Medicine medieval Flashcards
(31 cards)
Supernatural causes of disease
-Many believed disease was a punishment from God for people’s sins
-Disease existed to show them the error of their ways and become better people
-They therefore thought they could cure disease by praying and repenting
-Some thought it was also caused by evil supernatural beings like witches and demons
-Some believed diseases could be caused by evil spirits within them so members of the church performed exorcisms to remove the spirits
How was astrology used to diagnose disease?
-Astrology is the idea that the movement of planets and stars have an effect on the Earth
-Astrologers believed this movement could cause disease
-Diagnosing disease using astrology develop in Islamic medicine and brought to Europe between 1100 and 1300
-Medieval doctors owned a calendar called an almanac including info about where stars and planets were and used this to predict patients health
-Different star signs were thought to affect different parts of the body
Origins of the Four Humours Theory (H)
-After the fall of the Roman Empire, much Ancient Greek and Roman medical knowledge was lost but was eventually brought back to western Europe via the Islamic world
-4 Humours was created by Ancient Greek doctor Hippocrates who believed the body was made up of 4 liquids
-Blood, Phlegm, Yellow bile, Black bile
-These were linked to the 4 seasons and elements and needed to be in balance for good health
Development of the Four Humours Theory (G)
-4 Humours was developed by another Ancient Greek doctor Galen who was born in AD 129
-He believed diseases could be treated using opposites
-He thought different foods, drinks, herbs and spices had a humour which could balance the excessive humour that was causing the disease
Miasma Theory
-The idea that bad air causes disease when someone breathes it in
-The bad air may come from human waste or dead bodies
-It originated in Ancient Greece and Rome and was incorporated by Galen into the 4 Humours
-It was so influential that it lasted until the 1860s before it was replaced with Germ Theory
-Prompted people to do hygienic things like clean streets
Influence of Hippocrates and Galen
-They both wrote down their beliefs which were translated into Latin books.
-These books were considered very important by the Roman Catholic Church
-Their ideas, like the Bible, were absolute truth
-Even their incorrect ideas were taught for centuries
-Some of their ideas are so influential that they are still used today like the Hippocratic Oath promising to obey rules
Roman Catholic Church’s influence on medieval medicine
-Extremely powerful organisation
-Encouraged people to believe disease was a punishment from God rather than natural causes
-This prevented people from finding cures
-All you could do was pray and repent
-Made sure scholars of medicine learnt works of Galen as his ideas fit the Christian belief that God created humans and made them perfect
-Outlawed dissection so doctors couldn’t discover ideas about anatomy but learn Galen’s incorrect ideas
-Monks and monastries
Islamic doctors keeping classical knowledge alive
-4 Humours and treatment by opposites was kept alive by Islamic scholars
-In the 9th century, Johannitus travelled from Baghdad to Byzantium collecting Greek medical texts and translated them to Arabic
-This classical knowledge was eventually brought into Europe by Avicenna
-Avicenna wrote ‘The Canon of Medicine’ which brought together ideas of Galen and Hippocrates and was the most important way classical ideas got back to Western Europe
-The Crusades also made Europeans aware of Islamic doctors scientific knowledge
New discoveries of Islamic doctors
-Albucasis wrote a well though-out book in c936 describing amputations, the removal of bladder stones and dental surgery
-In the 12th century, Avenzoar described the parasite that causes scabies and began to question the reliability of Galen
-Ibn al-Nafis suggested that blood flows from one side of the heart to the lungs and doesn’t cross the septum (also against Galen)
How does the autobiography of Usama ibn Munqidh suggest the difference between Islamic and European medicine?
-Usama describes how he treated a knight with a sore on his leg using a poultice and a woman who was feeble minded with a new diet
-A French doctor arrives and claims Usama knows nothing and then cuts off the knight’s leg with an axe and the woman’s head with a razor
-Both patients died
The help of Alchemy in developing new drugs
-Alchemy was an attempt to turn base metals into gold and discover the elixir of eternal life
-Alchemy traces its origins back to the Egyptians and it was preserved in the Islamic world
-Islamic alchemists invented useful techniques such as distillation and sublimation and prepared drugs such as laudanum, benzoin and camphor
4 main ways of treating disease
-Prayer and repentance
-Bloodletting and purging
-Purifying the air
-Remedies
Prayer and repentance in treating disease
-Disease was believed to be a punishment by God
-Sick people were encouraged to pray to saints and go on pilgrimages to cure their disease
-Flagellants were people who whipped themselves in public to show God they were sorry for their past actions
-Many doctors had superstitious beliefs and used astrology to treat illnesses
Bloodletting and purging in treating diseases
-These treatments fitted with the 4 Humours
-If someone had ‘too much’ blood, doctors would remove blood by bloodletting
-Make a small cut to remove blood or use leeches
-Some were accidentally killed like this
-Purging is getting rid of fluids by excretion- doctors gave laxatives to help with this
Purifying the air in treating diseases
-Miasma theory led people to believe in purifying and cleaning the air to prevent sickness
-Physicians carried posies or oranges around with them to ‘protect’ themselves from catching a disease
-During the black death, juniper, myrrh and incense were burned so smoke would fill the air and stop bad air getting in
Remedies in treating diseases
-Remedies bought from an apothecary, wise woman, or at home were popular and contained herbs, spices, animal parts and minerals
-These were either passed down or written in books called ‘Herbals’
-Other remedies were based on superstition like lucky charms containing ‘powdered unicorn’s horn’
3 different types of medieval healers
-University trained doctors/ physicians
-Apothecaries (wise women)
-Barber surgeons
University trained doctors/Physicians
-They had to train for at least 7 years
-They read ancient texts and writings from the Islamic world
-Training involved little practical experience
-Used handbooks and clinical observation to check conditions
-There were less than 100 in England in 1300 and they were very expensive
Apothecaries
-People that prepared and sold remedies and gave advice on how best to use them
-Most common form of treatment as they were the most accessible
-Trained through apprenticeships and most were men
-There were many so called ‘wise women’ who sold herbal remedies
Barber surgeons
-Lower class medical tradesman who combined hair cutting with simple surgical operations
-Surgery led to blood loss, infection and pain so was only rarely attempted
-Apprenticed by other barber surgeons
-Most common surgery was blood letting and amputation (cutting off a painful body part)
-It was thought that epilepsy was caused by demons inside the brain so barber surgeons sometimes drilled a hole in the head
3 people that made progress in medieval surgery
-Hugh of Lucca and his son Theodoric
-John of Ardene
Progress by Hugh of Lucca and his son Theodoric in surgery
-Worked as surgeons in Italy early 13th century
-Recognised importance of practical experience and observation
-They questioned some of Galen’s ideas in Theodoric’s textbooks
-They began dressing wounds with bandages soaked in wine as they noticed wine helped keep wounds clean and prevented infection (chance)
-Realised that pus wasn’t healthy unlike other doctors who caused wounds to pus
Progress by John of Ardene in surgery
-Created a recipe for anaesthetic in 1376 including hemlock, opium and henbane
-He wrote some of this in his surgical manual, Practica in 1376
-Based on Greek and Arab knowledge and his experience in the Hundred Years War
-Formed the work association ‘The Guide of Surgeons’
Living conditions in towns
Houses made of wood and crammed together so overcrowding and fires were a problem
-No clean water supply or sewerage system
-Water chucked into street or rivers
-Sewage from latrines leaked into the ground
-Butchers, tanners and dyers threw toxic waste so people got water from contaminated rivers
-13th century, water channel called Great Conduit built to bring clean water into London
-1388, govt ordered town authorities to keep streets free of waste but they didn’t have enough knowledge or money to properly fix these public health issues
