Medicine: Difference between revisions

[[File:Imhotep-Louvre.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Statuette of ancient Egyptian physician [[Imhotep]], the first physician from antiquity known by name]]

In Egypt, [[Imhotep]] (3rd millennium BCE) is the first physician in history known by name. The oldest [[Egyptian medical papyri|Egyptian medical text]] is the ''[[Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus]]'' from around 2000 BCE, which describes gynaecological diseases. The ''[[Edwin Smith Papyrus]]'' dating back to 1600 BCE is an early work on surgery, while the ''[[Ebers Papyrus]]'' dating back to 1500 BCE is akin to a textbook on medicine.

In China, archaeological evidence of medicine in Chinese dates back to the [[Bronze Age]] [[Shang Dynasty]], based on seeds for herbalism and tools presumed to have been used for surgery. The ''[[Huangdi Neijing]]'', the progenitor of Chinese medicine, is a medical text written beginning in the 2nd century BCE and compiled in the 3rd century.

In India, the surgeon [[Sushruta]] described numerous surgical operations, including the earliest forms of [[plastic surgery]]. Earliest records of dedicated hospitals come from Mihintale in [[Sri Lanka]] where evidence of dedicated medicinal treatment facilities for patients are found.

[[File:HSAsclepiusKos retouched.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Mosaic on the floor of the [[Asclepieion]] of Kos, depicting [[Hippocrates]], with [[Wikipedia:Asklepius|Asklepius]] in the middle (2nd–3rd century)]]

In Greece, the [[Ancient Greek medicine|Greek physician]] [[Hippocrates]], the "father of modern medicine", laid the foundation for a rational approach to medicine. Hippocrates introduced the [[Hippocratic Oath]] for physicians, which is still relevant and in use today, and was the first to categorize illnesses as [[Acute (medical)|acute]], [[Chronic (medicine)|chronic]], [[Endemic (epidemiology)|endemic]] and epidemic, and use terms such as, "exacerbation, [[relapse]], resolution, crisis, [[paroxysm]], peak, and [[convalescence]]". The Greek physician [[Galen]] was also one of the greatest surgeons of the ancient world and performed many audacious operations, including brain and eye surgeries. After the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]] and the onset of the [[Wikipedia:Early Middle Ages|Early Middle Ages]], the Greek tradition of medicine went into decline in Western Europe, although it continued uninterrupted in the [[:en:Eastern Roman Empire|Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire]].

Most of our knowledge of ancient [[Hebrew medicine]] during the [[:en:1st millennium BC|1st millennium BC]] comes from the [[Wikipedia:Torah|Torah]], i.e. the Five Books of [[Moses]], which contain various health related laws and rituals. The Hebrew contribution to the development of modern medicine started in the [[Wikipedia:Byzantine Era|Byzantine Era]], with the physician [[Wikipedia:Asaph the Jew|Asaph the Jew]].

[[File:Al-Risalah al-Dhahabiah.JPG|thumb|left|A manuscript of ''[[Wikipedia:Al-Risalah al-Dhahabiah|Al-Risalah al-Dhahabiah]]'' by [[Wikipedia:Ali al-Ridha|Ali al-Ridha]], the eighth Imam of [[Twelver|Shia Muslims]]. The text says: "Golden dissertation in medicine which is sent by Imam Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha, peace be upon him, to [[Wikipedia:al-Ma'mun|al-Ma'mun]]."]]

Although the concept of [[uroscopy]] was known to Galen, he did not see the importance of using it to localize the disease. It was under the Byzantines with physicians such of [[Theophilus Protospatharius]] that they realized the potential in uroscopy to determine disease in a time when no microscope or stethoscope existed. That practice eventually spread to the rest of Europe.

After 750 CE, the Muslim world had the works of Hippocrates, Galen and Sushruta translated into [[Wikipedia:Arabic|Arabic]], and [[Islamic medicine|Islamic physicians]] engaged in some significant medical research. Notable Islamic medical pioneers include the [[:en:Persians|Persian]] [[Wikipedia:polymath|polymath]], [[Wikipedia:Avicenna|Avicenna]], who, along with Imhotep and Hippocrates, has also been called the "father of medicine". He wrote ''[[Wikipedia:The Canon of Medicine|The Canon of Medicine]]'' which became a standard medical text at many medieval European [[:en:University|universities]], considered one of the most famous books in the history of medicine. Others include [[:en:Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi|Abulcasis]], [[Wikipedia:Ibn Zuhr|Avenzoar|Ibn Zuhr|Avenzoar]], [[Wikipedia:Ibn al-Nafis|Ibn al-Nafis]], and [[Wikipedia:Averroes|Averroes]]. Persian  physician [[:en:Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi|Rhazes]] was one of the first to question the Greek theory of [[Wikipedia:humorism|humorism]], which nevertheless remained influential in both medieval Western and medieval [[Islamic medicine]]. Some volumes of [[:en:Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi|Rhazes]]'s work ''Al-Mansuri'', namely "On Surgery" and "A General Book on Therapy", became part of the medical curriculum in European universities. Additionally, he has been described as a doctor's doctor, the father of [[pediatrics]], and a pioneer of [[ophthalmology]]. For example, he was the first to recognize the reaction of the eye's pupil to light. The Persian [[Wikipedia:Bimaristan|Bimaristan]] hospitals were an early example of [[Wikipedia:public hospital|public hospital]]s.

However, the fourteenth and fifteenth century [[Wikipedia:Black Death|Black Death]] devastated both the Middle East and Europe, and it has even been argued that Western Europe was generally more effective in recovering from the pandemic than the Middle East. In the early modern period, important early figures in medicine and anatomy emerged in Europe, including [[Wikipedia:Gabriele Falloppio|Gabriele Falloppio]] and [[Wikipedia:William Harvey|William Harvey]].

The major shift in medical thinking was the gradual rejection, especially during the [[Wikipedia:Black Death|Black Death]] in the 14th and 15th centuries, of what may be called the "traditional authority" approach to science and medicine. This was the notion that because some prominent person in the past said something must be so, then that was the way it was, and anything one observed to the contrary was an anomaly (which was paralleled by a similar shift in European society in general – see [[:en:Nicolaus Copernicus|Copernicus]]'s rejection of [[Wikipedia:Ptolemy|Ptolemy]]'s theories on astronomy). Physicians like [[Vesalius]] improved upon or disproved some of the theories from the past. The main tomes used both by medicine students and expert physicians were [[Wikipedia:Materia Medica|Materia Medica]] and [[Wikipedia:Pharmacopoeia|Pharmacopoeia]].

Modern scientific [[biomedical research]] (where results are testable and [[reproducible]]) began to replace early Western traditions based on herbalism, the Greek "[[Wikipedia:humorism|four humours|humorism|four humours]]" and other such pre-modern notions. The modern era really began with [[Wikipedia:Edward Jenner|Edward Jenner]]'s discovery of the [[smallpox vaccine]] at the end of the 18th century (inspired by the method of [[inoculation]] earlier practiced in Asia), [[Wikipedia:Robert Koch|Robert Koch]]'s discoveries around 1880 of the transmission of disease by bacteria, and then the discovery of [[antibiotic]]s around 1900.

The post-18th century [[modernity]] period brought more groundbreaking researchers from Europe. From [[Wikipedia:Germany|Germany]] and Austria, doctors [[Wikipedia:Rudolf Virchow|Rudolf Virchow]], [[Wikipedia:Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen|Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen]], [[Wikipedia:Karl Landsteiner|Karl Landsteiner]] and [[Wikipedia:Otto Loewi|Otto Loewi]] made notable contributions. In the [[Wikipedia:United Kingdom|United Kingdom]], [[Wikipedia:Alexander Fleming|Alexander Fleming]], [[:en:Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister|Joseph Lister]], [[Wikipedia:Francis Crick|Francis Crick]] and [[Wikipedia:Florence Nightingale|Florence Nightingale]] are considered important. [[:en:Spain|Spanish]] doctor [[Wikipedia:Santiago Ramón y Cajal|Santiago Ramón y Cajal]] is considered the father of modern [[neuroscience]].