Christianity, Islamic Medicine & Surgery Flashcards
All 18 cards in this deck
Why did Galen's ideas remain unchallenged in medieval England?
The Church controlled medical training and supported Galen, whose idea that the body was designed by a creator fitted Christian teaching, so challenging him was discouraged.
True or false? The Church encouraged people to investigate the natural causes of disease.
False. The Church taught that illness was sent by God, which discouraged people from improving their understanding of the cause of illness.
What was the role of the barber surgeon?
To carry out bloodletting and simple surgery such as pulling teeth and lancing boils.
Who provided care in most medieval hospitals, and what was their focus?
Untrained monks and nuns, who focused on care rather than cure.
Why were hospitals founded in medieval England, and who paid for them?
Christian charity — Jesus had cared for the sick — so wealthy people and the Church founded them; most were small, often for about 12 patients (Jesus' 12 disciples).
What medical care did a medieval monastery infirmary provide?
A herbalist dispensed herbal medicines to the sick, and monks or nuns nursed and prayed for them.
Who was Rhazes (Al-Razi)?
An Islamic doctor who was the first to distinguish measles from smallpox, and who wrote a huge medical encyclopedia, al-Hawi.
Who was Avicenna, and what did he write?
An Islamic doctor who wrote 'The Canon of Medicine', which listed over 760 drugs and became a textbook in European universities.
True or false? Islamic doctors simply copied the ancient Greeks without questioning them.
False. They preserved ancient learning but were critical of it — Rhazes wrote 'Doubts about Galen' and Ibn an-Nafis challenged Galen on the workings of the heart.
How did medieval surgeons try to stop heavy bleeding from a wound?
By cauterising it — burning the wound with a hot iron to seal it.
What did medieval surgeons use to try to send a patient to sleep during an operation?
A soporific, e.g. a drink or sponge soaked in mandrake, opium or hemlock — dangerous, as the dose could kill the patient.
True or false? Islamic hospitals (bimaristans) cared for both rich and poor, and medical students trained there alongside doctors.
True. Islamic doctors also aimed to cure patients, not just care for them.
Who was Abulcasis (al-Zahrawi)?
A Muslim surgeon in Islamic Spain whose medical encyclopedia Al-Tasrif (c1000) described operations and the many instruments he designed; it was later translated into Latin and used by European surgeons.
What did Ibn al-Nafis work out about the heart and blood in the thirteenth century?
That blood passes from one side of the heart to the other by travelling through the lungs, not through tiny holes in the heart's dividing wall as Galen had taught. His work stayed unknown in Western Europe for centuries.
What was trepanning in medieval surgery?
Drilling or cutting a hole in a patient's skull, believed to release evil spirits or pressure causing illnesses such as epilepsy.
Who was John of Arderne?
An English surgeon of the fourteenth century who gained experience treating soldiers in the Hundred Years War. He became famous for operating on anal fistulas and wrote surgical books that drew on ancient and Islamic writers.
How did Islamic medical knowledge reach Western Europe in the Middle Ages?
From the late eleventh century Arabic medical books were translated into Latin, for example by Constantine the African in Italy, and were then studied in Italian medical schools such as Salerno, Padua and Bologna.
What did Hugh and Theodoric of Lucca suggest about treating wounds in the thirteenth century?
That a wound could heal cleanly without forming pus, which most surgeons then saw as a healthy sign, and that washing it with wine helped. Their ideas went against accepted teaching and did not catch on.