Medical Progress Made By The End Of The Renaissance
What's the Renaissance? Well the Renaissance is a time of great intellectual, scientific and cultural development, in our case we are looking at The Medical Renaissance which was from 1500 - 1650 and in this assessment we are going to look at diseases, treatments, doctors, technology and new discoveries and by the end of this piece of writing, I will have answered the question ' What Medical Progress Had Been Made By The End Of The Renaissance?'
In the Medical Renaissance many people did not know what caused disease. Most of what they believed in was basically what people also believed about 350 years ago. This is because many people believed in
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But probably the worst kind of treatment for illness or disease was amputation, without anaesthetic. And that's all I have to say about that because those words speak for them selves.
The Doctors and Healers that were around during that time were very well educated and trained but compared to what we know today; they were quite primitive. But in their day, they were modern. There were two types of healers; they were licensed and unlicensed. The Licensed healers were:
Physicians- These were well-trained doctors, they would study the works of Galen and Hippocrates and train for 15years. They were first class doctors. Many rich and important people would have their own physicians.
Surgeons - These were known as second-class doctors, this is because surgery was only necessary if you needed an amputation. Surgeons trained for years but almost always by watching their teacher performing the surgery and them taking notes.
Apothecary- These were early forms of chemists and sold mixed remedies.
Midwife- These were the only women around who were given a small education in medicine they were allowed to be midwifes because many believed that women knew more about the woman's
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
Medieval Medicine was basic in an era when terrible illnesses such as the Black Death were killing nearly one third of the population. No one had any idea what caused illnesses and diseases, such as the Black Death. There were no antibiotics or vaccines thus it was almost impossible to cure illness and diseases.
During the Renaissance there were many great scientific discoveries. An example of one of these discoveries can be found in document 7. In this document, Johannes Kepler explores the theory that planets may orbit in a geometrical pattern. To this day, it is known that this claim is true, and Kepler made this discovery without modern day technology. During the Middle Ages there was little focus on scientific discovery but seemingly everyone was interested in science during the Renaissance. Another example of significant scientific discovery during the Renaissance is found in document 6. Document 6 consists of sketches of the skeletal and muscular system from Leonardo da Vinci. In the Middle Ages, most people were not aware of the structure of their bodies but this was discovered during the Renaissance. Without the scholars and scientists of the Renaissance, the structure of the human body may still be a undiscovered. In addition, our treatment for various ailments may not be as sophisticated and complex. The scientific discoveries and the revival of education during the Renaissance contribute to the distinctness of the Renaissance just as much as the humanist
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.
At this time there was no physician-patient relationship, this being due to the fact that physicians were there to treat the body and the general view was that patients were unable to provide accurate evidence without “feelings and emotions” getting in the way. This Era at the bottom line was about facts, evidence and physical direct ailments. The nursing profession was just starting to be developed in this Era. The “nurses” of this time were family members, nuns, priests, neighbors who were all untrained. The start of some of the founding nurses were seen such as Florence Nightingale. She started to look at sanitary conditions and nutrition, some might say she was the original nurse. Her contribution the start of nursing is very significant. She trained some of the first nurses during the Crimean War and with her training she was able to statistically show how sanitary conditions, cleanliness and nutrition were able to significantly decrease the death rate of Crimean soldiers. In Era I physicians really only took care of one part of the “human”, because as humans we are a composition of the physical, mental and soul. Those three parts are what give us humanity and higher thinking. So Era I does not create a fully encompassing view of medicine.
Why did the discoveries of the Renaissance make little practical difference to medical treatment between c1500-c1700?
During her reign England had internal peice and gained a surplus in supplies after being in a great debt. Scientific progress was great and navigation skills helped Sir Francis Drake circumnavigate the globe. In addition, England's theaters grew very popular. The theater brought all the social classes together to enjoy the entertainment from the traveling companies. However there was a downside to this when plague broke out. Compared to today the Elizabethan era is different in many ways. People were not as educated, the medical field was not well developed, and punishments were extremely harsh. Overall, it is obvious that the Elizabethan era was a great time for England. The country flourished despite the struggles. There are many reasons
I unfortunately didn’t have enough time to of course to completely solidify my findings. But one thing that is for sure is that the Healthcare field grew in a short amount of time, there was so much intelligence back then that we only think of bone saw but in reality they had things that seemed to defy what should have been normal at the time, and this of course is just a start of my findings. For the research part on woman I found that surprisingly Florence Nightingale wasn’t technically the first Nurse. There had been a pioneer in England that you’ll find in one of my sources listed in the bibliography that isn’t necessarily relevant to make the point. Next I found that woman seemed to pioneer it as a means for a platform to build in a way the woman’s right moment and just because they wanted to help out. Especially when wars broke out there had been fewer men at home and more men in the Homefront. In total I believe that this topic could swing to a different topic in multiple ways such as Healthcare through the ages, the war, how men became nurses, the process of nursing school back then, and as you can see this also goes on. My one un-answered question is how they cured someone back then. There’s mostly home cures but no solid book from a professional that could tell me what exactly they did back then. Overall I believe I’ve covered this
All physicians of Egypt were regarded in high favor of the kings. They were given such titles as “Chief of all court physicians'; The nobles also used the term “body physicians.'; These “body physicians,'; were permanently employed. Historians and archaeologists are unsure of the methods of payment for these physicians, but they know that the general physicians who went into the land were paid by natural resources such as a gold ring or bracelet. It was a family tradition to become a doctor. It is unsure whether the position was inherited or the fathers just wanted to pass down their knowledge to their sons. They
The improvement of medicine over the course of the human successes gave great convenience to the people of today. Science has cured and prevented many illnesses from occurring and is on its way to cure some of the most dreadful and harmful illnesses. As the world modernizes due to the industrialization, so does the ways of medicine. Some cures are approached by chance, some, through intense, scientific measures.
Many things changed from Medieval Times to the Renaissance. The catholic church saw it’s reign secede and individualism increase in the minds of the people of the time. Because of this, people in the Renaissance now looked at themselves in a way that was never seen before. Slowly but surely, the whole world changed. The rise in individualism and humanism signified a change in the way people thought about their purpose in life. In the Medieval Times, people believed that they were at the mercy of God, and they had no control over their own bodies or lives. From the change in Medieval Times to the Renaissance, whole fields were changed, especially art and the medical field, because of the rise of the individual and that way of life.
The Middle Ages were tough times when it came to disease and medicine. There were numerous types of sickness and disease that flooded Europe during the Middle Ages. Not helping the situation, the medicinal knowledge of the people of Europe of the time was not up to par. Some of the diseases and illness that were running rampant during these times were pneumonia, leprosy, and the plague. The middle ages were a time of great suffering and death because of the abundant disease and lack of knowledge of the spread and treatments.
There have been many advances in the medical field such as; anesthesia, drugs, machines, etc. This has helped the doctors find alternative solutions to problems, and in return has helped them save more lives. In the article “Medicine” by Britannica, “Many new advances in anesthesia, and these in turn depend upon engineers who have devised machines and chemists produced new drugs. Other operations are made possible by new materials, such as the alloys and plastics that are used to make artificial hip and knee joints.” Advances in the medical field have truly helped modern doctors. Without the medicine, machines, technology they have now there’s no way the doctors could have saved the same amount of lives. As Brian Ward, the author of “The Story of Medicine”, states in his book, “Despite opposition, revolutionary scientists and doctors persevered and made some ground breaking discoveries,” (Ward 22). Even though the doctors during the Renaissance had little technology, they still made discoveries that impacted the medical field. The discoveries made by the Renaissance doctors were life saving. However, with the given technology that is commonly found in modern day society doctors are able to impact the medical and scientific fields and by doing so, save more lives than thought possible during the Renaissance. Within the article “Medicine” written by Britannica, it shows the importance of, “Many other developments in modern surgical treatment rest on a firm basis of experimentation, often first in animals but also in humans; among them are Renal dialysis (artificial kidney), arterial bypass operations, embryo implantation, and exchange transfusions.” Although testing on animals is cruel, it shows that modern doctors were not just experimenting on people. The modern doctors had a thought process to reduce the amount of deaths due to
Besides the computer revolution, medical advances have caused tension between faith and reason. The medical advances of the Twentieth Century have many beneficial effects for humanity. Diseases that used to be dangerous or life threatening, like mumps, measles, and whooping cough, are no longer worries in todays medical world. Tetanus, typhoid, and the bubonic plaque can now be treated with antibiotics or other medicines. Vaccines, especially the polio vaccine, freed many people from the effects of a disease. Advances in heart surgery and organ transplants have saved many lives. Anesthetics and painkillers have been made to reduce or eliminate pain during surgery or a painful disease. Advances in cancer and AIDS have