Treatment: Phase 1 Lack of Understanding Flashcards
What were the ideas of Hippocrates and Galen?
Hippocrates had practiced medicine in Greece and it is through him that we have the Hippocratic Oath. He pushed the idea of monitoring patients and writing down their symptoms. He developed the idea of the Four Humours
Galen had practiced medicine in Rome and contributed a lot to the understanding of anatomy and believed in the Four Humours and the idea that if they were unbalanced that was why you were ill.
What advancements had been made by the 17th and 18th Centuries?
During the scientific revolution of the 18th century new advances in anatomy and science had been made and the ideas of Galen were questioned.
In the 16th century Vesalius had encouraged doctors to do their own dissections
In the 17th century doctors increasingly used microscopes
Scientists began to question the idea of the Four Humours on discovering that air itself is made up of different gasses.
What is miasma theory?
There had always been a connection between dirt and disease.
The idea was that a poisonous vapour which consisted of particles of decaying matter created a foul smell.
Why did the miasma theory make sense in the 19th Century?
The theory of miasma made sense because rapid urbanisation and industrialisation created poor and foul-smelling areas that tended to have epidemics.
If these were improved there was an improvement in disease rates
Florence Nightingale believed this theory and this is why she wanted hospitals to be well-ventilated, clean and airy.
What is Spontaneous Generation?
People did not understand the link between microorganisms and disease.
The theory of Spontaneous Generation claimed that rotting material created maggots, fleas and disease
List some of the positive developments made before 1850 to help improve knowledge and understanding of illness
Late 17th century – Microscopes developed by a Dutch clockmaker called Anthony van Leeuwenhoek. He discovered that everything he looked at contained tiny organisms which he called animalcules – water, faeces, animal intestines, even the scrapings from his teeth. He wrote 200 papers for the Royal Society in London
1796 – Edward Jenner discovered that a small dose of cowpox protects humans from smallpox and called the technique vaccination.
In 1805 Napoleon had all of his soldiers vaccinated. In 1852 the British government made vaccination compulsory.
1830 – A British Scientist, developed a microscope that magnified 1000x without distortion. With these improved microscopes scientists could observe in detail the behaviour of microorganisms.
