Unit 1: History of Medicine

A brief overview of where we’ve been

• 2000 B.C.—Here, eat this root.• 1000 A.D.—That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer.• 1850 A.D.—That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this

potion.• 1920 A.D.—That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.• 1945 A.D.—That pill is ineffective. Here, take this penicillin.• 1955 A.D.—Oops . . . bugs mutated. Here, take this

tetracycline.• 1960–1999—39 more “oops.” Here, take this more

powerful antibiotic.• 2000 A.D.—The bugs have won! Here, eat this root.

– World Health Organization

Medicine’s Beginnings

• Started off as prayers and rituals– Shaman

• Rituals used to cure ailments– Drumming and chanting– Amulets and charms– Trepanning…

Medicine’s Beginnings cont’d

• Man began to use accessible materials– Clay– Plants/Herbs– Mushrooms

• Ate foods for effect

• Grind plants for substance

Medicine’s Beginnings cont’d• Cannabis (Cannabis sativa)

• Coca (Erythroxylon coca)

• Daffodil (Narcissus spp.)

• Deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna)

• English yew (Taxus baccata)

• Fever tree (Cinchona succiruba)

• Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

• Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum)

• Rubbertree (Hevea brasiliensis)

• Willow (Salix spp.)

Egyptian Medicine

• First civilization to keep accurate medical records

• Described diseases

• Recorded remedies– Contraceptives– Headaches– Skin/Hair Conditions

Egyptian Medicine Cont’d

• Numerous Contributions– Splinting fractures– Recordkeeping– Disease diagnosis and remedy

***Recording and sharing information

Greek Medicine

• Began as Gods healing– Asclepius – Apollo– Hygieia

• Hippocrates– Cause and effect– Changes in diet, drugs– Keeping in balance

Greek medicine cont’d

• Four humors of the body– Blood– Phlegm– Yellow Bile– Black Bile

• Restoring balance cures disease– Bloodletting– Purging

Hippocratic Oath

• Establishes patient confidentiality• No mercy killings• Do not perform an abortion• No seducing men or women• Assign the proper diet• Physicians/teachers of medicine are equal to

family***Not presently required by most medical schools

Other Greeks

• Aristotle– Direct observation is more powerful– Dissection for comparative anatomy

• Galen– Controlled physiological experiments– Experimented on kidneys and spinal cord– Larynx (voicebox), circulatory system, respiratory

system, brain nerves– Cataract surgery

Roman Contributions

• Aqueducts brought clean water– Sanitation

• Sewer systems to carry off waste

• Public baths with filtered water

Roman Physicians

• Battlefield medicine– First to send physicians with each legion– Used “traveling hospitals”

• Paid by the government

• Central buildings of care (first hospitals)– Started as rooms in physician’s house– Became entire buildings of sick people

Dark Ages

• Romans conquered

• Cooperative medicine stops

• Manuscripts preserved in monasteries– Watch and protect rather than cure

• Epidemics– Bubonic Plague (Black Plague) killed millions– Smallpox, diphtheria, syphilis, tuberculosis

Renaissance

• “Revival” of Greek and Roman texts– More consistent and “modern” scientific method

• Medical schools

• Dissection became acceptable

• Printing press made sharing information easy– Widespread knowledge allows for advancement

17th Century

• Vesalius – Human anatomy– Numerous dissections led to accurate drawings

• Leeuwenhoek – Microorganisms– Showed that organisms are everywhere

• Da Vinci – Human anatomy– Worked extensively on proportions of the body– Anatomical drawings (interior and exterior)

18th Century

• New ways of learning– Students attended lectures and met patients bedside– Dissections after diseases helped to understand

physiology• Advances in identifying causes– Examine environment

• Vaccines developed– Smallpox

19th Century

• Hand-washing in hospitals– Preventing microorganisms from growing

• Bacteria come from the environment– Can harm humans– Cause of many diseases– Washing/cleaning wounds during surgery

19th Century cont’d

• Anesthetics became reliable– Previously herbs, alcohol, and drugs– Went into shock from pain– People often died from overdose

• Rise of the Nurse– Present in battlefield– Raised standard of care before/after surgery

• Immunizations became widespread– Were able to use vaccines to control many diseases