A Historical Overview of Medicine: From Ancient Civilizations to Modern Discoveries, Slides of Geology

Download A Historical Overview of Medicine: From Ancient Civilizations to Modern Discoveries and more Slides Geology in PDF only on Docsity! Lecture 15 : History Of Medicine(1) Overview EARLY BEGINNINGS ANCIENT GREECE THE ROMAN WORLD DARK AGES / MEDIEVAL PERIOD RENAISSANCE / ENLIGHTENMENT NINETEENTH CENTURY Docsity.com Early Beginnings • Evidence suggests that Neanderthals practised a form of folk medicine. • Written records indicate medicine practiced in the early urban civilisations in 2nd or 3rd millennium BC. Docsity.com The Roman World • Greek medicine was promoted by the medical school in Alexandria. • Greeks physicians were prominent in Roman Empire. • Most influential was probably Galen of Pergamum (130- 210) – generally regarded as the father of physiology. • Although wrong, Galen’s understanding of the human body prevailed for over 1,000 years. Docsity.com Dark Ages / Medieval • Dark Ages were dominated by the Church. • Hospitalia established to provide shelter for pilgrims. evolved into places of refuge for the sick and dying. • Some evolved specialised functions e.g. Lazar houses. • Classical medical knowledge was preserved in the Moslem world. • The most significant figure was Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Zakariya Al-Razi (865-932) – or Rhazes in Latin. • Classical ideas were reintroduced into the west by medical school at Salerno. Docsity.com Renaissance / Enlightenment • Renaissance saw a revival of interest in scientific enquiry. • William Harvey (1578-1657) published his views on the circulation of blood in 1628. Completely overturned Galen’s physiology. • Renes Descartes (1590-1650) put forward the idea that the body was a machine made up of parts (Cartesian view). • Hospitals and medical schools established in 18th century. • James Lind (1716-1794) identified a cure for scurvy (citrus fruit) using a controlled experiment in 1747. Docsity.com The 19th Century (1) • Girolamo Fracastoro (1478-1553) had suggested that diseases were caused by invisible ‘seminaria’ (i.e. germs). • The prevailing view in early 19th century was that diseases were caused by ‘miasmas’. • French investigation of yellow fever epidemic in Barcelonea in 1822 ‘proved’ contagion was not possible. • Mediterannean countries stuck with contagionist viewpoint, whilst more ‘advanced’ countries supported miasmatic theory. • We know now that germ theory is corrrect. Docsity.com The 19th Century (2) • Ignaz Philipp Semmelwiss (1818-1865) reduced deaths from puerperal fever in Vienna and Budapest by insisting that anyone delivering a baby should wash in chlorinated lime. He was driven out of work and died in a madhouse. • Joseph Lister (1827-1912) reduced mortality from infections after surgery from 50% to 15% in 1861 using antiseptics. Met resistance before being accepted in 1880s. • Louis Pasteur (1822-1985) published his germ theory in 1861. Devised method for attenuating agents to use as vaccines. • Robert Koch (1843-1910) identified causal agents of tuberculosis (1882) and cholera (1883). • By 1900 miasmatic theory was totally discredited. Docsity.com