Ideas about the cause of disease and illness Flashcards
All 8 cards in this deck
Who was Thomas Sydenham?
A 17th-century English physician who took a scientific approach, observing patients closely and classifying diseases; he showed scarlet fever and measles were different diseases.
What was Observationes Medicae?
Sydenham's book (1676) summarising his research and ideas; it became a standard medical textbook for about 200 years.
What did Sydenham say doctors should treat?
The disease itself, not just its symptoms — contrary to Galen's Theory of Opposites.
When was the Royal Society founded, and how did it help medical knowledge?
- It encouraged a scientific approach of experiment and enquiry and shared findings, e.g. Leeuwenhoek's report of 'animalcules'.
How did the printing press help the transmission of medical ideas?
New discoveries could be spread widely and quickly, and every reader of the same text received identical information.
True or false? By 1665 most people had given up the idea that disease had a religious cause.
False. Religious explanations were still common alongside miasma, shown by fasting and prayer being used against the plague.
True or false? Renaissance discoveries about anatomy and physiology changed people's ideas about what caused disease.
False. They improved knowledge of the body but had little relevance to explanations of the cause of disease, which stayed miasma, humours and divine punishment.
What journal did the Royal Society publish from 1665, and why did it matter?
Philosophical Transactions. Scientists published their experiments in it, so findings reached other doctors and scientists quickly and could be tested and argued over.