Medieval Medicine Essay, Research Paper

The medieval period is normally not

associated with advances in technology, nor with contributions that benefit

society. Yet, our medicine today owes much of its development to physicians

of that time. Medicine of that era was strongly influenced by superstition

and the doctrine of the Christian church, and did not have much foundation

for practical application.

The need for medicine in Middle Ages was

certainly great, considering the extreme amounts of plague and disease

prevalent during that time (Grigsby 2). Unfortunately, medical knowledge

of that day was of very little help (Margotta 68). Physicians had

no concept of disease causing bacteria or viruses. Unfortunately, it was

thought in that day that illness was either due to old age, heredity, or

immoderate living. Is was also believed that certain sins could affect

one’s health (Grigsby 2).

Medical practice of the time revolved

around a concept called the “doctrine of the four humors”. Diagnoses

of illness almost solely relied upon the examination of the human body’s

four humors- blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Each

of the four humors was associated with a specific body part and certain

elemental qualities. Blood was associated with the heart, and air.

Phlegm was associated with the brain and water. Yellow bile was associated

with the liver and fire, and black bile was associated with the spleen

and Earth. When one’s bodily humors were in equilibrium, that person

was normally considered to be in good health. Sickness was

thought to be a result of imbalance of the humors (Gottfried 106).

Diagnosis, except in the few rare cases,

was usually based on the interpretation of the color and smell of the blood,

the smell and the color of the phlegm and, most commonly, on the

examination of the urine. There were countless methods of examinations,

each explaining how a detailed diagnoses of all types of illnesses could

be determined from the color and the odor of the urine and from the layers

of sediment in the collecting flasks. Cloudiness in the upper layer of

the collecting flask indicated that the origin of illness was in the head,

and lower level layers of cloudiness indicated declining conditions of

the bladder or genital organs. The diagnosis was often optimistically simple

(Margotta 66).

Medieval physicians had almost nothing

more than their interpretations of a patient’s humors upon which to base

their diagnosis. Their ultimate objective was to restore equilibrium of

the humors to the sick patient. Physicians had a variety of ways

to do this, yet they often attempted to purge the cause of the ailment

from the body, by whatever means were deemed necessary (Gottfreid 106).

Bloodletting was very common (Margotta 66).

Bloodletting therapy was based on the

theory of opposites. Doctors believed diseases could be caused by excessive

amounts of body fluids. For its alleviation, bloodletting was the main

treatment. This procedure was thought to move the material causing one’s

illness and make it pass from one organ to another, thereby making it easier

to eliminate. When blood was taken from the side of the body opposite

from where the disease was situated, it was supposed to relieve the patient’s

plethora and pain. Detailed directions were given regarding the most

favorable days and hours for bloodletting, the correct veins to be tapped,

the amount of blood to be taken, and the number of bleedings required.

Blood was usually taken by opening a vein with a lancet, although bloodsucking

leeches were regularly used (Margotta 66).

Not all aspects of medieval medicine were

as particularly brutal as bloodletting. Pharmacy, or the prescribing

of drugs or herbs, was a major part of the medieval physician’s cure.

Apothecaries were the pharmacists of the day; however, their role in medicine

extended further than simply the filling of prescribed drugs. In

many cases the Apothecary would actually prescribe drugs and give treatment

to a sick patient. Apothecaries usually had no training in the medical

field except as herbalists. They had little knowledge of the

workings of the human body or diseases that affected it. In fact,

since the herbs that Apothecaries used to make their medicines were usually

extremely expensive spices, most doubled as merchants (Gottfreid 108).

Physicians were the primary treatment

practitioners during the middle ages, yet into the 13th century, numerous

medical treatments were being conducted by a new and separate group of

people known as barbers, barber-surgeons, and surgeons. These new

groups increasingly took on the responsibilities of many types of invasive

and non-invasive procedures. These new groups did not receive their

training from universities, but from a hierarchy of apprenticeships regulated

by guilds. The contributions of their procedures however, were significant

(Duin 26).

Only a few surgeons undertook complicated

operations and then only for life-threatening or extremely painful conditions

such as bladder stones, urinary obstruction and toothache. There

were attempts at anesthesia to reduce pain: sponges were impregnated with

opium or mandragora and placed in the mouth or nose. However

it is unlikely that these worked very well, since contemporary illustrations

show that it was necessary to restrain patients physically during operations.

(Duin 27)

Barbers were very important in the medical

community. By the end of the Medieval period, the barber surgeons

had a distinguished place in society and were very well established (most

because of the significantly lower rates they charged than the doctors)

(Gottfreid 108) (Margotta 66). In time, the Faculty of Medicine in

Paris established a course for barbers. Eventually barbers became

closely associated with physicians (Margotta 66).

Besides Barbers, another contribution

of the middle ages to medicine was the hospital. Hospitals of the

12th century were certainly not like the hospitals we know today.

Hospitals of that era were primarily established to care for orphans,

the blind, and the sick. Most hospitals were usually overcrowded

and dirty. Doctors and nurses there could do little more than comfort

patients before they died (Porter 7).

Hospitals can be dated back as early as

ancient Greece. Most hospitals of the middle ages were products of

the Christian churches and their principles of charity. The Middle

Ages saw the founding of hundreds of hospitals throughout Europe and in

the lands influenced by the Crusades. At the highest point of this

growth, there were over two hundred hospitals in England and Scotland and

more than two thousand hospitals in France (Margotta 69).

Most hospitals of the middle ages were

established and operated by the church. Yet, as the 13th century

approached, civil authorities began to assume responsibility of the hospitals.

As a result, many great hospitals were born. Cities took great pride

in their new hospitals and commonly commissioned many of the great architects

of the day to design them. Great sums of monies were lavished upon

these new buildings which attracted an association between art and medicine.

This new patronage lead to the very foundation of the renaissance and many

of its glories (Margotta 69).

As the Middle Ages came to a close new

ideas in medicine that challenged the traditional ones began to emerge.

Today, many medical practices such as bloodletting are no longer

used. Modern doctors have almost no uses for these early practices.

Yet, medicine today would not be as sophisticated as it is without the

early experimentation and progress made during the Middle Ages.

Works Cited

Duin, Nancy. A History of Medicine.

London: Barnes & Nobel Inc, 1992.

Gottfreied, Robert S. The Black

Death. New York: The Free Press 1983.

Margotta, Roberto. The History of

Medicine. New York: Smithmark 1996.

Porter, Roy. Medicine : a History

of Healing. China: Barnes & Nobel Books 1997.

Grigsby, Byron. Medical Misconceptions.

17, December 1999 <http://www.geocities.com/~jarrow/Ch4.html>.