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A short history of medicine from antiquity to modern times

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Archie Heron
A short history of medicine from antiquity to modern times


The history of medicine is connected with a civilization which is a testimony to the organization of people's lives within a specific community. The manifestation of the progress of civilization are certain rules of collective life regulating interpersonal relations, cultural products reflecting recognized values, technical inventions aimed at improving the comfort of life, as well as medical development.

Medicine is one of the oldest sciences, based on experience and treating human health, diseases occurring, their treatment and prevention. The foundations of medicine were created by Hippocrates, a Greek physician living around 460-377 B.C., who in one of his works "On Old Medicine" wrote down all the methods of treatment practised in the past. In his research he drew attention to the relationship between health and environmental factors affecting humans. However, this does not mean that only the ancient Greeks were interested in medicine. There are many messages testifying to the medical practices used in antiquity by Roman, Arabic, Egyptian, Hindu, Chinese, etc. physicians.

Medicine owes a great deal to the technology which enables doctors to diagnose a number of diseases at a very early stage and to perform treatments which doctors of past centuries could not have imagined. However, modern medicine owes a lot to the past, when empirical research created the basis for further development of this science.

Ancient knowledge

The first achievements in this field have already been made by ancient scientists, as evidenced by the commonly practised cranial trepanation. After all, this complicated method of treatment was carried out by communities living in the Middle East as well as in Europe, and patients were already passing it without any problems. Archaeological research confirms the great medical knowledge of ancient doctors, who knew human anatomy, skeletal structure, circulatory system and even brain structure. A frequent life-saving procedure was limb amputations, after which patients recovered and regained their fitness. Ancient doctors developed not only methods of treatment, but also tools, although uncomplicated, but effective. Using them, they often performed procedures that are nowadays performed with the use of specialized equipment, such as a laparoscope.

Forgotten methods and rapid development

The methods of treatment developed in antiquity in the Middle Ages were forgotten, and for many centuries to come doctors did not undertake complex surgical procedures. It was only during the Enlightenment that the practices of the Ancients were again used, enriching them with new achievements. Thus, doctors more and more often started to perform surgical operations, among which limb amputations were the most common - a consequence of many wars taking place then. Technical inventions and scientific discoveries from the nineteenth century significantly influenced the further development of medicine. Not only did more tools for performing surgical procedures appear, but also the importance of hygiene - important both during operations and during treatment and prophylaxis - was emphasized.

The promotion of hygiene changed the image of medicine at that time and sterile conditions slowly became part of surgical practice. New methods of wound decontamination and dressings to accelerate healing appeared, scientists discovered antibiotics and developed vaccines. At the beginning of the twentieth century, not only new surgical instruments appeared, but also equipment to prevent postoperative complications. An example is the vacuum chamber that prevents pulmonary emphysema during open chest surgery. During this period, a prototype ECG was developed to record heart rate.

It is also the time when more importance was attached to prevention, in order to prevent diseases to avoid the need for treatment. This was helped by better diagnostics, new test methods, and gradually introduced blood tests.

With the technological progress there was a rapid development of medicine, which resulted in specialized equipment, new methods of treatment practiced by doctors and effective medicines. Continuous scientific work and experiments conducted in laboratories in search of further effective medical solutions are also important.

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Archie Heron
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