Medicine Through Time

MEDIEVAL PERIOD 1250 - 1500 - very little change

FOR ADVANCEMENT:

- Regimen Sanitatis
○ A set of instructions on how to be healthy
○ Included ideas about bathing and cleanliness
○ Eating too much was discouraged due to imbalance of humours

AGAINST:

- Power of the Church
○ People believed that it was God's will that you became ill
§ Treatments included healing prayers, fasting, attending mass and piglrimages
○ Ban on dissections
○ Controlled all medical learning including which books were copied and distributed
○ They taught the ideas of Galen and Hippocrates as they aligned with ideas of the church e.g. Having a soul

- Wrong Theories
○ Astrology
§ Many people believed that star charts and the alignments of planets caused disease e.g. Black Death
○ Theory of the Four Humours
§ Blood, phlegm, black bile, yellow bile/choler (vomit, pus)
§ You became ill because one of your humours was out of balance
§ The opposite of the humour would cure you
§ Treatments of purging including blood letting and emetics
§ Ideas of Galen
○ Miasma
§ Encouraged by Galen and Hippocrates
§ Bad smells caused disease
§ Placing sweet smelling herbs in your house prevented diseases
○ Herbal Remedies
§ One example is Theriaca
§ Could be drunk, sniffed or bathed in