Part 1: Medicine Stands Still (1000-1500) Flashcards
Who treated the sick?
Barber surgeons in towns (bloodletting & minor operations), wise women in villages (herbal remedies),monks in monasteries (herbs,prayers and rest),trained doctors (very expensive, used ideas of Hippocrates & Galen)
What were the different types of treatments offered by doctors?
Clinical observation (pulse & urine), balancing four humours; some also checked the position of stars or recommended praying
What were the key obstacles to medical progress during this period?
Doctors lacked scientific knowledge to explain the causes of disease & medical training involved reading church-approved texts such as Galen, monks preserved ancient medical texts
Explain the influence of Hippocrates on diagnosis and treatment
He emphasised the importance of clinical observation; his Theory of the Four Humours and the need to balance them dominated medical thinking up to 1800. Bleeding was a common practise to prevent or treat illness.
What happened after the Black Death?
- fewer workers
- demanded higher wages and moved around to find work
- 1.5m died between 1348 and 1350
Explain the influence of Galen on training and treatment?
- dissected animals to improve knowledge of human anatomy
- believed in Design Theory (God designed humans)
- Church banned people from questioning his work
- worked in Gladiator school
- used Four Humours and stressed importance of listening to a patient’s pulse
Explain the function of hospitals in the Middle Ages?
- place for rest and recovery (monks)
- many linked to monasteries
- over 700 public hospitals set up by Church
- provided nursing care
- had physics gardens and clean water
- kitchens were built away from privies to avoid contamination
Explain how Islamic medicine was more advanced than the West
- Avicenna wrote “Canon of Medicine” which remained important text for medical students until 1700s
- in his book he listed medical properties of 760 different drugs
- Islamic hospitals treated patients and trained doctors
Describe some typical medieval surgical procedures
bloodletting,amputations,trepanning (drilling hole in skull) for epilepsy, cauterisation and anaesthetics included opium and hemlock (too much could kill a patient)
Who was John of Arderne?
- most famous medieval surgeon
- established the Guild of Surgeons in 1368
- anal abscesses
- developed painkilling ointments (hemlock and opium) which helped healing and stopping need to cauterisation
- urged doctors not to rely on old texts
Explain how warfare helped surgeons to improve their skills
- quicker amputations
- new tools including the arrow cup
- improved ointments (such as John Arderne’s painkiller)
What were the main public health problems in many Medieval towns?
- poor sanitation (water supply and waste disposal)
- streets were very dirt and cesspits could overflow into roads and rivers
- miasma was believed to cause diseases
Was there any sign of progress in this period?
Coventry:
- which became proactive in cleaning up their streets
- waste disposal sites outside of town
- bath houses existed for rich
- people were paid to clean up streets (compulsory)
What caused the Black Death?
- began in Asia
- reached England in 1348
- combination of bubonic plague (rats and fleas) and pneumonic plague (spread by coughing)
- buboes appeared on skin
Which ideas were put forward to explain the Black Death?
- punishment of God
- caused by astrology and alignment of planet
- blamed Jewish people on poisoning water supplies
- miasma (bad smell)
