cure cold.
Who was known as The father of Medicine?
Hippocrates.
Identify 4 things Hippocrates is famous for?
- The Theory of the Four Humours
- Hippocratic Oath
- Clinical Observation
- Ideas about Cause, Prevention and Treatment.
How did Hippocrates view medicine?
As science not religion.
Why was the Hippocratic Oath so important to medicine?
Kept the patient safe no matter the consequences.
Why were clinical Observations so critical to medicine?
- Learn different illnesses or diseases
- Learn how to treat them and the after effect
- Still used today to figure out cause and treatments.
Hippocrates Impact…
Limited to certain people ( rich and educated)
Describe two features of Hippocratic Medicine? (4 marks) (6 minutes)
- Hippocratic Oath
- Scientific not religious/ supernatural
What can you infer about the progress of medicine during the ancient Roman period?
Focused on causes of problems and public health.
What was still not discovered during the Roman Period and Why Not?
GERMS
- Lack of equipment
- Lack of knowledge about the body
- More focused on public health
Identify 4 limitations, which did not allow Public Health to be progressed further?
- Lack of Knowledge about the causes of disease leading to not knowing how to prevent it.
- People still believed sickness came from God and could only be cured by God.
- Lack of knowledge on science, as not many people where educated still, so wouldn’t know how to discover things.
How did Galen help medicine progress during the Ancient Civilisation? ( 3 reasons)
- Found out the brain controls our actions and speech not the heart.
- Discovered the heart
- Aimed to discover and explain each part of the human body.
Explain 6 developments in medicine made by Galen.
- Dissected animals, Apes & Pigs. = Anatomy
- Over 300 books
- Arteries carried blood
- 1400 yrs dominated medicine
- Treated the Roman Empire, leading doctor
- Human bones - used already dead skeleton but not bodies
Identify 2 limitations in Galen’s medicine
- Never Dissected a human body
- His Ideas went unchallenged for 1400 years even tho they were wrong
e.g Found out kidney was on the right for animals assumed it was the same for humans.
10 reasons why the fall of the roman empire caused such medical regression.
- Public Health was neglected
- Focus no longer on medical ideas
- Focused on Land and expanding the empire
- Power of the church got stronger
- Medical research is limited
- More money on army’s than public health
- Education is disrupted
- Training of doctors is abandoned
- Travelling is dangerous
- Medical Libraries destroyed
Clinical Observation
Observe the body (symptoms) and report/ record it.
- studying symptoms, making notes, comparing with similar cases then diagnosing and treating
Hippocratic Oath
An Oath that doctors have to take to protect their patient no matter what
Provide 4 factors indicating how the collapse of the Roman Empire would have allowed continuity.
- Still don’t know about germs.
- Still a divide between rich and poor
- Funding
- Libraries destroyed
Provide 1 factors indicating how the collapse of the Roman Empire would have allowed regression
- Focused on funding for wars
Which Religion appeared to be making progress in medicine & Why? ( 3 reasons)
MUSLIMS (ISLAM)
- Encouraged personal hygiene by daily washing
- Drugs and medicine developed
- Medical schools set up, best available at the time.
List 4 possible reasons why this progress was possible for the Muslims.
- They had their own theories.
- Wanted to know more to develop their knowledge.
- Books travelled Eastwards, towards them. ( Due to Roman split).
- The Church only had power over Christianity.
Who encouraged their students to go to Egypt?
Galen
Who had the catholic church promoting his medical work?
Galen
Who was the Emperor’s chiefs physician?
Galen
Identify 8 features of care that were avaliable to patients in English hospitals in the Middle Ages.
- Herbal Remedies
- Bleeding & Purging = Used to restore the balance of the four humours
- Fresh food and water
- Hygienic
- Rarely admitted to much sick people to reduce spread
- Mostly cared for elderly people who could no longer look after themselves.
-Warmth and Prayers.
Who was not allowed into hospitals?
Pregnant women and Insane people
Determine 4 negative features of hospital care in the Middle Ages
- Mostly cared for the elderly who could no longer take care of themselves.
- Illness was often seen as a punishment for your sins = no physical cure.
- The monks and nuns aimed to care for the sick but not cure them.
- No doctors were appointed to St Bartholomew’s but several priest were, as it was felt that patients needed supernatural/ religious support more than medical treatments.
Determine 4 positive features of hospital care in the Middle Ages.
- Food was given to patients at St Anthony hospital. Many Hospitals gave a range of fresh fruit and vegetables.
e.g pork, salmon, pears, apples, beef, rabbit and more - Almshouses were set up in the 14th century to care for the ‘deserving poor’ and old.
- Place to get looked after and cared for.
- Herbal Remedies given
Cause of the Romans leaving England in 410 AD
England was left with the public health structures in place.
Consequences of Hippocrates’ and Galen’s original books travelling East
The church grew in power and strength, they used Galen’s teachings as the basis of medicine.
When did the Black Death Arrive?
1347-8
- more - from china then spread to India and across Europe
What percentage of people died?
40% of people died
Which two creatures spread the Black Death?
Fleas travelling on rats
What were Buboes?
Boils on your body. Size of apples on the hottest area of the body.
State 3 facts about the Bubonic Plague
- Caused Blood Loss
- Caused Swollen Glands
- Lasted 5 days until you died
State 3 facts about the Pneumonic Plague
- Affected the lungs
- Caused you to cough up blood
- Lasted 3 days before you died.
Causes they believed caused the Black Death
- Wells being poisoned
- Punishment from God
- Planet moving
- Miasma
- Witches
Treatment methods used during the Black Death
- Rubbing Onions or pigeons on themselves
- Drinking Poison or vinegar to kill the disease.
- Sitting near fires to sweat out the disease.
- Cut open buboes and put bread on it, then buried the bread.
Prevention methods used during the Black Death
- Lighting Candles
- Praying
- Ended activities that might be insulting to Gog
- Church Service daily.
Identify why the Black Death actually allowed medicine to progress. ( 3 reasons)
- They learnt more about public health = removed human human faeces and other filth lying in the streets.
- Learnt that disease spread = introduces quarantine
- Looked into causes
Identify why the Black Death actually allowed medicine to regress ( 3 reasons )
- Went back to religious beliefs
- Went back to supernatural
- Didn’t know about germs.
Impact of the Fall of Rome
- A lack of a strong central government meant that investment in public Health stopped.
- Wars leading to the fall of Rome led to books and knowledge being lost to Western Europeans.
How did Public Health Change during the middle Ages in Europe?
- There was little investment in public health until after the Black Death.
- Sewers, Aqua-ducts and baths fell into disrepair.
- Public Health was not a priority for European governments at the time.
How did medicine change during the middle ages in Europe?
IMPACT OF WAR.
- War led to the destruction of books and places where medicine was studied.
- War also led to exposure to Islamic ideas about illness and treatments - which were more advanced
- War allowed early barber surgeons to develop their skills.
The Black Death was……
A big turning point
Middle Age Progression ( 3 reasons)
- Rich people had good standard hygiene and would bathe and had a built in toilet.
- In the 13th century lead pipes were laid to provide water from River Thames.
- Laws were passed but they only had a limited effect - the system was too undeveloped to deal with the problems.
Middle Age Regression ( 3 reasons )
- Towns got bigger making hygiene more important during the Black Death making hygiene more important.
- There were leaks in the water leaving the water often contaminated. Water really dirty so few people drank it mainly Ale.
- Poorer people didn’t wash and mainly went toilet in the street.
Middle Age Continuity ( 3 reasons)
- No knowledge of germs and cholera until 1830s.
- Still had religious beliefs that God was punishing them for their sins.
- Still had supernatural beliefs that witches, planets and evil spirits were causing the Black Death.
Solution for Too many animals
A small number of rakers were employed to clean the streets. Newcastle was one town where streets were paved to make the, drier and easier to clean.
Why Too many animals were a problem?
Cattle, sheep and geese continually arrived to be butchered for food. Horses were the main form of transport. These animals left dung in the street.
Why Waste and litter were a problem?
People dropped waste and litter of all kinds and sometimes used the streets as latrines ( toilets ). Butchers threw bloody waste and animal parts in the street.
Solution for waste and litter
Laws were passed to punish throwing waste. Butchers had to get rid of waste outside city walls. Public latrines were built in Norwich and many other, including over a dozen in London.
Why dirty water was a problem?
Water supplies were dirty because of Industrial and human waste
Solution for dirty water
Monasteries and townspeople collaborated to bring fresh water to public wells through lead pipes. In Exeter aqueducts were built to bring fresh water to the town.
People knew there was a link between….
filth and disease but dint know why.
Why Leaking latrines were a problem?
Latrines and cesspits were sometimes built by house-owners near water supplies and their contents emptied into streams and rivers used for washing and drinking water.
Solution for leaking latrines
Regulations were introduced about where to build private latrines. Cesspits were lined with brick or stone and so were less likely to leak into drinking water supplies. In Hull, Southampton and other towns, night carts went around collecting human waste from cesspits.
Towns paid gong farmers to….
clear out human waste from cesspits.
Flagellation
They hurt, whipped, themselves to show God they had repented for their sins and asked God to be merciful.
Bloodletting
Bleeding, usually done by having a cup placed over a cut and let the warmth draw out blood or leeches were used to sink their teeth into patients to draw out blood. Used to balance the four humours.
Purging
Swallowing herbs and animal fat to make the person sick or taking a laxative to empty their bowels. Used to balance the four humours.
What was the Regimen Sanitatis?
Was a loose set of instructions provided by physicians to help a patient maintain good health.
Positive Impact of Catholic Faith after the fall of Rome in the 5th century ( 3 points)
- Ran hospitals - Duty of care
- The church supported Galen’s ideas = more scientific knowledge
- Surgery developed by Joh of Arderne
Negative Impacts of Catholic Faith after the fall of the Rome in the 5th century (5 reasons)
- Believed it was a punishment from God for their sins
- Church controlled education = learn more religious causes than science. Also they were in charge of the books used.
- Nobody challenged the church = Threatened to go to hell.
- Forbade dissections
- Poor public health
When did the government intervene to improve public health during the Middle Ages?
During the Black Death
Which profession is similar to a modern day pharmacist or chemist?
Apothercaries
