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Period: 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE
Early Beginnings
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3900 BCE
Disease caused by
Supernatural Spirits -
3600 BCE
Treatments for sick
Exorcism -
3100 BCE
Medicines used today
Digitalis is used for heart
Quinine is used for fevers
Belladonna and atropine are for GI pain
Morphine is for pain -
Period: 2999 BCE to 399
Ancient Times
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2900 BCE
Ancient Egyptians
The Egyptians were the earliest people to keep accurate health records.
The physicians were the priests.
They used medicines to heal diseases, learned the art of splitting fractures, and treated disorders by bloodletting with the use of leeches -
1900 BCE
Ancient Chinese
The Ancient Chinese, from as early as the Stone Age, were the first to use primitive acupuncture therapies. These early medical pioneers learned to treat a variety of illness and disease with stone tools. -
900 BCE
Ancient Greeks
Ancient Greeks were the first to study the causes of disease and to determine that illnesses may have natural, rather than spiritual causes.
During Ancient times, religious custom did not allow bodies to be dissected.
The father of medicine were the Hippocrates -
100
Ancient Romans
The Romans brought clean water into their cities by way of aqueducts.
The Romans sent medical equipment and physicians with their armies to care for wounded soldiers, they also kept a room in their house for the ill.
Public buildings for the care of the sick were established. Physicians were paid by the Roman government, they wore a death mask, this mask had a spice-filled beak, which they believed the mask protected them from infection and bad odors. -
Period: 400 to 800
Dark Age
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500
Stopped the study of medicine
The church believed that life and dearth were in God’s hands, the monks and priests had no interest in how the body functioned. -
700
How do they treat disease
Medication consisted of herbal mixtures, and care was custodial. -
Period: 800 to 1400
Middle Age
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1100
Epidemics
Terrible epidemics caused millions of deaths during the Middle Ages. Bubonic Plague alone killed 60 million people. Other uncontrolled diseases included smallpox, diphtheria, syphilis, and tuberculosis. Scientists have discovered vaccines and medicine to control these diseases. -
Period: 1350 to
Renaissance
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1450
Rebirth?
The Renaissance period saw the birth of learning.
There was the building of universities and medical schools for research.
In the Renaissance period they accepted dissection of the body for study.
The development of the printing press and the publishing of books, allowing greater access to knowledge from research. -
Period: 1501 to
16th and 17th Centuries
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1515
Leonardo da Vinci
Studied and recorded the anatomy of the body. -
1550
Gabriele Fallopius
Discovered the fallopian tubes of the female anatomy. -
1563
Bartolommeo Eustacio
Discovered the tube leading from the ear to the throat. -
William Harvey
Able to describe the circulation of blood and the pumping of the heart. -
Antoine van Leeuwenhoek
Invented the microscope, establishing that there is life smaller than the eye can see. -
Apothecaries
Apothecaries were the early pharmacies, they engaged in a flourishing trade in drugs and spices from the east. -
Period: to
18th century
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Benjamin Franklin
Discovered bifocals, and he found that colds could be passed from person to person. -
Medical students learning
Students not only attended lectures in the classroom and laboratory, but also observed patients at the bedside. -
Joseph Priestley
Discovered the element oxygen, he also observed the plants refresh air that has lost its oxygen, making it usable for respiration. -
Edward Jenner
Discovered a method of vaccination for smallpox, his discovery also led to immunization and to preventive medicine in public health. -
René Laënnec
Invented the stethoscope. The stethoscope gave the ability to hear the heart and lungs, allowing doctors to determine if disease were present. -
Period: to
19th and 20th centuries
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Ignaz Semmelweis
Identified the cause of childbed fever. The physicians went to the “dead room” where they dissected dead bodies, then these physicians did not wash their hands or change their aprons before they delivered babies, this caused women to get infections. -
Florence Nightingale
She convinced her father to give her money to live, and she gained experience by volunteering in hospitals. During the Crimean War, she took a group of 38 women to care for soldiers dying from Cholera, she later on became a legend while she was there because of her dedication to nursing. -
Louis Pasteur
Know as the “father of microbiology” discovered that tiny microorganisms were everywhere. Through experiments and studies, he proved that these microorganisms cause disease. He discovered that heating milk prevented the growth of bacteria, pasteurization kills bacteria in milk. -
Dmitri Ivanovski
Discovered that some diseases are caused by microorganisms that cannot be seen with a microscope. The diseases were called viruses. These viruses were Poliomyelitis, Rabies, Measles, Influenza, Chicken pox, German measles, Herpes zoster, and Mumps. -
Joseph Lister
He learned about Pasteur’s discovery that microorganisms cause infection. He used carbolic acid on wounds to kill germs that cause infection. He then became the first doctor to use an antiseptic during surgery. -
Ernst von Bergmann
Developed asepsis. He developed a method to keep an area germ-free before and during surgery. -
Robert Koch
Discovered many disease- causing organisms. He developed the culture plate method to identify pathogens and also isolated the bacteria that causes tuberculosis. -
Paul Ehrlich
Discovered the effect of medicine on disease causing microorganisms. His discoveries brought about the use of chemicals to fight disease. -
Wilhelm Roentgen
Discovered x-rays in 1895. His discovery allowed doctors to see inside the body and helped them discover what was wrong with their patients. -
Anesthesia
Early physicians used herbs, hashish, and alcohol to help relieve the pain of surgery, sometimes they even choked patients to cause the to become unconscious to stop pain, many patients even died from shock and pain. The knowledge of asepsis and the ability to prevent pain during surgery are the basis of safe, painless surgery today. -
Sir Alexander Fleming
Discovered that penicillin killed life-threatening bacteria. The discovery of Penicillin is considered one of the most important discoveries of the twentieth century. -
Sigmund Freud
Discovered the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind, he was able to determine that the mind and body work together. This led to an understanding of psychosomatic illness. -
Gerhard Domagk
Discovered sulfonamide compounds, theses compounds were the first medications effective in killing bacteria. -
Jonas Salk
Discovered that a dead polio virus would cause immunity to poliomyelitis. -
Albert Sabin
Used a live polio virus vaccine, which is more effective, this vaccine is used today to immunize babies against this disease. -
Francis Crick and James Watson
Discovered the molecular structure of DNA, based on its double helix. Their model served to explain how DNA replicates and how hereditary information is coded on it. -
Christian Barnard
Performed the first successful heart transplant. -
Ben Carson
Continues to be a pioneer in separating Siamese twins and performing hemispherectomies, surgeries on the brain to stop seizures. -
Period: to
21st century
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New inventions and procedures
The possibility of eliminating disabling disease through genetic research. The ability to transplant organs from a donor to a recipient. The ability to reattach severed body parts. The ability to use noninvasive techniques for diagnosis. And lastly but not least the advancement in caring for the unborn fetus.