part 1: medical progress

Question 1

list 2 treatments that aimed to balance the four humours

Answer 1

• bloodletting
• purging

Question 2

what was bloodletting and when was it used?

Answer 2

• used to restore the balance of the four humours
• process to take blood out of the body
• done by making small cuts or to use blood-sucking leeches

Question 3

problem with bloodletting

Answer 3

• dangerous
• some people were killed because too much blood was taken

Question 4

what was purging and why was it used?

Answer 4

• act of getting rid of fluid in the body by excreting them
• patients were sometimes given laxatives to speed up the process

Question 5

why was medieval surgery dangerous?

Answer 5

• there was no way to prevent loss of blood, infection or pain

Question 6

barber surgeons

Answer 6

• main type of surgeons in medieval time
• also cut hair

Question 7

thoughts of surgery in medieval times

Answer 7

• not very well respected profession

Question 8

how did they deal with pain?

Answer 8

• wine
• mandrake root
• opium
• gall of boar
• hemlock
  all used as anaesthetics

Question 9

what operations were carried out?

Answer 9

• surgical tools such as amputation tools, arrow pullers, cauterisation, bloodletting
• operations for breast cancer, bladder stones, haemorrhoids

Question 10

where did the skill of operating come from?

Answer 10

war

Question 11

how did galen affect medieval surgery?

Answer 11

• his ideas still dominated medieval thinking
• people were reluctant to criticise him as support of the church

Question 12

how did hugh and theodoric of lucca affect medieval surgery?

Answer 12

• 1267
• challenged the view that pus was needed for a wound to heal
• they used wine on wounds
• method of removing arrows
• emphasised practical experience and observation in surgery

Question 13

how did abulcasis affect medieval surgery?

Answer 13

• muslim surgeon
• invented 26 surgical instruments
• made cauterisation popular

Question 14

how did john of arderne affect medieval surgery?

Answer 14

• wrote a book called practica in 1376 which had realistic drawings of surgical instruments and his operations, based on greek and arab knowledge, and his experience in the Hundred Years War
• contributed to professionalisation in surgery as he helped establish guild of surgeons to try and separate lower-class barber surgeons from proper surgeons
• invented workable cures
• used battlefield experience and knowledge of arab medicine
• used opium and henbane to dull pain
• developed an operation to treat anal abscesses which was a common condition in knights, charged a large fee

Question 15

how did war affect medieval surgery?

Answer 15

• helped it progress
• medieval age had a lot of conflict and battles
• new tools developed to deal with deep wounds caused by arrow heads lodged in the body
• john arderne developed pain relieving ointments to apply to war wounds instead of cauterisation
• army surgeons became skilful at amputations without anaesthetics, quicker amputations
• wine developed as an antiseptic to clean wounds as a result of battlefield injuries

Question 16

how did barber surgeons learn their trade?

Answer 16

• learned as apprentices, copying other barber surgeons

Question 17

What was the status of surgeons compared to doctors in the Middle Ages?

Answer 17

surgeons were seen as lower status than doctors

Question 18

impact of church supporting galen + control

Answer 18

• controlled teachings in university
• meant galen’s ideas continued to be followed and believed

Question 19

progress from christianity

Answer 19

• only source of help for sick, provided free care
• monks copied out work of galen, preserving it which allowed ideas to be later challenged
• encouraged positive attitude to hygiene by bathing regularly
• set up hospitals
• central part of christians duty to care for sick

Question 20

limitations from christianity

Answer 20

• banned dissections
• supported four humours and defended galen
• tried to control knowledge and stopped some ideas that opposed religion
• promoted prayer as a cure

Question 21

impact of war

Answer 21

• army surgeons became skilful at amputations without anaesthetics
• developments in surgery and treatment of wounds
• wine developed as an antiseptic

Question 22

islamic key individuals

Answer 22

• avicenna
• rhazes

Question 23

avicenna

Answer 23

• wrote many books including canon of medicine: listed medical properties of 760 drugs, looked at anorexia and obesity
• explored ideas of anatomy, human development, encouraged natural treatments
• built on work of galen, not copied

Question 24

rhazes

Answer 24

• helped plan first hospital
• believed in observation and natural causes
• worked out difference between smallpox and measles
• wrote over 200 books

Question 25

islamic approach to medicine

Answer 25

• one caliph ruled state, providing peace and order needed for medical progress
• interested in science
• encouraged medical learning
• muhammed: ‘for every disease, Allah has given a cure’

Question 26

islam hindered

Answer 26

• believed illness caused by god
• banned dissections
• believed qu’ran contained everything, no point in new discoveries
• used astrology

Question 27

communicating ideas

Answer 27

• crusades: wars over holy land
• as a result, doctors travelled to holy land and learned islamic ideas

Question 28

trepanning

Answer 28

• hole cut in top of skull
• allowed ‘bad spirits’ to escape
• most people died
• some survived, showing skill of surgeons

Question 29

cauterisation

Answer 29

• stop bleeding
• heating iron and pressing onto wound to seal blood vessels
• risk of severe burn
• caused pain
• high chance of infection: death