Focus Questions: How far/why did treatment of the sick change?
KEY THINGS TO MENTION:
- What was the cause of change/continuity in treatments? (new discoveries, technology
etc.)
- What were the methods of treatment? (surgery, antibiotics, bleeding and purging etc.)
- Who treated the sick? (The Church, physicians, hospitals etc.)
- Give specific examples/dates/facts linked to the treatments (e.g.1928 Fleming
penicillin)
MEDIEVAL PERIOD – little change
1) There was no knowledge of the true causes of diseases, so accurate treatments
couldn’t be developed.
Rational ideas were based on the Four Humours, meaning bleeding and
purging were common treatments – carried out by barber-surgeons
Popularity of religious/supernatural ideas about causes of disease led to
pilgrimages taking place, the use of charms and home remedies with
ingredients such as honey
2) The public had a generally conservative attitude which meant that old treatments
were respected and maintained.
Traditional herbal remedies would be passed down through generations –
drunk, bathed in or sniffed
Galen had been the authority on medicine for over 1500 years, with his ideas
being taught in textbooks and being respected as correct – physicians didn’t
do own research and come up with new treatments
3) The Church was the centre of formal learning and controlled medicine → people
were too afraid to develop new treatments as they were told they would go to Hell.
Roger Bacon was imprisoned for suggested physicians do their own research
– only Galen’s ideas were accepted as they fitted with Christian beliefs (Four
Humours part of a body crafted by one God, miasma caused by sin)
As there was a priest in every village and bishop in every region, people were
taught that all events were controlled by God and forced to believe that only
he could cause and cure disease – prayed to God to cure the sick during the
Black Death
RENAISSANCE PERIOD – little change
1) The discoveries of this period mainly focused on anatomy rather than linking to
treatments for disease → ideas were turning away from tradition but couldn’t be
applied or developed to make treatments
Vesalius taught the importance of dissection and made discoveries such as
that the jawbone has one bone, not two – these inspired other physicians to
dissect more but knowledge couldn’t develop treatments as didn’t
understand causes of disease
Printing press was used to spread ideas to a wider audience e.g. ‘On the
Fabric of the Human Body’ (1543) – more people focussing on anatomy, but
technology wasn’t developed enough to make a difference to treatments
until the Industrial period
However, the new scientific approach did mean that physicians carried out
more direct observations rather than relying on patients’ explanations of
KEY THINGS TO MENTION:
- What was the cause of change/continuity in treatments? (new discoveries, technology
etc.)
- What were the methods of treatment? (surgery, antibiotics, bleeding and purging etc.)
- Who treated the sick? (The Church, physicians, hospitals etc.)
- Give specific examples/dates/facts linked to the treatments (e.g.1928 Fleming
penicillin)
MEDIEVAL PERIOD – little change
1) There was no knowledge of the true causes of diseases, so accurate treatments
couldn’t be developed.
Rational ideas were based on the Four Humours, meaning bleeding and
purging were common treatments – carried out by barber-surgeons
Popularity of religious/supernatural ideas about causes of disease led to
pilgrimages taking place, the use of charms and home remedies with
ingredients such as honey
2) The public had a generally conservative attitude which meant that old treatments
were respected and maintained.
Traditional herbal remedies would be passed down through generations –
drunk, bathed in or sniffed
Galen had been the authority on medicine for over 1500 years, with his ideas
being taught in textbooks and being respected as correct – physicians didn’t
do own research and come up with new treatments
3) The Church was the centre of formal learning and controlled medicine → people
were too afraid to develop new treatments as they were told they would go to Hell.
Roger Bacon was imprisoned for suggested physicians do their own research
– only Galen’s ideas were accepted as they fitted with Christian beliefs (Four
Humours part of a body crafted by one God, miasma caused by sin)
As there was a priest in every village and bishop in every region, people were
taught that all events were controlled by God and forced to believe that only
he could cause and cure disease – prayed to God to cure the sick during the
Black Death
RENAISSANCE PERIOD – little change
1) The discoveries of this period mainly focused on anatomy rather than linking to
treatments for disease → ideas were turning away from tradition but couldn’t be
applied or developed to make treatments
Vesalius taught the importance of dissection and made discoveries such as
that the jawbone has one bone, not two – these inspired other physicians to
dissect more but knowledge couldn’t develop treatments as didn’t
understand causes of disease
Printing press was used to spread ideas to a wider audience e.g. ‘On the
Fabric of the Human Body’ (1543) – more people focussing on anatomy, but
technology wasn’t developed enough to make a difference to treatments
until the Industrial period
However, the new scientific approach did mean that physicians carried out
more direct observations rather than relying on patients’ explanations of
