Prehistory- (time before written records)

Modern aborigines had spiritual explanation of illness + cure.(cave paintings)

Medicine men have the ability to inflict and cure illness

Preventative and healing medicine practised. Rituals (herbs, potions) and

sacrifices involved, these had practical value but were seen as magic.
They buried waste but for religious reasons, not for hygienic reasons.(nomadic hunter
gatherers)
Archaeopathology: study of ancient bodies, to see what disease and health problems
they had, how they were treated and died.

Ancient Egypt: agricultural (3400BC and 30BC)

Only the rich could afford doctors but still very basic knowledge on the cause of
disease. Most people thought that evil spirits caused disease and so charms and
chants would be used as well as being buried with charms for the afterlife.
Writing on Papyrus meant that medical ideas could spread such as herbal remedies for
illnesses.
Bandages were used for mummification and so may have been used on wounds; this
would have prevented infection from spreading.
Imhotep was the God of medicine. Sekhmet was the goddess of war and illness, she
was thought to cause and cure illnesses. Thus many to pray to her to cure them of
their illnesses. Thoth gave doctors (respected people) ability to cure, Priests had book
of Thoth with treatments and spells.
Egyptian drug opium is used today, thought to drive away evil spirits (not affecting
body)
The theory of the blocked channels was introduced in relation to the River Nile and
irrigation system in Ancient Egypt. People thought that the blood carried air and water
and so if the channels were blocked you became ill as your body did not have access
to air and water. Vomiting, purging and bleeding to clear channels. Idea Not accepted
by everyone
Egyptians introduced the idea that disease was cause by undigested food rotting in
the bowels.

Ancient Greece- influenced by Egyptians (700bc and 300bc)

Hippocrates (the father of medicine) introduced the theory of The Four

Humours, this stated that a body was balanced and illness was imbalance of
elements. Aristotle (384-322BC) developed the Hippocratic balance by saying that
the Body was made up 4 humours- blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. For
each humour there was a corresponding season, for example in winter people would
get phlegm.

The Hippocratic regimen A regimen for health stated that diet and exercise were
important in fighting illness; it was up to individuals whether they wanted to take this
advice on board or not.

The temple of Aclepion was a place where people would go and sleep in hope
that, at night, the God Asclepius of healing and his two daughters, Hygeia and
Panacea would cure them in their dream. Visitors had ceremonial washing, a sacrifice
and slept in Abaton (building open to the air). Priests gave ointments and performed
rituals. Success stories were recorded on inscriptions in walls. Sacred snakes were
also used to take the illness away.

Hippocrates wrote and published many books which went into detail on the
treatments he advised; these became known as The Hippocratic Corpus. Prognostic
showed the need for a prognosis and to observe the patient to see what the illness
could be. Also associated with the Hippocratic Oath which is promise doctors make to
obey rules. Medical ethics are based on this

Ancient Rome

Galen (wrote over 100 books) followed on from The Four Humours theory as proposed
by Hippocrates and gave his theory of The Four Opposites.

Due to Galen's ambitiousness in gaining reputation this eventually became a wellestablished idea but it basically said that for every humour that is in balance the
treatment should be able to counteract it. An example includes that in winter when the
patient has too much Phlegm, something hot and fiery such as pepper should be given
to counteract the illness.

Since the Roman Empire was so large and extensive the conditions were fairly
cramped but of course the excellent public health measures decreased
the likelihood of infection spreading. Plague in 293bc led Romans to build an asclepion
in Rome (brought sacred snake).

The Roman Empire was centralised and so medical ideas spread easily. Romans
noticed exposure to bad smells, unclean water, sewage and dirt made you likely to get
ill People followed up by reading the Hippocratic collection which, by now, was very
well established.

Herbal remedies were still used and the Romans tried to tackle pain and infection.
Opium was used as an anaesthetic and Turpentine was a common antiseptic.

Middle Ages/dark ages

Impact of fall of Roman Empire: Roman public health system fell into despair.
People in dark ages lacked education to understand value of hygiene, clean
water. Roman towns were abandoned. Cramped conditions meant infections were
easily spread but still the main root cause of disease was unknown. Saxons came
to Roman + Christian England with medical cures on superstition and magic. Loss
of knowledge, Saxons thought roman architecture was work of mythical beings.
Water collected from wells some also collected from The River Thames, human
waste was dumped there which made it dangerous. Many people emptied their
waste onto the streets and the spread of disease was worsened by the fact that
animals roamed the streets.
Black Death was series of plagues that swept Europe in 14th century. Pneumonic
plague spread by coughs and bubonic plague spread by black rats (carried
overseas by ships) Black Death arrived in Britain 1348. Victims died. Between
third and half population killed. Bubonic plague caused: exhaustion, headaches
and high temperatures. Later big swelling in groin, armpits. Some survived most
died in a week. Plague turned into pneumonic (more deadly). Attack lungsmaking it painful/ difficult to breathe. Symptoms: coughing up blood. Killed
victims in few days.
Idea offered by doctors: miasmic theory. This was accepted and led to people by
inhaling perfumes. Doctors advised people to avoid eating too much food as
may carry the disease. Thought Plague was: judgement from god, caused by
planets, Jews, nobility. End of the world looked for signs of Armageddon.
Appease wrath of god by becoming flagellants, whipping themselves and
praying
New developments in Medieval medicine: New techniques i.e. diagnosis with
urine sample. colour/taste, good aid to diagnosis (still used)Believed stars
caused disease, astrology used for making diagnosis+ treatment. Thought
Pilgrimages to holy shrine could cure illnesses.
Trained doctors were expensive, medicine practiced using traditional cures +
experience Church had access to Latin text, set up public hospital, general +
specialised, still not enough Apothecaries sold drugs-sometimes advised their
use. Influence of wise-women herbalists led guild to admit women. Housewifephysian :wise women, lady of the manor(expected to provide medical help)
The Church only accepted teachings from Galen. In the Arabic Empire Galen and
Hippocrates was translated and recognised. Educated people had been taught in
church institutions, who thought that illness was a punishment for sins.
Avicenna wrote 'A Book of Healing' and 'A Canon of Medicine'(ideas of Aristotle,
gales, Hippocrates). Book brought classic ideas back into western Europe. Ibnan-Nafis also tried to tackle smallpox and measles and he even wrote
descriptions of them. Rhazes distinguished between smallpox and measles as
separate disease..

In the Qu'ran, doctors learned that it was vital to take care of the sick and needy.
In contrast, in middle ages hospitals in Britain it was usually monks and nuns
who treated the ill and very rarely did hospitals offer any real medical
treatments. Herbals remedies were still used widely. Paracelsus suggested the
idea that disease was caused by chemicals in the body.

Renaissance- (rebirth) name given to changes occurring in Italy 14th century

Galen's ideas were still believed and no one proved him wrong. Herbal remedies were
still used and people were still unsure as to how germs spread.

Was a Greater interest in medicine how human body worked based on direct
observation and dissection. Renaissance saw the emergence of science. Renaissance
man: idea that well educated will be proficient in science+ art, like Leonardo-da-vinci.
Artists attended dissections wrote on scientific subjects using illustrations.

The Great Plague came around in 1665 Worst appearance of black death still
didnt understand germs Doctors, chemists and priests were worst affected because
people went to them for help.

Industrial Revolution

Heavily urbanised conditions due to new factories being built meant that disease
spread very easily amongst workers. Pollution in the 1800s would have caused
breathing problems amongst many in that time. Common disease of the time included:
TB, cholera, typhoid, diphtheria, whooping cough, measles and smallpox. There was a
high infant mortality rate and many people were helpless when it came to fighting
disease and infection.

Lady Montagu learnt about inoculation in turkey which had come from china.
Montagu discovered that healthy person could be immunised using pus from someone
suffering with mild form of disease. Unfortunately sometimes it led to full blown
smallpox and death. Fear led people to risk an inoculation.

In 1798 Edward Jenner came up with a vaccine that would fight smallpox. He heard
that milkmaids didnt get small pox, but didnt catch milder cowpox. Tested this on a
boy and injected him with pus from a milkmaid with cowpox. There was much
opposition to this as many didn't feel that a needle could cure them of a disease which
had run the streets for so long. In the 1850s vaccination became compulsory and
soon this led to the mass eradication of smallpox. This was a high leap forward in
medicine and led to many vaccines being introduced soon after.

Florence Nightingale wrote 'Notes for Nursing' made important improvements to the
condition of hospitals during the Crimean War in 1850s. She set up the nightingale
school of nursing in st.thomas hospital. The 1919 registration of nursing act made
training compulsory for nurses. Nightingale encouraged boiling sheets and scrubbing
floors clean in order to get rid of dried up blood, this greatly improved hospital
conditions and decreased the chance of infection spreading. Mary seacole learnt
nursing from mother. In 1854, she came to England to volunteer as a nurse in the
Crimean war.

Louis Pasteur's Germ Theory in 1861 micro-organisms seen through 18th century
microscopes, but scientists thought they were caused by disease and appeared
because of illness: spontaneous generation. Instead of microbes people blamed it on
miasmas (germs were in the air). Pasteur proved germs were in air by sterilising some
water and putting it in a flask were no particles could enter. His team also worked out
that cholera is weakened by being left for a few days, and that the weakened cholera
had made the chickens immune to cholera- in the same way Jenners cowpox vaccine
worked for smallpox. Chamberlands error produced a chance theory

Robert Koch who, in 1875-1878 linked diseases to the microbe that caused them.
He used his daughters pet mice to experiment on. Also identified the bacteria that
cause tuberculosis and cholera. Developed the vaccination for another common
disease- Anthrax. He was able to relate Louis Pasteur's theory into medicine and show
how infection spread.

Blackwell was the first women in modern times to be awarded a medical degree in
her own name in modern times from a western training collage (1849)

Elizabeth Garret Anderson was the first qualified female doctor and persuaded the
government to pass a law in 1876 to say that women could study medicine.

Ignaz Semmelweiss suggested the idea of washing hands between patients in 1847,
although people thought he was crazy to think that it would actually help, towards the
end of the 19th century they realised that he was correct and helped in tackling
infection.

Modern

Penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928 by chance and this was seen
to kill certain types of bacteria, he publishes his results in 1929 but after minimal
success in pursuing his discovery, he gave up.

It was then picked up by Howard Florey and Ernest Chain, they persuaded the US and
British government to mass produce penicillin as this is exactly what they did in 1943-

44. This helped the soldiers who were fighting in World War II and so Penicillin was a
breakthrough into the production of antibiotics. Mother's schools were set up to show
mother how infection spread and they were encouraged to breastfeed their children as
baby bottles carried harmful bacteria.

In 1905 Paul Ehrlich (tried to find chemicals to act as synthetic antibodies) developed
the magic bullet Salvarsan 606 which fought infection just like antibodies, this then led
to Domagk developing Prontosil which cured many diseases. Domagks daughter
pricked herself with a needle and caught disease which caused blood poisoning. He
was afraid she would die and gave her large dose of prontosil. She recovered. These
included: Meningitis, Pneumonia and Gonorrhoea.

When the NHS was set up in 1948 people had access to medicine and care from
professionals, this allowed a great improvement in disease and educating people on
how infection spread. There was an increased life expectancy as people had more
access to medical care. In addition to this cancer and heart disease were tackled.
Alternative medicines came about including: Homoeopathy, Hypnotherapy and
Acupuncture. People can now make informed choices as to their lifestyle as we are
now aware of the risks of smoking and unhealthy eating.

Crick, Watson and Wilkins discovered the double helix bond in DNA in 1953 and this
led to the development of genetic engineering later on in the modern period.

HIV causes AIDS. WHO are trying to find vaccines and cures (nether is available)