500+-+1400+AD+The+Middle+Ages

500 - 1400 AD - The Middle Ages 10 Facts

The Impact on medicine in the middle ages Medical Advancements The role science played in the middle ages Links
 * Catholic Church believed that illnesses were a punishment from God for sinful behavior.
 * Stomach pains and sickness were treated with wormwood, mint, and balm.
 * The medicine was applied in drinks, pills, washes, baths, rubs, poultices, purges and ointments.
 * The Black Death held a massive mortality rate of between 30 and 40%.
 * A mixture of henbane and hemlock were applied to aching joints.
 * Wounds were cleaned and vinegar was widely used as a cleansing agent as it was believed that it would kill disease.
 * Mint was used in treating venom and wounds.
 * Myrrh was used as an antiseptic on wounds. Yarrow, or Achillea was used to treat headaches and wounds, especially battle wounds.
 * Surgeons had a very poor understanding of human anatomy, anesthetics and antiseptic techniques to keep wounds and incisions from infection.
 * Surgeons in the early part of the Middle Ages were often monks because they had access to the best medical literature – often written by Arab scholars.
 * Medicine in the middle ages was dominated by religion. Sickness was believed to be a punishment from God for sins committed and the only way to cure someone was to pray for their forgiveness. Laws stated that only trained and registered people could practice medicine. Schools and universities began to educate wealthy individuals in religion, the arts, law and medicine. Generally men, and occasionally a few women, were trained and allowed to become physicians. As universities developed, more and more came from a non-religious background and eventually it was not necessary to be a cleric to practice medicine.
 * Quarantine
 * Public hospitals
 * Formal medical schools
 * consisted of the study of nature, including practical disciplines, the mathematics and natural philosophy in medieval Europe.
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