Medicine Through Time [EDEXL/GCSE]

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  • Created by: _AJFERR
  • Created on: 04-06-17 17:55

Medicine Through Time

Ancient Rome: 30BC to 400AD

·         The Roman’s conquered a large amount of territory including Britain, Africa (parts up North such as Egypt), Rome (Italy) and Greece.

·         Had a large and powerful army that conquered Greece and Egypt holding past medical knowledge. They relied on Herbal remedies that was used in the past and still believed in God for health.

·         Claudius Galen: was a Prolific writer, took on Hippocrates ideas on the Theory of Four Humours, developed the Theory of Opposites: if you for example had an imbalance of phlegm and resulted in a cold, you would treat it with the opposite – for example: a chilli that was warm, considered bleeding too and worked in Gladiator school studying bodies and injuries, was the doctor of the reigning emperor Marcus Aurelius, promoted the Theory of Four Humours in his own books. He also dissected pigs and monkeys and proved that the brain controls the body and not the heart and some mistakes that monkeys are the same built as humans with two bones in their jaw which humans do not have

·         For the Romans to be the best, they needed the healthiest and strongest army possible, so the government placed in for the people a public health scheme including:

o   Aqueducts: bring in fresh water to towns

o   Public Bath Houses: people could stay clean and talk business whilst staying healthy

o   Sewers: to carry away sewage from houses including waster which emptied to rivers

o   Private homes: so water could go to rich people easily

o   Public latrines: so waste was flushed and not left on streets

·         They did not know the cause of disease, so this often led to problems including:

o   Lead pipes used which could cause poisoning     

o   Waste in river was used to clean some people                                   


 

Middle Ages (aka The Dark Ages): 400AD to 1500AD

·         After the Romans left in 400AD – areas recently occupied split into developing countries ruled by Kings, these Kings spent more money during this time on armies and less on medical studies which hindered medical progress.

·         The black death in 1348 which wiped out 1/3 of Europe – they at the time believed that it was caused by the out of balanced humours, bad smells (aka miasma), the movement of planets and sun (aka Astronomy), invisible fumes in the air and the idea of God and the Devil for sins.

·         So once the Romans left, their public health schemes collapsed including a lack of hygiene, destruction of aqueducts in which fresh water was lost, broken sewage systems so waste was disposed elsewhere.

·         As there wasn’t anyone in control of Britain mainly, the church stepped in during the years coming to the 1000AD.

·         The Church influence meant that:

o   Doctors could now be trained

o   Medical knowledge could be…

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