This document provides an overview of the history of medicine from prehistoric times to the modern world. It summarizes key developments in different time periods, including ancient civilizations like Egypt and Greece establishing early medical practices based on supernatural beliefs and limited anatomical knowledge. During the Renaissance, individuals like Vesalius and Harvey increased anatomical and physiological understanding through dissection and experiments. The Industrialization and Enlightenment eras saw major advances from scientists discovering germ theory and identifying pathogens, as well as developments in anesthesia, antisepsis, and early antibiotics in the modern world.

1. Medicine Through Time
Time Periods, People, and
Progress

2. Prehistory Ancient Civilizations The Egyptians
The Greeks Middle Ages Medieval Medicine in the East
Renaissance Medicine Industrialisation and Enlightenment
The Modern World
Contents

3. Prehistory
 150,000 BC
 First Modern Humans
evolve
 Hunter Gatherers
 Estimated World
Population – 5 million

4. Main Features
 Nomadic
 No Government
 Food Supplies – Fresh meat from hunting
wild animals, Vegetables fruit and berries
gathered
 Fresh Water
 Exercise

5. Prehistoric Medicine
 Trephination
 Illness caused by evil
spirits
 Sorcerers, ‘Medicine
Men,’ ‘Clever Men’
 Some herbal remedies
 Broken Bones set in Clay
 Open cuts bandaged with
bark or animal skin
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6. Ancient Civilisations
 From 8000BC
 Farming
 Settlements appear
 Diseases e.g. Malaria
 Dirtier
 Writing Develops
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7. The Egyptians
 6000 BC to 30BC
 Country ruled by King or
Pharaoh
 Farming developed on
banks of the Nile
 Developed Writing –
Hieroglyphics and
Papyrus
 Worshiped a group of
Gods

8. Features of Egyptian Medicine
 Professional Doctors for the wealthy
 Most specialised in particular parts of the
body
 Some Herbal treatments
 Lucky charms used to prevent illness
 Prayers to the gods

9. Anatomical Knowledge
 Egyptians Embalmed the dead so had some
knowledge
 Knew about some internal organs – Heart and
Lungs
 Believed organs were connected by ‘channels’
called Metu
 They carried fluids of the body – blood, tears,
urine and air
 Also carried ‘Wehedu’ – bad substances that
caused illness

10. IMPORTANT NOTE
 Embalming added little to medical
knowledge
 Embalmers worked in secret
 Embalmers removed organs through the
nose and small slits in the body
 They DID NOT OPEN UP BODIES

11. What did they believe caused
Illness?
 Natural and supernatural causes
 Blocked Channels
 Upsetting the Gods
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12. The Greeks
 800BC to 338BC
 City States
 Worshipped the Gods of
Olympus
 Some started to
challenge the Gods
 Believed Education was
Very important
 Science – wanted to
make sense of the World
 Philosophers

13. Features of Early Greek Medicine
 Supernatural Beliefs
 Asklepios – Greek God of Healing
 His daughters: Hygeia & Panacea
 Asklepions – Temples of Healing

14. Features of Late Greek Medicine
430 BC
 Hippocrates
 Clinical Observation
 4 Humours
 Ethical Behaviour
 Rejection of Supernatural Ideas
 Ethical Behaviour
 Regimen – Diet and exercise – Prevention
better than cure

15. Anatomical Knowledge
 Greek Philosopher: Aristotle
 Dissected animals NOT humans
 The Heart – key organ in the body
 Studied the connection between blood
vessels and brains

16. The Romans
 510 BC to 476 AD
 Well-Organised
Government
 Roman Army
 Love – Hate relationship
with the Greeks
 Very practical
 Similar religion to Greeks

17. Features of Early Roman
Medicine
 No Doctors
 Family medicine – male dominated
 Used a few farmyard materials
 In particular – Wool and Cabbage
 Supernatural beliefs – adopted Asklepions
from Greeks

18. Features of Late Roman Medicine
 Gradually adopted Hippocratic Doctors
 Most Famous –Claudius Galen
 Believed in 4 Humours
 Became more active in treatment –
Treated with opposites e.g. pepper to
patients, blood letting
 Wrote huge amount of books – became
accepted as Gospels

19. Anatomical Knowledge
 Galen improved Knowledge
 Treated Gladiators
 Dissected Animals – remember the Pig
 Made mistakes – the Heart
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20. Middle Ages
 476 AD to Circa 1450
 Frequent Wars
 Christianity in the
West
 Islam in the East

21. Medicine in the Dark Ages
476 to Circa 1000 (West)
 Roman and Greek medical books lost
 Training for doctors disappeared
 Illness was caused and cured by God
 It was considered Holy to care for the sick
 Mostly Nuns and Monks
 Some Herbal Remedies (Provided by God) and
blood letting
 Four Humours Theory still used.

22. The Late Middle Ages – 1000 to
circa 1450 (West)
 Increase in Hospitals to care for sick and
poor
 Uroscopy – study of urine to diagnose
imbalance in 4 humours
 Astrological Ideas – The position of the
stars could influence health
 Better Training of doctors for the Rich

23. Things Can Only get Better!
 Universities set up – doctors licensed by
university qualification
 Women could not become doctors
 Women continued to care for the poor
 University Doctors saw themselves as superior
to Apothecaries (sellers of drugs and herbal
remedies) and Barber surgeons( barbers who
performed simple operations e.g. removing
boils)

24.  Medieval doctors believed in preventive
medicine
 Blood letting of Healthy people to keep the 4
humours in balance (carried out by Barber
Surgeons) ‘Venesection’ or Cupping
 Treatments – Hot baths, Laxatives, Blood letting,
enemas (a purgative mixture squirted into the
anus using a long pipe and bellows)

25. Surgery in Middle Ages (West)
 Some Advances due to constant wars –
e.g. removal of arrowheads
 Early experiments with Anaesthetics –
Opium to make patient sleepy
 Wine used to stop infection
 Some more complicated operations e.g.
removal of bladder stones
 Most Surgeons not University trained.

26. Anatomical Knowledge
 Human Dissection was disapproved of
 Several attempts to ban it all together
 Little increase in knowledge
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27. Influence of Islamic Medicine
 Caliphs maintained order
 Greek and Roman Manuscripts preserved
 Medical schools and libraries part of
hospitals
 Called ‘Bimaristans’
 Maristans – Hospitals for mentally ill.
 Hospital sites selected by hanging meat
up

28. East Continued
 Al-Rhazi
 Clinical Observation distinguished
measles from Small Pox
 Challenged Galen’s theory about the heart
 Ibn Sina
 ‘al-Qanun’ Encyclopaedia of medical
knowledge
 760 drugs
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29. Renaissance Medicine
 Circa 1450 to Circa 1650
 Rebirth of Greek Ideas
about understanding the
world
 Exploration
 Illustration
 Printing Press
 Scientific Research
 Reduction of power of the
church

30. Medical Knowledge in the
Renaissance
 During this period there are a number of
individuals that increased medical
knowledge

31. Leonardo da Vinci
 Inventor and artist
 Wanted to produce more realistic paintings
 Carried out dissections so he could
understand how the human body worked
 More accurate drawings

32. Vesalius – Anatomist
1514-1564
 Carried out dissections on dead bodies
 Originally a follower of Galen
 Later challenged some of Galen’s theories
(Septum of Heart – Not Porous)
 Published a book on Anatomy using a
renaissance artist to illustrate.
 De Humani Corporis Fabrica

33. William Harvey – Physiologist
1578 -1657
 Studied how the body worked
 Proved how blood circulated around the
body – simple experiments
 His work was initially rejected
 Only accepted in 1673 when Paris
University began to teach his findings

34. Ambroise Pare
1510-1590
 Barber Surgeon
 Became military surgeon
 Changed treatment of gunshot wounds
(accidentally discovered that dressing wounds
was more effective than cauterising)
 Developed ligatures for use with amputations
 Proved Bezoar didn’t work
 Developed technique of ‘Podalic Version’ –
turning baby in the womb

35.  His ideas were also rejected and criticised
by the medical establishment
 He was ‘only’ a surgeon

36. Progress?
 These new ideas were rejected initially
 Increase in knowledge about the body –
little advance in treatments
 When King Charles II was dying (1685) he
received the following treatments:
 Blood letting, laxatives, ground up human
skull, bark of Perwian Tree and Bezoar
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37. Industrialisation and
Enlightenment
 Circa 1700 to Circa 1900
 Production of goods
changes to factories led
to growth in towns
 Clear logical thought
 Improvements in Science
and technology
 Doctors start to work in a
way we would recognise
today

38. Edward Jenner 1796
 Introduced Vaccination as a way of
preventing Small Pox
 Infected people with cow pox to help them
build up a resistance to small pox
 Great resistance at first!
 Others had tried similar experiments but
had not proved it scientifically or published
their work.

39. Louis Pasteur 1861
 Germ Theory
 Made the connection between germs and
disease.
 Showed that microbes carried in dust in the air
caused decay.
 These microbes/germs could be killed if heated
– PASTEURISATION
 Also Identified germ that caused Anthrax
 Developed Vaccines for Chicken Cholera and
Rabies

40. Robert Koch 1870s
 Identified the germs that caused:
 Tuberculosis, Cholera,
 Developed Dyes to help identify Germs
 Helped develop the Petri dish – Uses Agar jelly
to grow microbes/germs and makes it possible
to photograph
 Others used his methods to discover the causes
of pneumonia, meningitis, plague and dysentery

41. Improvements in Surgery
 Anaesthetics developed – Nitrous Oxide,
Ether, Chloroform invented by James
Simpson.
 Pain Free operations – More complex
invasive surgery could be attempted.
 But Patients still died

42. Fighting Infection in Surgery
 Antiseptic surgery
 Use of carbolic acid to kill germs by
surgeon Joseph Lister
 Aseptic Surgery
 Keeping germs away from the operation –
washing hands, clean gowns and masks,
sterilising equipment, wearing gloves and
keeping theatres clean
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43. The Modern World
 1900 onwards
 Huge improvements
in Science and
Technology
 World Wars

44. Paul Erlich
 Developed the first ‘Magic Bullet’
Salvarsan 606 – a chemical drug that kills
the specific germ that causes syphilis

45. Gerhard Domagk
 Developed the second magic bullet –
based on a dye called Prontosil – kills
streptococcal bacteria
 Much more powerful than Salvarsan 606
 Stops infections like pneumonia and
meningitis

46. Alexander Flemming
 Wanted to find a drug that would fight simple
infections caused by germs getting into soldiers
wounds in WW1
 Accidentally discovered a mould that killed
staphylococci bacteria – published his findings –
Known as Penicillin
 Failed to test it on live tissue
 Others may have made the discovery before
him.

47. Howard Florey and Ernst Chain
 Read about Flemming’s discovery
 Chain worked out the structure of
Penicillin and was able to grow the mould
in brewers yeast
 Florey used Penicillin on a Policeman
suffering from Staphylococcal septicaemia
 Policeman improved but died because
they did not have enough penicillin

48. Andrew J. Moyer
 Developed a method of mass producing
penicillin using a culture broth of corn
steep liquor and lactose.
 Funded by US Government.
 Thousands of lives were saved during
WW2 as a result

49. Surgery
 Blood transfusions – blood grouping,
prevention of clotting and storage (Blood
Plasma).
 Improvements in Plastic Surgery (WWI)
 Skin grafts – treatment of severe burns
(Guinea Pig Club WW2 Fighter Pilots)

50. Genetics
 DNA
 Identification of Genetic Disorders

51. Technology
 X-Ray machines
 Body Scanners
 Ultrasound
 Laser treatment
 Pacemakers
 Artificial limbs

52. Problems?
 STIs
 HIV and AIDS
 Famine
 Cancer
 Obesity
 MRSA
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