Understanding the causes of illness and treatments

Question 1

Three medieval beliefs about the causes of illness

Answer 1

Miasma
The four humors being out of balance
God punishing you for your sins

Question 2

Three medieval treatments of illness

Answer 2

Bleeding
praying
Herbal remedies

Question 3

Three ways the understanding of the cause was similar between medieval and the renaissance periods

Answer 3

Miasma was still believed
although more popular
punishment for sins and the four humours were also still believed

Question 4

Two ways the understanding of the causes of illness changed between medieval and renaissance periods

Answer 4

Miasma became more widely believed
Thomas Sydenham said doctors should observe the patient and not just believe in the four humours

Question 5

Two features of the understanding of the causes of illness in the 19th century

Answer 5

People believed in miasma until the 1860’s with the turning point of Pasteur’s germ theory and Koch’s bacteriology.

Question 6

The 19th century turning point in understanding the cause of illness

Answer 6

Germ theory

Question 7

Two features of the 19th century treatment of illness

Answer 7

Quacks patent medicines were new but didn’t work
They still used bleeding and purging

Question 8

Why wasn’t there effective treatment of illness in the 19th century despite the understanding of microbes

Answer 8

germ theory wasn’t discovered until the late 1860’s and it took a while to develop treatments

Question 9

Three examples of modern doctors understanding of the causes of illness

Answer 9

germs and bacteria
lifestyle choices eg. smoking
Genetic causes

Question 10

Four modern treatments of illness

Answer 10

chemical cures
Antibiotics
blood transfusions
radiotherapy