Revolution in Medicine

The strides made in the medical industry have been impressive in the past centuries. Great observations and discoveries by physicians have provided solutions to chronic ailments that led to several deaths across the world.  Moreover, technological advancement has made remarkable input to the health industry, enhancing the quality life. Chronic diseases such as smallpox and polio have been successfully eliminated thanks to the great discoveries in the medical sector. Moreover, medical technology has enabled physicians to conduct delicate surgeries such as cardiac and brain surgery. This impressive progress in the medical industry can be largely connected to the extraordinary advancement in medicine in the previous ages as observed in the subsequent paragraphs.

Extraordinary Advances in Medicine

            The world underwent a radical development in medicine in the 17^th as well as 18^th centuries. Medical knowledge was one of the main focuses for the scholars in the universities. Physicians had a deep interested in studying the human anatomy. Most of the medical knowledge was borrowed from the Latin and Roman thinkers such as Galen and Hippocrates. The latter thinkers asserted that the quality of human life depended on proper functioning of human organs, temperaments, and four humuors which comprised of blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm. A doctor, according to the former thinkers, was to work towards maintaining a balance of the humors in the body by prescribing particular diets that could assist in retaining proper humoral balance in the body.    For instance, when one suffered from a cold, it was advisable to release some blood from the patients to dispense surplus blood and its high temperature as noted by Principe (94).

            Moreover, medical scholars closely compared the human anatomy with the universe. For instance, the brain was compared with the moon, which can easily explain why people are referred to as lunatic when they have mental disorders. Lunatic was borrowed from Lunar which is the Latin word for moon. This comparison was necessary because it helped medical practitioners to know the stage of an ailment. The comparison was also easy to make considering the fact that astronomy was also on great focus at this particular time.

            Principe (97) asserts that unlike in the contemporary age where a particular medicine can be used to treat several patients as long a they are suffering from the same ailment, clinician during the scientific revolution each mode of treatment to a particular patient. Since human are different in nature, medication involved a strict regimen for it to be effective. Moreover, few physicians were licensed. However, the unlicensed continued to operate particularly in the rural and then they gradually trickled into the urban areas as the government failed to control their infiltration into the urban centers.

             Treatment was often done on a contractual basis, in that in most cases, one would receive payment if his/her treatment was successful.  The battle between the licensed and the unlicensed persisted following the discovery of the Helmontianism and Paracelsianism. The traditional physicians sough to outwit the learned using some of the doctrines they had learnt from the Galenic physiology which called the need to harmonize man and nature even in medicine. After a number conflicts and discussion Paracelsian was endorsed (Principe, 94).

            The Age of Enlightenment so several medical scholars make important discoveries in the medical industry.  For instance, William Harvey made a conclusive explanation on how the blood is pumped in the body and that it is the human heart that umps blood. Robert Hook joined other medical scholars in explaining that whilst the blood is being throughout the body it passes through the lungs where it absorbs oxygen and then transports it to the other parts of the body to supply energy. It was during this time that the world was able to comprehend the respirations system. Meanwhile Marcello Malpighi was studying animal organ such as liver, skin and lungs through microscope to get a comprehensive understanding of the human anatomy (Principe, 94).

            Religion also played a significant factor during the scientific revolution and particular medicine. For instance, the Catholic Church was reluctant on permitting human dissection. The argument has been that there insufficient bodies for students to conduct dissection. Relatives were reluctant to allow the medical students to dissect their loved ones and so students only relied on bodies of executed criminal and foreigners who had within their jurisdiction. Moreover, it can be noted that the Church also disputed the antimony medicine that was used by physicians (Principe, 95).

Conclusion

            This rapid increase in medical knowledge during the 17^th and 18^th centuries provided the foundation that current physicians have based their treatment.  Though medical technology has enabled medical practitioners to be more effective in treating various ailments, the role of the initial scholars cannot be ignored. They were committed in setting a good foundation for contemporary physicians. Despite the strides made in the medical profession, there are several chronic ailments that clinician can only diagnosis but do not have absolute treatment such as HIV/AIDS that physicians need to continue examining.

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Work Cited

Principe, Lawrence. The Scientific Revolution: A Very Short Introduction. New York, NY:             Oxford University Press, 2011.