Renaissance medicine

Question 1

importance of the renaissance

Answer 1

• decline in the churches control over medicine
• people started to question Galen’s ideas
• printing press introduced which reduced churches control over information let out and reduced their censorship
• microscopes also discovered improving the study of microorganisms and helped scientists understand more about the causes of disease

Question 2

Microscopes

Answer 2

• By 1683, there were more powerful microscopes
• These allowed scientists to view microorganisms
• Antony van Leeuwenheok studied plaque under a microscope
• The tiny creatures or ‘animalcules’ he observed were the first sighting of bacteria

Question 3

Vesalius

Answer 3

• challenged traditional ideas of Galen
• dissections on humans and animals where he found flaws in Galen’s work. Made a book called ‘On the fabric of the human body’
• inspired others to do the same

Question 4

Pare

Answer 4

• battlefield surgeon
• developed new techniques to treat wounds more effectively
• his mixture of rose oil, egg yolk and turpentine
• limited because of lack of understanding on germs
• reduced pain and improved surgical methods but patients still would die of infection

Question 5

William Harvey

Answer 5

• discovered how blood circulates around the body, proves the heart acts as a pump pushing blood through arteries and veins which challenged Galen’s ideas
• limited practical use and physicians still didn’t understand why blood travels around the body for treating diseases and lacked knowledge on germs and infections
• disproved Galen’s theory that blood came from the liver

Question 6

Great plague and black death similarities

Answer 6

• both believed in supernatural and natural causes, punishment from God or blamed miasma
• both treatments where ineffective, humoural treatments e.g. bleeding or purging, herbal remedies.
• both used methods of prevention such as isolation and laws banning certain activities

Question 7

John Hunter

Answer 7

• important in experimentation as he believed in the importance of studying the body through dissection and experiments
• impact of gunshot wounds and collection of anatomy
• wrote books and taught many surgeons his methods