Medicine Renaissance Flashcards
(23 cards)
Renaissance taking influence from classical Greek beliefs (rediscovery)
-Rediscovery of knowledge from classical Greek and Roman times
-Western doctors gained access to og writings of Hippocrates, Galen and Avicenna which hadn’t been available in the medieval period
-Led to greater interest in 4 Humours and opposites
Renaissance as a time of continuity and change
-Renaissance saw the emergence of science as we know it from the mysticism of medieval times
-People thought about how the body worked based on observation and experimentation
-New books on anatomy + dissection encouraged people to examine the body and come to new conclusions about causes of disease
-People began to question Galen and other ancient doctors
Why/ How did the Roman Catholic Church begin to lose power?
-Protestant Christianity spread to Britain in the 16th century during the Reformation
-Reduced the influence of the Catholic Church
Andreas Vesalius
-Born in 1514 and was a medical professor at Padua University in Italy
-He was able to perform dissections on criminals who had been executed so he could study human anatomy
-Wrote books based on observations using accurate drawings in ‘Six Anatomical Pictures’ (1538) and ‘The Fabric of the Human Body’ (1543)
-Works were distributed around Europe thanks to the printing press invented in 1440s
-Allowed British doctors to read about Vesalius’ findings and learn from his discoveries
-Helped to point out some of Galen’s mistakes e.g he showed that there were no holes in the septum of the heart and the jaw was 1 bone
-Didn’t have an immediate impact on diagnosis or treatment but provided first essential step
William Harvey
-British doctor born in 1578
-Studied medicine at Padua Uni (Italy) and Royal College of Physicians before becoming Royal Physician to James I and Charles I
-Studied both animals and humans (vivisected animals)
-Before Harvey, people thought there were 2 kinds of blood flowing through completely separate blood systems from the liver, an idea from Galen
-Through experiments, he knew too much blood was being pumped out of the heart for it to be continually formed and consumed
-He thought blood must circulate which he described in his book ‘On the Motions of the Heart and Blood’ (1628)
-Gave doctors a map of how the body worked changing their understanding of anatomy
Reactions to Harvey’s ideas
-Not everyone believed his theories and it took a large time before doctors used them in their treatments
-People continued to perform bloodletting and purging as Galen and the Church taught even though Harvey proved it wrong
Ambroise Pare
-French barber surgeon born in 1510
-He treated many serious injuries as an army surgeon and his experience treating them led to improved surgical techniques
-On books like ‘Of wounds in General’ it said wounds had to be burnt using red hot irons and then boiling hot oil but this was causing wounds to become infected
-Pare ran out of oil and resorted (by chance) to a simple ointment containing egg white and turpentine which worked even better
-Before Pare, severed blood vessels left by amputation were sealed by burning ends with a red hot iron (cauterisation) but he invented a method of tying vessels with ligatures
-This was less painful but did increase the chance of infection
-He also designed a crows beak clamp to halt the bleeding of the blood vessels
-He published his ideas for doctors and many used his methods
-Wrote ‘The Collected Works of Ambroise Pare’ (1575)
Reaction to Pare’s treatments
-Resisted by doctors who felt a lowly surgeon shouldn’t be listened to
-He eventually became a surgeon to the King of France
-Only with the King’s support did his ideas become more accepted
People using Old Treatments in the Renaissance
-Many doctors were reluctant to accept Galen was wrong
-This meant they continued things like bloodletting and purging
-Doctors tended to focus more on reading books than on treating patients
-Doctors were still expensive so many people still used apothecaries and barber surgeons
-Superstition and religion were still important e.g people thought the King’s touch could cure scrofula
Quackery
-When people sold medicine that didn’t work and often did more harm than good
-Quacks sold their wares at fairs and markets and often had no medical knowledge
-From 1600, College of Physicians started to license doctors to stop quackery
The Great Plague 1665
-A rare but deadly recurrence of the medieval Black Death
-Killed 100,000 people in London
-Spread due to poor sanitation which led to sewage and waste being discarded in the streets and river
-Resulted in a significant increase in the population of black rats, which carried the bubonic plague
Similarities between the Great Plague and Black Death
-Many treatments were based on magic, religion and superstition like wearing lucky charms or amulets, praying and fasting
-Bloodletting still used (which just infected wounds)
-Some also thought that miasma caused he disease so they carried posies of herbs and flowers to improve the air
-Plague water sold by apothecaries in the city
Differences between the Great Plague and Black Death
-Towns and Parish Councils tried to prevent the disease’s spread
-Plague victims were quarantined to stop them passing on the disease. Victim’s house was locked and a red cross painted on their door
-Areas where people crowded together such as theatres were closed
-Dead bodies of plague victims were buried in mass graves away from houses
Councils/Parliaments reaction to the Great Plague 1665
-Local councils did more than they had 300 years ago
-There were no national government attempts at prevention
-Parliament refused to turn the orders into laws because members of the House of Lords refused to be shut in their houses
-King and his council left London
Doctors training and knowledge improving
-Doctors in Britain trained at the College of Physicians set up in 1518
-Read Galen’s books and recent medical developments
-Gained a license separating them from quacks
-License didn’t guarantee a doctor would give the most effective treatment
-New weapons like cannons and guns were used in war which meant surgeons had to treat injuries they hadn’t seen before
-Explorations abroad brought new ingredients for drugs including guaiacum and quinine
-Dissections became a key part of medical training in the 1700’s
Surgeons becoming more important
-In Middle Ages, there were 2 types of surgeons
-There was a small group of professionals who trained at university and unqualified barber surgeons
-In the 1700’s and 1800’s, surgeons began to gain the same status as doctors
-In 1800, the London College of Surgeons was created which set training standards for surgeons for the first time
John Hunter (1728-1793)
-A well-known surgeon and scientist
-Joined anatomy school in London where dissecting human corpses was a large part of school’s teachings
-Over 12 years, Hunter was present at more than 2000 dissections developing an unrivalled knowledge of the human body
-Became an army surgeon in France and Portugal and a popular surgeon and teacher in England
-Learnt more about venereal diseases (STDs)
-In an operation in 1785, he introduced a new way to treat an aneurysm in a man’s thigh
-Hunter tied off the blood vessel to encourage blood to flow through the other vessels in the leg preventing it from amputation
-He created good scientific habits like learning as much about the body as possible to understand illness and testing treatments
-Wrote the ‘Natural History of Teeth’ (1771)
Hospitals being more focused on treatment and learning
-Henry VIII dissolved monasteries and this also led to closure of lots of hospitals
-Britain had relatively few hospitals until 18thC
-From early 18th C charity hospitals opened including Middlesex Infirmary, London Hospital and Guy’s Hospital
-Funded by rich, offering free treatment to poor
-Dispensaries provided free non-residential care to the poor. Medicines and non-surgical services from people like dentists and midwives
-In the 19th C, some hospitals were founded alongside universities or medical schools like Charing Cross Hospitals
-Cottage hospitals run by GPs opened from 1860
Florence Nightingale improving nursing standards
-Nightingale became a nurse in 1849. She was asked to help in the Barrack Hospital during the Crimean War
-She ensured all wards were clean and hygienic, water supplies were adequate and patients fed properly
-Death rate went from 42% to 2%
-Published a book ‘Notes on Nursing’ (1859) explaining the need for hygiene and professional attitude
-Public raised £44,000 to help her train nurses and she set up the Nightingale School of Nursing
-Nurses were given 3 years of training
Preventing smallpox with inoculation before Jenner
-In the 1700’s, smallpox was one of the most deadly diseases
-In 1751, over 3500 people died of it in London
-At the time, the only way to prevent it was inoculation
-This was promoted in Britain by Lady Mary Wortley, who learned about it in Turkey
-Inoculation involved making a cut in a patient’s arm and soaking it in pus taken from the swelling of somebody who already had a mild form of smallpox
Jenner discovering a link between smallpox and cowpox
-Edward Jenner (born 1749) was a country doctor
-He heard milkmaids didn’t get smallpox, but they did catch the much milder cowpox
-Using careful scientific methods, Jenner discovered it was true that people who had cowpox didn’t get smallpox
-He tested this theory in 1796, injecting a small boy, James Phipps, with pus from a milkmaid with cowpox (Sarah Nelmes)
-He injected James with smallpox but he didn’t catch the disease
-he published his findings in 1798 using the term vaccination
Opposition to Jenner’s vaccination
-Many were worried about giving themselves diseases from cows
-Some doctors who gave older types of inoculation saw it as a threat to their livelihood
-William Woodville, claimed Jenner’s vaccination worked little better than inoculation
-When vaccination become compulsory in 1853, several groups were formed to campaign against it- they didn’t want government telling them what to do
Support from Parliament on Jenner’s vaccination
-In 1802, Parliament gave Jenner £10,000 to open a vaccination clinic
-It gave Jenner a further £20,000 a few years later
-In 1840, vaccination against smallpox was made free for infants
-In 1853, smallpox vaccination was made compulsory
-Vaccine was a success- it contributed to a big fall in the number of smallpox cases
