Roman Withdrawal was the Turning Point for Medicine and Public Health

Public Health
1. Medieval
  1. Facilities let to ruin: Public Baths, Sewers, Aqueducts etc.
    1. Once Roman engineers left Britain there was no one to manage the facilities such as aqueducts, water fountains, sewers. This means the facilities go in to ruin and eventually stop working and public health goes in regression.
    2. public baths destroyed. Britain lived in towns so the public baths were not used as much as in Rome. They were not effective enough to maintain.
    3. Emphasis. In Roman times the way of fighting effectively to maintain the vast empire was to invest in good public health to keep the soldiers fit and healthy. In medieval times this changed with the emphasis being to put all money into war to prevent invasion (E.g. from the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons). This meant no money was left to be spent on maintaining public health and it eventually regressed.
2. Roman
  1. Asclepions. Were a place were you could go for rest and healing. They were Spa's, Gyms and baths. Most towns did have an Asclepion. They included a temple for prayer and a place for sacrifices.
  2. Public Baths. Are a place for exercise, rest and cleansing. Public baths are cheap and accessible to all. They also gave people a good meal and got them healthy. However the public baths were not always flushed meaning people cleaning in dirty water from others, meaning the spread of diseases.
  3. Roman Forts
    1. Hospitals. Were a place for rest and healing. They were not for people with infectious diseases
      1. PROBLEMS. Only soldiers could have access to these facilities, meaning only few people could benefit. This means that only a few people's public health benefited.
    2. Toilets (public Latrines). Stopped people toileting in the river and water supplies, which stopped the spread of disease.
  4. Aqueducts. Transported fresh water from the source into towns and cities. Aqueducts made clean water available.
  5. Reservoirs. Were a storage of clean water. Although if the water was situated for long periods of time it could become stale and spread disease instead of stop it.
  6. water fountains. Supplied fresh water to the streets which people could collect. This meant people weren't getting water from the river which was where the waste was deposited. This stopped disease spreading as dirt was being separated.
  7. Frontinus. Was a famous water inspector. This showed how much the Romans cared about public health if their were people employed to check the quality of water.
  9. Sewers. Got rid of dirty water etc. which was deposited into the river this stopped the diseases spreading. However with little rain they soon came blocked meaning disease would spread.
Medicine
1. Medieval
  1. Caues
    1. Bad Air. E.g. during the black death some thought that covering themselves with worse smells would guard off the pestilence. In some cases people smothered faeces over their faces to prevent themselves catching the plague.
    2. Imbalance of the four humours. Some thought that if your humours were unbalanced it would caused disease. E.g. too much phlegm would lead to colds, too much blood would lead to headaches.
    3. God. During the Black death the King order many days of fasting and intense praying for forgiveness to the plague. People also known as flagellants whipped themselves in the street to show god that he didn't need to punish them with the Black Death for they were punishing themselves.
    4. Astrology: Alignment of Planets, Comets etc. E.g. people thought that the Black death in 1348 was due to an alignment of Jupiter 6 months before the plague struck.
  2. Cures/Treatments
    1. Blood letting, Purging. Part of the theory of the four humours. If somebody had a headache for example they were thought to have too much so they had blood letting.
      1. Theory of opposites. Was a theory developed by Galen. If someone was thought to be too hot they'd do the opposite - in this case eat some cucumber. if someone was thought to be too cold they'd be given some chillies.
    2. Herbal remedies. People's own remedies were used to treat an illness, infection or disease. Herbal Remedies could also be made by the local 'wise women'.
    3. Zodiac Man. Physicians used the zodiac man to treat people as they believed in astrology (it became a requirement at university). For example in Virgo (August 23 - September 22) physicians/Barber surgeons were unable to operate on the stomach and intestine.
2. Roman
  1. Cures/Treatments
    1. Prayer. Asking for forgiveness and to be cured
    2. Blood letting, Purging
    3. herbal remedies. E.g. Honey
  2. Causes
    1. GOD. Was the cause for all illnesses, he controlled everything
    2. Theory of the 4 humours. Imbalance of the four humours. Some thought that if your humours were unbalanced it would caused disease. E.g. too much phlegm would lead to colds, too much blood would lead to headaches.
    3. Bad air. Romans had connected that disease situated near places of Bad Air yet did not connect that Disease was caused by Germs.
      1. Romans did not situate towns and cities near boggy, marshy areas for insects were there that smelt bad. In the future these insects were discovered to be malaria.
3. Preventative public health and Medicine to keep people fit and healthy. E.g. Roman Baths, Galen promoting to regularly
OVERALL
1. ROMAN AND MEDIEVAL MEDICINE
  1. Medicine was not overly effective as they did not know the cause of disease. (GERMS discovered by LOUIS PASTEUR 1861)
  2. Medicine from Roman to Medieval times mainly stayed the same. Both periods believing in 4 humours, Bad Air and God. The only change in medical understanding is the idea that events in Astrology caused disease and illness: E.g. Black Death.
    1. An example of this is that there is no Individual for the Medieval Period, Meaning there was no change or thought of change.
2. ROMAN TO MEDIEVAL PUBLIC HEALTH
  1. Romans had good Public Health with a series of Aqueducts, Public Baths, Water Fountains, Sewers, Reservoirs, Asclepions etc. With Medieval Public health focused on war and the money for public health facilities stopped, meaning public heath got worse. People went back in to excreting in rivers which supplied water.
    1. ROMAN TO MEDIEVAL PUBLIC HEALTH: REGRESSION

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Roman Withdrawal was the Turning Point for Medicine and Public Health

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	Created by nathanielhaste about 11 years ago