In the 18th century, the medical field was made up of mostly men. There were three jobs in this field: Physicians, Surgeons, and Apothecaries. Physicians were the most elite of the three. Physicians in the 18th century had no knowledge of anything. Nobody knew that disease was spread by bacteria, germs, and viruses. Because they didn’t know this, nobody practiced sterilization or hygiene, hospital and personal.
In the 18th century, scientists were strongly influenced by theories. In 350 B.C., Aristotle believed that everything was made from fire, earth, air and water. There later was a Greek physician named Galen. He practiced about 500 years after Aristotle. Galen believed that the body had four elements which he called humors. The four humors were: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. When all four elements were balanced, then the body was healthy. If the body seemed like the elements were not balanced, he would balance it by drawing the patient’s blood, or making them vomit.
Colleges didn’t accept many doctors for training. The training was usually offered to the upper class. Because of this, doctors were usually trained through apprenticeships. Doctors were considered highly trained for this time period. Even though more doctors were being trained, they weren’t always available. Many people lived too far away to have access to doctors. Some didn’t have access because of beliefs or social customs.
Women during this time period had many responsibilities. They had to take care of the housekeeping and the children. Even though they didn’t have much training, they served as doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. Many of the women learned from their mothers using herbs and available resources. Women usually had hand books on ho...
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Works Cited
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Rorke, Elizabeth. "Surgeons and Butchers." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. .
S.K., Morgan. "Welcome to Facts 4 Me Display of Information." Welcome to Facts 4 Me Display of Information. N.p., 2011. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. .
Hippocrates believed that macrocosms, often designated the universe and environment, could influence and effect microcosms, like that of the human body. The Hippocratics reasoned this was because all things in the macrocosms and microcosms derived from the same materials. Empedocles, a Greek philosopher, communicated the first four-element theory of matter which delineated the four essential building block to be air, water, fire, earth. All of these elements corresponded with the four humors that, in conjunction with the theories of the contraries (hot, cold, wet, dry), formed Hippocrates’s practice and concept of humoralism (Lecture 3, [FIND DATE]). Hippocrates asserted that each human being contained unique combinations of the four distinctive humors, being yellow bile, black bile, phlegm, and blood, which shaped individuals’ temperaments. Patients fell ill when the balance between these humors was compelled to shift out of equilibrium. Thus, Hippocrates, and his students like Galen, understood that physicians had to have a full understanding of the patient and must subsequently tailor their treatments to achieve the highest form of care (Airs, Waters, Places, 90-91). Consequently, physicians practiced healing with a counterbalance therapy which returned the individual
Hippocrates. On Regimen in Acute Diseases. Trans. Adams, Francis. Ca 400 BC. MS. The Internet Classics Archive: 441 Searchable Works of Classical Literature. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Web. 11 Apr. 2015.
———. "A surgeon's code of behaviour and ethics, c. 1376." English Historical Documents. Accessed December 8, 2013. http://www.historystudycenter.com/search/displaySuitemPageImageItemById.do?UseMapping=SuitemPageImage&QueryName=suitem&ItemID=10648&resource=ehd&imageNumber=4&scale=100.
One of the most widely known and important of the beliefs was the humours. It was believed that every living creature was composed of four elements, the humours. They were blood, phlegm, choler (or yellow bile), and melancholy (or black bile). It was believed that the overall total combination of these four elements determined the person’s characteristics. For example, a person with more blood than other humours was hot and wet in their nature, a person with more phlegm was cold and wet, a person with more choler was hot and dry, and a person with melancholy being the dominant humour was cold and dry. It was also believed that too much of a certain humour caused disease. That meant the removing or avoiding the dominant humour could cure any disease.
Smith, Wesley D. "Hippocrates (Greek Physician)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
The logic and principles of medieval medicine shaped those of Modern medicine. Never was there a more efficient method perfected, so much that it remained through history through so many hundreds of years. Today’s concepts of diagnosis, relationships with the church, anatomy, surgery, hospitals and training, and public health were established in the Middle Ages.
The quality of doctors during the Renaissance was a small step up from the Medieval era. There were a few medical schools that had started and doctors were beginning to have the option of a formal education. The only problem was that people didn't need a license to be a doctor. Many "quacks" practiced medicine. And doctors had no specialization; there were no dentists, no surgeons, and no physicians. So a doctor may have not known anything about one of those areas but still attempted to treat it.
...e gap in attitudes between pre-medicalized and modern time periods. The trends of technological advancement and human understanding project a completely medicalized future in which medical authorities cement their place above an intently obedient society.
The control of the medical market in medieval Europe, specifically in Britain and France was under little authority, unlike in neighboring regions like Italy and Germany. With little control, services were offered to the population by "specialists" whether or not they had a license or some examined degree of competency, and with a medical market place with an increasingly high demand, supply was erupting from different sources to meet different demands for different illnesses for varying demographics creating some key players in the medical market place. The variation in roles of these new players in the medical world is what started the medical market place in the first place. Potions, pills, ointments, and home-made remedies and drugs were sold by apothecaries at their own shops. Medical Physicians prepared drugs to order by each patient after examining them. Barber-surgeons offered services in shaving and hair-cutting, but also added to their trade bloodletting, tooth extractions, amputations and other repulsive yet well needed services. Female surgeons, if allowed to practice, treated female patients (Science Museum). Indeed they were many players in the medieval medical market place, each with their own skills, demographics, successes and failures. Patients were "customers" and they sometimes had options pertaining to the services they need, some options are more expensive than others, some are safer than others, and some maybe more convenient than others, however unlike other market places a successful service could very well save lives, while others may not solve an issue or ailment, or even cause more harm to the patient, which was a common case. To get a good idea of the range of the Medieval medical market place, we can...
some of the finest doctors in Europe. The process of getting a degree was far
In conclusion, Elizabethan medicine was very different from our present day practices and beliefs. Furthermore, the medical problems of the sixteenth century were very different from those of today. Medicine and health in the Elizabethan times was not the best, but it helped to achieve to greatness in the medical field we have today to say the least.
There weren’t many trained doctors in Europe in the Middle Ages . In Paris in 1274 there were only 8 doctors and about 40 people practising medicine without any official training and they didn’t really understand how the body worked and why people got sick. When making a diagnosis doctors might consult medical books, astrological charts and urine samples. Some doctors believed disease was caused by bad smells or small worms, or the position of the planets or stars. They also charged very high fees, so only the rich could afford them.
Claudius Galen was a second century physiologist, philosopher, and writer who is often considered the most important contributor to medicine following Hippocrates. Even though Galen is fairly well known, his fame does not compare to that of Hippocrates, so Galen's reputation and work are often underscored by Hippocrates' notoriety. While Galen's name is mentioned in most sources about ancient medicine, usually only a small portion of the piece is dedicated to his accomplishments; this coverage often does not do him justice. Of the sources specifically written about Galen, most are fairly old and tend to focus a lot on Galen's philosophies and how his ideas measure up to the different schools of thought that existed in his time rather than on his medical acclaim. Newer and sometimes less complete sources on Galen often neglect to discuss extensively the philosophical aspect of Galen's works. Nevertheless, both medical pursuits and philosophy were major aspects that shaped Galen's life, work, and results. Therefore, this examination of Galen will aim to illustrate how medical, philosophical, and other influences affected Galen's work and shaped his reputation in the history of medicine.
Medicine, as defined by Google, is the science or practice of the diagnosing, treating, and preventing of diseases. It is important to understand the history to really appreciate the development it has gone through. Medicine was first started in Egypt but was perfected by Hippocrates. He was a Greek scholar who introduced medical ethics known as the Hippocratic oath. These same principles are used today. Treatments have further developed into curing diseases that were once deemed a death sentence. History supports the development of medicine yet people, in specific men, today do not prefer going to the doctor because it is a financial burden, it has a perception of weakness, and trepidation.
There has always been some kind of provider of health care services, doctors were not always called doctors. In tribes those who help heal other individuals were called healers, these individuals were entrusted with the wellbeing of the tribe (Saari, 2001). Whether the issue was an illness or an injury the members of the tribe expected the healer to preform miracles and make their loved one better. Most of these healers used herbs and other natural elements and even spiritualism to heal their patients. Healers evolved and learned from each other on how to heal, healing transformed into ancient medicine and the first doctor was born. The world’s first recorded doctor was from Egypt his name was Imhotep and he lived around 2650 BC he created the first textbook on medicine. This textbook instructed on how to treat a broken bone, and heal tumors, though the means by which those procedures were done it paved a way for formal training for doctors. Medicine continued to grow from then to where m...