Medicine Before 1848

What was medicine like before 1848?

For hundreds of years before 1848, progress in medical knowledge had been very slow.

Why didn't medicine progress much before 1848?

There were a number of reasons why medical knowledge took a long time to progress before 1848.

• ❖ Medical knowledge was based on ideas which were ultimately wrong, but which seemed rational and logical to people at the time.
• ❖ Scientists weren't very clear about anatomy and how the human body worked.
• ❖ People, including doctors and their patients, preferred to stick to their traditional ways of doing things.
• ❖ The technology used to make discoveries took a long time to develop.
• ❖ Some people and institutions - for example the medieval Church - benefitted from controlling the level of understanding around health.
• ❖ Nobody took responsibility for funding and encouraging research. The government did not see it as its business.

What medical theories did they have before 1848?

The theories of medicine before 1848 often appeared logical, but prevented further discoveries.

• ❖ For a long time, many diseases were believed to be caused by supernatural forces. These could only be countered by non-medical treatments.
• ❖ The Theory of the Four Humours was developed by Hippocrates in Ancient Greece. He believed that illness was caused by an imbalance of four liquids in the body - blood, choler (yellow bile), black bile, and phlegm.
• ❖ Galen, in the second century BCE, developed Hippocrates' Four Humours Theory with the Theory of Opposites. He suggested that diseases could be cured by providing food and conditions that were opposite to the illness. For example, cold wet food should be eaten by someone with a hot, dry fever.
• ❖ Miasma, or 'bad air', was believed to cause a lot of illnesses. This belief lasted from medieval times until the nineteenth century.
• ❖ The spontaneous generation theory suggested that microorganisms were created by decay, and went on to create miasma.

How did understanding of anatomy help medical progress before 1848?

There were 4 important ways the understanding of anatomy help medical progress before 1848.

• ❖ For hundreds of years, anatomical understanding was based on the work of Galen.
• ❖ Anatomical discoveries helped doctors to understand the human body and illness better.
• ❖ In 1543, Andreas Vesalius's book called 'On the Fabric of the Human Body' based on his discoveries in dissection helped doctors to understand the human body better.
• ❖ In 1628, William Harvey's book 'On the Motion of the Heart and Blood', helped understanding the circulation system.

What technology helped medicine to progress before 1848?

The development of technology made some medical advances possible.

• ❖ The introduction of the printing-press to England in 1476 made it easier for doctors and scientists to share ideas.
• ❖ A growing understanding of iatrochemistry in the 1600s gave doctors new minerals and metals to work with.
• ❖ The development of water pumps in the 1600s inspired William Harvey to understand the circulation system.
• ❖ The invention of the microscope in 1665 meant that scientists could see microorganisms.
• ❖ The invention of the thermometer in 1709 meant that doctors could observe and record body temperature.