History of MedicinePart 1 and 2

8000 BC – Prehistoric Medicine

Rudimentary – cave paintings suggest early humans believed in spirits

Used rituals, prayers and ceremonies to cure disease Spirit healers would cast spells to treat the sick Drinking the blood of a wild animal would give

special powers to the shaman to treat sickness Trepanning

Bored a hole in the skull to let out evil spirits Skulls show that these wounds would heal and

that patients often survived

Trepanned Skull

2000 BC – Egyptian Medicine First Pharmacists - used herbs and potions

They used many preparations including cannabis, opium, linseed oil and senna

Priests were doctors – used a combination of prayers and herbs Gods were responsible for the health of

different parts of the body. Mummification of body

Embalmers would carefully remove body organs which were preserved in jars and buried with the mummified body

Mummification

450 BC – 300 AD – Romans and Greeks

Age of Reason Galen – techniques in Surgery

Greek physician Illegal to dissect human bodies so he dissected animals to find out

how the body works. Hygiene

Link between dirt and disease Built aqueducts to supply clean water and sewers to remove

wastes Hippocrates

Father of Modern Medicine Hippocratic Oath Four Humours – If a person was ill it was because they had an

imbalance with their humours▪ Blood ▪ Phlegm▪ Black Bile▪ Yellow Bile

Aqueducts

Hippocratic Oath

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant: I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic anihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given to me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure. I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow

human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm. If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered

with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

500-1400 AD – Middle Ages Determined by religion – cures were prayers,

herbs and blood letting Plague

Biggest medical challenge Started in Turkey 90% of the population was affected

Anesthetics used for surgery Opiates disinfectants

Priests were doctors Traditional cures using herbs and potions Prayer, repentance and sacrifice were cures

Bubonic Plague

700-1500 AD – Arabian Medicine

First Medical Book Written By Ali al-Hysayn Abd Allah Ibn Sina (Laws of Medicine)

Universal Healthcare Clinics Hospitals

Anatomical drawing from “Laws of Medicine”

1400 – 1700 The Renaissance New Lands brought new medicine and new

diseases Hospitals were for the wealthy and they

became the first medical schools Circulation was discovered by William Harvey

in 1628 Medical Research

Idea of the 4 humours prevailed Body was seen as the creation of God Da Vinci▪ Dissected human bodies▪ Made the first anatomical drawings

1700 – 1900 – 18th and 19th Centuries

People’s understanding of the human body increased tremendously.

Scientific knowledge spread rapidly because scientists began publishing their work

Anton Van Leeuwenhoek invents microscope Louis Pasteur discovers germs and bacteria

Microbiology is born Increased knowledge of pathogenic microbes leads

to the development of new medicines The pharmaceutical industry is born

DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man

18th -19th century (cont.)

Joseph Lister▪ Discovered that septicemia was mostly caused by

infections caught during surgery and led to death▪ First to use antiseptic to clean wounds and surgical

instruments▪ His antiseptic techniques reduced deaths from

infection from 60% to 4%. Florence Nightingale▪ Most famous nurse▪ Improved hygiene standards which reduced

infections in hospitals▪ Set the foundations of hospital nursing care that are

still practiced today

18th – 19th Century (cont.) 1796 – Vaccinations

Edward Jenner developed the first vaccination He deliberately infected an 8 year old boy

with cowpox Then he injected him with smallpox and the

boy was protected by the earlier infection of cowpox

Vaccination was made compulsory Smallpox was eradicated in 1977 when the

last case of smallpox was reported. Smallpox vaccines are no longer given

18th – 19th Centuries (cont.)

1895 – X-Rays Discovered by Wilhelm Roentgen X-rays can pass through skin and muscle

and are absorbed by dense tissue and bone creating an image on photographic film.

CT scan ▪ Modern day xray machine that take

simultaneous xrays from different angles.

1900-2000 – The 20th Century

Vaccination is widely used for multiple childhood diseases.

Fleming discovers penicillin Banting and Best discover that insulin can be used

to treat diabetes New medicines are produced every day through

pharmaceutical research laboratories Technology – MRI, bioengineering, artificial heart –

first heart transplant performed by Dr. Christian Barnard in 1967, first test tube baby born on July 25, 1978 – Louise Brown, dialysis, cochlear implants and hearing aids

DNA research – Cloning, genetic engineering, human genome project

2000 and beyond - 21st century medicine

Human genome project - Finding the sequence of DNA for every single gene in a complete set of human chromosomes.

Genetic therapies – being developed that aim to replace faulty genes and reverse the effects of inherited disorders

Ethics and medicine Modern day outbreaks – Avian flu, H1N1,

MRSA What are the challenges?

Review Questions

1. What is trepanning?2. What health problems might have followed

trepanning?3. Suggest why keeping medical records is an

important part of developing new medical advances.

4. What are the 4 humours?5. Suggest how outbreaks of infectious diseases are

treated differently now, compared to the middle ages.

6. What was the major contribution of Arabic medicine?

7. How did explorers affect the development of medicine and also the new peoples that they visited?

Review Questions (cont.)

8. What were two major improvements in surgery during the 18th -19th centuries?

9. How did the smallpox vaccination work?

10. Describe the difference between an Xray, CT scan and MRI.

11. Suggest some medical developments which improve the quality of health and life, rather than being only life-saving.

12. Which type of microbe is killed by penicillin?

13. What are the ethical challenges in today’s medicine?