The Great Plague, Harvey and Pare

Flashcards covering key vocabulary, concepts, and figures from the lecture notes about The Great Plague and medical discoveries of Harvey and Pare.

Great Plague

A devastating epidemic that struck London in 1665, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

Bubonic Plague

A disease that terrorized Europe for centuries, characterized by symptoms such as fever, delirium, painful swellings (buboes), vomiting, and coughing up blood.

Symptoms of Bubonic Plague

Include fever, delirium, painful swellings of the lymph nodes (buboes), vomiting, muscle cramps, and coughing up blood.

Mortality Bills

Recorded 7,165 deaths from plague during the peak of the epidemic in London (19-26 September 1665).

Theories About the Cause of the Plague

Included alignment of the planets, a comet, and bad smells.

Actual Cause of the Plague

Infected fleas carried by black rats.

Medical Theory

Transmission of the illness through bad smells, leading to the use of nosegays and pomanders.

Galen's Theory

Blood was believed to be free to travel anywhere in the body.

Harvey's Discovery

Blood is pumped around the body by the heart in a circular motion.

Harvey's Book

'Anatomical Account of Motion in the Heart and Blood in Animals'.

Paré's Discovery

Gunshot wounds healed better when treated with a 'soothing digestive' of egg yolk and rose oil.

Ligatures

Materials tied to blood vessels to stop blood loss, used by Paré instead of cauterization.

Vesalius

Corrected over 200 of Galen's theories about the human body.