History of Medicine and
Health
The Origins of Modern Surgery &
Medicine in the 17th Century
 Professors in medical schools seldom performed
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surgery.
They did not think that it was proper for a
professional man to do such work.
Surgeon is from a French word meaning “one who
works with his hands.”
In the Europe of the 1500’s, barbers, not doctors,
performed minor operations, pulled teeth, and
treated cuts.
Barbers who gained skill in closing wounds were
called barber-surgeons.
Ambroise Pare (1510-1590)
 Pare used ointments and silk
thread to repair injuries in place
of burning oil and hot pokers.
 Pare did not have a formal
education. He never earned a
medical degree. Yet he became
France’s most skilled surgeon. In
1562, he was given the dignified
title, “First Surgeon of the King.”
Shortage of Cadavers
 No one donated bodies to science – churchgoers believed
in rising from grave, so dissection spoiled chances of
resurrection.
 Became a tradition to rely on executed prisoners, even up
to 18th and 19th centuries.
 The added punishment of being dissected after death was
considered another deterrent from crime.
Ex. – Steal a pig: you were hung
Kill a person: you were hung and dissected
 Anatomists were often associated with executioners.
Grave Robbing
 Some medical students raided grave yards; some professors
did also. In certain Scottish schools in 1700’s, you could
trade a corpse for your tuition.
 By 1828 in London, body snatchers provided medical
schools with corpses. Not a crime; a dead body could not
be owned or stolen.
 Anatomy studies were only conducted from October to
May to avoid the smell of decomposition.
 Wealthy people chose to be buried in iron cages, some
covered in concrete. Also churches built “dead houses”
which were locked and guarded.
Medicine in the 17th Century
 The greatest advance of the
17th century was the
discovery of the circulation
of blood.
 Credit goes to the
Englishman William
Harvey(1578-1657).
 Harvey dissected his own
freshly dead family
members (his father and
sister) before burial.
Medicine in the
th
17
Century
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723)
 Developed the most
powerful microscopes of
his day.
 He discovered one-celled
protozoans and bacteria.
 His work eventually led to
the discovery of the causes
of diseases, such as the
Black Death.
Edward Jenner (1749-1823)
 Jenner was ridiculed and resented by his fellow
doctors. He unknowingly created the 1st vaccine.
 This cartoon makes fun of Jenner’s inoculations.
The Birth of Anesthesia
A 19th century physician administering chloroform prior to
surgery. Ether was one of the earliest anesthetics to be used
but it was difficult to administer as it usually made the
patients choke.
Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829)
 Humphry Davy discovered
laughing gas (nitrous
oxide) which has made
going to the dentist much
less painful.
James Lind (1716-1794)
 In James Lind’s experiment,
those that ate citrus fruit
stayed healthier.
 Captain Cook took Lind’s
advice and his crew stayed
health for a four-year journey.
 The British Navy finally
ordered sailors to drink lime
juice.
 Lind had found the cure for
scurvy—vitamin C.
Rene-Theophile-Hyacinthe
Laennec and the stethoscope 1821
Ignaz Phillipp Semmelweiss
 Discovered that the doctors were spreading childbed fever.
More women were dying under the care of doctors than
midwives.
 He proved that doctors were carrying the disease from corpses
to their patients.
 He proved that cleanliness could prevent childbed fever.
Joseph Lister (1827-1912) and Infection
 Discovered that carbolic acid
prevented infection on
compound infections.
 By insisting that everything be
kept clean and disinfected, he
lowered the death rate in his
surgeries.
 He discovered it was not the
presence of acid but the absence
of germs that mattered in
surgery.
Louis Pasteur(1822-1895)
 Louis Pasteur argued
that diseases were
caused by germs and so
effectively established
bacteriology as a
science.
What Was It Like to be a
Medical Student 140 years ago?
 No one worried about admissions, for entrance
requirements were lower than they are for a good
high school student.
 Instruction was superficial and brief.
 The terms lasted only 16 weeks, and after the
second term the M.D. was automatically given,
regardless of a student’s academic performance
What Was It Like to be a
Medical Student 140 years ago?
 Teaching was by lecture alone.
 Thus, students were spared the “hassle” of
attending labs, clinics and hospital wards.
 It was not uncommon for students to
graduate without ever having touched a
patient.
Evolution of Disease
 In the 19th century, diarrheal diseases were
the biggest killer of children, and
tuberculosis was the leading cause of adult
mortality.
 In the 20th and 21st centuries, diseases are
now the leading cause of disease and death
in adults.
Technology Reigns Supreme
 Wilhelm Roentgen
invented the x-ray
machine
 Because of its ability to see
inside the body, x-ray
photography is one of the
most important medical
discoveries.
The Birth of the EKG
 Sir Thomas Lewis mastered the technology
of the electrocardiogram in 1912.
Andrew W. “Doc” Fleischer
 In 1921, he developed
the mercurial
sphygmomanometer
that measured blood
pressure away of
assessing the health
condition of the heart
The Beginning of Drugs
Dr. Gerhard Domagk(1895-1964)
discovered sulfa drugs.
This drug became world famous
when Dr. Perrin H. Long used sulfa
drugs to treat Franklin Roosevelt Jr.
Sulfa was called a “wonder drug”
because it killed bacteria but did not
hurt the cells of human tissue.
Mold Becomes A Medical Ally
in the Battle Against Bacteria
Alexander Fleming(1881-1955) discovered
penicillin which killed staphylococcal bacteria.
Technology Transform the
Medical Arena
 Dr. Richard Drew(1904-1950) established the
use of transfusion and blood banks.
Technology Transform the
Medical Arena
Dr. Christian Barnard(1922-2001) performed
the first heart transplant in 1967.
Technology Transform the
Medical Arena
Dr. William Kolff developed an artificial
kidney machine.
Technology Transform the
Medical Arena
James Watson and Francis Crick discovered
DNA in 1954.
Technology and the 20th/21st Century
 Antiseptics
 Antibiotics
 Antiepileptics
 Antipsychotics
 Chemotherapies
 Vaccines
 Aspirin
 Blood Transfusions and Blood
Banks
Technology and the 20th/21st Century
 Electron Microscope
 CT Scans
 MRI Scans
 Pet Scans
 The Human Genome
 Genetic Testing
 Genetic Enzyme Replacements Therapy
Technology and the 20th/21st Century
 Artificial Kidney Machine—Dialysis—Kidney
Transplants
 Coronary Artery Bypass
 Angioplasty
 Total Hip and Knee Replacements
 Neurosurgery
 Lasik Surgery
 Organ Transplants—Heart, Kidney, Lung, Liver,
Pancreas, etc.
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