Summary AQA GCSE History: Medicine- Galen and Hippocrates
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A full in depth notes summary of AQA GCSE Medicine: Galen and Hippocrates. These notes managed to get me a grade 8 on my AQA History GCSE in 2022. All notes have been made using class notes, teacher notes and AQA History guides. All notes that i have made are Dyslexia friendly, are colourful and ea...
Hippocrates and Galen revision
Hippocrates- the four humours
Greek thinkers believed that the body contained 4 liquids that were important. The 4
important liquids were called humours. These were phlegm, blood, yellow bile and black bile.
If one humour became unbalanced, like if there was too much or too little of one, this could
make a person ill. They based this off many Greek treatments and doctors continued to
believe this for 1000’s of years. This effected the way people were treated over time.
Why??!
Greek doctors attempted to understand what caused diseases and carefully observed
those that were ill. They realised that when someone was ill, there was liquids coming
out of the body. An example was phlegm coming from the nose or vomit from the stomach.
Greek doctors then came to the conclusion that the humours were coming out of the body
because there was so much of it, which meant they needed to be more balanced.
progress?!
These days, we know that the four-humours theory is incorrect, but it did have a few positive
outcomes. it led to Greek people doing things in moderation: such as not eating or exercising
too much to keep them healthy. People also started researching the causes of illnesses and
not just saying that it was god’s fault and then praying to make themselves better. If people
look at things logistically, they will find the cause.
Hippocrates
He was the most famous Greek doctor who created and developed the theory of the 4
humours. He made his students swear an oath that people give their confidence in doctors.
The oath was: “I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgement but
never with a view to injury or wrongdoing. I will not give poison to anybody… whatever I see
or hear professionally or in my private life which ought not to be told I will keep secret.”
Doctors still use this oath in modern day.
Alexandria
Greek doctors thought that dissecting dead bodies was wrong, no matter how interested
they were. The first Greek doctor that dissected a dead body was Herophilus, and he
discovered that the brain controlled the body and there was a difference between nerves and
arteries as well as identifying different parts of the body. Herophilus worked and lived in
Alexandria, Egypt as he wouldn’t be able to dissect them in Greece. Eventually, Alexandria
became the centre of medical knowledge, and had a university and a library they collected
work from doctors in India, China, Egypt and Mesopotamia. Many doctors from the
Mediterranean came to Alexandria so they could learn about their profession.
Galen
He was born in Greece and studied medicine from the age of 16. Galen visited Alexandria to
learn more and gain practical experience, so he treated injured gladiators that had either
stab wounds or broken bones. This gave Galen a lot of experience on how to become a
doctor and in 162AD he travelled to Rome, Italy.
His ideas
Galen said that doctors should observe patients to help work out what is wrong with then,
just like Hippocrates. He developed Hippocrates idea of the four humours and created the
Theory of Opposites. If the patient had too much phlegm as a symptom, then the problem
was caused by the cold. So therefore, the patient should take the ‘opposite’ treatment like a
fiery pepper to warm them up. Galen dissected human bodies when he moved to Rome, but
he had to use animals. But he proved that the brain-controlled speech and the arteries and
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