Medical Renaissance

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The term Medical Renaissance is often applied to the period, from around 1400 to 1750, of major progress in medical knowledge and a renewed interest in the ancient ideas of the Greeks and Romans, made possible by the Reformation of the Church, a decline in Conservatism, the work of Individuals such as Vesalius & Harvey and advances in technology, which took place during the Renaissance^[1][2]. Despite the medical advances made during this period, it would take many hundreds of years before the effects of the progress would be felt, even by the people highest in the social order; Charles II of England died at the age of 55, in 1685, of a stroke, despite having some of the most respected and educated doctors in the country treating him. They tried methods such as bleeding, laxatives and giving him a potion containing a bezoar stone, despite these methods having been proved uneffective by Paré^[3].

[edit] Factors

Without a number of interlinking factors, the progress made during the Medical Renaissance towards medical understanding would not have been possible^[4][5]. While the following sections discuss these factors in greater detail, the main factors attributing to the Medical Renaissance are: the Reformation of the Church (and subsequently a decline in Conservatism), major advancements in technology and the work of individuals such as Harvey & Vesalius^[6].

[edit] Science & Technology

One of the most important inventions of the Renaissance was the Printing Press it was a majour part of this era^[7]. Where before in the Middle Ages all books had been written by hand and were few in number, and therefore were so precious that they were kept secure in the monasteries, now thousands of copies, of books such as The Fabric of the Human Body (see picture), could be made.^[8].

This meant that the books containing these new ideas could be spread quickly, and would not contain any mistakes. They also were able to contain detailed drawings made by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, which helped to accompany the text and for the first time doctors had detailed, accurate drawings of the human body.

The front cover illustration of De Humani Corporis Fabrica, On the Fabric of the Human Body, written by Vesalius, showing a public dissection carried out by him.

The microscope was another very important invention which occurred during the Renaissance and would continue to be improved upon until modern times, though the writings of Seneca and Pliny the Elder mention 'magnifying glasses' as far back as the first century A.D.^[9]. In the 17th Century, Anthony van Leeuwenhoek made microscopes which were able to magnify things up to 270 times, and was able to see micro-organisms; nobody suggested however that these were the cause of disease and for hundreds of years no progress would be made upon the matter. The microscope would later be used by both Pasteur and Koch, to view micro-organisms, and to help them to make vital discoveries.

By Harvey's time (1578-1657), mechanical pumps were being used in the streets of London and Harvey would have been able to see them being used. It is possible to suggest that Harvey may have got his ideas about the circulation of blood from these machines. Galen, having never seen a similar pump (only very basic pumps would have been around in his time), would never have thought of this.

[edit] Reformation

See main article Protestant Reformation

The Reformation of the Roman Catholic Church during this time was due to many things, including the perception of corruption within the Church. The ideas of Galen, a Greek physician of the 2nd century AD, had been heavily promoted and adopted by the Church, because he was a Monotheist and his ideas did not clash with any of the Church's, and had been the accepted wisdom of the medical world for over a thousand years; anyone who went against these ideas were either punished or suppressed, and that was unlikely considering that the Church controlled the teachings that went on inside the medical profession and universities. Individuals such as Vesalius (see below) found it very difficult to overcome such opposition and were forced to dissect human subjects in secret, because it was banned. However once they began investigating they found things which challenged Galen's theories on the human body^[10], because Galen had only been able to dissect animals. In 1531 Johannes Guinter published a Latin translation of 'On Anatomical Procedures', written by Galen, in which he stressed the need to dissect human bodies, bringing to light a previously unknown approval of human dissection. This discovery would prove vital in the lifting of the ban on human dissections. Thanks to the recent invention of the printing press (see above), news of the discoveries made by invididuals such as Vesalius was impossible for the Church to stop spreading, having been severely weakened by the Reformation.

[edit] Individuals

[edit] William Harvey

Main article William Harvey

William Harvey was an English medical doctor/physician, who is credited as the first person in the Western world to describe in exact detail the circulation of blood around the body^[11]. His ideas on blood circulation would likely have been inspired by the workings of the water pump, which had just recently been invented^[12]. The idea that blood is re-used and carried round the body through capillaries challenged Galen's theory that blood was made in the liver^[13].

[edit] Andreas Vesalius

Main article Andreas Vesalius

Vesalius was a Flemish-born anatomist whose dissections of the human body helped to correct the misconceptions made in Ancient Times, particuarly by Galen, who (for religious reasons) had been able only to study animals such as apes^[14]. Dissection of human bodies was still frowned upon in Vesalius' time (1514-64), as it had been for many hundreds of years, and Vesalius was forced to take the bodies of executed prisoners in secret. He wrote many books on anatomy from his observations, most notably 'De Humani Corporis Fabrica', which contained detailed drawings of the human body by artist Leonardo Da Vinci^[15].

This drawing by Leonardo Da Vinci of a foetus in the womb is one of many detailed anatomical drawings by the artist which helped new doctors to understand the body

[edit] Ambroise Paré

Main article Ambroise Paré

Paré was a French Surgeon, anatomist and inventor of many surgical instruments. Through 1533-36 he was a military surgeon during the campaigns in Italy. It was here that, having run out of boiling oil, which was the accepted way of treating firearm wounds, Paré turned to an ancient roman remedy of turpentine, egg yolk and oil of roses. He applied it to the wounds and found that it relieved pain and sealed the wound effectively. As well as this breakthrough Paré also introduced the ligatures of arteries, set up a school for midwives in Paris and designed artificial limbs^[16].

[edit] References