Early Ottoman Medicine

Document 5 states, “When Europeans learned that Muslims had preserved important medical texts, they wanted to translate the texts into Latin… Throughout this process, European medical schools gained access to vital reference sources...” Muslims preserved medical texts; this created a basis of a foundation of modern day medicine. The preservation of medicine allowed for other people to better it; resulting in advanced cures for different diseases. This advancement benefited others, European schools, in their development.

Practitioners with a lack of formal education did medical care in the 17th century. Many women and laypeople in that time had lots of expertise in herbal medicines and folk antidotes to cure colonists. The first curer people would turn to if they were sick would be a neighbor or a family member. However, there was a new type of physician in the 18th century. This was usually a young man from a wealthy family who went to an elite university who didn 't see himself as a doctor, but more as a scientist. The new physicians learned anatomy through dissection, assisted researchers, and helped with medical experiments. They also observed surgical procedures, and sat through lectures about new advances in the department of medical science. Alongside the scientists, there were also surgeons. The military was where many surgeons

The bio-medical model of ill health has been at the forefront of western medicine since the end of the eighteenth century and grew stronger with the progress in modern science. This model underpinned the medical training of doctors. Traditionally medicine had relied on folk remedies passed down from generations and ill health was surrounded in superstition and religious lore with sin and evil spirits as the culprit and root of ill health. The emergence of scientific thinking questioned the traditional religious view of the world and is linked to the progress in medical practice and the rise of the biomedical model. Social and historical events and circumstances were an important factor in its development as explanations about disease

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.

Medieval medicine was rooted in Ancient Greek practices. In 65 A.D., a Greek writer, Discorides, wrote a book, Material Medica. The book is about medical use of over five-hundred different plants. The book is translated into Hebrew and Arabic. Doctors in the Early Modern Era knew very little, and they used plants as the most important care and/or treatment. Due to unsanitary places and tools, many different diseases spread around Europe. Life was challenging during the Early Modern Era because of many diseases(Alchin). During the 1500s- 1600s, diseases overtook many people because doctors knew little, medicine was unknown, and there were many causes.

Other than providing much of the grounds of modern medicine, medicine in the Islamic Empire was innovatory, pre-eminent and revolutionary. For instance, in 706 CE, the first hospital was built by Muslims in Baghdad and the building of hospitals were continued until every major city in the Islamic world had several hospitals, some specialised for certain areas of disease, including mental and emotional. These hospitals were places of clinical training and learning for aspiring doctors as well as treatment centres for patients. After performing physical examinations, working at ward rounds and attending lectures, students were required to pass practical and oral exams for a doctor’s license. As well as having futuristic systems to supply a certified

The humoral theory of disease is the basis for the Arabs. Many aspects of life are divided into four: the year is divided into four seasons; matter into fire, air, earth, water; the body into black bile, blood, phlegm, and yellow bile; and the environment into “hot,” “cold,” “moist,” and “dry.” These illnesses are treated with the opposite humor. Illnesses are attributed to the extreme shifts from hot to cold and vice versa.

FAQs About Medieval Medicine What was the most prominent disease back then? A: In Medieval Europe there is a diseases that stick out among the rest. The one that took a huge toll on Medieval Europe is the Plague also known as the, “Black Death.”

Prior to 18th century Europe there were a few effective medical developments but most treatments lacked medical value. An idea developed by the ancient Greeks and Romans insisted that bloodletting was a fantastic remedy to difficult diseases but it did more harm than good (Doc 4). Another flaw in medicine is the level of hygiene in the institutions that provided care. The sick were crammed into dirty hospitals, dead lay beside those clinging to life, and the air was

In a time where research was not a primary source of knowledge, most physicians and slave owners were forced to create their own their own practices based on observations. Throughout the Antebellum South, many slaveowners learned of the immunities and adaptations to the environment that their slaves possessed. However, due to the poor living conditions in the slave homes, many families were susceptible to parasites and other diseases. Often, these diseases were treated by other slaves in their family, but in other cases their owners called a white doctor to care for them (Black Health on the Plantation: Owners, the Enslaved, and Physicians). Before a doctor was called, the slaves would often use herbal remedies or religious prayers

In the translation of the Islamic medical book, World History: Patterns of Interaction, the excerpt provided displays the large extent to which Muslims knew of medical procedures and diseases. “European medical schools gained access to vital reference sources such as al-Razi’s Comprehensive Book and Ibn Sina’s The Canon of Medicine. Ibn Sina’s five-volume encyclopedia guided doctors of Europe and Southwest Asia for six centuries” (Doc 3). This quote explains the large amount of credible sources Muslims utilized in order to obtain their medical knowledge. Unfortunately, other cultures did not have these resources, making Muslim contributions some of the best in the world. As mentioned in the first example, World History: Patterns of Interaction, includes numerical data pertaining to medical tools and procedures. “For nearly 500 years, al Qasim’s work, The Method, which contained original drawings of some 200 medical tools, was the foremost textbook on surgery in Europe” (Doc 3). With all the knowledge of medical procedures and tools, the Islamic culture by default was the most medically advanced in the world. Also, Islam’s contributions to world culture caused western civilization to advance in medicine while simultaneously increasing the average life

Hippocrates of Cos, a physician in ancient Greece, is considered to be the father of medicine due to his many contributions to the field in his life. Through research and different experiments he was able to conclude many different principles, including on of the most important: the four humors. By observing reactions to different illnesses, sometimes leading the patient to die, he was able to develop the theory. His theory of the four humors was that the human body was filled with four basic substances, or humors, that when in balance indicate the person is healthy. If there was too little or too much of one of the four, a disease or disability would result. The four humors of Hippocratic medicine are black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm. Before the humors were introduced, many people believed that the source of illness was punishment from the Gods. It wasn’t until after Hippocrates’ introduction to medicine that the field stepped away from religion and into science.

Many ancient civilizations, such as the Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians, pushed medical knowledge forward until the Middle Ages, when medical knowledge was believed to have slowed down. However, that is not the case. The Middle Ages were a time of change and improvement, they shaped the modern world. The Middle Ages revolutionized medical practices, physicians linked filth to the spread of disease, many practical diagnoses and treatments for common illnesses were discovered, and medical training programs in universities became well established.

However, they did not indiscriminately follow Hippocrates and Galen, adapting instead the analytical approach of the classical writers to produce their own rational, structured and logical accounts of medical practice. Ibn Sina’s Canon of Medicine, for example, whilst following in the Hippocratic tradition, offers a far more meticulous and systematic account of humoral theory (Ibn Sina in Brunton (2008), p186). Ibn Sina’s Canon of Medicine is possibly the most famous example of a systemised medical compendia, that, according to Brunton, sets ‘practice firmly on a theoretical basis, which allowed practitioners to approach the process of diagnosing and treating patients on a logical footing’ (Brunton (2008),

The Muslims made much significant advancement in the medical field. The rulers of the Muslim Empire encouraged this research in the medical field. They wanted people who knew about diseases and medical procedures treating them were they were ill. This made the Muslims much more advanced and knowledgeable in medicine than other parts of the world. In fact, Muslim cities boasted some of the best hospitals in the world. One reason they were so efficient is that doctors and pharmacists were required to complete a specific course of study and pass a formal examination before being able o practice medicine. However, this knowledge was not exclusive to the Muslim Empire, but rather it was translated into Latin and was used in European schools. The spread of this knowledge made Europe significantly more knowledgeable regarding diseases and medical procedures than they were prior to them receiving this information. In addition to advancements in the medical field, other scientific advancements were made. The created the practice of the experiment as well as a method of classification into three distinct categories: animal, vegetable, or mineral.