Renaissance Medicine and Medical Practices
Lizeth Soriano
Mrs. Murray
English I Pre-Ap
12 February 2013
Renaissance Medicine and Medical Practices In the beginning of the Elizabethan Era medicine was the beginning of advancements. During the Renaissance, disease was a big problem. Medicine was not as advanced as it is today, but being discovered from witchcraft and superstitions, to cures for the sick.
Medicine was not advanced then so the citizens looked for cure from the "witches" and their beliefs just led them to their deaths. Religious citizens prayed, or consumed blood from someone else as they believed to contain the soul of the deceased. “....doctors sought for explanations [for illnesses] in the stars rather than in the blood stream and preferred magical to clinical experiment.” (Netzley 70). They believed the illness or sickness was spiritual rather than from the body. Superstitions were a big thing in this era. "Black Death" a plague that spread in Florence in 1348 was believed to be punishment from God.
As medicine was being discovered the new knowledge was slowly being accepted by the citizens. Medicine discovered by the Europeans was not as accurate though. As time passed, medicine was then based on Aristotle ideas; on four humors in the body. They are blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile; which determine the imbalance and were thought to be related to their personality. Leonardo Da Vinci had sketched accurate anatomies at which influenced medicine studies. "that his ideas were familiar to the scientific environment in which he found himself,... the likelihood is that Leonardo 's thoughts was important landmark in the development of scientific ideas," (Walker 94). Eventually the Hippocrates studies were discovered, they had lived in B.C. era. Their studies were used for comparison at which proved their discoveries and solutions wrong and the Hippocrates were very accurate as they had sketched the structures and their thoughts on how the human body functioned which led them
Mrs. Murray
English I Pre-Ap
12 February 2013
Renaissance Medicine and Medical Practices In the beginning of the Elizabethan Era medicine was the beginning of advancements. During the Renaissance, disease was a big problem. Medicine was not as advanced as it is today, but being discovered from witchcraft and superstitions, to cures for the sick.
Medicine was not advanced then so the citizens looked for cure from the "witches" and their beliefs just led them to their deaths. Religious citizens prayed, or consumed blood from someone else as they believed to contain the soul of the deceased. “....doctors sought for explanations [for illnesses] in the stars rather than in the blood stream and preferred magical to clinical experiment.” (Netzley 70). They believed the illness or sickness was spiritual rather than from the body. Superstitions were a big thing in this era. "Black Death" a plague that spread in Florence in 1348 was believed to be punishment from God.
As medicine was being discovered the new knowledge was slowly being accepted by the citizens. Medicine discovered by the Europeans was not as accurate though. As time passed, medicine was then based on Aristotle ideas; on four humors in the body. They are blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile; which determine the imbalance and were thought to be related to their personality. Leonardo Da Vinci had sketched accurate anatomies at which influenced medicine studies. "that his ideas were familiar to the scientific environment in which he found himself,... the likelihood is that Leonardo 's thoughts was important landmark in the development of scientific ideas," (Walker 94). Eventually the Hippocrates studies were discovered, they had lived in B.C. era. Their studies were used for comparison at which proved their discoveries and solutions wrong and the Hippocrates were very accurate as they had sketched the structures and their thoughts on how the human body functioned which led them
Cited: •"Black Death." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras.ABC-CLIO, 2013.Web. 29 Jan.2013 • Johnston, Ruth A. "medical training in medieval Europe."World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 29 Jan. 2013 • Johnston, Ruth A. "medieval medicine." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 29 Jan. 2013. • Nelson, Rachel Ayers. "Barber, Nicola: Medieval Medicine (Medicine through the Ages)." School Librarian Winter 2012: 248. General OneFile. Web. 29 Jan. 2013. • Netzley, Patricia D. Life during the Renaissance. San Diego, California Lucent: Lucent Books, 1998. 70. Print. • Stockdale, Nancy. "The Italian Renaissance (Overview)."World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 29 Jan. 2013. • Walker Robert, Paul. The Italian Renaissance. New York, New York: Facts on File, 1995. 95-98. Print