Prehistory- (time before written records) Modern aborigines had spiritual explanation of illness + cure.(cave paintings)Medicine men have the ability to inflict and cure illnessPreventative and healing medicine practised. Rituals (herbs, potions) and sacrifices involved, these had

practical value but were seen as magic.They buried waste but for religious reasons, not for hygienic reasons.(nomadic hunter gatherers)Archaeopathology: study of ancient bodies, to see what disease and health problems they had, how they were treated and died.

Ancient Egypt: agricultural (3400BC and 30BC ) Only the rich could afford doctors but still very basic knowledge on the cause of disease. Most people thought that evil spirits caused disease and so charms and chants would be used as well as being buried with charms for the afterlife.Writing on Papyrus meant that medical ideas could spread such as herbal remedies for illnesses. Bandages were used for mummification and so may have been used on wounds; this would have prevented infection from spreading. Imhotep was the God of medicine. Sekhmet was the goddess of war and illness, she was thought to cause and cure illnesses. Thus many to pray to her to cure them of their illnesses. Thoth gave doctors (respected people) ability to cure, Priests had book of Thoth with treatments and spells. Egyptian drug opium is used today, thought to drive away evil spirits (not affecting body)The theory of the blocked channels was introduced in relation to the River Nile and irrigation system in Ancient Egypt. People thought that the blood carried air and water and so if the channels were blocked you became ill as your body did not have access to air and water. Vomiting , purging and bleeding to clear channels. Idea Not accepted by everyone Egyptians introduced the idea that disease was cause by undigested food rotting in the bowels.

Ancient Greece- influenced by Egyptians (700bc and 300bc) Hippocrates (the father of medicine) introduced the theory of The Four Humours, this stated that a body

was balanced and illness was imbalance of elements. Aristotle (384-322BC) developed the Hippocratic balance by saying that the Body was made up 4 humours- blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. For each humour there was a corresponding season, for example in winter people would get phlegm.

The Hippocratic regimen “A regimen for health” stated that diet and exercise were important in fighting illness; it was up to individuals whether they wanted to take this advice on board or not.

The temple of Aclepion was a place where people would go and sleep in hope that, at night, the God Asclepius of healing and his two daughters, Hygeia and Panacea would cure them in their dream. Visitors had ceremonial washing, a sacrifice and slept in Abaton (building open to the air). Priests gave ointments and performed rituals . Success stories were recorded on inscriptions in walls. Sacred snakes were also used to take the illness away.

Hippocrates wrote and published many books which went into detail on the treatments he advised; these became known as The Hippocratic Corpus. “Prognostic” showed the need for a prognosis and to observe the patient to see what the illness could be. Also associated with the Hippocratic Oath which is promise doctors make to obey rules. Medical ethics are based on this

Ancient Rome- Galen (wrote over 100 books) followed on from The Four Humours theory as proposed by Hippocrates and gave his theory of The Four Opposites. Due to Galen's ambitiousness in gaining reputation this eventually became a well-established idea but it basically said that for every humour that is in balance the treatment should be able to counteract it. An example includes that in winter when the patient has too much Phlegm, something hot and fiery such as pepper should be given to counteract the illness.Since the Roman Empire was so large and extensive the conditions were fairly cramped but of course the excellent public health measures decreased the likelihood of infection spreading. Plague in 293bc led Romans to build an asclepion in Rome (brought sacred snake). The Roman Empire was centralised and so medical ideas spread easily. Romans noticed exposure to bad smells, unclean water, sewage and dirt made you likely to get ill People followed up by reading the Hippocratic collection which, by now, was very well established. Herbal remedies were still used and the Romans tried to tackle pain and infection . Opium was used as an anaesthetic and Turpentine was a common antiseptic.

Middle Ages/dark ages – Impact of fall of Roman Empire: Roman public health system fell into despair. People in dark ages lacked education to understand value of hygiene, clean water. Roman towns were abandoned. Cramped conditions meant infections were easily spread but still the main root cause of disease was unknown. Saxons came to Roman + Christian England with medical cures on superstition and magic . Loss of knowledge, Saxons thought roman architecture was work of mythical beings.Water collected from wells some also collected from The River Thames, human waste was dumped

there which made it dangerous. Many people emptied their waste onto the streets and the spread of disease was worsened by the fact that animals roamed the streets.

Black Death was series of plagues that swept Europe in 14th century. Pneumonic plague spread by coughs and bubonic plague spread by black rats (carried overseas by ships) Black Death arrived in Britain 1348. Victims died. Between third and half population killed. Bubonic plague caused: exhaustion, headaches and high temperatures. Later big swelling in groin, armpits. Some survived most died in a week. Plague turned into pneumonic (more deadly). Attack lungs-making it painful/ difficult to breathe. Symptoms: coughing up blood. Killed victims in few days.

Idea offered by doctors: miasmic theory. This was accepted and led to people by inhaling perfumes. Doctors advised people to avoid eating too much food as may carry the disease. Thought Plague was: judgement from god, caused by planets, Jews, nobility . End of the world looked for signs of Armageddon. Appease wrath of god by becoming flagellants, whipping themselves and praying

New developments in Medieval medicine: New techniques i.e. diagnosis with urine sample. colour/taste, good aid to diagnosis (still used)Believed stars caused disease, astrology used for making diagnosis+ treatment. Thought Pilgrimages to holy shrine could cure illnesses.

Trained doctors were expensive, medicine practiced using traditional cures + experience Church had access to Latin text, set up public hospital, general + specialised, still not enough Apothecaries sold drugs-sometimes advised their use. Influence of wise-women herbalists led guild to admit women. Housewife-physian :wise women, lady of the manor(expected to provide medical help)

The Church only accepted teachings from Galen. In the Arabic Empire Galen and Hippocrates was translated and recognised. Educated people had been taught in church institutions, who thought that illness was a punishment for sins.

Avicenna wrote 'A Book of Healing' and 'A Canon of Medicine'(ideas of Aristotle, gales, Hippocrates). Book brought classic ideas back into western Europe . Ibn-an-Nafis also tried to tackle smallpox and measles and he even wrote descriptions of them. Rhazes distinguished between smallpox and measles as separate disease . .

In the Qu'ran, doctors learned that it was vital to take care of the sick and needy. In contrast, in middle ages hospitals in Britain it was usually monks and nuns who treated the ill and very rarely did hospitals offer any real medical treatments. Herbals remedies were still used widely. Paracelsus suggested the idea that disease was caused by chemicals in the body.

Renaissance- (rebirth) name given to changes occurring in Italy 14 th century Galen's ideas were still believed and no one proved him wrong. Herbal remedies were still used and people were still unsure as to how germs spread.Was a Greater interest in medicine how human body worked based on direct observation and dissection. Renaissance saw the emergence of science. ‘Renaissance man’: idea that well educated will be proficient in science+ art, like Leonardo-da-vinci. Artists attended dissections wrote on scientific subjects using illustrations. The Great Plague came around in 1665 Worst appearance of black death still didn’t understand germs Doctors, chemists and priests were worst affected because people went to them for help .

Industrial Revolution- Heavily urbanised conditions due to new factories being built meant that disease spread very easily amongst workers. Pollution in the 1800s would have caused breathing problems amongst many in that time. Common disease of the time included: TB, cholera, typhoid, diphtheria, whooping cough, measles and smallpox. There was a high infant mortality rate and many people were helpless when it came to fighting disease and infection. Lady Montagu learnt about inoculation in turkey which had come from china. Montagu discovered that healthy person could be immunised using pus from someone suffering with mild form of disease. Unfortunately sometimes it led to full blown smallpox and death. Fear led people to risk an inoculation. In 1798 Edward Jenner came up with a vaccine that would fight smallpox. He heard that milkmaids didn’t get small pox, but didn’t catch milder cowpox. Tested this on a boy and injected him with pus from a milkmaid with cowpox. There was much opposition to this as many didn't feel that a needle could cure them of a disease which had run the streets for so long. In the 1850s vaccination became compulsory and soon this led to the mass eradication of smallpox. This was a high leap forward in medicine and led to many vaccines being introduced soon after.Florence Nightingale wrote 'Notes for Nursing' made important improvements to the condition of hospitals during the Crimean War in 1850s. She set up the nightingale school of nursing in st.thomas hospital. The 1919 registration of nursing act made training compulsory for nurses. Nightingale encouraged boiling sheets and scrubbing floors clean in order to get rid of dried up blood, this greatly improved hospital conditions and decreased the chance of infection spreading. Mary seacole learnt nursing from mother. In 1854, she came to England to volunteer as a nurse in the Crimean war. Louis Pasteur's Germ Theory in 1861 micro-organisms seen through 18 th century microscopes , but scientists thought they were caused by disease and appeared because of illness: spontaneous generation. Instead of microbes people blamed it on miasmas (germs were in the air). Pasteur proved germs were in air by sterilising some water and putting it in a flask were no particles could enter. His team also worked out that cholera is weakened by being left for a few days, and that the weakened cholera had made the

chickens immune to cholera- in the same way Jenner’s cowpox vaccine worked for smallpox. Chamberlands error produced a chance theoryRobert Koch who, in 1875-1878 linked diseases to the microbe that caused them. He used his daughter’s pet mice to experiment on. Also identified the bacteria that cause tuberculosis and cholera. Developed the vaccination for another common disease- Anthrax. He was able to relate Louis Pasteur's theory into medicine and show how infection spread. Blackwell was the first women in modern times to be awarded a medical degree in her own name in modern times from a western training collage (1849)Elizabeth Garret Anderson was the first qualified female doctor and persuaded the government to pass a law in 1876 to say that women could study medicine. Ignaz Semmelweiss suggested the idea of washing hands between patients in 1847, although people thought he was crazy to think that it would actually help, towards the end of the 19th century they realised that he was correct and helped in tackling infection.

Modern-Penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928 by chance and this was seen to kill certain types of bacteria, he publishes his results in 1929 but after minimal success in pursuing his discovery, he gave up. It was then picked up by Howard Florey and Ernest Chain, they persuaded the US and British government to mass produce penicillin as this is exactly what they did in 1943-44. This helped the soldiers who were fighting in World War II and so Penicillin was a breakthrough into the production of antibiotics. Mother's schools were set up to show mother how infection spread and they were encouraged to breastfeed their children as baby bottles carried harmful bacteria. In 1905 Paul Ehrlich (tried to find chemicals to act as synthetic antibodies) developed the magic bullet Salvarsan 606 which fought infection just like antibodies, this then led to Domagk developing Prontosil which cured many diseases. Domagk’s daughter pricked herself with a needle and caught disease which caused blood poisoning. He was afraid she would die and gave her large dose of prontosil. She recovered. These included: Meningitis, Pneumonia and Gonorrhoea.When the NHS was set up in 1948 people had access to medicine and care from professionals, this allowed a great improvement in disease and educating people on how infection spread. There was an increased life expectancy as people had more access to medical care. In addition to this cancer and heart disease were tackled. Alternative medicines came about including: Homoeopathy, Hypnotherapy and Acupuncture. People can now make informed choices as to their lifestyle as we are now aware of the risks of smoking and unhealthy eating. Crick, Watson and Wilkins discovered the double helix bond in DNA in 1953 and this led to the development of genetic engineering later on in the modern period.HIV causes AIDS. WHO are trying to find vaccines and cures (nether is available)