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4000 BCE
Primitive Times
- Illness/disease spawn from demons, devils, and spirits OR punishment from god(s)
- Treatment = ceremonies done by witch doctors. Herbs and other plants were used as medicine. Most often Morphine(pain relief) and Digitalis (heart help).
- A practice called trepanation is born when you remove bone from the skull.
- Everything seems cruder and dumb compared to modern medicine. ~20 years lifespan
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3000 BCE
Ancient Egyptian
*Physicians = priests
- First health records were kept
- Treatments like bloodletting and leeches existed
- Had some understanding of the body or at least enough to preserve it after death
- polytheistic
~ 30 years lifespan -
1700 BCE
Ancient Chinese
- Treated the entire body by spirit and nourishment
- A pharmacopeia of medication (mainly herbs)
- Searches for medical reasons for illness began
- no longer believing in things like ghosts/ghouls
- Mainly polytheistic
- Acupuncture Therapy arrived ~ 20 to 30 years lifespan
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1200 BCE
Ancient Greeks
*Getting closer to modern medicine in a way
~25-35 year lifespan
- Studying the human body and the effects of disease
--Illness is from natural causes
--New therapies like massages and Herbal are now available and still done today
- Disease prevention is now a thing
--Good diet, hygiene, and exercise are now seen as important
- Hippocrates [in photo] Father of Medicine
-- A philosopher and scientist. very well known.
--Think of the Hippocratic Oath -
753 BCE
Ancient Romans
- Sanitation like sewers and aqueducts exist now :)
- They were the first to organize some form of medical care for soldiers. --There was a lot of war happening so this was incredibly beneficial
- Hospitals are considered religious institutions
- According to Galen, a Physician/Medical researcher, the body is run by four humors. -Blood - lust -Phlegm - Slow Response to something -Black Bile - Depression -Yellow Bile - Anger ~ 25-35 years lifespan
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400
Dark Ages
*Everyone regressed
- Medical practice is prohibited
- Back to the spiritual beliefs, including prayer and divine intervention
- Monks and Priests performed it
- Disease blamed on circumstance (AGAIN)
~20-30 years lifespan -
800
Middle ages
*Interest has been renewed
- 1100: Arabs had exams and a license to be allowed to practice medicine
- 1220 - 1225: Medical universities now exist
- The Black Death happened and killed around 75% of the population throughout Europe and Asia
- Other major diseases include Smallpox, Diphtheria, Tuberculosis (TB), Typhoid, Plague and Malaria
~20-35 years lifespan -
1350
Renaissance
*Full-on rebirth of science
- Body dissections, also called autopsy = increased Anatomy and physiology understanding
- 1543: The first Anatomy book was published
- Diseases are still a mystery
- 1440: The printing press was invented, not necessarily a medical advancement but it did further communication greatly. This means that information could spread at a faster and smoother rate than before.
~30 - 40 years average lifespan -
1500
16th and 17th century
*Knowledge about the body has heavily increased over the years
- 1500s: Ambroise Pare - Created the first tourniquet
- 1600s: Medical advancements
- Apothecaries = old time Pharmacists
- 1670: Microscopes are created, this is one of the greatest advancements during the time. Made it so disease-causing organisms could actually be seen.
- Infections still spread, they're figuring it out
~35-45 years lifespan -
18th Century
1714: Gabriel Fahrenheit, Physicist + Inventor + scientific instrument maker, created the thermometer
1760: Benjamin Franklin creates Bifocals, glasses for vision correction.
1778: John Hunter created scientific procedures and even introduced tube feeding
1798: Smallpox Vaccine
~40 - 50 years lifespan -
19th Century
- 1816: Stethoscope invented
- 1816: Formal nurse training - This provided more rights for women in the industry and also was just good practice. Educated medical professionals are normally the best option.
- 1893: The very first open heart surgery
- 1895: Xray ~60 years lifespan
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20th Century
*Known as a key time of rapid growth, far closer to modern medicine since it is all decently recent.
- 1901: ABO blood types
- Also discovered that white blood cells exist. These specific cells attack dangerous pathogens that threaten to spread disease into the body.
- New medication introduced
-1922: Insulin
-1928: Antibiotics
- 1953: DNA Discovered
- 1956: A bone transplant occurred along with stem cell research
- 1978: Test tube baby + Organ transplants -
20th Century continued...
*Organ transplants
- Liver (63)
- Kidney (60)
- Heart (67) and artificial hearts (82)
* A plethora of vaccines like Typhus, Meazles, Lime disease, etc.
-1970s: Targeted treatment of cancer. Previous treatment was somewhat general so at this point specialists are going in-depth into specific types of cancer
- Smoke laws in the 90s helped to improve overall lung health
- 1996: HIV medication turns the disease into something manageable.
- Lots of quick advancement that outpaced anything before it. -
Modern Medicine (21st Century)
- 2001: Artificial heart (more advanced this time)
- 2003: Human genome experiment coming to completion. Now autoimmune diseases are under control more.
- 2005: Face transplants commonly for burn victims
- Post-pandemic includes the Covid-19 vaccine and some better general awareness from the public about the spread of diseases (hopefully)
- Lots of advancements in the present day and the future to come.