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Period: 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE
Early Beginnings
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3900 BCE
Disease caused by evil spirits
The primitive people were very superstitious and believed illness came from evil spirits. There way of “healing” were ceremonies to exorcise the spirits. -
3600 BCE
Treatments for the sick
One ceremony uses and early form of trephining, which the tribal doctor would remove part of the cranium with a primitive tool to exorcise demons. -
3100 BCE
Medicines used today
Herbs and plants used as medicine some still used today. Digitalis from the foxglove plant help with heart conditions. Quinine from the bark of cinchona tree, helps with fever, muscle spasms, and malaria. Belladonna and atropine from the poisonous nightshade plant, helps with muscle spasms from GI pain. Morphine from poppy helps with pain and is addictive. -
Period: 2999 BCE to 399 BCE
Ancient Times
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2900 BCE
Ancient Egyptians
First people to keep accurate health records. The called upon the gods to heal them they learned to identify diseases. The priests acted as physicians. They used medicine to heal disease and the learned hoe to splint fractures and treated disorders by bloodletting with leeches. -
1900 BCE
Ancient Chinese
They developed acupuncture therapy and treat islands and disease with a variety of stone tools. Acupuncture therapy is still used today. -
900 BCE
Ancient Greeks
discovered illness is natural not spiritual. further developed massage and herbal therapies. Religious beliefs didn't allow for bodies to be dissected. The “father of medicine” Hippocrates based knowledge of anatomy and physiology on the external human body. -
100 BCE
Ancient Romans
Built aqueducts to bring in fresh water and sewers to carry out the bad water this limited spread of disease. First to organize healthcare, sent medical equipment and physicians with armies. Roman physicians kept room in house for ill. Public buildings for sick were established. -
Period: 400 to 800
Dark Ages
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500
What stopped the study of medicine
Roman Empire was conquered by Huns and study of medical science stopped. Medicine was only practiced in convents and monasteries for 1000 years because of religious beliefs. -
700
How do they treat disease
Primary treatment was prayer. Medications consisted of herbal mixtures care was custodial. -
Period: 800 to 1400
Middle Ages
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1100
Epidemics
Bubonic Plague (the Black Death) killed 60 million people. Other diseases are smallpox, diphtheria, syphilis and tuberculosis. These illnesses today have vaccines and are not an epidemic unless people are unvaccinated. -
Period: 1350 to
Renaissance
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1450
Rebirth of healthcare and studies
Built medical school and university’s to further the study of medicine. They accepted the idea of dissection for study of the body. They also printed press and published books allowing greater access to knowledge of medicine. -
Period: 1501 to
16th and 17th Centuries
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1515
Leonardo da Vinci
He brought a visual picture to the medical field and allowed people who are studying medicine to see human anatomy on paper. -
1550
Gabriele Fallopius
He discovered the Fallopian tubes of the female body. -
1563
Bartolommeo Eustachio
He discovered the tube leading from ear to throat. -
William Harvey
He described how blood was circulated throughout the body and the pumping of the heart. -
Antoine von Leeuwenhoek
Invented the microscope and discovered there is life smaller than the eye can see. Also discovered bacteria from observing a scraping of his teeth. Found that bacteria causes tooth decay. -
Apothecaries
There’s are similar to modern day pharmacies. Apothecaries participated in trade of drugs and spices from the east. -
Period: to
18th Century
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Benjamin Franklin
He discovered bifocals and found that colds can be passed from person to person. -
Medical Students Learning
Students attended lectures in the classroom and dissected human cadavers. They understood how disease affected the body internally and they better understood illness and death. -
Joseph Priestly
He discovered the element oxygen and found that plants refresh the air that lost oxygen. Making it reusable for respiration. -
Edward Jenner
He discovered/created the method of vaccine for smallpox. Saved thousands of lives. Discovery led to immunization and preventive medicine. -
Rene Laennec
Created the stethoscope. Allowed for increased hearing of the heart and lungs to determine if disease is present. -
Period: to
19th and 20th century
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Ignacio Semmelweis
Identified cause of childbed fever after observing the amount of women dying after child birth. -
Florence Nightingale
Took 38 women to care for ill solders dying from cholera. -
Louis Pasteur
Discovered microorganisms and that they cause disease. Also discovered heating milk prevented growth of bacteria. -
Dmitri Ivanovski
Discovered that some diseases weren't caused by microorganisms but were viruses instead. And couldn’t be seen under microscope. -
Joseph Lister
Discovered microorganisms cause infection and used a carbolic acid on the skin to kill germs and was the first to use antiseptic when operating. -
Ernst von Bergmann
He developed asepsis. He knew germs caused infections so he made away to keep an area germ free before and during surgery. -
Robert Koch
Discovered disease causing organisms and developed culture plate method to identify pathogens. He introduced the importance of cleanliness and sanitation to prevent disease spreading. -
Paul Ehrlich
He discovered the effect of medicine on killing some (not all) microorganisms. His discoveries brought fourth the method of using chemicals to fight disease. -
Wilhelm Roentgen
He discovered x-rays. -
Anesthesia
Before nitros oxide, ether, and chloroform were discovered people had surgery without anesthesia. After these three things were discovered plus asepsis doctors were able to give safe painless surgery’s. -
Sir Alexander Fleming
Discovered that penicillin killed life threatening bacteria. -
Sigmund Freud
Discovered the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind. He determined that the mind and body work together and based knowledge off psychology -
Gerhard Domagk
Discovered sulfonamide compounds that are effective in killing bacteria. -
Jonas Salk
Discovered that the dead polio virus would cause immunity to poliomyelitis. -
Albert Sabin
Used a live polio virus vaccine which was more effective. -
Francis Crick and James Watson
Discovered the molecular structure of DNA based on its known double helix. Also explained how DNA replicates and how hereditary info coded on it. -
Christian Barnard
Preformed the first successful heart transplant. -
Ben Carson
He separates twins and preforms hemispherectomies, surgeries on the brain to help stop seizures. -
Period: to
21st Century
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Transplants
Ability to transfer organs from one person to another. -
Limb reattachments
The ability to reattach severed body parts -
HIV cocktail
Doctors combine three medications into one daily pill to treat HIV patients. -
Telemedicine
Health care providers use electronic services to send records and treatments to patients or other providers. -
Laparoscopic surgeries
The ability to use robots to do low risk surgeries with less complications and lower recovery times .