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They were superstitious and believed that diseases were caused by evil spirts..
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They performed ceremonies to exorcise evil spirits. They also used herbs and plants as medicines.
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Digitalis comes from the foxglove plant. Today it’s given in pill form, intravenously, or by injection to treat heart conditions.
Quinine comes from the bark of the cinchona tree. It controls fever relieves muscle spasm, and help prevent malaria.
Belladonna and atropine are made from the poisonous nightshade plant. They relieve muscle spasm, especially in gastrointestinal pain.
Morphine is made from the opium poppy. It is an effective medication for treating severe pain. -
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The Egyptians were earliest people to keep accurate health records. They called upon the gods to heal them. Priests acted like physicians. They drained blood and treated disorders by bloodletting with the use of leeches.
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The ancient Chinese were the first primitive acupuncture therapies. Their methods eventually developed into the advanced practice of Chinese acupuncture, still in common use today. -
They were the first to study the cause of disease and to determine that illness may be natural, rather than spiritual, causes. During ancient times, religious custom did not allow bodies to be dissected. Hippocrates based his knowledge of anatomy and physiology on observation of the external body.
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The Romans learned from the Greeks and developed a sanitation system. They brought clean water into the cities, built sewers, and built public baths with filtering systems. The Romans sent medical equipment and physicians with their armies to care for wounded soldiers. The physicians kept a room in their houses for the ill. Public buildings were then established for the sick.
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When the Roman Empire was conquered by the Huns the study of medical science stopped. The Church believed that life and death were in God’s hands, the monks and priests had no interest in how the body functioned.
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The primary treatment was prayer. Medication consisted of herbal mixtures, and care was custodial. Monks collected at translated the writings of the Greek and Roman physicians.
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Epidemics are diseases affecting many people at the same time. Terrible epidemics caused millions of deaths during this period. Some uncontrolled diseases included smallpox, diphtheria, syphilis, and tuberculosis. -
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Developments during this period included the building of universities and medical schools for research, acceptance of dissection of the body for study, and printing press and the publishing of books.
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Leonardo da Vinci studied and recorded the anatomy of the body.
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Gabriele Fallopius discovered the fallopian tubes of the female anatomy. -
Bartolommeo Eustachio discovered the tube leading from the ear to the throat.
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William Harvey used this knowledge to understand physiology, and he was able to describe the circulation of blood and the pumping of the heart.
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Antonie von Leeuwenhoek invented the microscope establishing that there is smaller life than the eye can see. He scraped his teeth and found the bacteria that causes tooth decay. The germs that caused the disease were now visible.
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In medieval England, these apothecaries engaged in a flourishing trade in drugs and spices from the East. -
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Benjamin Franklin discovered bifocals, and he found that colds could be passed from person the person.
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Students did not only attended lectures in the classroom and laboratory, but also observed patients. In the eighteenth century a wider range of students was studying medicine. -
Discovered the element of oxygen. He observed that plants refresh air that lost its oxygen, making it unstable for respiration.
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Edward Jenner discovered a method of vaccination for smallpox. His discovery saved millions of lives. It also led to immunization and to preventive medicine in public health.
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Rene Laennec invented the stethoscope. It was made of wood and increased the ability to hear the heart and lungs, allowing doctors to determine if disease was present.
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Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing. She attracted well-educated, dedicated to women to the Nightingale School of Nursing. The graduates from this school raised the standards of nursing, and nursing became a respectable profession. -
Ignaz Semmelweis identified the cause of childbed fever. He realized the physicians did not clean their aprons or wash their hands before they delivered the babies. This was why a large number of women were dying after giving birth.
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Louis Pasteur was known as the “Father of Microbiology”. He discovered that tiny microorganisms were everywhere. He proved that microorganisms cause disease. He also discovered that heating milk prevented the growth of bacteria.
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Ernst von Bergmann developed asepsis. He knew that germs caused infections in wounds. So he developed a method to keep an area germ-free before and during surgery.
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Robert Koch discovered many disease-causing organisms. He developed the culture plate method to identify pathogens and also isolated the bacterium that causes tuberculosis He also introduced the importance of cleanliness and sanitation in preventing the spread of disease. -
Paul Ehrlich discovered the effect of medicine on disease-causing microorganisms. His treatment was effective against microorganisms but was not effective in killing bacteria. His discoveries brought about the use of chemicals to fight disease.
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Wilhelm Roentgen discovered x-rays in 1895. He took the very first picture using x-rays of his wife’s hand. It allowed doctors to see inside the body and helped them discover what was wrong with the patient.
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Anesthesia is a loss of feeling or sensation. Surgery was performed on patients without anesthesia. Early physicians used herbs, hashish, and alcohol to help relieve the pain in surgery.
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Sir Alexander Fleming found that penicillin killed life-threatening bacteria. The discovery of penicillin is considered one of the most important discoveries of the twentieth century. -
Sigmund Freud discovered the conscious and unconscious of the parts of mind. He determined that the mind and body work together. This led to an understanding of psychosomatic illness.
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Gerhard Domagk discovered sulfonamide compounds. They were the first medicine to kill bacteria. They changed the practice of medicine by killing deadly diseases.
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Jonas Salk discovered that a dead polio virus would cause immunity to poliomyelitis. It paralyzed thousands of adults and children every year. It seemed to attack the most active and athletic people.
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In contrast to Salk’s virus, Albert used a live polio vaccine, which is more effective. The vaccine is used today to immunize babies against this dreaded disease.
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Francis Crick and James Watson discovered the molecular structure of DNA, based on its known double helix. The model served the explain how DNA replicates and how hereditary information is coded on it.
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Christian Barnard performed the first successful heart transplant in 1968.
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Ben Carson continues to be a pioneer in separating Siamese twins and preforming hemispherectomies, surgeries on the brain to stop seizures.
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To help patients achieve more holistic health, the medical community has become more open to alternative and complementary methods of care. People now go to ayurvedic practitioners, Chinese medicine practitioners, chiropractors, homeopaths, hypnotists, and naturopaths to help meet their medical needs.
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Nurses and technicians are visiting patients/clients at home or caring for them in an ambulatory care setting. A few years ago, patients were admitted to the hospital for surgery and recovered in the hospital over a period of several days. Today, many patients enter the hospital, have surgery, and are sent home the same day.
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New inventions and procedures have changed medicine as we know it. Some examples are the ability to transplant organs from a donor to a recipient, reattach body parts, and use noninvasive techniques for diagnosis.
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Telemedicine is using electronics communications to exchange medical information from one site to another and for the health and education of the patient or health care provider. It includes consultative, diagnostic, and treatment services. -
People are living longer, creating a need to better understand geriatric medicine. In addition, new types of facilities such as assisted living centers are being developed to better meet the physical, emotional, and mental needs of senior citizens. -