History of Medicine

History Of Medicine

All human societies have medical beliefs that provide explanations for birth, death, and disease. Throughout history, illness has been attributed to witchcraft, demons, astral influence, or the will of the gods. These ideas still retain some power, with faith healing and shrines still used in some places, although the rise of scientific medicine over the past millennium has altered or replaced mysticism in most cases.

The ancient Egyptians had a system of medicine that was very advanced for its time and influenced later medical traditions. The Egyptians and Babylonians both introduced the concepts of diagnosis, prognosis, and medical examination. The Hippocratic Oath, still taken by doctors today, was written in Greece in the 5th century BCE. In the medieval era, surgical practices inherited from the ancient masters were improved and then systematized in Rogerius's The Practice of Surgery. During the Renaissance, understanding of anatomy improved, and the invention of the microscope would later lead to the germ theory of disease. These advancements, along with developments in chemistry, genetics, and lab technology (such as the x-ray) led to modern medicine.

Read more about History Of Medicine:  Prehistoric Medicine, Renaissance To Early Modern Period, 19th Century: Rise of Modern Medicine, World Wars, Post-World War II

Famous quotes containing the words history of, history and/or medicine:

    The history of reform is always identical; it is the comparison of the idea with the fact. Our modes of living are not agreeable to our imagination. We suspect they are unworthy. We arraign our daily employments.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    To care for the quarrels of the past, to identify oneself passionately with a cause that became, politically speaking, a losing cause with the birth of the modern world, is to experience a kind of straining against reality, a rebellious nonconformity that, again, is rare in America, where children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.
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