Factors that lead to great progression in the Renaissance period;
Development of printing press
Improvements in Art
Scientific observation
New weapons
New technology
Renewed interest in ancient ideas
The Church looses its influence
Key work of three individuals
Slide 2
Factors in more detail...
Development of printing press:Ancient ideas were being put back into the world which made people realise that the Greeks and Romans knew a lot more than anybody thought. People also started to educate themselves through a wider spread of books now.Improvements in Art:People could now visualise anatomical discoveries through detailed diagrams and drawings. Artists such as Leonardo da Vinci began producing ever more detailed and accurate drawings of the Human body.Scientific observation:Began to analyse and teach in more depth about the body rather than just basic ideas.The church looses its influence:The Church had been very powerful for many centuries, they still were in the Renaissance however as printing press developed people became better educated and as a result saw through the churches manipulations especially with the adulation of Claudius Galen.
Slide 3
New weapons:This means new types of injuries learning to new learning and treatments.New technology:The compound microscope was invented in the 1590's. It was more of a novelty rather than for scientific purposes however Robert Hook came across pores in a cork and named them cells, he actually discovered plant cells then but did not realise.Renewed interest in ancient ideas:The rebirth of the medical ideas in Greek and Roman times had began.
Slide 4
Ambroise Pare
Ambroise Pare was a barber surgeon for the French army. He published many books on surgery.In 1536 he discovered by chance (when the cautery oil he used to cauterise the wounds of his patients ran out) that wounds healed better if they were treated with a 'soothing digestive' (boiled poultice) of yolks turpentine and rose oil. He used catgut ligatures to tie arteries during amputations instead of cauterising the wound.In 1575 he published his 'Apology and Treatise', which advocated changes to the way surgeons treated wounds and amputations. Pare also invented prosthetic limbs which was an important advancement as it meant that he knew the importance of helping patients in the future rather than just solving the short-term issue (i.e. Leg amputation).
William Harvey was a doctor to King Charles 1. He published a book called "An anatomical account of the motion of the heart and blood". His worked was mainly on the circulatory system. He proved that the heart pumped blood around the body by dissecting live cold-blooded animals. By attempting to pump liquid past the valves in the veins but couldn't do so which proved also that the blood has a one way circulatory system. The work of Galen was proved false;-New blood is not constantly made in the liver-Blood does not pass through invisible holes in the septum of the heart. Harvey's vital work led to heart transplants and blood transfusions in the future.
Caption: : Harvey proving the circulatory system in his book
Slide 6
Andreas Vesalius
Andreas Vesalius was the writer of "The Fabric of the human body" and a professor of Surgery. Vesalius used Italian artists to illustrate his book. He is famous for stealing the dead bodies of criminals to dissect. Galen's followers said that he was dangerous however the Emperor made him his doctor, quieting criticism.Much of his anatomical work was rarely accepted as up to this point Doctors believed that Galen had given a fully correct description of the human anatomy. What did he prove incorrect of Galen's ideas?-The human jaw bone is made from one bone not twoThe breastbone has three parts not seven-Blood does not flow through invisible holes in he septum. Such holes do not exist!
Technology hadn’t yet developed to an extent whereby science could accurately explain the cause of disease, nor had it yet produced cheap and effective cures for many ailments. As a result ordinary people would still have a range of beliefs about the cause of disease – remember that many people were sceptical about the new scientific ideas – and consequently they would still make use of self punishment, apothecaries, ‘quacks’, and cures based on the theory of the four humours. In 1683 Bacteria was discovered but was not connected with disease.
How many people did the Great Plague wipe out?Note down any other useful information.
Slide 10
Extra information...
Few people remembered the last epidemic but had heard horror stories. London was so vunerable to anothe epidemic due to the poor sanitation. Overcrwoded homes, open drains running through the middle of the streets into the river thames which was drank out of. People suspected that the disease was caused by sin, Jews, cat & dogs and many said that a previous comet showed that a disaster was on its way. The symptons were typically a high fever, rashes and boils. Plague doctors chewed tobacco to protect themselves from miasmas or wore a beak mask filled with aromas herbs. Even children were mad to smoke tobacco.They also carried around sticks to keep people away from them however many doctors fled when the plague came. Victims were often treated with bloodletting to balance the humours. Powdered bones was used as an obscure treatment. Or by praying and wearing lucky charms. Quack doctors often scammed people with fake cures, whilst also selling them at a high price. Bills of \mortality was a tally chart of deaths I \London and what caused their deaths. Sir William Lawrence told people to watch houses to make sure those visiting the diseased were only doctors. Red crosses were marked on doors of people with the plague. Plague pits were masses of dead plague victims stored in a pit in the ground.
Slide 11
1349 -----> 1665
Dealt with the plague more successfully in 1665:
in 1665 the mayor ordered watchmen to guard the houses of the sick to make sure they shut up
Taverns and theatres were closed to stop the plague spreading through mass crowds
Buried the plague victims 6ft underground
Home owners were ordered to sweep the streets outside their homes
Every parish in 1665 had to appoint women searchers to check if the deceased had died from the Plague
Dealt with the plague the same or more worse in 1349:
Quacks sold 'treatments' to the plague victims
Still didn't make the link between dirt and disease even after the discovery of Bacteria
New ideas were rarely accepted if they were against Galen
People believed that it wasn't the plague, your humours were just out of balance
People believed that the plague was sent as punishment for sin
Still didn't know what caused the epidemic
Slide 12
Question
How far did people I the seventeenth century deal with plague more successfully than people in the fourteenth century? (8)
