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Medieval causes of disease - Coggle Diagram
Medieval causes of disease
Influence of hippocrates
Theory of the four humours
The universe was made up of four basic elements - fire, water, earth and air - the body must also be made up of four humours all created by digestion different food
Blood, phlegm, black bile, yellow bile
All the humours must be balanced and if they became unbalanced you became ill and needed to fix it by doing the opposite of what your unbalance was
Influence of Galen
Book learning
The articella
By the mid 13th century, medical students in European universities relied on articella to tell them about medicine
Studied some work of a 9th-century persian doctor, Hunay ibn-Is'haq who had studied the work of hippocrates and galen
Urine charts
They were consulted and it was examined to aid diagnosis
Was thought to be one of the best ways to check the humours of the body
The colour, thickness, smell and taste would be checked to make a diagnosis
A very important part of medicine
E.G. Norwich Cathedral Priory employed a full-time physician to examine urine
Astrology
Star charts
The alignment of planets / starts could help pick a diagnosis
A physician would consult star charts and look at when the patient was born to find out why they fell ill
The Church first frowned upon star charts but once the black death arrived it became more accepted
A supernatural explanation during c1250-c1500 because of Hippocrates's views
Religion
Famine
Leprosy
The bible tells many stories of how God sent disease as a punishment
A painful skin disease followed by paralysis and eventually death
Fingers and toes would fall off as well as body hair and ulcers would develop inside and out of the body
Miasma
'Bad air' that they tried to purify