Midterm #2 Flashcards

Question

patients in Hippocratic Corpus

Answer 1

--> men and women --> free and enslaved (confusion with pais) --> those who could pay fee, and charity in some cases for those who could not

Answer 2

in section 3, "the anthropology", a reversal of pessimistic narrative of human civilization --> weak, ignorant in primitive state; didn't understand our relationship to food --> discovery of cooking, powers of food (within diaita) allowed civilization to be born --> arguably either optimistic (we are getting better) or pessimistic (we are so weak that we needed to discover our diaita)

Answer 3

1. contest of the sperm (same as "The Seed") 2. left/right (more sperm from left testicle = girl, right = boy) 3. menstrual cycle (conception after period, when body is dry, is boy; close to period, with moisture, is girl)

Answer 4

1. regulate food/wine 2. give massage 3. go for a walk 4. take a bath 5. go on a swing

Answer 5

text is dubious; valves? atria?

Answer 6

--> fever --> chest cough --> separations (bile, vomit) --> pustules/ulcers --> 7th/8th day krisis --> loss of body parts (fingers, toes, eyes)

Answer 7

Greek, "sect"; any intellectual group with systematized knowledge --> medical sects: central arguments were on basis of epistemology, or origin of knowledge; how do we know what we know? Where does new knowledge come from? --> both Dogmatists and Empiricists considered themselves Hippocratics, but in different ways (Dogmatists = "Airs, Waters, Places"; Empiricists = "Aphorisms")

Answer 8

male flesh should be hard, but female soft to the touch and better at absorption --> female body sometimes compared to wool; as if needing more protection, or being delegated to the home (weaving as only chore?)

Answer 9

as empires expand, importance of pharmacology increases --> access to new drugs, recipes --> growing demand for recipes (increase in population) --> also true in Colonial period (e.g. in Britain, expanding into India) --> movement from pharmacology to pharmaceuticals occurs in Chemical Revolution in 19th century (chemistry allows for extraction of active ingredients from substances, like nicotine from tobacco or cocaine from cocoa)

Answer 10

scientist in Alexandra (worked at the Museum); not a healer, but only a researcher --> only fragments of any of his writings survive; probably the first person in Greek, though maybe all of Western, history to deliberately research via dissection

Answer 11

idea of spectacle: Hippocratic doctors were opposed, but they impressed crowds --> Bench: relocate joints by spinning patient on a rotating panel --> Board: correct spinal deformities by strapping to board, jumping on back --> Ladder: correct spinal deformities by strapping upside down, raising and then dropping ladder

Answer 12

Greek, "rational body of knowledge" --> plural: technai --> process of organizing knowledge into systems

Answer 13

certainly drugs existed, but almost only ever mentioned in Corpus in treatises about women --> 82% of mentions are in gynecological texts --> drugs as "gendered female"? assumption by men that drugs should only be prescribed after changing diaita, and even then only for women --> typically local, simple ingredients (about 60% of all recipes contain only local Greek ingredients) --> layering: adding something expensive/luxurious to otherwise cheap recipe to enhance its value, create a trademark, assist dealers in markets

Answer 14

not a doctor (though maybe knowledgable in the Corpus, given interest in diaita); rather a military general, historian --> wrote doctors were "useless" during plague because they were the first to die --> qualified because he had the plague, then survived

Answer 15

early: pessimism (humans have become worse as time has passed) in Classical period: achievement has brought us out of our primitive state, into our knowledge today --> achievement makes this less divine

Answer 16

pyramid-shaped, crimson; sits in "sac"

Answer 17

Greek, "boy" and "slave" --> confuses patient stories b/c unclear which applies

Answer 18

Greek, "method" --> observation - something repeatable (could happen again) --> NOT experiment, which arises in the Hellenistic period

Answer 19

not mentioned, so as to make it seem like doctors were recording the "natural course" of the disease --> still a "world of surfaces" (only symptoms are those palpable on the body)

Answer 20

--> structure of brain (cerebellum, cerebrum, ventricles) --> distinguishing between veins and arteries, based on shape (though says arteries carry pneuma) --> nervous system (small arteries called neurons carry sensation) --> four layers of the eye (cornea, later Roman word, for "horny area") --> male/female reproductive systems (fallopian tubes) --> pulse (error: says it contracts to carry pneuma)

Answer 21

"cavities", "stomachs"; myocardium --> ventricle: Latin, "little stomach"; different in shape, with a thicker and rougher wall on the left side --> left side thicker because it is hotter; "seat of fire", or essentially location of the soul

Answer 22

hardened, excess moisture from the lack of menstruation during pregnancy

Answer 23

Dogmatists reject Empiricism: hard to gain the right experiences, and experience is often incomplete; takes too long to transmit experience Empiricists reject Dogmatism: experience is certain, while reason is only abstract; too much disagreement, not enough orientation towards legitimate ethical care --> Common ground: would probably give the same diagnoses, just in different ways

Answer 24

second half: how to perform home visits to a patient --> describes ideal doctor's personality: elegance, grace, sense of humor (uplifting), able to perform kindnesses, wary of patient lies, polite but firm

Answer 25

--> time --> temperature/fever --> bodily signs ('separations'), i.e. urine, stool, sweating, breath, bile, pus --> change (physical and mental)

Answer 26

vital for health --> stops when pregnant because excess moisture goes to fetus instead

Answer 27

first mentioned in Homer; poppy flower cultivated long before ancient Greece in many surrounding cultures --> only mentioned in Corpus in gynecological treatises, as an anesthetic --> poppy head + different things (honey, etc.) could treat different illnesses --> danger of overdose: opium used as a poison when in excess, so avoid giving too much --> caused "sleepiness", which was associated in some cases with death

Answer 28

reconstructed skull of a young girl --> used as model by CDC to discuss epidemics

Answer 29

herb from ancient Libya; never grown in Greece, despite many attempts --> popular for cooking --> abortifacient ("puts wind in the womb") --> no modern idea of taste, color, as it went extinct during Roman era (traceable end)

Answer 30

small figure used to dedicate to the gods --> prayers for healing --> showed how ancient societies viewed certain internal body parts --> some simple, some detailed; would be created and then burned

Answer 31

1. personal experience 1a. involuntary 1a1. natural 1a2. chance 1b. voluntary 1c. initiative 2. transmitted experience 3. transference of similar --> most reliable when something was experienced oneself, with as little influence as possible --> "chance" means something, though maybe involuntary, intervened in process of healing --> voluntary: random choice made for healing, but it works; initiative: you know your choice beforehand

Answer 32

specific anatomical language medical histories details of treatments

Answer 33

some forms existed in Classical period, but only on animals; Hellenistic period saw beginning of human experimentation --> resulted in massive spike in anatomical knowledge --> taboos: religious pollution from touching dead bodies; disturbance of cutting through skin, which was a powerful protective symbol

Answer 34

--> confusion over commonalities - what's the point if we don't know the difference? --> ignorance, disrespect for medical histories --> lack of medical knowledge --> no individualized patient care --> anyone can be a doctor (no longer a techne)

Answer 35

nine months (sometimes written as 10 with inclusive counting) --> premature birth = dangerous, but some superstitions held that birth in the seventh month was healthier than in the eighth

Answer 36

"rationalism"; using reason to form conclusions --> founders: Herophilus, Erasistratus --> label of "dogmatist" was only ever used against them; doctors would probably refer to themselves, if anything, as "Herophilist" --> in order to cure a disease, you must understand its cause; heavy interest in anatomy, experimentation, pulse

Answer 37

Greek, "to decide"; the moment where it could be identified whether a patient would live or die --> "critical days": Hippocratic doctors thought crisis was mostly likely to occur on certain days (odd day if disease began on an odd; numerology)

Answer 38

--> author is against hypothesis (postulate) --> medicine is any observable phenomenon, not speculation (which is philosophy) --> "scientific": knowledge from observable phenomena as a basis, with a method of discovery

Answer 39

perceived as more intellectual sect in Hellenistic period --> founder: Philinus of Cos; had a stronger sense of group identity, would actually use "Empiricist" as a name --> Philinus created sect after being disgusted with Herophilus' research; was explicitly based on healing patients first, seeing anatomy and experimentation as indulgent --> against "hidden causes" (unreliable)

Answer 40

right ventricle: holds blood, air from the atria left ventricle: free of blood, instead the seat of emotion and soul (can't be polluted) --> left ventricle gets nutrients through "rays", which are sent to blood so some essence of nutrition can come back to the body --> rationale: blood is usually not found in LV after death (because of pumping of heart), so likely dissections would have always shown emptiness

Answer 41

smallpox: highly contagious, rash = ulcers, acquired immunity; BUT no loss of extremities & Athens had cross-species bubonic plague: cross-species BUT lack of bubos (swelling) in gland areas measles: pustules? BUT impossible to imagine such a high mortality rate typhoid fever: seemed to be linked by DNA evidence in 2006, but debunked after microorganisms were closer to salmonella --> impossible to identify? Did Thucydides forget some symptoms, or is this evidence of a disease that no longer exists?

Answer 42

treatise with base principle that the more deviation a patient has from the norm, the more unhealthy that patient is

Answer 43

3rd - 2nd century BCE; "hellen" ("Greece") + suffix meaning "ish" --> "Greekish" --> period during which Greek culture spreads beyond borders --> difference from Hellenic because of suffix

Answer 44

heart sits in small amount of "urine-like" fluid --> protects pulsation (cushion) --> cools down heat from heart (heart is "inner fire", especially left ventricle) --> heart absorbs some fluid for moisture --> actual truth: pericardial fluid replaced by the pericardium; in text, author says there in an epiglottis (lid) protecting fluid from going down the trachea and into lungs, except for a small amount that somehow becomes pericardial fluid

Answer 45

infatuation with organizing knowledge --> sects were intellectual groups

Answer 46

pangenesis: comes from everywhere, so child can inherit everything about a parent encephalomyelitic: begins in the brain, travels down spine, distributed to genital areas --> "The Seed" attempts to combine the two theories --> friction to foam: sperm comes out as foam after ejaculation because of "shaking" during intercourse

Answer 47

actions taken by Hippocratic doctors to make a patient more comfortable --> good smells, hiding bad news, general deceptions --> possible form of placebo

Answer 48

not Hippocratic; because Rome was more culturally complex and dynamic than Greece, and because there was a greater variety of class hierarchies, a new system was needed --> essentially, anything that does not seem like outright medicine; appealed to a wider group, assuaging fears without introducing new techniques --> little training necessary (needed only 6 months, sometimes less), so accessible for poor and illiterate --> efficient, and adaptable to massive population increases

Answer 49

inner lining, valves --> heart kept in place in the sac by "ropes" --> valves keep things flowing properly, blocking anything from entering left ventricle

Answer 50

--> culture of scientific inquiry, intellectual openness --> relaxation of certain taboos because of new location --> no more Athenian democracy (people more willing to take chances, because less risk of being "voted out" for insubordinance) --> pre-existing Egyptian culture of working with bodies (e.g. mummification) --> racial? were Greeks not opposed to operating on Egyptians?

Answer 51

patient, doctor, and disease must all cooperate in order for a treatment to work --> patient must assist if necessary (during surgery, must allow for it to occur)

Answer 52

women are naturally colder, wetter than men --> women "dry out" over time (menopause?) --> women lose moisture during menstruation, so must be constantly absorbing wetness to replace it --> the womb is warm, wet because it takes excess fluids not used in menstruation

Answer 53

1. Depression and Fear (thought of catching plague scarier than plague itself) 2. Isolation or Risk (neglect, or risky socialization) 3. Immunity and Arrogance (people who survive likening themselves to gods) 4. Neglect of the Dead (no typical ceremonies - funerals, rites, pyres) 5. Lawlessness (dying soon anyway!; religious skepticism)

Answer 54

Plato, and later Roman periods: the womb was a living creature inside the woman --> stored and required moisture, for which it would go looking if required --> would "turn around"/"go back", where the mouth would flip upside down and then travel through body --> could block passageways and cause illness until intercourse, as it wanted a fetus --> why? older women with different-shaped uteruses; one-body model (men have no womb, so there is no place in the body for womb to go)

Answer 55

important to Hippocratics for: --> knowledge of sequence --> independence from patients (able to ignore extraneous symptoms) --> win respect for techne --> avoid failure (not take on lost causes)

Answer 56

Greek; "temple to the muses" (first one in history built in Alexandria) --> center for government-funded learning, research, translation, literature, etc. --> sponsorship of the most learned people to simply be together, find new beginnings from each other --> place of systematization of knowledge (e.g. Hippocratic Corpus) in medicine, science, agriculture... --> place of experimentation; location of Herophilus, Erasistratus --> shift towards viewing body as a mechanism

Answer 57

summer of 430 BCE --> then 429 BCE; Athens already suffering from Peloponnesian War with Sparta, then hit with disease --> approx. 1/3 of total population dies, as told by source Thucydides --> use of mass graves, simply to get rid of the bodies

Answer 58

signs of death (appearance of the face preceding imminent death)

Answer 59

doctors were not philosophers; although they may have been inspired by certain philosophical ideas (e.g. Empedocles), they tried to focus on what was observable

Answer 60

mid-4th century BCE: King Philip I of Macedonia attempting to spread Greek culture in aftermath of Peloponnesian War --> Greece weakened, taken by Philip's son Alexander the Great --> no infrastructure to support expansion; empire only lasted if certain generals established footholds in that area

Answer 61

membranes that allow for blood to pass from the right ventricle to the lungs; and for air to enter the right ventricle, etc.

Answer 62

inspiration, 1st century BCE; teacher of rhetoric, immigrant to Rome --> saw gap in market for Romans who were afraid of traditional Greek medicine --> received hostility from "real doctors" --> quick celebrity, popular with social elite; rejected former sects --> theory: invisible particles moved through pores in body; if blocking/imbalance occurred, so would sickness --> promised he would never perform surgery or give drugs; motto "swiftly, safely, pleasantly"

Answer 63

treatise in Hippocratic Corpus, but actually dates to Hellenistic period (product of human dissection) --> why included? just because it was in the Library? --> author unknown; probably a follower of Herophilus --> mystery: text discovers many things, but not circulation; ancient authors thought blood was made from food, so it would need to be absorbed at some point (couldn't go back around, or bodies would starve)

Answer 64

doctors definitely DID perform surgery, and it was often very complex (e.g. cataract) --> however, remember the Hippocratic hierarchy (surgery was almost absolute last)

Answer 65

highly specific, detailed by nature; clearly not meant to be read by non-doctors --> secrecy to help hide mistakes in treatment from the public

Answer 66

did it occur? hard to tell --> only information that survives is in writings bashing dissection as a whole

Answer 67

group of philosophers, attempting to argue they understood "virtue" --> "man is the measure of all truths" (we create truths - nothing is objective) --> link between nature and convention in language is arbitrary (why names?) --> power of rhetoric --> often attacking medicine in writing (sophism as a techne used to criticize other technes)

Answer 68

contest of the sperm (section 6): men and women both have male and female sperm --> which is majority?

Answer 69

--> innovations in cardiac anatomy (similar to Herophilus, Erasistratus) --> three experiments show culture of inquiry --> limitations: blood as food, interpretation of left ventricle, reversal from "The Sacred Disease" of heart as seat of emotion

Answer 70

medical danger of drinking infested water, in the dark, and ingesting leeches into mouth/nose --> could cut off blood flow/air circulation

Answer 71

valves close as tightly as seals; proven because, when closed artificially, nothing can pass through

Answer 72

ancient version of modern castor oil; used in soaps, oils, etc. --> "oil from the castor", Latin for beaver; oil believed to be produced in beaver testicles, though actually in anal glands --> theory: when chased, a beaver would cut off its testicles, knowing that humans wanted them for the oil --> promoted fertility, sexual performance

Answer 73

Greek, "suffocation"/"strangulation"; uterine suffocation as a consequence of the wandering womb --> upturned mouth of womb might press against an organ, blocking respiration (or respiration of woman entirely)

Answer 74

influence of Philinus was more charismatic than Herophilus, Erasistratus --> shift in policy of Ptolemies --> as sects migrated, taboos returned and practices changed

Answer 75

fashionable in ancient Athens to systematize bodies of knowledge for certain ideas (e.g. architecture, medicine, wrestling) --> answer philosophical questions: what is the techne for being a good leader? a good person? for virtue?

Answer 76

cupping vessels ("gourds") scalpels cauteries (flat piece of metal to protect hand) retractors (hooks to pull back skin) forceps (artificial tweezers) needles (suturing) --> all present in some form today --> question: would doctors have training for these skills? how/would they teach apprentices?

Answer 77

"true founder", 1st century CE --> court doctor to Nero (ruled 54-68 CE), immigrant to Rome --> claimed he founded Methodism, came up with the "method" for curing (that we don't know)