There have been some massive advances in medical science since the Renaissance. Medical science goes back at least as far as the Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, best known as the namesake of the “Hippocratic Oath.” But medical science began its greatest advances with William Harvey in the seventeenth century. Among other things, William Harvey showed that blood circulates through the body, an entirely new discovery. Put simply, there was too much blood passing through the heart in a single hour for all of it to come from new sources of liquid outside the body. It had to be that much of the old liquid was also being pumped constantly, in order for this phenomenon to be explained – although, obviously, there is a role for drinking new liquids and getting rid of the old ones, by methods which will not be explicitly named here. This was a fundamental discovery, which allowed many other advances in human anatomy and physiology.
Many of these discoveries were actually more foundational advances in human anatomy and physiology. Some of them came from the study and dissection of animals, whose bodies were easier to procure than those of humans. Partly because of the era’s religious beliefs, many – even most – human beings were reluctant to voluntarily donate their bodies to medical science after their deaths. Some judges tried to help the cause by allowing physicians access to the bodies of convicted criminals who had been executed. At times, bodies were also stolen from graves and other sources. Sadly, bodies were sometimes even obtained by murder, although this fortunately was fairly rare even then. Much was learned from these things, and there is no substitute for actual human cadavers even today – as any good doctor can tell you.
Louis Pasteur
It would be hard to do justice to this three-hour presentation in a blog post of this length. But a few advances are so important that I cannot leave them out of this (admittedly brief) discussion. For example, Louis Pasteur did much to advance the germ theory of disease. He is best known as the namesake of “Pasteurization,” the process by which many dangerous germs can be removed from consumable liquids via heating. But he also did much work in microbiology, which owed much to the prior work on microscopes by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. Pasteur is one of the most famous scientists in human history, and he well deserves his massive reputation. His principles were later applied by the surgeon Joseph Lister, sometimes known as the “father of modern surgery.” Lister showed the need to sterilize surgical instruments, and thus made surgery much safer for the era’s patients (and others since his time). These men are both credited with saving millions of lives, and are well-covered in this audiobook.
Joseph Lister
Another person mentioned is the English nurse Florence Nightingale, known for her work in British hospitals during the Crimean War. She helped to show that unsanitary conditions in hospitals were contributing to the death rate among their unfortunate patients. At times, the era’s hospitals actually produced more disease than healing. But the death rate decreased drastically, after Florence Nightingale successfully advocated standards of cleanliness in these hospitals. Her work continued in peacetime, and she published a short treatise on her medical findings. She obviously saved countless lives, but she also made many scientific breakthroughs that have advanced our understanding of healing. She deserves a place among the most accomplished people in human history.
Florence Nightingale
I could go on, but I don’t want this review to get much longer. Suffice it to say that this is a great introduction to medicine since the Renaissance, and helps you to appreciate the practical applications of this supremely important discipline.
If you liked this post, you might also like:
Part of an audiobook series
Science & Discovery
Medical Science
Others to be covered later
See also the audiobook series
The Giants of Philosophy
Others to be covered later
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