Medicine

Renaissance medicine was not the same as modern medicine. Physicians based their understanding of how the body functioned in health and in illness on a set of theories that were very different from today's theories. Although they understood diseases well enough, Renaissance doctors usually could not do very much to cure a sick person.

Medical Practice. A variety of people provided medical services during the Renaissance. The most highly trained were physicians, who treated disease. Surgeons, a separate group, tended to wounds and broken bones. Apothecaries* mixed medicines, and midwives assisted at births. Most villages had "wise women" and "cunning men" believed to have a talent for magic or a divine gift for healing. Specialists such as bonesetters and tooth-pullers performed many of the tasks now associated with medical doctors. Quacks and sellers of fake cures were common. Traveling healers known as charlatans performed cures in public squares and used showmanship to sell medicines.

Many patients treated themselves or received treatment from family members. Housewives often made their own drugs and tried to cure even the most serious diseases. Patients did not tend to give physicians the final say on medical matters. They often questioned the doctor's judgment or called in someone else if they disagreed with his advice.

Most people received treatment at home, but hospitals provided care for some of the poor and ill. The level of care in hospitals varied greatly. Their mission included not only caring for the sick but also providing aid to the poor and housing disorderly people. They often excluded people with incurable or infectious diseases, such as plague* or smallpox.

Governments paid attention to health measures only during times of plague. After an epidemic in the mid-1300s, some Italian cities set up systems to isolate plague victims and those who lived with them. Other European cities developed ways to spread news of plague outbreaks, restricted travel, and inspected goods. By 1500, Italian towns and cities, especially those that could not attract private doctors, had begun hiring official town physicians. They provided free medical care to the poor, advised local governments on matters of hygiene, and offered their services to the wealthy for pay. Cities in Northern Europe, such as Berlin and Amsterdam, also employed their own doctors.

The Care of Women. In the area of women's health—especially childbearing—physicians played only a minor role. Although male doctors treated some disorders, midwives usually examined patients prior to treatment. Except among the highest classes, midwives also managed most births. Women called in surgeons only in extreme cases.

Many texts on obstetrics (delivering children) and gynecology (caring for the female reproductive system) came from ancient Greece and Rome. These works often focused on philosophical topics such as the differences between the sexes and how human life arises. However, Renaissance physicians wrote a number of works on women's health, many of them aimed at female readers. By the late 1500s, works on obstetrics written by and for male surgeons began to appear. As a result, men eventually came to dominate this area of medicine.

Ancient Theories. The Renaissance passion for classical* knowledge extended to the field of medicine. By the early 1500s, humanists* had translated a variety of Greek and Latin medical texts. Important ancient texts included Greek works by the physicians GALEN and HIPPOCRATES. Hundreds of new editions of Galen's works appeared during the 1500s.

The basis of Renaissance medicine was the theory of humors, first developed by Hippocrates and refined by Galen. According to this theory, the body contains four fluids, or humors: blood, phlegm, choler (yellow bile), and melancholy (black bile). Renaissance doctors saw the humors as representing different combinations of the four basic qualities—hot, cold, wet, and dry—that the Greek philosopher ARISTOTLE claimed made up the world. They also viewed the human body as a microcosm, or little world, that reflected events in the world at large, such as the changing seasons. For example, because they believed blood to be most abundant during spring, physicians routinely bled people at that time of year.

A basic principle of medicine was that opposites cured opposites. Thus, for example, doctors used "hot" remedies to treat "cold" illnesses. In applying this principle, doctors tried to account for each patient's individual temperament. They believed that each person contained a unique mix of humors that shaped his or her physical and mental characteristics. They tried to balance the patient's natural blend of humors with medicine or food. For example, since they saw phlegm as a cold and wet substance, they advised "phlegmatic" individuals to avoid watery foods and to eat dry and hot items. However, few guidelines existed for determining a patient's balance of hot, dry, cold, and wet.

According to medical theory, the body was porous, or spongy. Humors could clog up the body and cause disease, which could then travel from one part of the body to another. Doctors sought to release bad humors from the body by means such as bleeding, sweating, vomiting, purging (use of laxatives), and blistering (burning the skin to raise blisters). Both physicians and surgeons relied on these theories and procedures. Besides treating illness, physicians gave advice on how to lead a healthy lifestyle, tailoring their suggestions to the individual. Many books on health became available to the public during the 1500s.

Sources of Drugs. All medical caregivers used medicines made from plants, animals, and minerals. Healers had used these items to cure disease since ancient times. A simple was a medicine that contained a single ingredient, while a compound might include many different items. Towns and universities built botanical gardens to raise medicinal plants, and medical professors sometimes took students on field trips to the countryside.

Many of the plants mentioned in ancient texts were unfamiliar to European physicians, so they conducted extensive searches to locate "lost" plants. Physicians also used plants and remedies found in new lands such as Africa, Asia, India, and the Americas. They adopted spices from Asia and American plants such as tobacco, sassafras, and guaiac wood. They had no trouble fitting these new cures into the ancient system of humors.

New and Old Diseases. European explorers unknowingly brought Old World diseases to America. Illnesses such as smallpox, measles, tuberculosis, and scarlet fever devastated the native people of the New World, who had never been exposed to them before. One illness, according to many scholars, made its way from the New World back to Europe: syphilis, a dangerous sexually transmitted disease. Doctors at first treated syphilis with mercury, which caused a host of horrible side effects. Later, guaiac wood became a popular remedy for the disease. Spaniards had seen American Indians using the wood for this purpose and made large profits importing it into Europe. Many people regarded new diseases such as syphilis and the "English sweat" (perhaps influenza) as God's punishment for human sinfulness.

Medical Change. The German physician and alchemist* PARACELSUS (1493–1541) and his followers criticized the theory of humors. They saw bodily functions as chemical processes and argued that doctors should use chemical remedies to treat diseases. While outwardly modern, the theories of Paracelsus were highly mystical*. He believed that heavenly influences could spread disease and that a physician's ability came from God, not from study. He advised physicians to learn medicine by observing nature rather than attending colleges or reading books. Paracelsus also claimed that like cures like. For example, he suggested the use of walnuts to treat disorders of the brain, because the walnut looks like a brain.

Despite these odd features, the medical ideas of Paracelsus slowly gained favor after his death. By the late 1600s, Galen's ideas were in decline, and doctors increasingly accepted new chemical theories of medicine. Still, much of medical practice stayed the same until the 1700s, when the idea of the body as a machine replaced older theories.

Medicine

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