A Brief History Of Medicine

1
A Brief History Of Medicine
Part 3 The Middle Ages
2
Throughout History

• People have had illness.
• People have tried to explain the cause of
  disease.
• Humans have sought cures for sicknesses.

3
Traditional Chinese Medicine
4
Time Period

• 500 BC to 1600 AD
• Many medical practices are still used today

5
Common Diseases

• Records show symptoms and treatments for many
  diseases
• Huge area, many climates

6
Causes of Disease - Beliefs

• The body is a like small universe
• A complex of subsystems of energy and matter
• These systems work together to maintain a healthy
  mind and body
• The characteristics of the operation of the
  mind/body are described in terms of the five
  elements (metal, water, wood, fire, and earth)

7
Causes of Disease

• Yin/Yang organs, deficiency/excess,
  emptiness/fullness, hot/cold, wind, dampness,
  essences, body fluids, vessels and more.
• Illness is caused by external and/or internal
  factors which disrupt the body's natural processes

8
Cures Medical Techniques

• Taking pulse in six positions
• Observations of patient's tongue, voice, hair,
  face, posture, gait, eyes, ears, vein on index
  finger of small children
• Checking the patient's body (especially the
  abdomen, chest, back, and lumbar areas) for
  tenderness
• Comparing the warmth or coolness of different
  parts of the body

9
Cures Medical Techniques

• Observation of the patient's various odors
• Asking the patient about the effects of their
  problem.
• Anything else that can be observed without
  instruments and without harming the patient

10
Cures Medical Techniques

• Asking detailed questions about their family,
  living environment, personal habits, food diet,
  emotions, sleep, exercise, and anything that may
  give insight into the balance or imbalance of an
  individual.

11
Cures Medicine

• Herbal medicine
• Acupuncture
• Dietary therapy
• Specialized massage

http//www.abpischools.org.uk/res/coResourceImport
/resources04/history/index-2.cfm
12
Major Accomplishments

• In 56 BC, Zhang Liang invented an instrument
  named "Meng" which is considered to be precursor
  of modern stethoscope

13
Major Accomplishments

• Medical records from 3000 BC
• The most important book compiled between 300 B.C.
  and A.D. 400 is The Yellow Emperor's Inner
  Classic (Huang Di Nei Jing).
• The work is a series of conversations between the
  Yellow Emperor, Huang Di, and his minister, Qi Bo
• Many historians believe it is a compilation of
  all the medical knowledge of that period.

14
Knowledge Traveled Slowly

• Europe would not learn about Chinese medicine
  until Marco Polo visited there (around 1300 AD)

15
Arabic Medicine
16
Time Period

• The Arab world
• Spain was western border
• India was eastern border
• 800 AD to 1500 AD
• Learned from both India and ancient Greece

17
Importance

• From the fall of Rome until the European
  Renaissance of the 15th century, the Islamic
  world was the center of medical knowledge. 
• Greek medical texts were translated into Arabic
  and added to.
• Arabic doctors saved much of the knowledge gained
  by Greeks Romans.

18
Major Accomplishments

• The Arabs were influenced by, and further
  developed Greek, Roman and Indian medical
  practices.
• Galen, Hippocrates, Sushruta and Charaka were
  pre-eminent authorities
• The translation of 129 works of ancient Greek
  physician Galen into Arabic by Hunayn ibn Ishaq
  were very important

19
Major Accomplishments

• Doctors studied anatomy, ophthalmology,
  pharmacology, pharmacy, physiology, surgery, and
  the pharmaceutical sciences.
• Physicians set up some of the earliest dedicated
  hospitals, which later spread to Europe during
  the Crusades, inspired by the hospitals in the
  Middle East

20
Hospitals Developed

• Large hospitals to treat the sick
• Cairos hospital treated 8000 at once
• High standard of care for all patients rich or
  poor
• Arabic doctors were considered the best in the
  world at the time

21
Major Discoveries

• Use of alcohol to clean wounds
• Discovered first disease-causing parasite
• Used plaster for casts
• Used catgut for internal stitches
• Early form of anesthetics used

http//library.thinkquest.org/15569/hist-5.html
22
Inventions

• Surgical needle (used for removal of cataracts)
• Method to test safety of medicines
• Injection syringe
• Inoculation
• Early form of vaccination

23
Major Accomplishments

• Al-Razi, or Rhazes (865 - 924) was a Persian
  physician, chemist and alchemist. 
• Wrote a vast medical encyclopedia called
  Continens
• Wrote first book describing measles and smallpox
• Explained that fever was the bodys way to fight
  illness.

24
Major Accomplishments

• Hakim Ibn Sina (also called Avicenna)
• Arab doctor born 980 AD
• Wrote over 100 books
• Most famous is an encyclopedia of diseases
• The Canon of Medicine
• Gave causes, symptoms, treatments
• Would be major medical textbook for 500 years

25
Ibn Sina or Avicenna

• The Canon of Medicine
• Set of 5 volumes
• Gave causes, symptoms, medicines treatments
• Would be major medical textbook for 500 years
• Translated into Latin in 1100s

26
Ibn Sina or Avicenna

• Ibn Sina became so famous as a doctor that the
  emir (the prince) came to him when he was sick.
• When Ibn Sina cured the emir's sickness, the emir
  gave him a job as his personal doctor - Ibn Sina
  was still only 18 years old.
• As the emir's doctor, Ibn Sina got to read many
  rare books in the emir's library.

27
Medieval Medicine in Europe
28
Time Period the Dark Ages

• Europe 476 AD to 800 AD
• Period of frequent wars
• Catholic Church provided some stability
• Very little advancement in learning of any kind
• Few large cities
• Very few people ever left the town they were born
  in.

29
Folk Medicine

• Mainly based on superstition
• Here are some British cures from 1100 AD
• Toothache cure chew peppercorns
• Snake bite cure use a salve made of earwax ask
  the priest to pray over you
• Breathing problems cure chop up the liver and
  lungs of a fox, add to wine, drink it regularly
  from a church bell

30
Middle Ages

• After 800 AD to 1400 AD
• Holy Roman Empire and beginning of modern nations

31
Middle Ages the Crusades

• Crusades 1095 to 1291 AD
• Series of wars between Christians and Muslims
  over control of the Holy Land
• Crusades put western Europe in contact with many
  new ideas.

32
Sources of Information

• Medicine in medieval times combined superstition,
  tradition, plant-lore and knowledge passed down
  from the ancient Greeks and Romans.
• Many ideas about causes cures of disease

33
Causes of Disease

• Spiritual Causes
• Catholic Church taught that sickness was a result
  of sinful behavior
• Cure was therefore prayer and greater holiness

34
Causes of Disease

• Humours
• Doctors followed Greek ideas of the 4 humours
• Used bleeding and purging to rid the body of bad
  humours

35
Causes of Disease

• Miasma bad air
• Some believed that being exposed to bad air would
  cause disease
• Cure is burning fires to burn off bad vapors
• Prevention by carrying good smells with you
• Flowers
• Garlic around neck
• Pomanders/spice balls

36
Cause of Disease

• The human body and the planets were made up of
  the same four elements (earth, fire, air and
  water).
• For good health all four elements had to be in
  harmony with no imbalances.
• The Moon could affect the four elements in your
  body for good or bad
• Knowledge of Zodiac
• Important for deciding how to treat patient
• Doctors used Zodiac Chart to design

37
Cures Medicine

• Herbal remedies
• Books about herbs were written
• Red Book of Hergest, c.1400 was most famous

38
Major Accomplishments

• Building of Hospitals
• Most major cities
• Monasteries
• Monks provided care
• Medical basis
• Herbal remedies
• Spiritual basis

39
Medical Education

• Arabic Greek medical texts were translated into
  Latin
• Medical education schools used these Arabic and
  Greek books

40
The Black Death

• Plague struck Europe 1348
• Came from China via the Middle East
• Spread along trade routes from Italy in every
  direction

41
The Black Death - Cause

• Many thought that the plague was Gods punishment
  for evil
• Many blamed the Jews
• Jews in some towns were killed or driven out

42
The Black Death Actual Cause

• Bubonic plague
• Germ is called Yersinia pestis
• Carried by fleas who lived on rats
• Infected fleas would bite humans and transmit
  germ

43
The Black Death

• Plague was worse in big cities
• People lived close together
• Sanitation was very poor
• Rats were common

44
Symptoms

• The disease attacked lymph, respiratory and/or
  circulatory systems and there was nearly a 100
  death rate for those infected.
• Buboes (like tumors) covered the body -- some of
  them as big as an egg or apple.
• Mainly in armpits
• Neck Groin areas
• Swollen and oozing pus

45
Symptoms

• Purplish splotches also covered the body.
• High fever
• Vomiting
• Delirium
• Might cough up blood
• Bad breath and body odors indicated they were
  rotting from the inside.

46
The Black Death - Cures

• Doctors had no idea how to cure it
• Wore masks to prevent infection
• Nothing seemed to work
• People died within 2 to 7 days

47
Attempts at Prevention or Cure

• Superstitious remedies
• Prayer
• Herbal medicines
• Recipes for clearing the air of miasma or poison
• Bonfires
• Carrying posies (flowers)

48
Ring Around the Rosie

• "Ring around the rosie, (marks on body)
• A pocketful of posie, (flowers to cover the
  smell)
• Ashes, Ashes, (words from funeral ceremony)
• All fall down." (die)

49
The Black Death - Results

• Killed 75-200 million people in Europe about
  40 to 50 of population
• Disrupted all aspects of life
• Church
• Government
• Trade
• Farming

50
Plague Returns

• Disease hit somewhere every 5 to 6 years from
  1350 to 1490
• Plague of London 1665 was one of last major
  epidemics

51
Plague Returns

• Europes last major epidemic 1720 in Marseilles,
  France
• Still exists in animal populations in many areas
  of the world
• Antibiotics can kill the bacteria if given early