Edexcel GCSE History: Medicine Through Time 1200-1700 and Western Front

Vocabulary flashcards covering medieval medical practices, key Renaissance discoveries, and medical care on the Western Front during WWI.

Causes of Illness (Medieval England)

Key explanations for disease in medieval times, including God's punishment for sin, miasma (bad air), and an imbalance of the Four Humours.

Role of Religion in Medieval Medicine

The central belief that God sent illness as punishment or testing, leading to treatments based on prayer and church control over medical education.

Bloodletting

A medieval treatment involving the removal of blood via phlebotomy, cupping, or leeches to restore balance to the Four Humours.

Purging

A medieval treatment using emetics or laxatives to empty the digestive system and balance the body's humours.

Herbal Remedies

Plant-based mixtures and potions used in medieval medicine to treat specific symptoms and rebalance humours.

Medieval Surgery

Basic operative procedures performed by barber-surgeons without pain relief or infection control, mainly for bloodletting, wound treatment, or amputations.

William Harvey

The Renaissance doctor who discovered that blood circulates continuously around the human body, pumped by the heart.

Andreas Vesalius

An anatomist who performed detailed human dissections, correcting mistakes in Galen's work and providing accurate anatomical diagrams.

Western Front Conditions

Medical issues experienced by soldiers in the trenches, such as trench foot, trench fever, and shell shock.

Wound Infection Causes (Western Front)

Infections resulting from bacteria in heavily manured soil being driven into wounds alongside dirty clothing and shrapnel.

Trench Foot Prevention

Measures used to prevent trench foot, including keeping feet dry, changing socks regularly, and rubbing whale oil into feet.

Casualty Clearing Station (CCS)

A medical post located a few miles behind the front line equipped with surgical facilities to perform emergency operations and triage.

Advanced Dressing Station (ADS)

A medical post set up near the front line to dress wounds and treat minor injuries or stabilize severely injured men before transport.

Field Ambulance

A mobile unit of the Royal Army Medical Corps responsible for transporting injured soldiers between stages of the Chain of Evacuation.

Chain of Evacuation (Western Front)

The ordered sequence of medical facilities through which wounded soldiers were passed: Regimental Aid Post, Advanced Dressing Station, Casualty Clearing Station, and Base Hospital.

Blood Transfusions (First World War)

Treatments used to replace lost blood and prevent soldiers from dying of shock, made safer through blood grouping and anticoagulants.

Thomas Splint

A rigid frame splint that immobilized broken leg bones, significantly reducing blood loss, shock, and mortality rates from compound fractures.