Renaissance: hospitals, surgery, public health Flashcards
What were Renaissance hospitals like before 1536?
Patients were fed a good diet, e.g. fresh salmon & veg.
Physicians, with better university training than before, and detailed textbooks, prescribed treatments. Professionalised apothecaries put together the remedies. The good quality of hospitals was aided by guild systems and the growth of iatrochemistry.
What effect did Henry VIII’s dissolution of monasteries in 1536 have?
This reduced the number of Church-based hospitals.
Which hospital did Henry VIII reopen in 1546?
St. Barts, the oldest hospital in England.
How did pest houses develop from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance?
They became individualised.
How were the mentally ill treated in the Renaissance?
There were specialised hospitals for the mentally ill, where scientists conducted often harmful experiments to understand diseases like epilepsy. Bethlem hospital was famously one of the first to do this.
Surgery developed in the Renaissance because of 2 key individuals - name them and explain their ideas.
1) Vesalius proved Galen wrong, e.g. proving that the vena cava did not lead to the liver.
2) Harvey investigated the circulation of blood, proving wrong the idea that the liver digested food and converted it into blood, and Galen’s idea that veins carried the soul.
What was the governmental attitude towards public health in the Renaissance?
The governmental attitude remained widely indolent, although local authorities began to make improvements in their own areas. Individuals and their projects were most responsible for making improvements. However, this only survived due to royal subsidisation.
However, the government took quick action during the GP, e.g. closing public places, like theatres, and ordering towns to purify air and slaughter cats + dogs.
Who were two individuals responsible for improving public health? What did they do?
Edmund Colthurst suggested the construction of an artificial river to bring fresh water from the River Lee, 38 miles away, to London. The project commenced in 1602, managing 2 miles, but was abandoned due to insufficient funds. In 1609, Hugh Myddleton refunded the project, reviving it. It then received official royal backing, in 1613, from King James I.
Edmund Colthurst’s project only survived due to royal subsidisation. What does this demonstrate?
The royal family was beginning to actually use its power over public health for good.
Edmund Colthurst suggested the construction of an artificial river to bring fresh water from the River __, __ miles away, to London. The project commenced in __, managing __ miles, but was abandoned due to insufficient funds. In __, Hugh Myddleton refunded the project, reviving it. It then received official royal backing, in __, from __ __ __.
1) Lee
2) 38
3) 1602
4) 2
5) 1609
6) 1613
7) King James I
