History of Medicinee
Dr. Nadir Kheir
Assistant Professor & Coordinator of Continuing
Professional Pharmacy Development
College of Pharmacy, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
NK- 10/6/2012-CoP-
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Learning Outcomes
By the end of this lectures, you will be able to:
1. Explain the relevance of studying some aspects of the
history of medicine
2. Describe the progress of the medical profession from its
early times to the current time
3. Name several individuals that played, through history,
important roles in the path of medicine and describe
their contributions
4. Discuss land mark and historic events in the history of
medicine that lead to significant changes in medicine
5. Identify successes and challenges facing medical care
today
October 6, 2012
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References
• Delegation of the European Union to the USA. Healthcare in
the 21st Century: seeking sustainable, equitable and effective
solutions, 2008. Available in:
http://www.eurunion.org/News/eunewsletters/EUFocus/2008/EUFocus-Healthcare-5-2008.pdf
• US National Library of Medicine. History of Medicine.
Accessed on 27 Sep 2011. Available in: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/
• Selin H, 2008. Encyclopaedia of the History of Science,
Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures (2nd
edition). Berlin: Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Why…
• Should you know about the history of
medicine?
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An Old Necessity
• Early civilization held form beliefs to try
explaining birth, death, and disease
• Illness was thought to result from evil spirit,
magic, witchcraft
• While first humans used supernatural forces
to heal their sick, modern medicine relies on
science
• DNA and research has replaced spirits and
witchcraft
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History of Medicine: Lessons to Learn
• Ideas and practices developed over the
centuries
• Ancient Greeks set the foundations for
modern diagnostic techniques
• Leonardo da Vinci was amongst the first to
dissect the human body to learn how it works
• Medical students still learn about anatomy in
the same way
• Continuous evolution: each generation builds
on the knowledge of earlier times
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The Ancient Times- 8000 BC
• Evidence from archaeologists who have
excavated and explored ancient sites
• People got sick, needed treatment
• Cave paintings and symbolic artifacts suggest
early humans believed in spirits and
supernatural forces
• Ancient medications included: animal blood,
plant roots, herbs, casting spells to heal
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Ancient Surgeries
• Amputation and trepanning
• Skulls with massive holes
• A deliberate operation carried out whilst the
person was still alive
• Evidence that patients survived and bone
grew back
What might be the health conditions that
led to trepanning?
What complications that might follow the
procedure?
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The Egyptians- 2000 BC
• Old Egypt developed the closest an ancient
medicine can get to a true medical science
• Herodotus described the Egyptians as "the
healthiest of all men, next to the Libyans”!
• The first to specialize (each physician is a
healer of one disease and no more)
• Developed the fields of anatomy, public
health, and clinical diagnostics
• Also: The goddess Sekhmet was believed to
cause or cure diseases and priests played a
large part in Egyptian medicine
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Egyptians: Papyrus Writing
• The oldest text books
• Describe medical techniques and used compression
on a wound to stop bleeding
• Specialists in obstetrics and gynecology
• Their pharmacists prepared prescriptions of
ointments, potions, inhalers and pills by processing
plant materials
• They used preparations including opium, cannabis,
linseed oil and senna
Medicines were used to help relieve pain but were not thought to play
any other role in the healing process
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The Egyptian Flu Remedy:
To make them feel better, the patient should be given the
milk of a mother who has given birth to a boy. The
following spell was to be made to get rid of the cold:
May you flow out, catarrh, son of catarrh, who breaks the bones, who
destroys the skull, who hacks in the marrow, who causes the seven openings
in the head to ache.
Ebers Papyrus
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The Greeks and Romans- 450 BC to 300 AD
• Home to one of the earliest civilizations
• Literature, fine art, mathematics, philosophy
flourished
• The Greeks believed in many gods but used
science to understand the world around them
• Most famous Greek: Hippocrates
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Hippocrates
• Born in 460 BC
• One of the most outstanding figures in the
history of medicine
• His contributions revolutionized medicine
• This helped establishing medicine as a
profession
• Held opposing views that sent him to 0 years
in prison in Greece
The first person to believe that diseases were caused naturally and
not as a result of superstition, and gods
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Hippocrates Theory
• A balance in the body between humors:
blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile
• Sickness indicates an imbalance between
these 4 humors
• Treatment usually bleeding or induced
vomiting
• This formed the basis of medical treatments
well into medieval times
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The Theory of Humorism
Blood
Blood gave a person a lively personality and lots
of energy. They would enjoy life and the arts.
Phlegm
Phlegm made a person feel lethargic or have a
dull personality.
Black bile
Black bile caused depression and sadness.
Yellow bile
Yellow bile influenced a person's temperament,
and it caused anger and a fiery temper.
Although this theory was later abandoned as incorrect, the Hippocratic school
or Koan applied general diagnoses and passive treatments, and focused on
patient care and prognosis, not diagnosis
Criticized for been too passive
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Selin H, 2008. Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures (2nd edition). Berlin: Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Hippocrates’ Most Outstanding
Contributions in Medicine
• Introduction of the foundations of professionalism
• Advocated: discipline and rigour
• On the Physician: physicians must be well-kempt,
honest, calm, understanding, and serious
• Physicians must pay careful attention to all aspects of
practice
• Detailed specifications for, "lighting, personnel,
instruments, positioning of the patient, and
techniques of bandaging and splinting“
• Strict documentation of observations and findings
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Selin H, 2008. Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures (2nd edition). Berlin: Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Roman Contribution: Galen
• Greek immigrant to Rome
• Private doctor for Gladiators!
• Dissected animals to know how the body
works
• Helped in progress in surgery and wound care,
treating bladder stones, hernias, and cataracts
The Romans realized a relationship between dirt and disease
They built aqueducts to supply clean drinking water and sewers to remove
wastes safely
They encouraged personal hygiene to reduce disease and Roman baths
were places to socialize as well as stay clean
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The Middle Ages and Medicine- 500 to 1400 AD
• Following the fall of the Roman Empire, things
deteriorated
• Hygiene lost, diseases became endemic
• Illness was again perceived as punishment by
the Gods
• Herbal medicines and other remedies were
outlawed by the Church
• Nuns and Monks cared for the ill
October 6, 2012
Selin H, 2008. Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures (2nd edition). Berlin: Kluwer Academic Publishers
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The Plague
• Black death, or Bubonic Plague, attacked in 1347 (contagious
Pneumonia)
• Only treatments: superstition, prayer, and recipes to rid the
air off miasma or bad air
• Broke out in Istanbul and was carried by traders to Europe
• Killed up to 90% of the population
• Main Culprit:
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Fleas and Rats infestation which helped carrying the
microbes to all villages and cities
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Arabs & Muslims: 700-1500 AD
• Arabia and Persia became centre of scientific
and medical knowledge after the fall of the
Romans and the corrupt and backward Europe
• Translated Greek and Roman writings and
refined their science
• Focused on life style and health (exercise, diet)
• Used alcohol to disinfect wounds
• Created to first proper hospitals: medical and
surgical wards, operating theatres, and
pharmacies for the dispensing of medicines
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AVICENNA (980-1037 AD)
The Prince of Physicians
• 'Abu 'Ali al-Husin ibn 'Abdullah ibn
Sina wrote on numerous subjects,
everything from philosophy to law
• His most famous book was, "AlQanun fi-l-tibb" (The Canon of
Medicine
• Translated and used by Western
Medical Universities until the 17th
century
• He seems to have extensively
studied herbal medicine from
numerous (other than western)
cultures such as Arabian, Indian and
Persian etc.
The most famous scientist of Islam and one of
•
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the greatest of all times
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856-925 A.D: Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakarīya alRāzi
 Razi introduces the use of mercurial
ointments and developed mortars,
flasks, and spatulas, which are still
used in pharmacies today.
 Razi also contributed to the ethics and
professional ideals of medicines, and
was the first to call for what is now
known as continuing medical
education and life-long learning.
 The first to discover allergic asthma
and the first to write articles on
allergy, allergic rhinitis, fever, and
immunology
http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=692
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Famous Muslim Pharmacy Pioneers
Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis) (936-1013
AD) was the 1st to prepare medicines by
sublimation and distillation.
Sabur Ibn Sahl (died in 869 AD), was the 1st
physician to initiate pharmacopoeia,
describing a large variety of drugs and
remedies for ailments.
Al-Biruni (973-1050 AD) wrote the most
valuable Islamic works on pharmacology
entitled Kitab al-Saydalah (The Book of Drugs)
detailing the properties of drugs and outlined
the role of pharmacy and the pharmacist
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The Renaissance- 1400-1700 AD
• A period in which there was a revival in
Europe of the ideas of ancient Rome and
Greece
• Arts, science, music flourished
• The creation of printing press revolutionized
information technology and spread
information around Europe
• The printing press was the most astonishing
and effective discovery of the day
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The Renaissance- 1400-1700 AD
• Medicine remained dominated by the church
• This was the time of geniuses like Leonardo da Vinci and
Michelangelo
• Books were translated from Arabic medical texts
• Andreas Vesalius and Leonardo Da Vinci dissected human
bodies and made the first anatomical drawings
• The church permitted the dissection of criminals or 'sinners'
• Doctors learned about anatomy from watching these
dissections
• Sometimes the criminal was alive at the start of proceedings
as part of their punishment!
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The Vitruvian Man is a world-renowned drawing
created by Leonardo da Vinci circa 1487
http://www.worldmysteries.com/sci_17_vm.htm
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The Renaissance- : Important Discoveries
• 1628 AD: William Harvey published that the heart
acts as a pump which circulates blood around the
body
• Emergence of the view that the body is made up of
specialized systems that work together
• Influential thinkers included Copernicus and Galileo
and Francis Bacon
• The new scientific method led to great contributions
in the fields of astronomy, physics, biology, and
anatomy
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18th and 19th centuries
• The industrial revolution
• People's understanding of the body increased
• Scientific knowledge spread rapidly because scientists began
to publish their work
• A Dutch clockmaker, Anton Van Leeuwenhoek, made one of
the earliest microscopes
• Robert Hooke observed cells for the first time
• In 1661 the Italian Marcello Malpighi identified capillaries,
the structure of the kidneys, lungs, skin and spleen
• His research focused in botany, embryology, human anatomy,
and pathology
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The 18th and 19th Centuries
• Edward Jenner invented the Smallpox vaccine
• Jenner noticed that individuals who had contracted cowpox
(the cow's equivalent of smallpox) rarely caught the deadly
human version
• In 1796 he deliberately infected a boy with the pus from a
cowpox sore
• the infection protected the boy who never caught smallpox
• This marked the beginning of modern vaccination
• the German Physicist Wilhelm Roentgen discovered the X-ray!
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18th and 19th centuries
• Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch discovered that infections were
caused by certain bacteria or germs
• The study of microbes, or microbiology, was born
• The pharmaceutical industry was born
• Florence Nightingale realized that 80% of soldiers died from
infections they caught in the
• She then embarked on a campaign to modernize hospitals
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The 20th century
• Insulin: Banting and Best's work (1922)
• Penicillin: discovery and development by
Fleming, Florey and Chain (1928- )
• Other medicines developed and produced by
a growing pharmaceutical industry
• Imaging techniques progressed to Ultrasound,
magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) and
computer tomography (CT) scans
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DNA science: genome project,
pharmacogenetics and genomics
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http://purpleopurple.com/biography/Short-Biography/alexander-fleming.html
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The 21st Century:
Triumphs
• Eradication of smallpox
• The near-eradication of poliomyelitis
• Better treatment of AIDS, tuberculosis, leprosy
and malaria
• Ambitious global immunizations programs
• Evidence from research can improve the
quality of health policy, programs and services
and result in better use of limited health
resources
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The 21st Century:
Features
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An ethical profession
Prolongation of life, and ageing population
Emergence of the importance of QoL
Inequalities and equity problems
Medical challenges: Cancer, AD & Dementia,
MS, PD
• Interprofessional Education
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New Trends in Medicine
• Reconciliation of individual needs with available
finances, an aging population, rising expectations for
treatment, and costly research
• Promoting Health and Preventing Disease
• Special focus on health information, surveillance and
prevention of communicable diseases, tobacco
control, environment and health, sustainable health
development, and health research
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Quiz:
What is the biggest advancement in health
services that is about to take place as a result of
National Health Strategy 2011-2016 ?
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Questions?
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