Medicine History Through Time Flashcards
What was the cure for headaches and epilepsy in prehistoric times and what was it’s cause?
Trephining- flint cutting tools scraped away hole on skull to release evil spirit
Why was hunting and gathering healthier than farming?
They kept moving so water wasn’t polluted, they left the sick to die and killed young babies if took many and slowing down the group
What did medicine men do?
They had god-given powers to heal the sick by destroying their enemies using magic rituals to prevent disease
What was the cute for open cuts in prehistoric times?
Cover in mud and clay
Broken bone treatment in prehistoric times?
Encased in mud and clay
Herbs and plants were used as?
Antiseptics and anaesthetics
What were prehistoric supernatural approaches to illness?
- pointing bone- evil spirits enter the body and make someone I’ll
- blamed witch craft or sorcery- chicken poison given to guilty person
- medicine men
- amulet - charm warn as protection against evil spirits
What were the years of the ancient Egyptians?
3000BC - 500BC
What was Nile theory?
Observed that irrigation channels leading from the Nile to the fields got blocked from mud and silt= dead crops they thought this was the same in humans that blocked channels meant someone was Ill - step forward as wasn’t supernatural beliefs
what were different types of priests and what did they do?
priest physicians- used common sense and herbal remedies
priest magicians- used supernatural remedies= prayers, charms and spells
how can historians learn about egyptian medicine?
from carvings
papyrus
pharoahs tombs-stories of their lives painted on the walls
how did Egyptian priests keep everyone clean?
advised Pharaohs- their religion meant they had to stay clean and washed everyday and drank from bronze cups. Pharaos trusted Priests- they and public copied the priests habits of cleanliness
priests wrote down their remedies
what did the Egyptians get right?
that we breathed through nose into lungs
if someone had a low pulse, the heart was beating low
what did the Egyptians get wrong?
the heart controlled the body therefore the brain was useless
the spinal chord transferred info to lower part of the body
diseases were spread to the rest of the body by vessels from the bowels
what are treatments Egyptians did?
open wounds- bandage with fresh meat and oil and honey-sugars draw out fluids and reduce swelling
broken bone- set with splints
blockages and channels- blood letting by puncturing skin or using leeches, laxatives
eye infection- using lead, copper salts or carbon = antiseptics
dysentery, typhoid, cholera- eat radishes, garlic and onions
evil spirits- amulet, pray to gods
