![]() For the body to operate well, all four elements had to be in harmony with no imbalances. They believed that the human body and the planets were made up of the same four elements (earth, fire, air, and water). The belief in classical antiquity that the moon and planets played an important part in good health continued in the Middle Ages. In our time of course, the stethoscope is the symbol of the doctor, but that too may change. Urine inspection was the most common method of diagnosis and the urine flask became the symbol of the doctor. On first visiting patients, doctors noted their appearance, listened to their stories, felt their pulses, and examined their urine. They were often shown in manuscripts holding a urine flask up for inspection or feeling the pulse. Physicians were, however, trained in the art of diagnosis: observation, palpation, feeling the pulse, and urine examination were the tools of the doctor throughout the Middle Ages. An excess of blood, phlegm, yellow bile, or black bile made a person sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, or melancholic. The Greek concept of the four humors as revised by Galen was the basis of all diagnosis and treatment, but it had evolved into a theory of temperament, which accounted for psychological and social as well as physical characteristics. This was known since antiquity for Hippocrates is quoted as saying, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” The food choices we make can have an important impact on health. An important aspect in the treatment of ailments was diet. Many diseases were thought to be caused by an excess of blood in the body and bloodletting was seen as the obvious cure. An imbalance of humors caused disease and the body could be purged of excess by bleeding, cupping, and leeching – medical practices that continued through the Middle Ages. These were controlled by the four elements: fire, water, earth, and air. The body was made up of four humors: yellow bile, phlegm, black bile, and blood. In the Middle Ages, the practice of medicine was still rooted in the Greek tradition. Standard medical knowledge was based chiefly upon surviving Greek and Roman texts preserved in monasteries and elsewhere. Medicine during the Middle Ages was composed of a mixture of existing ideas from antiquity and spiritual influences. ![]() Therefore, in this period, there was no tradition of scientific medicine, and observations went hand in hand with spiritual and religious influences. Ideas about the origin and cure of disease were based on factors such as destiny, sin, and heavenly influences. ![]() As people became obsessed with their souls, they neglected their bodies medicine became a matter of faith and prescriptions became prayers. Suffering was seen as part of the human condition. ![]() No one contradicted such world view it was accepted. The Roman Catholic Church stated that illnesses were punishments from God and those who were ill were so because they were sinners. Any view different from the established Roman Catholic view was labeled heresy and punished accordingly. The Roman Catholic Church effectively dominated what direction the medical world took. The Church quickly gained converts – and power – throughout Western Europe. The center of Western learning shifted to Constantinople (now Istanbul), the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which had been Christian since the 4th century AD, with the conversion of the Roman emperor Constantine. Medical knowledge stagnated in the Middle Ages and did not develop until the 17 th/18 th centuries. The Ancient Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians had pushed forward medical knowledge, but after the demise of these civilizations, artistic, cultural, and scientific outputs were sadly lacking when compared to both earlier and later times. “The glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome” ended when Rome fell to Germanic tribes in the 5th century AD. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |