History Health and The People

Galens 4 humours

Galens 4 humours

• blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile

• need to be in balance for good health

• followed as it made sense of symptoms at the time

medieval ideas about causes of illness

• punishment from God

• bad air

• astrology / superstition

• unbalanced humours (common)

how to fix an illness that was a punishment from god (medieval)

• prayers and herbal remidies

• blessing / asking for forgiveness

how to fix an illness caused by miasma (medieval)

• filth in streets removed e.g. 1349 plague slowed by Mayor asked by king to remove dirt in streets

how to fix an illness cause by unbalanced humours

• unrine charts

• bloodletting

• purging

• trepaning (get rid of demons)

physicians (medieval)

• highest ranking doctors

• well paid - treated kings

• very few

wise women (medieval)

• most common

• remedies and superstition

• midwives

• did everyhting

barber sugerons (medieval)

• most common

• blood letting and tooth extraction

• guild of master surgeons

• trained by apprenticeship

christianity helped development of medicine (medieval)

• people could learn from Greek / Roman ideas - not all knowledge lost

• church controlled unis - every doctor thought the same

• hospitals to look after poor / elderly - not sick

christianity hindered development of medicine (medieval)

• knowledge didn’t change and ideas were not questioned

• taught ti follow Galen + not question

• if God sent diseases then u couldn’t fix it

anaesthetics (medieval)

• mandrake root

• opium

• hemlock

• whiskey

surgical procedures (medieval)

• bloodletting

• amputation

• cauterisation

people with ideas (medieval)

• Galen most widely supported

• Hugh of Lucca and Theodoric - some good ideas e.g. wine on wounds to reduce infection but didn’t support Galen so was cancelled

• De Chauliac - famous textbook (Great Surgery 1363) dominated surgical knowledge for 200 years

public health in towns (medieval)

• generally bad

• towns near to rivers (waste and water supply)

• cesspits - not emptied regularly so would leak into river

• no knowledge of germs, but removed unpleasant smells

• some local laws to keep towns clean but nothing huge

what did people thing caused Back death

• postion of stars

• miasma

• jews poisoning wells

• god punishing people

what actually caused black death

• bubonic and pnuemonic plagues

• pneumonic infected lungs - more infectious

when did Black death hit england

1348-49

what did the black death affect

• both rich and poor

• towns and ports hit worst

preventions for black death (medieval)

• strangers not allowed into villages

• prayers

• mayor asked to clean london up by kind edward 3

• huge candles lit in streets (miasma)

• doors and windows shut and sealed

treatment for Black Death (medieval)

• prayers

• holy charms around neck of sick

• let pus out of buboes

• leches to bleed patients

• based on Galen’s theory of opposites

Short term impact of Black Death (medieval)

• killed 1/3 of popp.

• whole villages wiped out

• food shortages - food prices increased

long term impact of black death (medieval)

• higher wages for workers

• higher education levels

• peasants revolt

hospitals in medieval times

• like todays care homes

• not for sick only for elderly

• had hospitals in ancient Arabia like today

• how did people know about anatomy (medieval)

• Galen, Hippocrates, Arabs

• dissections to prove Galens ideas

• doctors not encouraged to make new discoveries