History of Medicine - Ethan

By Ethan Lemos
  • 4000 BCE

    Primitive Times

    • Illnesses were evil spirits or punishments from god
    • Witch doctors treated illness
    • Herbs and plants used as medicine
    • Trepanation : surgically removing pieces of the skull
    • Average lifespan was 20 years
  • 3000 BCE

    Ancient Egyptian

    • Physicians were priests
    • Health Records were first recorded by the ancient Egyptians
    • Bloodletting or leeches used as medical treatment
    • Average life span was 20-30 years
  • 1700 BCE

    Ancient Chinese

    • Believed in the need to treat the whole body by curing the spirit and nourishing the body
    • Recorded a pharmacopoeia of medications based mainly on the use of herbs
    • Used therapies such as acupuncture
    • Began to search for medical reasons for illness
    • Average life span was 20-30 years
  • 1200 BCE

    Ancient Greeks

    Hippocrates (Father of Medicine) and other physicians
    * First to observe the human body and the effects of disease – led to modern medical sciences.
    * Believed illness is a result of natural causes
    * Used therapies such as massage, art therapy, and herbal treatment
    * Stressed diet, hygiene and exercise as ways to prevent disease
    * Average life span was 25-35 years
  • 753 BCE

    Ancient Romans

    • First to organize medical care by providing care for injured soldiers
    • Later hospitals were religious and charitable institutions in monasteries and convents
    • First public health and sanitation systems by building sewers and aqueducts
    • Galen established belief that the body was regulated by four body humors; blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile
    • Life span was 25-35 years
  • 400

    Dark Ages

    • Emphasis on saving the soul and study of medicine was prohibited
    • Prayer and divine intervention were used to treat illness & disease
    • Monks and priests provide custodial care for sick people
    • Medications were mainly herbal mixtures
    • Average life span was 20-30 years
    • Disease Cause still blamed on circumstance, but no understanding
  • 800

    Middle Ages

    • Renewed interest in medical practices of Greek and Romans
    • 1100: Arabs began requiring physicians pass examinations and obtain licenses
    • 1346-1353: Bubonic Plague killed 75% of population in Europe and Asia
    • Major diseases included smallpox, diphtheria, tuberculosis, typhoid, the plaque, and malaria
    • 1220-1255: Medical Universities were established
    • Average life span was 20-35 years
  • 1350

    Renaissance

    • Rebirth of Science of Medicine
    • Body Dissections led to increased understanding of anatomy and physiology
    • 1440: Invention of printing press allowed medical knowledge to be shared
    • 1543: First anatomy book was published by Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564)
    • Average life span was 30-40 years
    • Disease cause STILL a mystery
  • 1500

    16th and 17th Centuries

    • Knowledge regarding the human body GREATLY increased
    • 1500’s: Ambroise Pare, a French surgeon, known as the Father of * Modern Surgery established use of ligatures to stop bleeding
    • 1600’s: Apothecaries made, prescribed, and sold medications
    • 1670: Invention of the microscope
    • Allowed physicians to see disease-causing organisms.
    • Average life span 35-45 years
    • Cause of disease still not known – many people died from infections Some enlightenment though due to microscope

  • 18th Century

    • 1714: Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736) created the first mercury thermometer 1760: Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals
    • 1778: John Hunter established scientific surgical procedures and introduced tube feeding
    • 1798: Smallpox vaccine discovered
    • Average life span 40-50 years

  • 19th Century

    *Rapid advancements due to discoveries of microorganisms, anesthesia, and vaccinations
    * 1895: X-Ray Machine Developed
    * 1893: First Open Heart Surgery
    * Infection control developed once microorganisms were associated with disease
    * 1816: Invention of the stethoscope
    * 1860: Formal training for nurses began
    *Women became active participants in health care
    * Average life span 40-60 years

  • 20th Century (continued)

    • 1956: First Bone Marrow Transplant
    • Initiated Embryonic Stem Cell Research
    • 1978: Test tube babies
    • Organ Transplants
    • 1960: Kidney
    • 1963: Liver
    • 1967: Heart
    • 1982: Artificial Heart

  • 20th Century

    • 1901: ABO blood groups discovered
    • Found out how white blood cells protect against disease
    • New medications were developed
    • 1922: Insulin discovered and used to treat diabetes
    • 1928: Antibiotics developed to fight infections (penicillin)
    • New machines developed
    • 1943: Kidney Dialysis Machine
    • 1953: Heart Lung Machine
    • Surgical and diagnostic techniques developed to cure once fatal conditions
    • 1953: Structure of DNA discovered and research in gene therapy begins

  • 21st Century

    • 2001: The first totally implantable artificial heart was placed in a patient in Louisville, Ky. In
    • 2003: Human Genome Project Completed
    • Mapped out human diseases in an effort to get an handle on *2005: Face Transplants
    • Vaccines
    • 2006: HPV (Human Papillomavirus Vaccine)
    • Prevent Cervical Cancer
    • 2015: Malaria
    • 2015: Ebola