Renaissance Flashcards
What impact did the Renaissance have on medical training?
- It was an age of new discovery
- This encouraged medical students to experiment
- The church no longer controlled medical training because of the reformation
- This meant people challenged the old ideas of emphasis on the supernatural
- Students were encouraged to carry out practical training rather than book studies
- Dissection was now common
What new ideas became apparent in the Renaissance period?
- Art: (Leonardo De Vinci) accurate anatomy drawings
- Printing: Could develop medical books cheaply and quickly, more people learned to read
- Exploration: Adventurers sailed the world, bring back mysterious plants and establishing new routes to sail which strengthened the connection between the continents
- New machinery: Invention of the pump, glass making, and the microscope
What was the Royal Society?
- A group of people who met weekly in order to discuss scientific ideas and experiments, and later acquired a library of books of their findings
- People were elected into the society based on merit of scientific knowledge
- In 1850 the government granted them £1,000 to further their discoveries
- To this day, it is arguably one of the most significant, scientific findings in medical history
Why was the Royal Society set up and why was it such an important institution?
- It was set up to discuss the new philosophy of promoting knowledge of the natural world through observation and experiment, which we now call science
- It was important because it was the first of it’s kind, and because they funded scientific research in foreign countries as well as England
What was the significance of the printing press?
Printing meant new ideas were spread quickly
Name four ways in which Vesalius proved Galen wrong about human anatomy.
- Galen thought the lower jawbone was made of two pieces, like an animal, whereas Vesalius realised it’s only one piece
- Galen thought blood moved from one side of the heart to the other through a hole in the middle, whereas Vesalius realised there were no holes in the septum
- Galen thought the breastbone was made up of 7 parts, whereas Vesalius realised it was only made up of 3
- Galen thought the liver had 5 lobes, whereas Vesalius realised that the liver has no lobes, it’s just really big
What was Harvey’s “big idea”?
The circulation of blood. He claimed that:
- The heart acted like a pump
- Arteries carried blood away from the heart
- Veins carried blood towards the heart
- The amount of blood going into arteries each hour was 3 times the weight of a man
- If blood was absorbed, there would be too much, so it had to be the same blood pumped in the body
- Tiny blood vessels connected veins and arteries, which fed the whole body with blood
Why didn’t Harvey’s ideas have any short-term impact?
- Didn’t make a change to the way people were treated
- Doctors were reluctant to admit that Galen was wrong, it took years to change their minds
What were the long-term impacts of Harvey’s discoveries?
- People knew the difference between animal and human anatomy
- The treatment ‘blood letting’ didn’t work
Who was William Harvey?
A physician who discovered the circulation of blood
Who was Vesalius?
An anatomist who discovered human anatomy and wrote the book “fabric of the human body”
Who were ‘local women’?
Untrained women such as mothers and wives that cared for the sick using remedies. They charged very little for their care.
Who were ‘quacks’?
Untrained healers that arrived in a town or village with a fanfare of drum or trumpet, often accompanied by a capering clown and clattering monkeys to draw a crowd. They often pretended to be foreign to add a sense of mystery and excitement, they were simply out to make money. They sold charms, potions and bottles of medicine and once tricked parliament into paying £5000 for a ‘dissolving bladder stone’ remedy.
How had hospitals improved since the Middle Ages?
- Hospitals increased in size
- Patients were kept clean and fed regularly
- Simple surgeries were carried out such as setting fractures straight and amputating limbs
- Treatment was free, all the patients had to do was pray for recovery
- Infectious people were now admitted with special care
Why did the number of hospitals fall in the 1500s?
Henry VIII closed the monasteries and many hospitals too. He did this because he believed the monks and nuns were making too much money from it, and were living a greedy lifestyle.
