Medieval Medicine Flashcards
(26 cards)
how did the church affect medieval medicine
preventing people from finding cures as they believed it was from god
how would religious people try to get rid of illness
people would pray to god or go on pilgrimages to holy shrines or Flagellants (whipped themselves in public to show god they were sorry)- common in epidemics
where did the belief of astrology come from and it what years did it move to Europe
developed in Asia and moved to Europe between 1100 and 1300
where did the theory of miasma originate from
Greece and Rome and incorporated by Galen
how did miasma benefit people
promoted people to do hygienic things like cleaning but helped for wrong reasons
what did miasma promote doctors to do
carried around nice smelling things when seeing sick
when did miasma last till
1861 when it was replaced by the germ theory
how did people try to treat illness
- bought from apothecaries containing spices, herbs etc by local wise women
- four humours- bloodletting and purging were popular by leeches and cutting for blood (if someone had ‘too much blood’) or laxatives for purging
- showed the strength of medieval peoples beliefs in the face of observational evidence
when was Hippocrates born
born around 460BC
what did Hippocrates encourage people to do
question patients and find out detailed info. and record them accurately
what’s the Hippocratic corpus
a collection of over 60 books written by greek doctors noting symptoms, treatments and effectiveness)- stressed that medical records should be kept for future reference
why was the four humours imp.
this was very important as it encouraged doctors to look for natural causes and cures for diseases
what was the theory of 4 humours
the body must also be made of 4 elements which were all created by digesting different foods. They were blood, phlegm, black bile and choler (yellow bile)- philosophers believed these had to be balanced for the patient to be healthy
why was Hippocrates so imp.
he removed the role of religion and gods in individual illness encouraging to move away from supernatural beliefs
why did greeks reject Hippocrates
However, many greeks rejected his work and still believed the god of medicine (Asclepius)
how is Hippocrates significant in the long term
taught centuries after his death and some practices still used today- (observe patients as they treat them and hippocratic oath)
when was Galen born
around 130 AD
what did he emphasise
importance in Hippocrates theories and built on 4 humours
what’s the theory of opposites
this was the believed that a doctor needed to treat and excess of of one humour with its exact opposite (eg. if patient had a fever, cold treatment should be given)
what did he believe about some foods
that they had humours (if someone had a cold- cold wet phlegm, he would give them chicken, pepper or wine which were considered hot and dry foods to correct the imbalance)
how was Galen significant
- accepted by the church as he believed that the parts of the human body fitted together perfectly which fitted well with church
- taught centuries after his death- some still used today (observe patients as they treat them)
how did islamic medicine compare to European medicine
generally more rational due to their knowledge of classical medical texts
what did Hunayn ibn Isahq do
collected Greek medical texts and translated them into arabic
what did Avicenna do
brought them to Europe and wrote the “Cannon of Medicine’ which brought together ideas of Galen and Hippocrates and was most important way that classical ideas got back into Western Europe
