WEEK 6 (Medicine in Ancient Greece) Flashcards
What was the importance of Theodor Zwinger?
- 16th century Swiss physician & professor
- First to examine the roots of early medicine and realise that ancient Greeks saw the limitations of healing prayers
- Field of medicine became rooted in natural observation
What was successive about the Greek medicine era?
- Disease no longer regarded as supernatural phenomenon
- Disease approached from a rational, naturalistic and scientific point of view
What were the aspects of Greek culture that had a direct effect on healthcare?
- Greek emphasis on exercise and a well-toned body
- Their response to the geography of the area
- Open-mindedness about all they saw
What exposed the ancient greeks to a wide variety of cultures and many new ideas?
The residents of the loosely bound city-states of Greece were skilled seamen who willingly travelled and traded with the Egyptians and throughout the Mediterranean
What caused the Open-mindedness of Ancient Greeks?
- Openness to change was important
- Democratic ideals of Greece set a tone for questioning and exploring new ideas
- People of many professions were allowed to examine current practices and offer suggestions
Which books provide the earliest information about the practice of Greek medicine?
The Iliad and The Odyssey
What type of information did The Iliad and The Odyssey include?
- Coping with epidemic disease and treating battle wounds
- Insight into the state of medicine
- Insight into the roles played by physicians, surgeons, priests and gods
What are some examples of practical treatments stated in Iliad & Odyssey?
- Sucking the site of the wound to draw out poisons of “evil influence” then cleaning the area with warm water before applying medicines
- Patients given sulphur, saffron oil, opium or just warm water/wine
- After hands-on practical solutions, prayers & incantations used to supplement care
Ailing Greeks were sometimes sent to visit the Temple of what?
Temple of Apollo at Delphi
What would happen when a patient consulted Apollo’s famous oracle?
The oracle would go into a trance to receive the instructions for healing
[In 2001, Scientists discovered Ethylene gas (anaesthetic) may have been released through geological faults beneath where the temple once lay, so the oracle may actually have entered a trancelike state]
Who was Apollo?
god physician and god of prophecy
[he had the capability to send the epidemics & helped doctors find the cure]
Who was Asclepius?
The son of Apollo, a tribal chief and warrior. Asclepius was thought to have inherited his godlike ability to heal from Apollo.
What was the importance of Asclepius’ sons, Asclepiads?
They were physicians from whom all other physicians were said to descend from
What is the Caduceus?
Two snakes intertwined on a winged staff
Who was the Greek god that was the symbol of Medicine and associated with snakes?
Asclepius
[Shedding of snake skin depicts renewal of life and the snake was thought to have provided Asclepius with a precious healing herb]
Who were the daughters of Apollo?
Hygeia & Panacea
Was Humoral theory prevalent in Ancient Greece?
YES
[compared to ancient India though, in Ancient Greece it was 4 humours instead of 3]
Who was the creator of the Humoral theory?
Hippocratus
What was the Greek understanding of disease?
- Disease derived from an inner imbalance and not from outside pathogens
- The key to good health was to maintain a balance of the bodily fluids “the four humours”
- Greek lifestyle valued exercise, good eating habits and cleanliness
What was the job of the physician?
- Observe sickness
- Attend the patient
- Identify symptoms
What was included in diagnosis of a patient?
- A process involving inspection and palpation and the smelling of various fluids to ascertain what was wrong
- Early form of auscultation (listening to the body)
- Succussion
What is Succussion?
A process that involved shaking a patient and listening to the fluids within the body
Was surgery used only as a last resort?
YES
What happened when mild methods did not cause the desired results?
The Greeks considered medicinal drugs
What is distinguishable about Early Greek Medicine?
- Dietary solutions were often prescribed
- The first cook was seen as the First physician since dietetica was a healing art linked to athletic training and to a well-regulated life
- Greek methods favoured more gentle bodily adjustments though they still used vomiting, purging and bloodletting
Which conclusions did the Ancient Greeks observe?
- Rats and mice brought about illness
- Prevention is better than cure
- Connections between certain environmental elements and resulting illnesses
- Marshes and malarial fevers
How could you become a physician?
- Physicians learned their craft through apprenticeship
- A broad representation of social classes
- Strictly MALE
Some written materials of the time provided clinical descriptions of which diseases?
- Diabetes
- Tetanus
- Diphtheria
- Leprosy
What was the difference between nurses and midwives?
Nurses were used to help care for the sick & Midwives were consulted on issues regarding pregnancy and birth
What was Medicine in terms of payment?
- Fee-based services
- Physicians only wanted to accept patients who would recover so that they would acquire more patients because of a good success rate
Where were people treated?
The Greeks did not have hospitals so patients were either treated at their own homes, at the home of a physician or at a shrine of Asclepius
Who were the poor likely treated by?
Servants of the doctor
Was it shameful to work for free?
YES
What were Aristotle’s achievements in medicine?
- One of the first Greeks who believed in the importance of understanding the anatomy
- Animal dissections for better understanding of zoological and biological matters
- Studies permitted him to observe the heart -> laid groundwork for William Harvey who developed the first complete & correct theory of the circulation of the blood
What is the importance of the Alexandrian School and its effect on medicine?
- Ongoing studies at the Alexandrian Library gave rise to changes in the way doctors practiced medicine
- Developed an empirical method of practicing medicine (physicians worked from observation & experience)
- Three fundamental steps part of this process were codified: ANAMNESIS, AUTOPSY & DIAGNOSIS
Why were the patient’s outcomes often not successful in the Alexandrian School?
It lacked true scientific understanding of disease
How did the Alexandrian physicians benefit from Egyptian influence?
The ban on dissection was lifted
What was the difference between the Egyptians and Scientists in Alexandria in terms of dissection?
EGYPTIANS = did not study the body as they cut and embalmed
ALEXANDRIANS = viewed systematic dissection for the essential information provided
Who is the ‘Father of western medicine’?
Hippocrates of Cos
What did Hippocrates do?
- He improved the practice of medicine by diverting it from supernatural causes
- Highlighted observation before intervention
(revolved around the four “humours”) - Originated the disciplines of ethology and pathology
Hippocrates was the first physician to what?
To systematically classify diseases based on points of similarity and contrast between them
Hippocrates collected data and conducted experiments to show that disease was a ___________ process
natural
What were the three substances that Hippocrates claimed was inside the human body?
- Blood
- Mucus
- Yellow/Black bile
How does the human health depend on the balance of the substances?
Balance of substances = healthy man
Unbalance of substances = mentally and physically ill man
What did the Hippocratic Corpus recommend as treatment?
A healthy diet & physical exercise as a remedy for most ailments -> If not reduce sickness, medication was recommended (plants were processed for their medicinal elements)
How many books make up the Hippocratic Corpus?
60 books
What does the Hippocratic Corpus contain?
- How joints can be repositioned
- Importance of keeping records of case histories and treatments
- Relationship between the weather and some illnesses
Did any of the 62 books of Erasistratus survive?
NO
Who was Erasistratus?
- A great anatomist
- Noted existence of separate sensory and motor nerves
- Gave details on the anatomy of the brain and cerebellum, the heart, veins and arteries
- Weighed the intake and excrement of food
- First observations in pathological anatomy - Hardening of the liver in ascites
What was Pneumatism?
- The last Greek school of medicine
- Strongly influenced by the STOIC PHILOSOPHY
- Disease theory based on the vagaries of the pneuma
- Pneumatism developed into Eclecticism
Who was one of the outstanding members of the Pneumatic school?
Archigenes
