pulling teeth and helping wounds heal but, they rarely performed any surgeries due to unbearable pain (Andrews 98). The pain could kill the patient since there was no anesthetic during that time, which made the patient feel the pain. So, it was likely that the patient would die from pain during the surgery. Due to this unmanageable pain, people attempted to create an anesthetic. To improve medicine, Dwale was developed and the Elizabethans realized the importance of how hygiene affected healing.
Dwale (an anesthetic) was created by a doctor in England (Lyons). During this time, everyone believed Dwale worked even though it really did not work (Lyons). This was due to the decrease of the deaths when Dwale was introduced. But in the mid-19th century, an actual anesthetic was made. Later during this period, Ambrose Pare, an army physician who lived in England, discovered that hygiene was a huge deal while the wounds are healing (Ramsey). This medical discovery changed the way hospitals were maintained. So, from then on, the hospitals were a lot cleaner. This affects the way how people think about medicine and hospitals
forever. In conclusion, the Elizabethans have shaped medicine greatly. Even though they didn’t find the best solution to medical problems, they started a place where people eventually would find a better solution. The medicine lacked medical knowledge, anesthetics, and had a bunch of false beliefs which made medicine during this time very scary and painful.