History, Medicine through time

Lesson 14 of 30

Did ideas about prevention and

treatment change between 1500-1700?

Mr Prudden
Treatment or prevention?
Treatment - the medical care given to a patient for an illness.
Prevention - the action taken to stop yourself getting ill.
Bloodletting e.g. cutting a Carrying a posy (a bunch of Herbal drinks
vein sweet-smelling flowers)

Purging e.g. taking a Theriaca (a spice-based

Public baths mixture that contained up to
laxative 70 ingredients)

Prayer Regimen Sanitatis Visiting a barber surgeon

2
Treatment or prevention?
Treatment - the medical care given to a patient for an illness.
Prevention - the action taken to stop yourself getting ill.
Bloodletting e.g. cutting a Carrying a posy (a bunch of Herbal drinks
vein sweet-smelling flowers)

Purging e.g. taking a Theriaca (a spice-based

Public baths mixture that contained up to
laxative 70 ingredients)

Prayer Regimen Sanitatis Visiting a barber surgeon

3
 Continuity - Treatment

● Prayer
● Humoural treatments
● Herbal remedies

A surgeon-apothecary bleeding a patient his apprentice catc, Iconographic Collections,

Wikimedia Commons

4
 Continuity - Medical healers

● Physicians
● Apothecaries
● Barber surgeons
● Women

Older barber-dentist, unknown author, Wikimedia Commons

5
 Continuity - Prevention

● Prayer
● Regimen sanitatis
● Keeping clean

Regimen sanitatis Salernitanum, author unknown, Wikimedia

6
True or false
a) Humoural treatments used in medieval times were abandoned.
b) Physicians were still expensive meaning most were unable to afford their services.
c) All hospitals would still not admit contagious patients.
d) People in Renaissance times no longer followed the advice recommended in the
regimen sanitatis.
e) More steps were taken to remove miasma from the air.
True or false
a) Humoural treatments used in medieval times were abandoned.
b) Physicians were still expensive meaning most were unable to afford their services.
c) All hospitals would still not admit contagious patients.
d) People in Renaissance times no longer followed the advice recommended in the
regimen sanitatis.
e) More steps were taken to remove miasma from the air.
 Change - Treatment

● Transference
● Treatments chosen because of their
colour
● New herbal remedies
● Mary Doggett
● Chemical cures
● Touching the King’s Evil

Charles II touching a patient for the king's evil (scrofula), Engraving by R. White, Wikimedia
Commons

9
 Change - Medical healers

● Physicians began to challenge

tradition because:
- Dissection was legalised
- The printing press
- Andreas Vesalius
● Licences

Vesalius Fabrica p174, from Andreas Vesalius's

De humani corporis fabrica, Wikimedia Commons

10
 Change - Hospitals

● Places of treatment
● The Dissolution of the Monasteries
● Pest Houses

'Pest house' (isolation hospital in times of plague), Tothil, author unknown,

Wikimedia Commons

11
 Change - Prevention

● Bathing less fashionable

● Weather conditions
● Efforts to block bad air (miasma)

Bad weather in India, Vasupriye, Wikimedia Commons

12
In Renaissance times humoural treatments, like bleeding and purging, took place because
people believed it was important to rebalance the four humours.

Change Continuity

13
In Renaissance times humoural treatments, like bleeding and purging, took place because
people believed it was important to rebalance the four humours.

Change Continuity

14
In Renaissance times there were Pest Houses, hospitals which catered for infectious
patients suffering from diseases such as the plague and the pox.

Change Continuity

15
In Renaissance times there were Pest Houses, hospitals which catered for infectious
patients suffering from diseases such as the plague and the pox.

Change Continuity

16
In Renaissance times most people were cared for at home and women played a key role in
the local community, giving advice and mixing herbs.

Change Continuity

17
In Renaissance times most people were cared for at home and women played a key role in
the local community, giving advice and mixing herbs.

Change Continuity

18
In Renaissance times chemicals were used in medicine, for example mercury was used to
treat syphilis.

Change Continuity

19
In Renaissance times chemicals were used in medicine, for example mercury was used to
treat syphilis.

Change Continuity

20
In Renaissance times physicians challenged the old teachings of Galen, for example
Thomas Sydenham rejected the Theory of the Four Humours.

Change Continuity

21
In Renaissance times physicians challenged the old teachings of Galen, for example
Thomas Sydenham rejected the Theory of the Four Humours.

Change Continuity

22
In Renaissance times people believed it was important to keep clean to avoid bad air
(miasma) causing sickness.

Change Continuity

23
In Renaissance times people believed it was important to keep clean to avoid bad air
(miasma) causing sickness.

Change Continuity

24
Comprehension Questions
1. What was a Pest House?
2. Can you explain one continuity and one change in treatment between medieval and
Renaissance times?
3. Can you explain one continuity and one change in prevention between medieval and
Renaissance times?
4. What difference did Vesalius make for physicians in Renaissance times?
5. Challenge question: How far do you agree that medical treatment and prevention
progressed in Renaissance times?
You could use the following sentences to help structure your answer
In some ways treatment and prevention improved in the years 1500-1700. For example…
However, in other ways treatment and prevention didn’t improve. For example…
Overall, I mostly agree that…
Pause the video, read the slides on the resource
worksheet and answer the comprehension
questions.

Resume once you’re finished

Comprehension Questions
1. What was a Pest House?

Pest houses were also known as plague houses or pox houses. These catered for people
suffering from serious contagious diseases such as plague or pox. This kept them separated
from non-infectious patients who went to traditional hospitals.
Comprehension Questions
2. Can you explain one continuity and one change in treatment between medieval and
Renaissance times?
Examples of continuity:
● People still believed that prayer could treat illness and disease.
● The humoural treatments used in medieval times, such as bleeding and purging,
continued.
● Herbal remedies remained popular and most sick people continued to be cared for at
home.
● Apothecaries continued to mix remedies and barber surgeons continued to carry out
simple operations as they had done in medieval Britain.
● Women still played a key role in the local community as well, giving advice and even
mixing remedies.
Comprehension Questions
2. Can you explain one continuity and one change in treatment between medieval and
Renaissance times?
Examples of change:
● Transference - People believed that an illness or disease could be transferred from one
person to something else.
● Treatments were often chosen because of their colour.
● People also began to look for chemical cures. For example, mercury was used to treat
syphilis.
● People visited the King’s court, believing that if Charles II touched them they would be
cured of scrofula, a skin disease known as the King’s Evil.
● Hospitals became places of treatment. For example, patients would expect a visit from a
physician to observe their symptoms and prescribe them treatments.
Comprehension Questions
3. Can you explain one continuity and one change in prevention between medieval and
Renaissance times?

Examples of continuity:
● People still believed prayer could prevent illness and disease.
● People in Renaissance times continued to avoid catching diseases by following the
regimen sanitatis. For example, to avoid exhaustion and rich or fatty foods.
● People in Renaissance times still clung to the idea of bad air (or Miasma) causing
sickness, so keeping clean was still seen as a key away to avoid getting sick.
Comprehension Questions
3. Can you explain one continuity and one change in prevention between medieval and
Renaissance times?

Examples of change:
● Bathing became less fashionable than it had been in medieval Britain because syphilis
had spread quickly among people who visited bathhouses.
● There were greater efforts to prevent miasma than in Medieval Britain. For example,
projects were established to drain smelly swamps and bogs.
Comprehension Questions
4. What difference did Vesalius make for physicians in Renaissance times?

Vesalius noted that Galen had made errors in his original theory on the human body, in
total correcting 300 mistakes! For example, the human lower jaw was in one part, not two.
As a result, Vesalius encouraged other physicians to not rely on perceived knowledge. In
other words, he proved that Galen had got it wrong and inspired others to carry out
dissections and experiments for themselves to identify other mistakes. For example,
Thomas Sydenham encouraged physicians to reject the Theory of the Four Humours,
thereby promoting a climate of challenge to tradition that would grow in the centuries
which followed.
Comprehension Questions
5. Challenge question: How far do you agree that medical treatment and prevention
progressed in Renaissance times?

Examples to agree – medical treatment and prevention improved:

● New herbal remedies from the New World, for example, Peruvian bark successfully
treated malaria.
● Mary Doggett wrote down a successful remedy for scurvy which included orange juice.
● Thanks to Vesalius, Physicians had greater knowledge of anatomy and started to
challenge tradition.
● Hospitals became places of treatment and infectious patients could now receive treatment
by going to Pest Houses.
Comprehension Questions
5. Challenge question: How far do you agree that medical treatment and prevention
progressed in Renaissance times?

Examples to disagree – medical treatment and prevention didn’t improve:

● Some treatments stayed the same, for example Humoural treatments.
● Physicians were still too expensive for most people to afford.
● People still prayed to prevent illness.
● New treatments didn’t always work. For example, transference, chemical cures,
matching the colour of the treatment to the colour of the illness, and Touching the
King’s Evil.
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