Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Deepa Pal

History of Medicine

Recommended Posts

 

The International Society for the History of Medicine (ISHM) was founded in Paris in 1921. The purpose of the Society is to assist and support the historical study of all questions relating to the medical and biomedical sciences and, more generally, to all branches of the healing arts. French and English are its two official languages. Specifically, the Society seeks to improve communication between individuals and professional groups throughout the world interested in these disciplines to promote the teaching and spread knowledge on these topics. The Society sponsors and oversees the organization of biannual international congresses in the history of medicine.

 

Birth of the International Society for the History ofMedicine

 

After 1900, a few national societies for the History of Medicine were organized :

 

the German in 1901

the French in 1902

the ltalian in 1910

the British in 1912

the Belgian in 1918

 

The 23rd section of the 27th International Congress of Medicine, held in London in 1913, was devoted to the History of Medicine. On Tuesday, August 12,1913, a motion was adopted unanimously, jointly signed by, among others, Wellcome, Sudhoff and Wickersheimer, expressing the intention to constitute an "International Federation" of all of these societies, in order to facilitate scientific exchanges and to encourage the study of the History of Medicine.

 

During that period, (Jean-) Joseph Tricot, a young Belgian physician born in 1875, was addressing the same project. Having completed his medical studies in Louvain in 1899, he deepened his histological and bacteriological knowledge in Paris during the succeeding years, where he not only met his future spouse, Mademoiselle Royer, but also several French medical historians, during their monthly meeting at the old medical faculty building in Paris. Tricot- Royer began his practice as a doctor of stomatology in Antwerp. On April 2,1914, the four hundredth anniversary of the birth of Andreas Vesalius, Tricot-Royer organized a meeting at the Sorbonne in honor of Vesalius. In October of the same year, he led a Franco-Belgian initiative to establish an international society. This effort was supported by the representatives of numerous countries, including the Frenchmen, Delaunay, Jeanselme, Laignel-Lavastine, Menetrier and Neveu; the Dutchman, De Lint; the German, Sudhoff; the Englishman, Rolleston; and the Spaniard, de Alcalde. But, the project was stymied by the outbreak of the First World War. Tricot-Royer employed these four years to refine his plan, while at the same time extending the study of his country’s medical folklore. Following the end of the war, he assembled his colleagues from the Allied countries and succeeded in organizing, in 1920, the "1st Congress on the History of Healing. "Held at the Antwerp (Belgium) Medical Center, this Congress was very successful. 191 participants came, from 10 different countries, including Turkey and the United States, and presented 61 papers.

 

Paris, the host city of the 2nd Congress held in 1921, could do no less : 214 delegates from 15 countries attended the birth of the International Society for the History of Medicine, thereby fulfilling the wish expressed by the Dutch medical historian, De Lint: "An International Association for the History of Medicine is created, whose permanent headquarters is in Paris. "Although Sudhoff had actively participated in the preparatory work for such a society before the war, the Germans did not return until 6 years afterward, at the congress of Leiden and Amsterdam of 1927.

 

For more, click here

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Dear Deepa,

Whats about the assosiations of History of Medicine from South East and Central Asia? I think they were the regions where medicine was at the boom once.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

i liked the article, but can u pls continue it or at least if u have compiled or have a reference, pls add the link to this post?

 

good job

 

 

DX

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

PRIMITIVE MEDICINE

 

  • Medicine was conceived in sympathy and born out of necessity.
  • The first man was the first doctor and the first woman was the first nurse.
  • Disease and suffering were attributed to the wrath of god, body invasion by evil spirits, influence of stars and planets.
  • Used charms and amulets to protect themselves from the evil spirits, rituals and sacrifices to please god and evil spirits.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

INDIAN MEDICINE

 

  • One of the ancient systems of medicine (5000 BC).
  • Dhanwantari was Hindu God of medicine.
  • Ayurveda and Siddha systems of medicine – knowledge of life and way of prolonging life.
  • Ayurveda – Tridosha theory of disease, imbalance of vata (wind), pitta (gall) and kapha (mucuc) causes diseases.
  • Atreya, Charaka & Vhagbhatt were great physicians and Susruta a surgeon.
  • Hygiene and sanitaion was given great importance.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Chinese Medicine (2700BC)

 

  • World’s first organized system of medicine.
  • CM is based on balance of two principlaes – yang (masculine) and yin (feminine).
  • Chinese were pioneers of immunization againt smallpox.
  • To a Chinese,”the great doctor is one who treats not someone who is already ill but someone not yet ill”. Believed in prevention of disease rather than care.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Egyptian Medicine (2000-2800 BC)

 

  • Egyptians invented picture writing and recorded everything in writing in papyrus.
  • Egyptians believed in life after death and preserved dead bodies, prohibited dissection.
  • Medicine was mingled with religion and spirituality. Patients were treated jointly by the priests and doctors at the temples.
  • Doctors were knowlegeable (described partial palsy from brain lesion in skull FRACTURE), specialists (eye, head & tooth doctors)and divine.
  • Felt pulses, diseases attributed to the absorption of harmful substances from GIT that putrefy blood.
  • Used different treatments like cathartics, herbs, drugs, ointments, blood letting etc.
  • Public health system was also developed. They knew the use of mosquito nets, association of plague with rats and innoculation against smallpox.
  • Later on replaced by Greek Medicine.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Mesopotamian Medicine

 

  • Land in between Euphrates and Tigris river in Iraq.
  • Contemporary with Egyptian Medicine. But no scientific basis.
  • Medicine was based on religion and demons were the causes of disease.
  • Prescriptions were written on tablets.
  • Code of Hammurabi – first codification of medical practise. Physicians were paid for satisfactory services and penalized for harmful therapy.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Greek Medicine (460-136 BC)

 

  • Greeks added scientific logic to medicine – why and how?
  • Aesculapius (1200 BC) – leader of GM.
  • Hygiea was worshipped as a goddess of health and her sister Panacea was worshipped as the goddess of medicine.
  • Body consists of 4 humors – phlegm, yellow bile, blood and black bile, imbalance leads to disease.
  • Hippocrates (460 - 370 BC): The greatest physician in GM and is also called the father of medicine.
  • Challenged the supernatural theory of disease and magic in medicine.
  • He introduced the applicaiton of clinical methods in medicine.
  • He was a keen observer, great physician, epidemiologist, author and a philosopher.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Roman Medicine (1st Cent. BC)

 

  • Romans conquered Greeks and adopted Greek Medicine as Roman.
  • Romans were more practical than Greeks – practised sanitation – had baths, sewers and aqueducts (safe water), cleared water collections for malaria control. Built hospitals.
  • Galen (130-205 AD) : was a physician to the Roman emperor and inventor of comparative anatomy and experimental physiology. He said : Health precedes disease, needs to preserve health and then cure disease.
  • Disease was due to predisposing, exciting and environmental factors.
  • He wrote around 500 books – used in Europe for 14 centuries.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.