THE BODY

THROUGH THE
TIME
THE MIDDLE AGES
• Between the 5th and 15th centuries, sick people throughout
Western Europe accepted illnesses as God´s punishment for
their sins.
• Faith was put in prayers.
• Eventually, medical science was revived through the
establishment of medical schools based on Arab practices and
the rediscovery of Greek teachings.
MYTH, MAGIC, BUT VERY LITTLE
MEDICINE

Blood was usually Hospitals offered their The Black Death was
drained by applying patients care and caused by the bacterium
leeches or cutting open comfort but, beyond the Yersinia pestis, named
veins from the part of use of prayer, there was after the French
the body closest to the no method of treating bacteriologist Alexander
source of illness. disease. Yersin, who identified it
in the late 19th century.
The bacterium was
transmitted by biting
fleas that lived in the fur
of rats.
RENAISSANCE DISCOVERIES
ACCURATE DRAWINGS ARTIST AND SCIENTIST

Leonardo da Vinci
During Galen´s combined brilliant
lifetime, human dissection and
dissection was drawing skills with
forbidden. great attention to
detail.

TEACHING ANATOMY

During the 15th

century, some of the
restrictions on human
disection were lifted.
THE SCIENTIFIC AGE
BLOOD CIRCULATION
• William Harvey first recorded his belief that blood circulates around the
body in 1603, but fierce oppositon deterred him from publicizing his ideas
until he had experimental proof. By applying and releasing pressure to
veins, he showed that they emptied, then refilled with blood,
demonstrating that valves allow blood to flow in one direction only.

MEASURING TEMPERATURE
• It was invented by Galileo, but perfected by Gabriel David
Fahrenheit in 1709.

ANATOMY LESSONS
Lessons in anatomy became an essential part of medical training
in the 17th century, just as they are today. The period also saw
the founding of academies of science in Rome, Paris, and
London, where advances in medical science were hotly debated.
 FIRST MICROSCOPE SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS
BODY MECHANICS
The invention of microscopes Until the 18th century,
Was designed to teach
allowed scientists to explore surgery was a craft, not a
students the principles of
beyond the limits of the science. Although surgical
bone setting and the workings
human eye, showing that instruments were made of
of joints and limbs, may have
organs were made of tissues polished Wood and Steel to
been invented by
and cells. This microscope allow easy cleaning, surgeons
Hieronymous Fabricius (1537
was made for Robert Hooke in did not sterilize instruments
– 1619)
the late 1600s. between operations.