History of Medicine: The Renaissance

History of Medicine: The Renaissance

1. Vesalius

   • Background
     • Born in Brussels, 1514
     • Attended the University of Paris for 3 years
     • He was only 3 foot, 3 inches tall
     • His father was a doctor
   • Discoveries
     • Stole bodies and dissected them
     • Found that there were 206 bones in the body
     • Proved Galen wrong on 200 counts
       • Jaw bone in humans is one part, not two
     • Started piecing the body parts together with organs and muscles
   • Significance
     • Somebody had finally challenged Galen's ideas
     • First to release a book with drawings that was published worldwide
       • New discoveries spread widely
     • Helped to improve surgery

2. Pare

   • Background
     • Born in France, 1510
     • Started medical training as a barber surgeon
       • Apprentice to his brother
     • Worked for 20 years on the battle field
       • Treated gun shot and stab wounds
     • Died at age of 90 in 1590
   • Discoveries
     • During a war, the oil used to stop blood flowing from wounds ran out
       • Pare developed his own mixture of egg yolks, roses and oil of turpentine
       • Oil was boiled and then applied, causing great pain
     • He started tying up the arteries after amputation in method now known as ligatures.
   • Significance
     • Pare never thought he already knew the answer, refusing to just accept ancient methods
     • A compassionate man who wanted his patients to have less pain
     • Developed more humane methods of treating wounds that reduced pain
       • Possibly reduced deaths by shock

3. Harvey

   • Background
     • Born in Kent, 1578
     • Studied medicine at Cambridge
     • Worked as a doctor
       • Was physician to King James I
     • Led lectures
     • Wrote a book on his discoveries
       • "An Anatomical Account of the motion of the heart and blood in animals."
   • Discoveries
     • Dissected animals
     • Wrote down all of his experiments in great detail
     • Discovered blood circulates around the body pumped by the heart
       • Subsequently discovered CPR to keep blood flowing
     • Measured the amount of blood moved in each heartbeat
     • Mapped the movement of blood around the body
   • Significance
     • First person in medical history to have a developed understanding of blood loss
     • Gave doctors and surgeons a better concept of blood loss
     • His work paved the way for future blood transfusions
     • Yet another person to prove Galen wrong

4. What happened?

   • Try to link the discoveries and significance of Vesalius, Harvey and Pare to these factors of the Renaissance.
   • Art
     • Explosion in art output!
       • Art students drew disections
   • Wealth
     • More people can afford doctors
   • Machinery
     • New technology for more precise surgery
       • Crows beak to seal wounds
       • First prosthetic hand
   • Challenges
     • Challenging old theories from Galen etc.
   • Experiments
     • Science is more influential than religion on medicine
       • Vesalius and Harvey carried out dissections
   • Printing
     • The printing press invented in 1450s
       • Allowed for faster spread of knowledge through books
   • Education
     • New universities across Europe
       • Better medical education
   • War
     • Conflicts gave surgeons first hand experience
       • New mixture for stopping blood from wounds

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