Brainscape Medicine PreHistory, Ancient and Islamic Empire Flashcards Preview

CCS Medicine Through Time 2016-17 > Brainscape Medicine PreHistory, Ancient and Islamic Empire > Flashcards

Flashcards in Brainscape Medicine PreHistory, Ancient and Islamic Empire Deck (45)
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1
Q

These people treated illness in Prehistoric times.

A

Medicine Man

2
Q

What did prehistoric people believe caused disease?

A

Bad Sprits

3
Q

What was trephining (aka trepanning)?

A

Prehistoric surgery - a hole chipped into the skull to release bad spirits

4
Q

Prehistoric people were nomadic. What does that mean?

A

Nomads do not settle in one place, but follow their food (e.g. herds of animals)

5
Q

Prehistoric people did not keep written records, so how do we know about them?

A

Archaeological evidence and Aborigines in Australia and Native Americans lived this way until Europeans ‘discovered’ them in the 15th century+

6
Q

Why did Egyptians settle on the Nile around 3400 BC?

A

There was lots of fertile soil and food was plentiful.

7
Q

How did the Nile help the development of medicine and knowledge of the anatomy?

A
  1. trade of herbal remedies 2. communication of new ideas 3. the flooding of the Nile gave Egyptians an idea of how blood flow in the body worked.
8
Q

The Egyptian government was a hierarchy (pyramid structure). Who was the leader?

A

Pharaoh

9
Q

The Egyptians had an organised society. How did this help medical treatment?

A

Priests and doctors emerged. (even specialist doctors like the Pharaoh’s ‘Guardian of the Anus’)

10
Q

What did the Egyptians believe caused disease?

A

The gods, evil spirits and poor hygiene

11
Q

Who was Imhotep?

A

The Egyptian god of healing.

12
Q

Egyptians had hieroglyphics (written language). How did this help develop medicine?

A

The Book of Thoth and the Papyrus Ebers contained spells, potions and instructions for medical procedures.

13
Q

There is evidence that the Egyptians used diagnosis to treat patients. What is this?

A

Diagnosis is looking at a patient, observing their symptoms and using prior knowledge to decide on their illness.

14
Q

How did mummification help develop knowledge of the anatomy?

A

Egyptians removed the organs and put them in jars. The body was embalmed and organs preserved for the afterlife. Egyptians knew what the body looked like inside.

15
Q

Mummification did not help understanding of physiology. Why?

A

Physiology is how the organs work. The organs were being preserved, therefore were not dissected (cut up).

16
Q

What types of herbal treatments did the Egyptians use?

A

Honey and willow as antiseptics (clean/heal wounds)

17
Q

Give me an example of Egyptian surgery.

A

Setting an broken nose, removing warts.

18
Q

Give an example of how the Egyptians tried to prevent illness.

A

Mosquito nets at night (would stop malaria), kohl eyeliner (stopped flies, mild antiseptic), bathed, shaved heads

19
Q

The Ancient Greeks came after the Egyptians, c. 700-300 BC. Who was Asclepios?

A

The Greek god of healing. Many temples were built in his honour. It was believed that he visited patients in their sleep and cured them with his serpent.

20
Q

Even if you weren’t religious, you may have been healed at an Asclepion. How?

A

Well fed, rested, washed, visited gymnasium etc.

21
Q

Where did Alexander the Great create a centre of medical knowledge?

A

Alexandria (named after himself) in Egypt. There were libraries and doctors were able to dissect bodies to look at the anatomy. Many doctors trained here.

22
Q

The Greeks used surgery as a last resort. What types of tools did they develop?

A

Scalpels, forceps, shears, probes and hooks from steel, iron and brass.

23
Q

The Greeks were famous for philosophers, who was Hippocrates?

A

The ‘father of modern medicine’. C460-377 BC. Wrote the Hippocratic Oath (a promise doctors still take, to do the best by their patient), wrote the Hippocratic Corpus (books about bringing the body into balance that encouraged diagnosis, observation and treatment).

24
Q

How did the Greeks try to prevent disease?

A

Recommended a healthy lifestyle (cleanliness, good food, sleep, exercise, cleaning teeth!) Athens even had clean water brought in through clay pipes.

25
Q

Aristotle linked Hippocrates ideas of balance in the body to the four humours. What are these?

A

The body is made of four liquids; blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. These are linked to the seasons. If you’re ill, one humour is out of balance. Treatments aim to bring back balance in the humours.

26
Q

How did the Greeks influence the Romans (c. 300BC to c500 AD)?

A

Most early Roman doctors were Greek slaves. They copied the idea of the Asclepion during a plague.

27
Q

How did the famous Roman army encourage the development of surgery and public health?

A

Romans needed a healthy army, well fed, clean water, hospitals. Doctors had ranks in the army, removed arrows, did surgery (even removing cataracts), amputations

28
Q

What is cauterisation?

A

Using a red hot iron or boiling oil to seal a wound or amputation. Stopped the bleeding.

29
Q

Rome developed into a big city, how did the organised Roman government encourage public health? (4)

A

public baths, public toilets, aqueducts, sewers etc.

30
Q

Who was Galen?

A

A Greek doctor living in the Roman Empire, treated Gladiators and later became physician to the Emperor

31
Q

What were Galen’s ideas about disease?

A

Galen supported Hippocrates on observation and ethical treatment. He also believed in the four humours and the treatment by opposites.

32
Q

How did Galen contribute to knowledge of the anatomy?

A

Dissection was illegal in the Roman Empire (except Alexandria) so he studied skeletons in tombs or animals. Some of his ideas were correct (e.g. brain controls the body was proven with his pig experiment) some were incorrect (e.g. that the blood was consumed by the body instead of circulated).

33
Q

Why was Galen followed until the 17th Century? (1500 years?)

A

Galen wrote lots of books. Many of these survived in the Arabic world after the fall of the Roman empire and were brought back to Europe during the Crusades (12th century). His ideas were copied many times. He did not write about many gods, as most Romans did, so Christians and Muslims supported his ideas.

34
Q

What caused the ‘Dark Ages’ (c410 to c900) in Europe?

A

Collapse of the Roman Empire

35
Q

How did the Dark Ages affect the development of Medicine and Health in Europe?

A

Roman ideas were lost, libraries and books burned, public health facilities fell into ruin (e.g. aqueducts), war (e.g. England was invaded by Angles, Saxons, Vikings etc.), less education etc.

36
Q

Why did the Islamic Empires of the Arab world continue to develop during the Dark Ages?

A

Never controlled by the Romans, therefore not directly affected by collapse. Traded with Roman Empire, so ideas remained when Rome fell.

37
Q

What was an Arabist?

A

Someone who followed the Arabic schools of medicine. Arabic is a language in the Middle East.

38
Q

What was the capital of the Islamic Empire in the 9th Century?

A

Baghdad (the capital of Iraq today)

39
Q

Which Arabist wrote detailed accounts about smallpox and measles?

A

al-Razi or Rhazes

40
Q

Why was Avicenna an important Arabist?

A

He wrote the ‘Canon of Medicine’ which brought together the ideas of Hippocrates, Aristotle and Galen. It was this book that the Crusaders brought back to Europe in the 12th Century.

41
Q

How did Ibn al-Nafis challenge Galen in the 13th century?

A

He challenged Galen’s description of how the heart works. Ibn al-Nafis was right and Galen wrong, however his ideas did not make it to Europe until the 20th century.

42
Q

Islam prohibited dissection, however one surgeon wrote a book describing amputations, removal of bladders stones and dental surgery. Who was it?

A

Albucasis 10th Century

43
Q

The government of the Islamic Empire had developed Public Health by the year 1000. Give 4 examples.

A

Medical schools, exams for doctors, piped water, public baths, hospitals

44
Q

What is alchemy (used in the Islamic Empire) and how did it help fight disease?

A

Alchemy was the attempt to turn metal into gold and find the elixir of eternal life. Alchemists invented useful techniques such as distillation and drugs such as laudanum (from the poppy, for pain relief)

45
Q

Who sold the new drugs and elixirs developed in the Islamic Empire?

A

An Apothecary sold a range of potions, drugs and herbal medicines as well as spells.