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... autopsy. The use of autopsy came about due to the extensive embalming practices of the Egyptians. It was not unlikely for an embalmer to examine the body for a cause of the illness which killed it. The use of surgery evolved from a knowledge of the basic anatomy and embalming practices of the Egyptians.
Doctors and other medical personnel kept detailed notes on papyrus describing the conditions they encountered, and the treatment applied in all areas of medicine, including gynecology, bone surgery and eye complaints, the latter of which was very frequent in the dry, dusty Egyptian climate. The only medical schools of this time were the Houses of Life, centers devoted to medicine. Young doctors learned from their elders through watching their surgeries and reading medical manuscripts the scribes copied. These scribes compiled all the medical papyri of Egypt. All Egyptian surgeons were employees of the state. They worked free of charge during battles and were paid by the state after working.
The medical society of Egypt had a hierarchy with the head physicians on the top, followed by the physicians in chief, then the medical supervisors, and finally the head physicians of Northern and Southern Egypt. The Pharaoh had a royal court of doctors. Each was a specialist in a different procedure or disease. The specialists expanded knowledge on their personal subjects and passed it through generations to come. Early Chinese treatments were based on natures four elements-fire, water, earth, and air. The four elements were said to correspond to the four humours, the four most important bodily fluids to the Chinese- phlegm, bile, arable, and blood.
Before surgery, a patients correct humour was drained to cleanse the body. Through the study of the humours, the Chinese found the first link to high blood pressure, an excess of salt in the diet. They also began to use acupuncture to target certain areas of the body without dealing with them directly or using surgery. Surgery, as well as dissections, was discouraged by the rise of Confucianism, which stressed the importance of keeping the human body whole and intact. Acupuncture stayed within the boundaries of Confucius views. It was recently rediscovered by western medicine in the 1970 s and only years ago was given an endorsement by the National Institutes of Health.
During the Chinese Warring States period, the idea of Chris, or breath, became popular. Diseases were believed to be the result of too much chris. There were six types of breath- cold and heat, wind and rain, and light and darkness. Diseases were blamed on various compounds of chris. In this era of illogical thought in terms of medicine, surgery still was able to advance. Hua Tho was a surgeon who is famous for prescribing hydrotherapy and physical exercise to his patients.
He produced anesthesia through a special wine, thus revolutionizing surgery. Patients no longer had to suffer through drawn out procedures, wide awake. Ancient civilization thrived on religion. It was the driving force behind the soul of each civilizations beliefs.
Because religion was so influential, it is easy to see why medical advancements were so difficult when most of the population blamed diseases on heavenly powers. In the biblical view, diseases were gods scourges. The penitent man was free of ill health because he was also free of sin. Mesopotamian's held exorcisms for particularly evasive diseases instead of surgery or medicine.
Surgery fell into a decline in China because Confucianism urged the preservation of the living body. Celestial phenomena were said to cause epidemics. The heart was governed by the sun, the brain by the moons orbit, the bile by Saturn, and the bodies of women by the moon itself. Experimentation was the greatest method of learning for the ancients. All of our current procedures and knowledge come from someones discovery. However, along with the successful finds, there are at least twice as many failures.
These are treatments based on thinking, not fact or logic. Ancient cures for the plague were quarantine, proper hygiene, and air purification through fires. They all cut down on the spread of the plague, but these remedies were also developed to cure the same ailment. Album graecorum, the faces of dogs fed on bones, were a common pharmaceutical prescription. Sarsaparilla, china root, sassafras, sacred wood, and fumigated herbs all were prescribed to the sick. Diseases were treated with remedies containing the opposite quality in many cases.
For example, Saint Anthony's Fire, a great plague of swollen blisters which consumed the people by a loathsome rot so that their limbs were loosened and fell off before death" ravaged the people with gangrene and burning pain in the extremities, as well as convulsions, hallucinations, severe psychosis, and death. It was treated with cold herbs placed on boils. Unicorns horns, if located, were said to cure any disease or injury. In the midst of incompetent medicinal logic, surgery advanced, mainly through dissections, and eventually became widely accepted as a highly foolproof cure. Although shadowed by ignorance and lack of resources, doctors managed to educate themselves on ailments of the body and their treatments. Today, a persons heart can fail to beat and start once more after a quick surgery.
One can completely remodel their entire appearance under the blade of a plastic surgeon. Doctors can open up the chest cavity of one patient, place an organ belonging to another, and have that person completing their daily activities in a matters of days. People who did plastic surgery in India, cataract extractions in Rome 2, 000 years ago, and brain surgery 10, 000 years ago helped build the foundations of our modern health-care system and raise the quality of life we know today. Most amazing is how much they accomplished with so little. Bibliography Ancient Brain Surgery, 8 Jan. 2000 < web >> Ancient Brain Surgery, 8 Jan. 2000 < web >> Code of Hamurabi, 24 March 2000 < web >> Code of Hamurabi, 24 March 2000 < web >> Rene Taton, Ancient and Medieval Science (New York: Basic Books Inc, 1957) 418 George Garcia, MD The History of Cataract Surgery, 4 April 2000 < web >> Rene Taton, The Beginnings of Modern Science (New York: Basic Books Inc, 1957) 133 Plastic Surgery and Indian Medicine, 2000 < web indus medicine.
htm> Plastic Surgery and Indian Medicine, 2000 < web indus medicine. htm> Rene Taton, The Beginnings of Modern Science (New York: Basic Books Inc, 1957) 452 Rene Taton, The Beginnings of Modern Science (New York: Basic Books Inc, 1957) 112 Rene Taton, The Beginnings of Modern Science (New York: Basic Books Inc, 1957) 113 Rene Taton, The Beginnings of Modern Science (New York: Basic Books Inc, 1957) 113 Rene Taton, The Beginnings of Modern Science (New York: Basic Books Inc, 1957) 113 Rene Taton, Ancient and Medieval Science (New York: Basic Books Inc, 1957) 257 Rene Taton, Ancient and Medieval Science (New York: Basic Books Inc, 1957) 259 The Wonders of Ancient Medicine, 19 Feb. 1998 < web >> Rene Taton, Ancient and Medieval Science (New York: Basic Books Inc, 1957) 260 Rene Taton, Ancient and Medieval Science (New York: Basic Books Inc, 1957) 260 Rene Taton, Ancient and Medieval Science (New York: Basic Books Inc, 1957) 310 Rene Taton, Ancient and Medieval Science (New York: Basic Books Inc, 1957) 310 Rene Taton, Ancient and Medieval Science (New York: Basic Books Inc, 1957) 5
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Research essay sample on York Basic Books Brain Surgery
