1What did medieval people believe caused disease?
God's punishment, an imbalance of the Four Humours, or miasma (bad air). What were the Four Humours?
2What were the Four Humours?
Blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile.
3What did Hippocrates believe caused illness?
An imbalance of the Four Humours.
4What did Galen believe caused illness?
An imbalance of the Four Humours, which he developed further.
5How did medieval people try to balance the Four Humours?
Bleeding and purging.
6How did religion influence medieval medicine?
People prayed, visited shrines and believed illness could be God's punishment.
7What was the role of apothecaries in medieval medicine?
They prepared and sold medicines.
8What was the role of physicians in medieval medicine?
They diagnosed illnesses using traditional medical ideas.
9What was the role of barber surgeons?
They performed practical treatments such as bloodletting and surgery.
10What was the Black Death?
A devastating plague that reached England in 1348–49.
11What did people believe caused the Black Death?
God's punishment, bad air and an imbalance of the Four Humours.
12How did people try to prevent the Black Death?
They prayed, used charms and carried strongly scented herbs.
13Why were medieval treatments often ineffective against the Black Death?
They were based on incorrect ideas about the disease's causes.
14What was the Medical Renaissance?
A period from around 1500 to 1700 when medical knowledge and scientific investigation developed.
15What encouraged new medical ideas during the Renaissance?
The printing press, increased learning and the growth of scientific investigation.
16What was the significance of the printing press for medicine?
It allowed medical ideas and discoveries to spread more widely.
17What was the continuity in medical ideas during the Renaissance?
Many people continued to trust Galen, Hippocrates and traditional treatments.
18What was Culpeper's The Complete Herbal?
A famous book describing herbal remedies.
19Why did some hospitals close in the 1530s?
Henry VIII closed the monasteries they belonged to.
20What was one change in hospitals during the Renaissance?
Some free hospitals were established and staffed by physicians.
21What was inoculation used for?
To help prevent diseases such as smallpox.
22Who was Andreas Vesalius?
A physician who improved knowledge of human anatomy through dissection.
23How did Vesalius investigate the human body?
He studied bones and dissected human bodies.
24How did Vesalius challenge Galen?
He showed that Galen had made mistakes about human anatomy.
25What was Vesalius's important book called?
The Fabric of the Human Body.
26Who was William Harvey?
A physician who explained how blood circulates around the body.
27What did Harvey publish in 1628?
An Anatomical Account of the Motion of the Heart and Blood.
28What did Harvey prove about the heart?
It acts as a pump that circulates blood around the body.
29How did Harvey challenge Galen's ideas?
He showed that blood circulates rather than being continually made and used up.
30How did Harvey investigate blood circulation?
He dissected animals and humans and studied how valves controlled blood flow.
31What happened during the Great Plague of London?
A major outbreak of plague occurred in 1665.
32What did people believe caused the Great Plague?
Bad air, religious causes and other traditional explanations.
33How did people treat plague victims?
They prayed, used charms, purged themselves and tried herbal remedies.
34How did people try to avoid catching the plague?
They used strong-smelling herbs and avoided contact with others.
35How did authorities try to control the Great Plague?
They quarantined households, appointed searchers and established pest houses.
36What were Bills of Mortality?
Records published to show deaths and the spread of disease.
37Did measures to control the Great Plague succeed?
They did not stop its spread; the outbreak ended when the weather turned cold.
38What did many people believe caused disease in the early 1800s?
Miasma, or bad air.
39What was spontaneous generation?
The belief that living organisms could arise from non-living matter, such as decaying material.
40Who was Louis Pasteur?
A French scientist whose work helped establish germ theory.
41What did Pasteur discover about bacteria in liquids?
Bacteria could make liquids such as alcohol spoil.
42What is pasteurisation?
Heating a liquid to kill harmful bacteria.
43What did Pasteur's work support?
The idea that germs cause disease.
44Who was Robert Koch?
A scientist who identified specific bacteria responsible for particular diseases.
45Why was the development of microscopes important?
It helped scientists observe microorganisms and investigate disease.
46What did Florence Nightingale improve?
Hospital cleanliness, nursing and patient care.
47Why was Florence Nightingale important during the Crimean War?
She improved conditions for wounded soldiers and helped reform nursing.
48What were antiseptics designed to do?
Kill or prevent the growth of microorganisms in wounds and surgery.
49Who was Joseph Lister?
A surgeon who introduced antiseptic methods into surgery.
50What did Lister use to reduce infection during surgery?
Carbolic acid.
51What was the importance of anaesthetics?
They reduced pain during operations and allowed more complex surgery.
52What was one early anaesthetic used in surgery?
Ether.
53What was a major problem with early surgery before antiseptics?
Patients could develop serious infections after operations.
54What was a major problem with surgery before anaesthetics?
Patients experienced severe pain, limiting the time surgeons could operate.
55What was the purpose of nineteenth-century public health reforms?
To improve living conditions and reduce the spread of disease.
56Why were overcrowded towns a public health problem?
Poor sanitation and contaminated water helped diseases spread.
57What improvements helped public health in towns?
Better sewers, cleaner water supplies and waste removal.
58Who was Edward Jenner?
A doctor who developed vaccination against smallpox.
59How did Jenner develop the smallpox vaccination?
He used material from cowpox to help protect against smallpox.
60Why was Jenner's vaccination important?
It helped prevent smallpox and advanced the development of vaccination.
61Who was John Snow?
A doctor who investigated a cholera outbreak in London in 1854.
62What did John Snow investigate during the cholera outbreak?
The link between cholera cases and a contaminated water pump.
63What did Snow conclude about cholera?
The disease was being spread through contaminated water.
64How did Snow help control the cholera outbreak?
He persuaded authorities to remove the handle of the Broad Street pump.
65Why was Snow's work significant?
It provided evidence linking disease to contaminated water.
66What was the NHS introduced to provide?
Healthcare for everyone, free at the point of use.
67What are some challenges faced by the NHS?
Costs, staffing shortages, limited hospital beds and waiting times.
68What is a magic bullet in medicine?
A chemical drug that targets and destroys the bacteria causing a disease.
69Who developed Salvarsan 606?
Paul Ehrlich, in 1909.
70What disease did Salvarsan 606 treat?
Syphilis.
71What drug did Gerhard Domagk develop in 1932?
Prontosil, used to treat blood poisoning.
72What is an antibiotic?
A substance that kills bacteria or stops their growth.
73What was the first antibiotic?
Penicillin.
74What did Alexander Fleming notice in 1928?
Mould was preventing bacteria from growing around it.
75What did Howard Florey and Ernst Chain contribute to penicillin?
They helped develop it into a usable treatment and enabled its mass production.
76How did modern medicine improve disease prevention and treatment?
Through vaccines, antibiotics, improved diagnosis and the development of new drugs.