Renaissance

Question 1

How did the invention of the printing press improve health?

Answer 1

Books can be produced, including detailed anatomical drawings that would have no mistakes and were cheaper.
Students could learn from the books so that they become better surgeons as they understand the human body better.
Example of “The Fabric of the Human Body” by Andreas Versallius

Question 2

What ideas were re birthed from the classical period in the Middle Ages?

Answer 2

Galens ideas of encouraging dissection and observation.
Hippocrates idea of searching for a cause of illness, giving a diagnose and then giving treatments.
Enquiry over acceptance

Question 3

How did the invention of the gun improve surgery and anatomy in the Middle Ages?

Answer 3

More complex injuries and complicated damaged organs from gunshot wounds, meant that surgeons could become better at surgery and learn how to treat severe injuries better.

Question 4

What did wise women do in the Middle Ages?

Answer 4

Skilled in use of herbal remedies
Passed down remedies by generations
They were not allowed to go to university however many people went to them instead of doctors as they were cheaper
Were local midwives until the forceps were invented

Question 5

What was believed to be the main cause of illness?

Answer 5

Still believed in the 4 humour theory and miasmas, however people started to challenge these ideas, for example Paracelsus.

Question 6

How were herbal remedies improved in the Renaissance period?

Answer 6

There was more testing of their effectiveness

More herbs from different countries eg Asia and America, they discovered new treatments and ingreidents

Question 7

What were the common treatments for the Plauge?

Answer 7

People were isolated from society by having warning on their doors
Chickens were used to draw poisons from the plauge sores
Charms and Public Prayers

Question 8

Why did Public Health not improve much in the Renaissance?

Answer 8

There were many wars that used up resources that couldve been spent on public health.
Population of towns were increasing also putting strains on water supplies and waste disposal.

Question 9

Who were the three individual geniuses of the Renaissance period?

Answer 9

Ambroise Pare
Andreaus Versalius
William Harvey

Question 10

What did Ambroise Pare do?

Answer 10

Pare had a low status position as a battlefield surgeon
Pare developed ligatures
Pare used an old Roman ointment when treating gunshot wounds on the battlefield of roses, turpentine and egg yolks, as he ran out of boiling oil which was the old treatment for fun shot wounds.
Developed prosthetic limbs for soldiers

Question 11

What were the limitations of Pare?

Answer 11

He had a low position as a battlefield surgeon and no education so was looked down on by others.
Ligatures can increase the risk of infection if the silk threads were dirty.

Question 12

What did Andreaus Versallius do?

Answer 12

Was allowed to do human dissections in Padua.
Wrote “The fabric of the human body”.
Encouraged doctors to DISSECT.
Proved wrong some of Galen’s mistakes, for example jaw bone was one part not two and that the heart had no holes in its septum.

Question 13

What were the limitations of Versalius?

Answer 13

Many people refused to accept that Galen was wrong.

His work had no practical use and did not cure anyone.

Question 14

What did William Harvey do?

Answer 14

Discovered circulation of the blood, by dissecting animals and humans, disproving Galen’s ideas.
Identifies difference between arteries and veins.
Wrote “An anatomical account of the motion of heart and blood” to spread his ideas quickly.

Question 15

What were the limitations of Harvey?

Answer 15

His discoveries were limited as he could not explain his theories without looking at capillaries in a microscope.

Question 16

What does the word ‘Renaissance’ mean?

Answer 16

-Rebirth.

Question 17

How did artists illustrations become so complex?

Answer 17

-Artists attended dissections of human corpses and did wonderful illustrations for medical books.

Question 18

When was the Great Plague?

Answer 18

• 1665.

- It was the worst of the reappearances of the Black Death. The death toll in London was about 100,000.

Question 19

What efforts were made to control the spread of disease in the Great Plague?

Answer 19

• Households were locked in.

- Red crosses were painted on their doors with the words, “Lord have mercy upon us.”

Question 20

How did they get rid of the bodies from the Great Plague?

Answer 20

-Carts organised by authorities roamed the city “Bring out your dead!” collecting corpses for mass burial in “plague pits”.

Question 21

What did people know about disease in the Renaissance period?

Answer 21

-People realised disease was contagious, but they still didn’t understand about germs causing disease.

Question 22

Why was the Great Fire of London helpful in the Renaissance period?

Answer 22

-The Great Fire of London in 1666 effectively sterilised large parts of London, killing the plague bacteria.

Question 23

How did the weakening power of the church affect progress in medicine in the Renaissance?

Answer 23

• People did not have religious beliefs about the causes of diseases, meaning that people started to look for natural causes.
• Doctors could now dissect.

Question 24

How did artists drawing from life affect medicine in the Renaissance?

Answer 24

-Medical drawings could be drawn and shared among doctors through medical books, new anatomy books were produced, quickly, reliably and accurately due to the printing press which was a lot cheaper and accurate/faster than copying by hand previously was.