Changes In Medicine

Question 1

What were the four humours

Answer 1

1. Blood
2. Phlegm
3. Yellow bile
4. Black bile

Question 2

What was miasma theory

Answer 2

The theory that ‘bad air’ caused and spread disease.

Question 3

What was spontaneous generation

Answer 3

The idea that rotting matter (from dead plants and animals) produced organisms which cause disease.

Question 4

Barriers to progress in medicine up to 1848

Answer 4

• The theory of the four humours and that a person became ill when their humours were out of balance.
• People knew there was a link between dirty conditions and disease so the miasma theory and the idea of spontaneous generation were popular.

None of these theories were correct. The lack of understanding of the causes of disease was the main barrier to progress in medicine by 1848, because treatments for disease and training for doctors were based on these incorrect theories.