Medicine stands still (3000BC-Renaissance)

The Four Humours

Galen and Hippocrates' theory that the body is made of blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile; if they were unbalanced, you got sick.

Miasma

The belief that "bad air" or rotting smells caused disease; this led people to carry "posies" and incense to stay healthy.

Galen's Influence

His books were the only medical texts for 1,000 years because they fit Christian teachings; the Church banned any disagreement with his work.

Celestial Causes

The belief that the alignment of planets and stars caused disease; doctors used "Zodiac Charts" to decide when to treat a patient.

The Black Death

Killed one-third to one-half of the English population; people blamed God's anger, Jews, or bad smells, 1348

Flagellants

People who whipped themselves in public to show God they were sorry for their sins, hoping to stop the Black Death.

Monastic Hospitals

Run by monks and nuns; they focused on "care, not cure," providing food, warmth, and prayer rather than surgery.

Almshouses

Small shelters for the "impotent poor" (elderly/sick) funded by wealthy charities, focusing on basic survival and Christian charity.

Urine Charts

Doctors checked the colour, smell, and even taste of urine to diagnose which humour was out of balance.

Bloodletting (Phlebotomy)

The most common treatment; using leeches or cutting a vein to remove "excess" blood and restore the Four Humours.

Barber Surgeons

The "low-level" medics who performed minor surgeries like tooth pulling or limb amputation without any painkillers.

Trepanning

Drilling a hole in the skull to "let out the demons" or pressure; it was highly dangerous and usually fatal.

Apothecaries

Medieval "pharmacists" who mixed herbal remedies based on the "Doctrine of Signatures" (e.g., heart-shaped leaves for heart issues).

The Great Conduit

A 13th-century system in London designed to bring fresh water into the city, though it was often contaminated by waste.

Butchers' Guilds

Local laws tried to force butchers to keep streets clean of animal meat to stop "miasmas," but enforcement was almost non-existent.

Gong Farmers

Workers paid to clear out "cesspits" (outdoor toilets) at night; a rare example of medieval public health work.

1388 Statute of Cambridge

The first national law attempting to clear streets of filth and waste to prevent disease; it largely failed due to lack of money.

Avicenna

The Islamic doctor whose "Canon of Medicine" preserved Greek ideas and introduced new herbs that eventually reached Europe.

Anatomy Ban

The Church forbid the dissection of human bodies; doctors had to study Galen's drawings of pigs and apes instead, leading to 1,000 years of errors.

Vademecum

A "book of everything" carried by medieval doctors containing zodiac charts and herbal recipes.

Quarantine law in the black death

People new to an area had to stay away from other people for 40 days