lecture 1

Question 1

where is the evidence for previous medical use?

Answer 1

Cave paintings

• Physical human remains e.g. skeletons, skulls, bog bodies
• Some fragmentary items which may be tools

Question 2

What famous cave painting was found in France

Answer 2

‘The Sorcerer’, from the
cave known as ‘The Sanctuary’ in Montesquieu
-Avantès, France, dated
c.12000BCE

Question 3

What was found in a 7000 year old skull that suggestes medical intervention

Answer 3

• skull with a hole bore into it

- trepanation (medical skull drilling)

Question 4

Otzi the ice man

Answer 4

Archaeologists noticed that Otzi’s tattoos were all made over his joints, which made them wonder if it was a
medicinal form of treatment, rather than purely decorative

Question 5

what is the nineteeth century hangover

Answer 5

• Nineteenth century medicine and pharmacy sought to associate itself with antiquity
• ‘Antiquity’ guarantees ‘reliability’ in medicine and health?
• This still shapes how we interpret prehistoric and early historical evidence

Question 6

what is scientific method

Answer 6

• organised efforts
• to come up with explanations of nature,
• always modifying and correcting these
• through systematic observations

Question 7

steps of a scientific method

Answer 7

1- make observations
2- think of interesting questions
3- formulate hypotheses
4- develop testable predicitons
5- gather data to test predictions
6- refine alter expand 
7- develop general theories

Question 8

strengths of scientific method

Answer 8

• proceed in an organised way
• eliminates a lot of repetiton
• encourages chnage or revise explantions
• clear audit trail
• results should be communicable and replicable

Question 9

Hippocratic method?

Answer 9

• The Hippocratic approach may have held back the development of scientific medicine
• The Hippocratic approach DID systematise the description of disease duration (short-term, long-term)
• The Hippocratic approach DID systematise some elements of basic clinical observation
• did not use scientific method

Question 10

what is humoral theory

Answer 10

• The human body was thought to contain four principal humors, matching the four elements of earth, air, fire and water that made up
  the universe.
• Illnesses were caused by imbalance in the four bodily humors.
• Humoral theory was the single most enduring idea in Western medicine from the time of the ancient Greeks onwards

Question 11

when did medicine become scientific

Answer 11

• early Middle Ages - 1200s CE

Question 12

what are the building blocks of the modern scientific method

Answer 12

Eighteenth century European philosophy
- Rationalism: we acquire knowledge through the use of reason, rather than from received ideas
- Inductivism: we can observe nature and then develop laws
based on observation which can be tested and confirmed
- Empiricism: descriptions of things based on observation and experience, which indicates that a particular phenomenon is testable
- These are the building blocks of the modern scientific method