Galen
History essay
Galen was a Greek physician who revived the work of Hippocrates and other Greek doctors. Galen died in the Roman era but his work was still read in the medieval times this may have been because of the regression in medicine which meant that doctors had to use cures and theories that had already been discovered such as Galen’s theory of the 4 humours and opposites. Due to lack of progress in the past 1000 year’s doctors continued to use Galen’s theories. Galen’s ideas were regarded as sensible and believable. He put great emphasis on clinical observation – examining a patient very thoroughly and noting their symptoms. Galen also accepted the view that disease was the result of an imbalance between the 4 humours which were blood, phlegm, yellow and black bile. He came up with the theory of opposites, if a patient appeared to have a cold he would be treated with heat.
Many of Galen’s ideas were incorrect but were still used 1000 years after he died; one main factor that contributed to this was war. War led to lack of progress and held back new medical ideas from developing this was because a war would cost a lot of money for the government so they would compelled to spend all their money on new military equipment and salaries for the soldiers rather than new medical equipment which hindered the progress in medicine as they didn’t have the equipment that would enable them to progress. They also couldn’t give any money to help research new medical ideas meaning that no-one was able to come up with better ideas. A war was very busy and chaotic which lead to doctors being unable to train and it also meant that it was too dangerous for them to travel so they had bad communication. Soldiers were injured in thousands doctors did not have any time to research and develop new ideas; all of their time would be occupied in using what they already know to help cure or save a soldiers life. At the time of a war many medical books were destroyed and thus some very
Galen was a Greek physician who revived the work of Hippocrates and other Greek doctors. Galen died in the Roman era but his work was still read in the medieval times this may have been because of the regression in medicine which meant that doctors had to use cures and theories that had already been discovered such as Galen’s theory of the 4 humours and opposites. Due to lack of progress in the past 1000 year’s doctors continued to use Galen’s theories. Galen’s ideas were regarded as sensible and believable. He put great emphasis on clinical observation – examining a patient very thoroughly and noting their symptoms. Galen also accepted the view that disease was the result of an imbalance between the 4 humours which were blood, phlegm, yellow and black bile. He came up with the theory of opposites, if a patient appeared to have a cold he would be treated with heat.
Many of Galen’s ideas were incorrect but were still used 1000 years after he died; one main factor that contributed to this was war. War led to lack of progress and held back new medical ideas from developing this was because a war would cost a lot of money for the government so they would compelled to spend all their money on new military equipment and salaries for the soldiers rather than new medical equipment which hindered the progress in medicine as they didn’t have the equipment that would enable them to progress. They also couldn’t give any money to help research new medical ideas meaning that no-one was able to come up with better ideas. A war was very busy and chaotic which lead to doctors being unable to train and it also meant that it was too dangerous for them to travel so they had bad communication. Soldiers were injured in thousands doctors did not have any time to research and develop new ideas; all of their time would be occupied in using what they already know to help cure or save a soldiers life. At the time of a war many medical books were destroyed and thus some very