History of Medicine

History of medicine is related with the beginning of the mankind.

All human societies have medical beliefs that provide explanation for birth, death, and disease. Throughout
history, illness has been attributed to demons, adverse astral influence, or the will of the gods. These ideas still
retain some power, with faith healing and shrines still used in some places, although the rise of scientific
medicine over the past millennium has altered or replaces mysticism in most cases.
Every culture occurred in the world had developed a system of medicine. Numerous stones and tools probably
of 15,000 BC have been employed as surgical instruments.
The practice of medicine existed even in the earliest periods of recorded human history. The 5th century BC was
the golden age of Greek medicine and it was during this period that Asclepid, Hippocrates introduced scientific
system of administering medicine, which was till then dominated by religious and mystic practices.

Ancient Times
Many cultures in ancient times treated illnesses with magic and herbal remedies. People believed that the
supernatural powers of a shaman, also known as a medicine man or witch doctor, healed the sick. Ancient
Egyptians thought that their gods healed them. They also treated illnesses with herbal medicines and performed
surgeries with metal instruments. Historians believe that Egyptians learned how diseases affected the human
body when they performed burial rituals. When people died, they prepared them for the afterlife in a process
called mummification. Before the body was wrapped in cloths, they removed organs and placed them in clay
jars for preservation.
The ancient Greeks pursued medicine as a science. Hippocrates, the most famous physician of the time (c. 400
BC), believed that diseases had natural causes, not supernatural ones. He wrote that a proper diet and exercise
affected the human body. Today, doctors still follow his advice to observe patients and use the facts to treat
them.
Study of folk medicines reveals many curious beliefs and creeds, a very important part of medical history. The
use of remedies was not only internal but used to be carried as charms and talismans, as a part of treatment. The
skin of snake, the patella of sheep, etc. were used as charms. Another important aspect is put up colored
hangings in the sick room to prevent small-pox, red flannel used to prevent sore throat and to wear red thread
with nine knots to prevent nose bleeding.

The Renaissance
The Renaissance marked a new period of interest in art and science throughout Europe. People were curious
about how the human body worked so they dissected dead bodies. This new study of the human anatomy
contradicted earlier theories and brought about a more scientific approach to medicine. For hundreds of years,
people thought that the heart made blood from food and drink, and the body absorbed it. An English doctor
named William Harvey (1578-1657) showed that the heart recycles blood and acts as a pump to circulate it
throughout the body.

18th – 19th Century

Medical research and training improved in the 18th century but there were still no cures for diseases like
smallpox, a disease that killed millions of people over thousands of years. British doctor Edward Jenner (1749-
1823), noticed that milkmaids who got the cowpox disease from cows did not get smallpox. He developed a
vaccination with the fluid from the cowpox sore that protected people from the deadly disease.
In the early 19th century, doctors used ether to put patients to sleep during surgery. Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), a
French chemist discovered that harmful bacteria, also known as germs, were passed through the air. This
research led to the development of antiseptics that were used in surgery to kill the germs that caused infection.

Modern Medicine
The medicine was revolutionized in the 19th century and beyond by advances in chemistry and laboratory
techniques and equipment, old ideas of infectious disease epidemiology were replaced with bacteriology and
virology.
Bacteria and microorganisms were first observed with a microscope by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in 1676,
initiating the scientific field of microbiology.
Semmelweis’s work was supported by the discoveries made by Louis Pasteur. Linking microorganisms with
disease, Pasteur brought about a revolution in medicine. He also invented with Claude Bernard (1813-1878) the
process of pasteurization still in use today. His experiments confirmed the germ theory. Besides this, Pasteur,
along with Robert Koch (who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1905), founded bacteriology.
The participation of women in medical care (beyond serving as midwives, sitters and cleaning women) was
brought about by the likes of Florence Nightingale. These women showed a previously male dominated
profession the elemental role of nursing in order to lessen aggravation of patient mortality which resulted from
lack of hygiene and nutrition.
The Great War spurred the usage of Roentgen’s X-ray, and the electrocardiogram, for the monitoring of internal
body functions. The Second World War saw the introduction of widespread and effective antimicrobial therapy
with the development and mass production of penicillin antibiotics, made possible by the pressures of the war
and the collaboration of British scientists with the American pharmaceutical industry.
Research and technology have expanded medical knowledge and improved medical practices like surgery.
Transplanting organs such as heart, kidneys and livers from donors to recipients is a major medical
breakthrough. Donors are people who have died but expressed a willingness to give their organs to those who
need them in the event of their death.
The science of medicine has progressed dramatically in just the last 50years. Career opportunities in health care
have also expanded. There is a need for more skilled medical professionals, not only in hospitals, but in dentist
and doctors’ offices, research labs, rehabilitation centers, mental health clinics, nursing homes and even
schools. With the advent of the evidence-based medicine and great advances of information technology the
process of change is likely to evolve further.

I. Answer the following questions:

1. What was illness attributed to throughout history?
2. What items were used as surgery instruments in ancient medicine?
3. How were ilnesses treated in ancient times?
4. Who was considered to heal the sick?
5. How did Egyptians learn about diseases that affected the human body?
6. Who gave a rational explanation to occurence of diseases?
7. What were charms and talismans used for?
8. When did people start dissecting bodies?
9. When did a more scientific approach to medicine occur?
10. What did the English doctor William Harvew show?
11. When did an improvement of medical research and training take place?
12. What was the incurable disease of the 18th century?
13. What did the English doctor Edward Jenner do?
14. What did the French chemist Louis Pasteur discover?
15. What is Antoine van Leewenhoek known for?
16. What new medical sciences have occured in the modern medicine?
17. What did the Great War spur?
18. What is considered to be a major medical breakthrough of the modern medicine?

II. Match the words and definitions:

Nursing home, surgery, hygiene, microbiology, virology, remedy, bacteriology, mummification.

1. ................................... something that cures or relieves a disease or bodily disorder; a healing medicine,
application,or treatment.
2. ................................... process of making a dead body into a mummy, as by embalming and drying.
3. ................................... the science dealing with the study of viruses and the diseases caused by them.
4. .................................. a branch of microbiology dealing with the identification, study, and cultivation of
bacteria and with their applications in medicine, agriculture, industry, and biotechnology.
5. .................................. the branch of biology dealing with the structure, function, uses, and modes of existence
of microscopic organisms.
6. ................................. the science that deals with the preservation of health; a condition or practice conducive
to the preservation of health, as cleanliness.
7. ................................ a private residential institution equipped to care for persons unable to look after
themselves, as the aged or chronically ill.
8. ................................ the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of injury, deformity,
and disease by manual and intrumental means.

III. Match the world from column A with the words from column B:

A B
rehabilitation medicine
research care
nursing lab
deadly remedies
herbal center
antimicrobial home
health disease
evidence-based therapy

IV. Complete the chart

Basic Representatives
characteristics
Ancient Times

The Renaissance

The 18th-19th
century

Modern Medicine