Medicine In Elizabethan England Essay

Today, suppose if a person falls ill, he or she would drive over to the nearest clinic and receive treatment from a qualified doctor. However, six hundred years ago, people of the Elizabethan England did not have access to such advanced science and medicine. During the 1500s, people could only pray or consult inexperienced doctors for help. Consequently, the unprogressive ways of treatment would often lead to more deaths. (Andrew 1). In general, medical practices during the Elizabethan era revolved around inaccurate beliefs, incurable diseases, and incompetent cures, all of which prove as stark contrasts to advances of modern medicine.

False beliefs stemmed from the fact that Elizabethans assumed that a body was the miniature version of the

universe, and this presumption would serve as a guide to medical practice (Andrew 1). The people believed that the four elements, water, fire, earth, and air, made up everything in the world. In reflection of the universe, those people believed that there were four types of natural fluids that flowed throughout the human body, called humours. Humors also had various qualities: cold, hot, moist, and dry. Each humour would correspond to one of the four elements and consist of a combination of two qualities. For instance, the humour Choler corresponds to the element of fire and possesses hot and dry qualities. Blood, another humour, represents air and consists of hot and moist characteristics. Phlegm equates to water and comprises of cold and moist attributes. Last, Melancholy symbolizes earth and composes of cold and dry qualities. According to Elizabethan medicine, when all four of the humours are in balance within the body, the person will be considered healthy. Once the humors are out of balance, the person will fall sick. In order to restore balance, doctors would bleed their patients because they believed that blood holds predominance over the other three humours (Secara 1).
On the other side of the spectrum, people today know from reading biology textbooks and taking science classes that our bodies are not just made up of four humours; it consists of many different organ systems that work together to perform bodily functions. We now know better than letting out blood because we know that a huge loss of blood will kill us. We now can enjoy the privilege of driving over to clinics and receiving prescription drugs to appease our illnesses.
In addition to those flawed conjectures on the human body, many diseases ran rampant throughout Elizabethan England, an anomaly that humans do not see as often today.

Poor sanitation, especially in the urban areas of London, contributed to the spread of disease in both cities and the countryside. The poor often had to deal with the problem of illness because they needed to remain healthy in order to continue to work. Subsequently, this resulted in a high demand for medical treatment, but Elizabethan medicine was not very advanced. As a result, people often could not survive after they contracted a disease. Perhaps the worst disease that plagued Elizabethan England was the plague, an often fatal disease that spread rapidly from person to person. In the year 1593, a single outbreak killed 15,000 people within the London area. Another disease, known as the “sweating sickness” was less common than the plague but deadlier, as a patient would perish within 24 hours after suffering from a high fever. Other prominent diseases included malaria, spread by mosquitoes; syphilis, transmitted sexually; and scurvy, caused by a lack of vegetable and fruit intake. A fatal, common disease found in the countryside would be smallpox (Andrew 1). Fast forward six hundred years, and we are at the age of technological advances. Scientists have produced vaccines that are able to prevent humans from contracting particular diseases that were once fatal during the Elizabethan age. Smallpox that was

once fatal has been eradicated through vaccination efforts in the 1980s (Brunson 2). Modern science has now shifted its focus from commonly-seen diseases of the 1500s to the more complicated matters of cancer and other serious illnesses.
Furthermore, treatment of the diseases and illnesses were primitive and technologically-challenged, as demonstrated from the fact that elizabethan doctors relied heavily on plants.

Besides bleeding, doctors tried to treat the plague by cutting open the swollen parts of the body and applying a mixture of butter, onion, and garlic onto the area where the cut has been made. Herbs like rose, lavender, sage, and bay managed head pains.Wormwood, mint, and balm handled stomach pains. Liquorice and comfrey were used for lung problems, and saffron, basil, and rosemary remedied heart problems. Vinegar was widely used as a cleaning agent for wounds. The only solution for toothache was pulling out the tooth, without anesthetics. Even worse, during amputations, the stump was cauterised with boiling tar (Alchin 3). During the Elizabethan age, doctors of different experience stood on different levels. On the bottom of the hierarchy, the apothecaries were the dispenser of drugs. However, some were not moral as they would sell fake prescriptions for a hefty amount of money. Above the apothecaries came the barbers, who could only practice letting blood or pulling teeth. On the same level of the barbers were the surgeons, although they were more knowledgeable than the barbers. Surgeons operated on the physician’s instructions and had a bad reputation because most of them were just barbers. Both barbers and surgeons belonged to the Company of Barber Surgeons. At the top of the pyramid rested

the physicians, who have received the license granted by the College of Physicians. These physics could charge higher fees than the other types of doctors, as they held a higher status (Patterson 2). Although people do need to get a degree in order to become a doctor today, humans stopped using plants as medicine for diseases and illnesses. Modern technology has proved that new medicine will indeed work more efficiently than those used in the past.
The elements of medical practices during Elizabethan era prove to be a contrast to the current age of modern science. From cures to the adequacy of doctors, this advancement over the last six hundred years signifies the growth of the human population, that will still, inevitably, grow in the future.