Medicine through time flashcards

Medicine through time traces how people understood and treated illness from prehistoric times to the present day. Students must understand how ideas about the causes of disease changed, from supernatural beliefs and the four humours to germ theory and modern science. Key figures such as Hippocrates, Galen, Vesalius, Harvey, Jenner, Pasteur, Koch, Fleming and Florey shaped medical progress. Students should also consider the role of war, government, technology and chance in driving change, as well as periods of continuity when progress was slow. Understanding why change happened, and why some ideas lasted for centuries despite being wrong, is essential for exam success.

1. Card 1

   What were the four humours in ancient Greek medicine?

   Blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. Hippocrates taught that illness resulted from an imbalance of these four fluids in the body.

2. Card 2

   Why was Galen's influence on medicine both important and harmful?

   Galen produced detailed medical texts used for over 1,000 years, but his errors, such as a two-lobed liver, went unchallenged because the Church backed his authority.

3. Card 3

   What did Andreas Vesalius contribute to medicine in the 16th century?

   Vesalius dissected human bodies and corrected many of Galen's anatomical mistakes, publishing accurate diagrams in 'The Fabric of the Human Body' in 1543.

4. Card 4

   What did William Harvey discover about the human body?

   Harvey proved in 1628 that blood circulates around the body, pumped by the heart, overturning Galen's idea that blood was constantly made and used up.

5. Card 5

   What was the miasma theory of disease?

   Miasma theory held that disease was caused by bad air from rotting matter. It was widely believed from ancient times until germ theory replaced it in the 19th century.

6. Card 6

   How did Edward Jenner contribute to the prevention of disease?

   Jenner developed the first vaccine in 1796, using cowpox material to protect people against smallpox, though he did not understand the scientific reason it worked.

7. Card 7

   What was Louis Pasteur's germ theory and why was it significant?

   Germ theory (1861) proved that microorganisms cause disease, replacing miasma theory and providing a scientific foundation for modern medicine and public health.

8. Card 8

   How did Robert Koch advance the understanding of infectious disease?

   Koch identified specific bacteria causing diseases such as tuberculosis and cholera, showing that different germs cause different illnesses and enabling targeted treatments.

9. Card 9

   What role did chance play in Alexander Fleming's discovery?

   Fleming noticed in 1928 that a mould, Penicillium, had killed bacteria on an accidentally contaminated dish, leading eventually to the antibiotic penicillin.

10. Card 10

    Why was the work of Florey and Chain important in the Second World War?

    Florey and Chain developed penicillin into a usable drug by 1942. Wartime urgency and US government funding allowed mass production, saving thousands of lives.

11. Card 11

    What impact did the Public Health Act of 1875 have in Britain?

    The Public Health Act 1875 forced local councils to provide clean water, proper sewers and street cleaning, greatly reducing deaths from diseases like cholera and typhoid.

12. Card 12

    What is meant by 'continuity' in the context of medical history?

    Continuity means that ideas or practices stayed the same over a long period. For example, Galen's theories dominated European medicine for roughly 1,400 years with little challenge.

• Many students assume that medical progress was steady and constant throughout history, when in fact there were long periods of continuity where ideas barely changed, especially in the medieval period.
• Students often credit Fleming alone for penicillin, forgetting that Florey and Chain did the essential work of developing it into a practical medicine that could actually be used to treat patients.
• A common error is to say that the miasma theory was completely useless, when in fact it did lead to some improvements in sanitation that accidentally reduced disease, even though the reasoning behind it was wrong.

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