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