Pages 8-9 of Medicine A5 booklet (Causes of disease and Who would treat the sich in Medieval times and what were the treatments?) Flashcards
What were the 4 reasons for why people thought they became sick?
God The supernatural Bad smells Everyday life The Four Humours
Why was the supernatural a reason for getting diseases?
Witchcraft was feared and many believed the world was full of demons trying to cause trouble and death. Any sudden diseases or misfortunes could easily be blamed on the supernatural, especially as the church painted a picture of a life where ‘good’ fought ‘evil’.
Why was God a reason for getting disease?
If someone was living a sinful life, then a difficult illness was God’s way of punishing them for their sins.
What is the Doctrine of Signatures?
God had created illness, but in his kindness he had also created the right herbs or plants with which to treat that illness. Known as the Doctrine of Signatures.
What was the theory of bad smells causing disease called?
Miasma Theory.
Why did people think that bad smells was a reason for disease?
Some people began to notice the link between disease and bad air, or bad smells.
Mortality was higher in the towns and cities than in the countryside. People lived closer together, alongside their animals and filth.
What did travellers often say about towns and cities?
That you could smell a town long before you could see it.
Why was everyday life a reason for disease?
Many children died before the age of seven that it many ways it seemed quite natural. Also, childbirth was a very dangerous time for women, and it was expected that a man would need to re-marry to provide his children with a new mother. Warfare and famine were also frequent.
What were The Four Humours a reason for disease?
Every doctor agreed with Hippocrates and Galen that illness was caused by the loss of equilibrium, Every doctor had a chart showing which illnesses were caused by which Humour.
What chart would doctors use alongside The Four Humours chart?
A Zodiac chart, showing the best time to treat illness, plan an operation or even pick the herbs needed for medicine.
What was the Four Humours Theory?
It was an important development in medical knowledge which originated in the works of Aristotle. The Greeks believed that the body was made up of 4 main components. These Four Humours needed to remain balanced in order for people to remain healthy.
what were the Four Humours?
Blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile.
What could the Four Humours be connected to?
The four seasons of the year: yellow bile with summer, black bile with autumn, phlegm with winter and blood with spring.
What did Hippocrates and other Greek practitioners argue?
that the balance of the Four Humours would be most effected in those particular seasons.
How did they try and treat people who had a fever?
It was caused due to having too much blood, so they bled the patient.
