HISTORY OF MEDICINE: PART I
The Past Looking to the Present
History of
MEDICINE
MOHAMMED MOHSIN
GROUP-2
FROM THE PAST: PAGANISM ?
Vodun is sometimes called Voodoo, Vodoun, Vodou.
Religions related to Vodun are: Candomble, Lucumi,
Macumba, and Yoruba)
ALSO:
Magic Spells
Love Spells
FROM THE FUTURE :
POLIO
The Cure of POLIO
1954: Thomas Weller, Frederick Robbins, and John Enders
receiving the Nobel Prize in Stockholm, for
“the cultivation of the poliomyelitis viruses in tissue culture”
A moment in ceremonies of the nine –day Navaho Mountain Chant.
American Indians made much of primitive medicine and ancient sand painting ceremonials
History in Meso-America: Cranial Surgery
(Pre-Hispanic)
Mexico: The MAYANS
To what extent is modern medical theory and
practice influenced by its more primitive forms?
EGYPTIAN
MESOPOTAMIAN
PALESTINIAN
INDIAN
CHINESE
GREEK
GREKO-ROMAN
ROMAN
ARABIAN
EGYPTIAN:
Two distinct trends are discernible in Egyptian medicine, the magico-religious,
embodying primitive elements, and the empirico-rational, based on experience
and observation and lacking in mystical features.
Common diseases of the eyes and skin were usually treated rationally by the
physician because of their favorable location; less accessible disorders continued
to be treated by the spells and incantations of the priest-magician. In the 3rd
Dynasty the physician emerged as an early form of scientist, a type distinct from
the sorcerer and priest. The earliest physician whose name has survived is
Imhotep (circa 2700 BC), renowned equally as vizier to the pharaoh, a pyramid
builder, and an astrologer.
The physician normally spent years of arduous training at temple schools in the
arts of interrogation, inspection, and palpation (examining the body by touch).
Prescriptions contained some drugs that have continued in use through the
centuries. Laxatives such as figs, dates, and castor oil, were used then as now.
Tannic acid (which the Egyptians derived principally from the acacia nut) was
used until fairly recently in the treatment of burns
MESOPOTAMIAN:
Due to a number of factors, such as the theocratic system prevailing in Assyria and
Babylonia, medicine in these countries did not break away from the influence of
demonology and magical practices. It would be easy to leave the blame for this
perceived stagnation of medical advance at the feet of religion, but to do so would be
to ignore the social dimension. It may well be the case that dissection was frowned
upon by the prevailing religious authorities, but these prescriptions would only have
come about as a result of pre-existing taboos and interdictions.
Surviving cuneiform tablets present an extensive series of well-classified case
histories. Surprisingly accurate terra-cotta models of the liver (then considered the seat
of the soul) indicate the importance attached to the study of that organ in determining
the intentions of the gods. Dreams also were studied to learn the gods' intentions, much
in the way that Freud and Jung advocated.
A large number of medical remedies were used in Mesopotamia, including more than
500 drugs, some of which were of mineral origin. The central position that religion
held in Mesopotamian society resulted in what we might consider an over-emphasis on
the holistic side of medicine; while there are benefits in treating the patient as a
thinking, feeling person, it cannot completely outweigh the benefits derived from
advances in molecular biology.
PALESTINIAN:
Hebrew medicine derived much from contact with Mesopotamian medicine during the
Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. Disease was considered evidence of the wrath of
God. The priesthood acquired the responsibility for compiling hygienic regulations,
and the status of the midwife as an assistant in childbirth was clearly defined.
Although the Old Testament contains a few references to diseases caused by the
intrusion of spirits, the tone of biblical medicine is modern in its marked emphasis on
preventing disease. The Book of Leviticus includes precise instructions on such varied
subjects as feminine hygiene, segregation of the sick, and disinfection of materials
capable of harboring and transmitting germs. Although circumcision is the only
surgical procedure clearly described, fractures were treated with the roller bandage,
and wounds were dressed with oil, wine, and balsam. The leprosy so frequently
mentioned in the Bible is now believed to have embraced many skin diseases,
including psoriasis. The principle of isolating the sick from areas of habitation has
developed into the idea of quarantine.
The role of the priesthood in Palestinian culture seems to be more than what we would
consider a priest to be. They functioned as the story-tellers, the healers, the advisors, as
well as religious teachers. This unification of both person-centered and empirically
derived treatment may well have resulted in a higher standard of treatment and
recovery than solely a holistic, or solely rational one could have.
INDIAN:
The practices of ancient Hindu, or Vedantic, medicine (1500 to 1000 BC) are
described in the works of two later physicians, Charaka (2nd century AD) and
Susruta (4th century AD). Susruta gave recognizable descriptions of malaria,
tuberculosis, and diabetes. He also wrote about Indian hemp, Cannabis, and
henbane (Hyocyamus) for inducing anesthesia, and included specific antidotes and
highly skilled treatments for bites of venomous snakes. An ancient Hindu drug
derived from the root of the Indian plant Rauwolfia serpentina was the source of
the first modern tranquilizer. In the field of operative surgery, the Hindus are
acknowledged to have attained the highest skill in all antiquity. They were
probably the first to perform successful skin grafting and plastic surgery for the
nose.
With the rise of Buddhism the study of anatomy was prohibited, and with the
Muslim conquest the field of advancement in molecular-medicine declined and
ultimately stagnated. Nevertheless, much valuable knowledge concerning hygiene,
diet, and eugenics was transmitted to the West through the writings of the Arab
physician Avicenna and others.
CHINESE:
Religious prohibitions in ancient China against dissection resulted in a poor knowledge
of body structure and function. As a consequence, surgical technique remained
elementary. External treatments included massage and dry cupping (a form of counterirritation in which blood is drawn to the skin surface by application of a cup from
which air is then exhausted to create a partial vacuum). Two special forms of counterirritation used in rheumatic fever and other disorders were acupuncture to relieve pain
and congestion; and cautery of the skin by the application of burning moxa (a
preparation of oil-soaked leaves of Chinese wormwood). These forms of treatment,
especially acupuncture, are hard to explain on the molecular level, as it would seem
unlikely to you or I that lengths of metal rammed into different places on the body
could have a beneficial effect. This idea, I believe, is a legacy of the over-emphasis on
the empirico-rationalist in all forms of life, the idea that all things can be explained to
have a logical and sensible cause.
Important Chinese drugs included rhubarb, aconite, sulfur, arsenic, and most
importantly, opium. Concoctions of animal organs and excretions (hang-overs from
ancient ritual) were also used. What we count today as spices, things like Ginger and
ginseng, have had, and indeed still do have special significance in the treatment of
various conditions, ranging from impotency to baldness.
This early Chinese print shows a vaccination needle From American Medical
Association, The History of Inoculation and Vaccination for the Prevention and
Treatment of Disease, 1913
ACUPUNTURE
HERBAL MEDICINE
GREEK:
The earliest Greek medicine depended on magic and spells. Homer considered Apollo the
god of healing. Homer's Iliad, however, reveals a considerable knowledge of the treatment
of wounds and other injuries by surgery, already recognized as a specialty distinct from
internal medicine.
Asclepius subsequently supplanted Apollo as the god of healing, and priests practiced the
healing art in his temples. Still later, a semi-priestly sect, the Asclepiades, (claiming to be
descendants of the god of medicine) practiced a form of psychotherapy called incubation.
By the 6th century BC, Greek medicine had become thoroughly secular, stressing clinical
observation and experience. In the Greek colony of Crotona the biologist Alcmaeon (6th
century BC) identified the brain as the physiological seat of the senses. The Greek
philosopher Empedocles elaborated the concept that disease is primarily an expression of a
disturbance in the perfect harmony of the four elements - fire, air, water, and earth (Later to
resurface as the four humors - bile, blood, phlegm and lymph) - and formulated a
rudimentary theory of evolution.
Kos and Cnidus are the most famous of the Greek medical schools that flourished in the 5th
century BC under the Asclepiades. Students of both schools probably contributed to the
Corpus Hippocraticum (Hippocratic Collection), which is an anthology of the writings of
several authors, although popularly attributed to Hippocrates of Kos, who is known as the
father of medicine. In a marked departure from previous tradition, none of these works
mentions supernatural cures. The highest ethical standards were imposed on the physicians,
who took the celebrated oath usually attributed to Hippocrates and still in use today (The
so-called "Hippocratic Oath").
Knowledge of human anatomy was based mainly on the dissection of animals.
Physiology was based on the four cardinal humors, or fluids, of the body: This concept was
derived from Empedocles' theory of the four elements. Pain and disease were attributed to
imbalance of these humors. The true genius of Hippocrates is shown in the Aphorisms and
Prognostics, containing pithy summaries of vast clinical experience that inspired countless
commentaries until well into the 18th century. Of unusual excellence also is the Hippocratic
work Fractures, Dislocations, and Wounds, the contents of which are still applicable today.
Although not a practicing physician, the Greek philosopher Aristotle contributed greatly to
the development of medicine by his dissections of numerous animals. His work on anatomy
and dissection means that he is known as the founder of comparative anatomy.
By the 3rd century BC, Alexandria in Egypt, the seat of a famous medical school and
library, was firmly established as the center of Greek medical science. In Alexandria the
anatomist Herophilus performed the first recorded public dissection, and the physiologist
Erasistratus did important work on the anatomy of the brain, nerves, veins, and arteries.
The followers of these men divided into many contending sects; the most notable were the
empiricists, who based their doctrine on experience gained by trial and error. The
empiricists excelled in surgery and pharmacology; a royal student of empiricism,
Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus, developed the concept of inducing tolerance of
poisons by the administration of gradually increased dosages.
It is with the rise of Greece that empirico-rationalism spreads, and the holistic approach to
healing begins to fade. Although it was to resurface in various minor ways of the
intervening years, empirico-rationalism has steadily gained in strength over the intervening
decades.
GRECO-ROMAN:
Alexandrian Greek medicine influenced conquering Rome despite initial resistance
from the Romans. Asclepiades of Bithynia was important in establishing Greek
medicine in Rome in the 1st century BC. Opposed to the theory of humors,
Asclepiades taught that the body was composed of disconnected particles, or atoms,
separated by pores. Disease was caused by restriction of the orderly motion of the
atoms or by the blocking of the pores, which he attempted to cure by exercise, bathing,
and variations in diet, rather than by drugs. This theory was revived periodically and in
various forms as late as the 18th century.
The chief medical writers of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, apart from Galen of
Pergamum (Sometimes known as "Galen the Brilliant"), were the Roman Aulus
Cornelius Celsus, who wrote an encyclopedia of medicine; the Greek physician
Pedanius Dioscorides, the first scientific medical botanist; the Greek physician Artaeus
of Cappadocia (2nd century), a disciple of Hippocrates; the Greek anatomist Rufus of
Ephesus (early 2nd century), renowned for his investigations of the heart and eye; and
Soranus of Ephesus, another Greek physician, who recorded information concerning
obstetrics and gynecology, apparently based on human dissection. Although an
adherent of the school of Asclepiades, he distinguished among diseases by their
symptoms and course. Most of the work of the above mentioned authors still survives,
and, although not completely correct, they came surprisingly close to what we know
today.
Galen of Pergamum, also a Greek, was the most important physician of this
period and is second only to Hippocrates in the medical history of antiquity. In view of
his undisputed authority over medicine in the Middle Ages, his principal doctrines
require some elaboration. Galen described the four classic symptoms of inflammation
and added much to the knowledge of infectious disease and pharmacology. His
anatomic knowledge of humans was defective because it was based on dissection of
apes. Some of Galen's teachings tended to hold back medical progress. His theory, for
example, that the blood carried the pneuma, or life spirit, which gave it its red color,
coupled with the erroneous notion that the blood passed through a porous wall between
the ventricles of the heart, delayed the understanding of circulation and did much to
discourage research in physiology. His most important work, however, was in the field
of the form and function of muscles and the function of the areas of the spinal cord. He
also excelled in diagnosis and prognosis. The importance of Galen's work cannot be
overestimated, for through his writings knowledge of Greek medicine was
subsequently transmitted to the Western world by the Arabs. Perhaps what Galen is
best remembered for is his description of the four humors that effect a person state of
mind. It would seem at first glance that this interpretation leaves a lot to be desired of.
However, recent work would suggest that moods and feelings, as well as psychological
conditions, come about because of imbalances in neurotransmitters, or other
neuroproteins.
GALEN OF PERGAMUM
Galen of Pergamum (Sometimes known as "Galen the Brilliant"),
were the Roman Aulus Cornelius Celsus, who wrote an
encyclopedia of medicine; the Greek physician Pedanius
Dioscorides, the first scientific medical botanist; the Greek
physician Artaeus of Cappadocia (2nd century), a disciple of
Hippocrates; the Greek anatomist Rufus of Ephesus (early 2nd
century)
ROMAN:
Original Roman contributions were made in the fields of public health and hygiene. In
the organization of street sanitation, water supply, and public hospitals, the methods of
the Romans were not surpassed, until modern times.
The gradual infiltration of the Roman world by a succession of barbarian tribes was
followed by a period of stagnation in the sciences. Western medicine in the early
Middle Ages consisted of tribal folklore, mingled with poorly understood remnants of
classical learning. Even in sophisticated Constantinople, a series of epidemics served
only to initiate a revival of magical practices. Only a few outstanding Greek physicians
such as Oribasius, Alexander of Tralles, and Paul of Aegina maintained the older
tradition in face of the rise of moral decadence, superstition, and intellectual
stagnation.
ARABIAN:
In the 7th century a vast portion of the Eastern world was overrun by Arab conquerors.
In Persia, the Arabs learned of Greek medicine at the schools of the Nestorian
Christians, a sect in exile from the Byzantine Empire. These schools had preserved
many texts lost in the destruction of the Alexandrian Library. Translations from Greek
were instrumental in the development of a scientific revival and an Arabic system of
medicine, based on Greek and Roman thought, throughout the Arab-speaking world.
Followers of the system were known as Arabists.
Important among Arabist physicians were al-Razi, a famous clinician and writer, who
was the first to identify smallpox, in 910 AD, and measles and to suggest blood as the
cause of infectious diseases; Isaac Judaeus, the author of the first book devoted
entirely to dietetics; and Avicenna, whose famous Canon remained the standard
synthesis of the doctrines of Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Galen. Arabists of the 12th
century include Avenzoar, who first described the parasite causing scabies and was
among the earliest to question the authority of Galen; Averroës, recognized as the
greatest commentator on Aristotle; Averroës' pupil Maimonides, whose works on diet,
hygiene, and toxicology were widely read; and Al-Quarashi, also known as Ibn alNafis, who wrote commentaries on the writings of Hippocrates and treatises on diet
and eye diseases, and, most important, was the first to indicate the pulmonary transit of
blood, from the right to the left ventricle via the lungs.
The Arabists did much to elevate professional
standards by insisting on examinations for physicians before
licensure. They introduced numerous therapeutic chemical
substances, excelled in the fields of ophthalmology and public
hygiene, and were superior to the physicians of medieval Europe.
In addition to their relatively high level of empirico-rational
understanding, the role played by religion in the Islamic world
broadened the spectrum of treatment, zooming out from just
treating the patient as a chemical system, and more as a sentient.
CONCLUSION:
We can see, then, a fairly clear progression from the most primitive of societies, with
their demons, to the high level of Arabian knowledge. It is fair to say that, lacking the
advantages that later stages had in terms of technology, each of the above mentioned
cultures excelled in specific fields; when religion prohibited surgery, drugs and
complementary treatments were developed. Knowledge also increased through the
increased connections that ancient societies had, including more trade, and better,
faster transport. Without some of the developments of these so-called primitive
societies, modern medicine would be completely different, and not as successful.
Without the discovery of opium, there could by no pain-killers; without the advances
made by Romans and Arabs, there would be no public hygiene, and definitely no
National Health Service.
The image that all of these small contributions gives rise to, in my mind, is that of a
tower, a tower reaching toward Heaven; through every age and every culture, bricks
and stones are added to this tower.