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4000 BCE
Primitive Times- life expectancy was 35
- At the core of ministering to the sick was a central figure known as medicine man
- Primitive healer was Responsible for protecting his people against bad weather, poor harvest, or almost any catastrophe
- Treatment could be complicated, involving elaborate ceremonies, chants, mystical signs, charms, and fetishes
- A special type of therapy indigenous to American Indians of the West was the sand painting -Surgery consisted principally of treatment for wounds and injuries to the bones
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3100 BCE
Ancient Egyptians- Age Expectancy 20-30
- advanced medical practice
- understood that disease could be treated by pharmaceuticals
- recognized the healing potential in massage and aromas
- male and female doctors who specialized in certain areas
- understood the importance of cleanliness
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1046 BCE
Ancient Chinese - life expectancy was 20 years
- science of acupuncture began
- practiced preventive medicine
- wrote books on medicine on good health
- chinese doctors began to vaccinate against smallpox
- sanitation was encouraged
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753 BCE
Ancient Romans- Life Expectancy was 35
- poor hygiene by people was a constant source of disease
- learned a great deal from the Ancient Greeks
- believed that each head of the household knew enough about herbal cures and medicine to treat illnesses in the household
- many Greek doctors came to Italy and Rome -great believers in a healthy mind equalling a healthy body
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700 BCE
Ancient Greeks- Life Expectancy was 70
- Hippocrates is considered to be the founder of ancient Greek medicine
- They practiced bloodletting, trepanation, using mercury, animal dung ointments, and cannibal cures.
- not all Ancient Greeks turned to physicians when ill, many still turned to the gods
- Though Greek employed the use of crude herbal remedies, surgeries, and sterilizations, diseases were typically attributed to the gods
- he first schools to develop in Greece were in Sicilly and Calabria
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500
Middle Ages- life expectancy was 31
- no-one knew how diseases spread
- very poor knowledge of the human anatomy.
- experiments on dead bodies were unheard of in Medieval England and strictly forbidden
- no one knew what caused diseases then
- there was no knowledge of germs.
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1276
Dark Ages- life expectancy was 31
- doctors were often hard to come by during these times
- individuals could study in small communities from other doctors of the period
- education was limited
- doctors would focus mostly on the bodily fluids
- Diseases that were most widespread were smallpox, leprosy, measles, typhus, and the bubonic plague
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1300
Renaissance - life expectancy was 35
- Syphilis continued to be common but it was less harsh
- Gonorrhea became even more common
- a loss of the only convenient means of personal hygiene
- Hospitals continued to be established and supported by the government
- Clinical surgery during the Renaissance also owed much to Ambroise Pare
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1500
16th and 17th Century- life expectancy was 40
- Doctors have to learn new skills because of the upgrade of weapons from swords to guns
- Amputation is the only form of major surgery which surgeons are able to practice
- Discovered blood transfusion
- the use of inoculation to protect against smallpox
- Vesalius dissects corpses himself and trusts the evidence of he finds
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18th, 19th, 20th, 21st Centuries- life expectancy is 80
- improved sanitation
- the population of Europe increased rapidly, and large numbers of infant deaths
- rapid growth of hospitals
- the use of statistical analysis in handling health problems emerged
- malnutrition, venereal disease, alcoholism, and other diseases were widespread
