Year 10 GCSE Medicine Through Time

(Advances in Medical Knowledge) What were medieval ideas about the causes of illness?

Four Humours theory (from Hippocrates & Galen) – illness = imbalance of phlegm, yellow bile, black bile, blood • Astrology – believed star/moon positions affected health • Alchemy – early search for cures, not real science yet • Church taught sin / bad luck also caused sickness

What was the Four Humours theory?

Created by Hippocrates, developed by Galen • Said the body had 4 fluids: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile • Illness happened if they were out of balance • Medieval doctors accepted this for hundreds of years

(Early Modern 1450‑1750 AD – ‘Renaissance’) What did Vesalius do to improve medical knowledge?

Dissected human bodies (Church had banned this before) • Wrote The Fabric of the Human Body (1543) with detailed drawings • Proved some of Galen’s ideas were wrong • Encouraged other doctors to check for themselves

What did Pare discover about surgery?

French army surgeon • Stopped using hot oil to cauterise wounds (very painful) • Made new wound mixture + used ligatures (thread to tie blood vessels) • Reduced bleeding & infection after amputations

What was Harvey’s big discovery?

What was Harvey’s big discovery?

Back: • Book On the Motion of the Heart (1628) • Proved blood circulates around the body • Showed the heart is a pump • Blood only flows one way (veins have valves) – proved Galen wrong

(Modern 1750‑Present) What is Pasteur’s Germ Theory (1861)?

Proved tiny living germs cause disease (not “bad air / miasma”) • Made vaccines (e.g. rabies vaccine) • Changed how people thought about infection

What did Koch contribute to medicine?

Found which bacteria caused specific diseases (TB, cholera etc.) • Created way to stain bacteria to see them under microscopes • Ehrlich (his student) made first “magic bullet” drug – Salvarsan 606 for syphilis

What are X‑rays & Ultrasound used for?

X‑rays (Röntgen 1895): see bones / hard tissue; used in WWI to find bullets • Ultrasound: uses sound waves to see soft tissue (e.g. babies) – no radiation risk

What are MRI / CT / PET scans?

MRI: uses magnets – safe, good for soft tissue • CT: lots of X‑ray slices – 3‑D images (has radiation) • PET: uses radioactive tracer to look at body function

Who discovered DNA & what came from it?

Crick, Watson, Rosalind Franklin found DNA structure (1953) • Human Genome Project mapped all human DNA (1990‑2003) • Now we can screen for inherited / genetic diseases

(Developments in Patient Care, Medieval 1000‑1450 AD) Who ran hospitals in medieval Britain?

Mostly Church / monasteries • Aim: care for soul + give shelter, not cure disease • Few trained doctors; run by monks & nuns • Many were for lepers or travellers / pilgrims

What was patient care like in medieval times?

Basic nursing, limited treatments • Believed sickness could be punishment from God • People prayed & confessed sins to get better

(Early Modern 1450‑1750 AD) How did the Reformation change hospitals?

Henry VIII closed monasteries (1530s) – Church‑run hospitals disappeared • New hospitals funded by wealthy people / charities (“voluntary hospitals”) • Famous example: St Bartholomew’s (London)

(Modern 1750‑Present) What changed in patient care in the 18th century?

Enlightenment – doctors used scientific enquiry (experiments, published findings) • Wealthy people built new hospitals (e.g. Guy’s Hospital London) • Hospitals became places to treat disease, not just shelter the sick

Who was Florence Nightingale & what did she do?

Nurse in Crimean War (1854‑56) • Improved hygiene, ventilation & ward layout • Death rate fell from 42% → 2% • Wrote Notes on Nursing + set up first nursing school ‘Nightingale Training School for Nurses’ in 1860 St Thomas Hospital, London– made nursing a proper job

What were early‑20th‑century Liberal welfare reforms?

Free school meals (1906) • Old Age Pensions (1908) • National Insurance Act (1911) – free doctor care for workers (not everyone)

What was the Beveridge Report (1944)?

Wartime report – said Britain had “five giants”: want, disease, ignorance, squalor, idleness • Recommended free healthcare for all + national insurance • Inspired Labour’s welfare state after WWII

When was the NHS set up & what was its aim?

1948, by Labour government (Aneurin Bevan) • Aim: free healthcare “from cradle to grave” for everyone • Paid for by taxes; hospitals nationalised (run by state)

(Public Health & Welfare, Medieval 1000‑1450 AD) What was public health like in medieval times?

Crowded housing, dirty streets, waste thrown everywhere • No proper sewers / clean water supply • Big epidemics e.g. Black Death (killed ~50% population) • Government did very little to help

(Early Modern 1450‑1750 AD) What happened to public health 1500‑1750?

Still mostly dirty & overcrowded • Great Plague of London (1665) killed ~100 000 • Some small laws (e.g. ban slaughterhouses in towns) • Government still did not take main responsibility

(Modern 1750‑Present) Why did public health get worse in early Industrial Revolution?

Millions moved to new factory towns • Overcrowded slums, bad sewage, dirty water • Diseases like cholera spread quickly • Government believed “laissez‑faire” – leave people to sort it themselves

What did Edwin Chadwick do?

Wrote Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population (1842) • Showed poor living conditions made people sick • Campaigned for clean water & sewers → led to 1848 Public Health Act

What did John Snow discover?

Linked cholera to contaminated water (1854 Broad Street pump) • Proved bad water spread disease – helped push for sewers & clean supplies

What was the Great Stink (1858) & its effect?

Hot summer – River Thames full of sewage, terrible smell • Government built London’s sewer system • Led to stronger 1875 Public Health Act (local councils had to provide clean water + sewers)

How did housing improve in the 20th century?

1919 “Homes for Heroes” Act – built council houses for soldiers • After WWII, Labour built lots more council housing • Slums cleared in 1950‑60s • Later laws tackled air pollution (e.g. Clean Air Acts)

What are modern public health priorities?

Campaigns for healthy eating, exercise, stop smoking • Vaccination programmes • Respond to pandemics (e.g. COVID‑19) • Tackle pollution & unhealthy lifestyles