Week 6: Environmental Medicine Flashcards
Ancient physicians were interested in studying nature because:
It offered diseases and treatments, so physicians harness nature’s potential and advert its dangers
e.g. Alum as anticoagulant
What should a physician observe in nature?
a) Seasons (Autumn)
b) Winds (N: Cold / S: Hot)
c) Qualities of water (Crystal = Drinkable)
d) Orientation
e) Elevation
f) Lifestyles and pursuits
Why is it important for a physician to observe nature?
a) Know the diseases peculiar to the place
b) Know what epidemic disease will attack a city
c) Tell what each individual will be in danger of experiencing from the change of regimen
What is the goal of a physician when considering nature?
Preserve health
Description and common diseases of South-facing towns
Description
a) Inhabitants do not eat or drink a lot due to hot weather
Common health problems
a) Dysentery/diarrhea/hemorrhoids in adults
b) Asthma/convulsions in children
c) Severe diseases of the pulmonary system are rare
Description and common diseases of North-facing Towns
Description
a) Waters are hard cold
b) Exposed to Northernly winds from Siberia
Prevailing diseases
a) Pleurosies (Chest pain)
b) More prone to be affected by change of seasons
c) Elevated numbers of post-partum phthisis
Why are East-facing towns healthier than West-facing ones?
Have big mountains that create a rain shadow, so it normally rains in west-facing cities, creating static water bodies, which are infested by mosquitoes transmitting malaria.
What type of water causes kidney stones?
Drinking those from great rivers into which other rivulets run, or from a lake into which many streams of all sorts flow
What is the role of astronomy?
It contributes a very great deal to predict how regular the seasons would be, and therefore how healthy the year would be
How does a healthy year look based on the rising and setting of stars?
a) There is rain in autumn
b) Winter is mild (nor tepid nor unseasonably cold)
c) Spring / Summer with seasonable rains
How does an unhealthy year look based on the rising and setting of stars?
a) Winter is dry and northerly
b) Spring is showery and southerly
c) Febrile summer, giving rise to ophtalmies and dysenteries
What weather during the rising of Dogstar predicts that these diseases will cease?
Rain and wintery storms supervene
Etesian winds blow
General difference between Europe and Asia
More beautiful and largely produced in Asia
Description of Asian inhabitants
a) More gentle and affectionate dispositions
b) Well-fed, most beautiful in shape, of large stature, and differ little from one another.
What could not be produced in such a state of things?
Manly courage, endurance of suffering, laborious enterprise, and high spirit
