The Ages of Medicine Research Paper

The Ages of Medicine Research Paper

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The Ages of Medicine Research Paper

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For some of the more inquisitive people, the human body has continued to fascinate, bewilder us, and perplex us from the beginning of recorded time. As medical students develop their education, more reverence for the intricacies and complexity of the human body and the state in which the body all works in synchronization and harmony.

As far back as humans have existed, prehistoric data has shown that medicinal plants and herbs were used for treating various injuries and sickness. Even then, much like today, humans had to sample, test, taste, and finally learn (sometimes in deleterious ways) to discover medicinal healing properties of plants. Many of these medicinal factors are still just as important to making significant contributions to the more natural and ecological patient of today.

Ancient humans used willow or willow bark for pain treatment. They discovered mint could ease gastric ailments. Garlic was good for the heart and fenugreek helped in the healing of pneumonia. Honey was used for burns and wounds. Current studies on honey have found that a dressing of honey is more effective than silver sulfadiazine dressings with burn victims due to the antioxidant and antimicrobial properties.

Treatments such as acupuncture dateA back over 4000 years and is just now becoming recognized for its therapeutic qualities Much of the old archaic remedies are becoming new discoveries again.

Humanities oldest form of surgery was recently discovered by archeologists finding the boring of circular holes drilled at specific locations in buried skulls dating back 7000 years ago when civilizations engaged in trepanation. Prehistoric craniotomies were believed to be used during the stone age to treat conditions such as migraines, seizures, or possibly to release evil spirits of the sick and mentally ill.

One of the founding legacies of medicine came from the discoveries from Egyptians. Ancient papyri document that the Egyptians were centuries ahead of its time in the study of physiology and the structure of the human body and it is believed it was based upon the knowledge gained from the embalming process of the dead.

The oldest prosthetic was discovered on an ancient 2,700-year-old Egyptian female mummy discovered in 2011. She had two prosthetic toes made of leather and wood. They also practiced suturing, dentistry, extracting teeth and making false prosthetic teeth. Ancient Egyptians in 1500 BC used blood, dead rodents, moldy bread, horse saliva, and human and animal excrement as cures for many diseases and injuries. Unfortunately, these techniques also led to tetanus and severe infections.

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Thousands of years of sickness was attributed to “bad blood”. Ancient Sumerians and Egyptians began the process of “bloodletting” and this ritual survived until the time of classical Greece and Rome. Physicians would cut open a vein “Venesection” to drain the bad blood that was causing illness and disease. Doctors were also known to use leeches to suck the blood directly from the skin to relieve ailments such as plague, fever, or sore throats. Leeching and bloodletting are till used today as treatments of certain rare infirmities in some cultures

Both the Egyptians and the Greeks were the root in the modern history of medicine. Greeks were competent at setting bones and dislocations although they used no anesthesia. The Greek god known as Asclepius, “the god of medicine and healing” are credited for doing the first tracheostomy in 124 BC.

While Asclepius first realm of defense was set in prayer for the sick and injured, Hippocrates, (460 BC – 370 BC) famous for his oath “Do no harm” was just beginning to separate medicine from the divine and is known as the “father of western medicine”. A Greek philosopher influenced by Hippocrates put forth studying case histories and asking questions before arriving at a diagnosis and significantly advanced the systematic study of clinical medicine and the study of disease by direct examination of patients.

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Two-way interaction between doctor and patient became the foundation of medicine still used by modern practitioners. Hippocrates was the first to develop a medical learning school and was the first to use “medical” vocabulary (acute, chronic, endemic, epidemic, convalescence, crisis, exacerbation, paroxysm) all of which are still in use today.

Greeks were recognized for developing surgery tools such as forceps, scalpels catheters, and syringes.

From 700 BC to 600 AD, Ancient Greek medicine is probably the basis for all of modern scientific medicine. During this time were some of the grandest discoveries in medicine. Both Aristotle and Plato concluded that the human body had no use in the afterlife. This influenced Greek doctors to start dissecting dead bodies (cadavers) and study them.

Surgeon, Herophilus (335 BC-280 BC) concluded it was not the heart that controlled the movements of the limbs but the brain. Eristratus (304 BC-250BC) found out that blood moves through the veins of the body-although he overlooked the fact that it circulates. Even the Greeks had some misguided judgements.

Ancient Greek doctors believed a woman’s womb was a separate creature with its own mind. Even in writings from Plato and Hippocrates, if a woman was celibate for too long the uterus could dislodge in her body and cause suffocation, seizures and hysteria. This belief was endured into the times of Romans and Byzantines.

Ancient Persians and Greek alchemists used liquid mercury for consumption or ointment for treating syphilis, fight common infections, or was ingested with the belief that it would make a person immortal. Typically, patients died from liver and kidney damage.

Thirst for logic and science developed from 600 BC onward and the Greeks became more inquisitive on why things exist, and Greek physicians began wondering whether illnesses and disorders may have a natural cause and therefore a natural cure rather than repeated attempts to expel evil spirits like the Egyptians did.

Romans, along with others of the time had belief that aspects of cannibalism had beneficial qualities. Romans believed the blood of fallen gladiators could create cures and 12th century apothecaries kept stock of mummy powder elixirs of human flesh, blood, and bone. Cesarean sections performed for thousands of years.

It was ancient Roman law that state when a pregnant female died, it was to have a mandatory C-section to remove and try to save the fetus. The term “cutting teeth” that we still hear today when pertaining to infants was developed with the process of using a scalpel to slice open the tissue over the teeth to let them come through when ancient physicians could find no other cause for a child’s ailments.

Romans were obsessed with cleanliness and were underestimated for their great understanding of the role of dirt and poor hygiene played in spreading disease and thus created aqueducts to ensure clean water. They were also the first to develop sewage systems to carry away wastes. Alcmaecon (500 BC) was the first person to develop the philosophy that illness may be caused by internal causes and may be caused by environmental problems, nutrition, and lifestyle.

Unlike the Greeks, Romans were more concerned with prevention and public health. They built the first hospitals in Rome where patients could be observed and rest. Roman physician, Marcus Terentivus Varro 116 BC-27BC was already hypothesizing that disease was caused by miniscule living forms that were too small for the naked eye to see.

One highly overlooked contributors to the many firsts in medical practice was Islam. Islam began developing and practicing a medical system slanting towards science rather than religion. Islamic doctors strived to find healing procedures and the medieval Islamic world produced some of the greatest medical thinkers in history.

They made huge advancements in surgery, built hospitals, and were some of the first to welcome women into the medical profession. Actually…male members of the household did not like having wives looked at by male physician, but it was still a first. Islamic physician, Al-Razi wrote over 200 scientific books including The diseases of children and became the founding “father of pediatrics”.

He was the first to place pediatrics as a separate field of medicine. He also was a pioneer in ophthalmology, immunology, and allergy, and was the first to understand and explain that a fever is part of the body’s defense mechanism for fighting illness and infection. Ibn Al-Nafi (1213) an Arab physician was the first to ever describe the pulmonary circulation of blood and the heart.

Ibn Sina (980 AD – 1037 Ad) wrote over 450 books. The book of Healing, and enormous 5-volume encyclopedia and The Canon of Medicine (The law of Medicine) is still considered one of the most famous and influential books in the history of medicine. UCLA and Yale University still teach some of its principles of medicine curriculum. One important observance was that medical testing must be done on humans not animals. Testing a horse or a lion does not prove it will work on humans.

Middle age hospitals had a different meaning than how we understand them today. More like hospices, homes of the aged and needy, sick, paupers, blind people, pilgrims, travelers, orphans, mentally ill and destitute were all welcomed and housed here. The rising strength of Christianity during this age brought the belief that it was the Christian thing to do, provide hospitality. The middle ages also relied heavily on herbs and “natural” remedies.

During the middle ages, most of the medical physicians were called to provide care on the battlefields and barbers became in charge of performing surgery. Poppy was used to relieve pain or used as an anesthesia, although by 800 AD it was already restricted to the health care profession use. Hemp was used to help during child birth and hemp juice was used for an earache. Many of trial and error even in more modern times were the only ways to determine effectiveness. Bayer pharmaceuticals were the first to sell heroin as a remedy.

Ms. Winslow’s soothing syrup was around for a while and contained 65 mg of pure morphine. Many syrup remedies contained chloroform, morphine codeine, heroin, powdered opium and cannabis

Ancient Persians and Greek alchemists used liquid mercury for consumption or ointment for treating syphilis, fight common infections, or was ingested with the belief that it would make a person immortal. Typically, patients died from liver and kidney damage.

Thirst for logic and science developed from 600 BC onward and the Greeks became more inquisitive on why things exist, and Greek physicians began wondering whether illnesses and disorders may have a natural cause and therefore a natural cure rather than repeated attempts to expel evil spirits like the Egyptians did.

New drugs, new devices and new techniques are developed everyday but there are many firsts that have been documented over the ages of medicine. Some procedures still exist today, and some have been identified to create more harm and horror from their fateful diagnoses and misguided attempts at healing and thankfully some ideas just never caught on.

Its difficult to imagine the beginnings, the first discoveries, the embryonic stage of medical knowledge that was created from nothing more than educated conclusions. The many principals of those first understandings are nothing short of astonishing and some have just as much relevance today as they did in those early infantile stages.

Works Cited

Bonev, Valentina, “Ancient medical practices still in use today”, Loma Linda University Medical Center, 2013.

Shuttleworth, Martyn, “Ancient Medical Explorable”. https://explorable ancient-medicine.com. 2010.

MNT Editorial Team, “What is ancient Greek medicine?”Medical News Today, 2016

The Ages of Medicine Research Paper

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