
Учебное пособие (Методичка) по Истории Медицины. И.Ю.Худоногов
.pdf
improvement of cities from the 1st millennium BC (stone roads, stone pavements, sewerage, water supply). Prevention of smallpox was carried out by variolation. The first in the world pharmacy appeared in China, the first pharmacopoeia was compiled. Chinese medicine has long developed in isolation and the first information about it in Europe appeared only in the 13th century.
Questions for self-control:
1.What are the differences and similarities between the traditional systems of medicine in Ancient China and Ancient India?
2.What are the theoretical foundations of Traditional Chinese Medicine?
3.How objectively does the doctrine of the 5 cosmic elements reflect the structure of macro and microcosms?
4.What is the philosophical meaning of the doctrine of two principles – “yang”
and “yin”?
5.What organs of the human body are arranged and function in full accordance with the philosophical concept of “yang” and “yin”?
6.What is the significance of daily, monthly, annual and other cycles in the work of human internal organs for preventive and therapeutic effects?
7.What methods of treatment emerged in ancient China based on the doctrine of two principles, and how to explain their high medical effectiveness?
8.What is “Acupuncture”, how did it appear, and what place does it occupy among modern therapeutic methods of treatment?
9.How and why did the structure, size and materials of the acupuncture needles change over time?
10.What is “Moxa”, how is it obtained, how and what is it used for?
11.What is “Acupressure”, what medical and other effects can be obtained by influencing certain points?
12.Why did the diagnostic methods in China develop most actively and reached such a height that healers of other countries and peoples could not master?
13.What is “Pulse diagnosis” and why does it reflect the entire spectrum of
pathology?
188

14.What is “Diagnosis of Body Discharge” and why does a Chinese physician diagnose discharge better than modern laboratory technology?
15.What medicines came to us from Ancient China, and what medicinal effects do they have?
16.What is “Examination of the natural openings of the body”, and what does it give for the diagnosis of the whole organism, what is “General examination”, and what does it include besides the actual examination?
17.What ideas about health and illness are formed under the influence of the philosophical foundations of traditional Chinese medicine?
18.How did the breathing exercises of Chinese monks come about, and what medical significance do they have?
19.What is the meaning of imitating animal behavior when monks perform health-
improving exercises?
20. Why was the prevention of diseases in ancient China more important than their treatment, and how is variolation related this?
Healing in Ancient India |
|
Indian civilization formed |
the 3rd millennium BC. and differed from others in |
that its traditions were not interrupted, preserved and survived to our days, especially written sources (folk epos, Vedic literature, medical treatises "CharakaSamhita" and "Sushruta-Samhita", the laws of Manu).
Sanitary facilities related to the 25th century BC (water supply, sewage, baths, wells), were discovered during excavations of the ancient city of Mohenjo-Daro (today it is the territory of Pakistan) at a depth of 12 meters.
Charaka was a famous therapist and his multi-volume work “Charaka-Samhita” (1- 2 centuries AD) is devoted to the treatment of internal diseases and contains information on more than 600 medicines of plant, animal and mineral origin. Sushruta was a surgeon, and his multi-volume work “Sushruta-Samhita” is dedicated to surgical treatment. More than 300 operations, more than 120 surgical instruments and about 650 medicines are described in it.
189

The study of corpses in India was permitted by religion, and therefore knowledge of anatomy was the most extensive in the ancient world. They played an important role in the development of surgery. Such a variety of surgeries was not in other countries. Military surgery has had widespread development in Ancient India from the treatment of wounds to amputations. The wounds were bandaged with linen, woolen fabrics, leather bandages and palm bark. Suture material was represented by hemp or tendon threads, horse hair. Deep wounds were poured with boiling balms. Surgical instruments were made of steel, kept clean and stored in special cases.
Indian surgeons could have operated on (removed) cataracts, mastered the technologies of obstetric surgery (cesarean section, embryotomy, craniotomy, obstetric surgery, turning the fetus to the leg), performed herniorrhaphy, lithotomy, plastic surgery (restoration of the nose, ears, lips, lost by court order, etc.). According to the Ancient Indian technologies, rhinoplasty method went down in the history of plastic surgery. For pain lief, healers used Indian hemp juice, an extract from the root of the mandrake
The ideas about the causes of diseases in India were the same as in the medicine of China and Egypt. The ent Indians attached great importance to personal hygiene, the improvement of homes, cities. Indian doctors were the first in the world who vaccinated cow pox (vaccine) to prevent human smallpox. Doctors in India were respected. They strictly observed the provisions of medical ethics, relied on deep philosophical knowledge.
Yoga occupied a special place among the philosophical systems of Ancient India. The oldest of the major world religions (Buddhism) originated in India too.
Questions for self-control:
1.What religious systems existed in Ancient India, and why were there so many of its?
2.What is “Buddhism”, what social and political task did it solve by its appearance, what basic provisions does it consist of?
190

3.What written sources of information about medicine in Ancient India do you know, in what language they are written, why exactly in this?
4.What are the “Prescriptions (Laws) of Manu”, who wrote this work and for whom?
5.What is “Charaka Samhita”, summary and medical significance?
6.What is “Sushruta Samhita”, summary and medical significance?
7.What is the “Vedas”, why are they called so, a summary and medical significance?
8.What is “Mahabharata”, summary and medical significance?
9.What is “Ramayana”, summary and medical significance?
10.What philosophical teaching appeared in India more than 5000 years ago and why was it aimed at physical and spiritual improvement?
11.What theoretical foundations does Yoga have, and what does it give to modern
medicine?
12.What Yoga provides control of the body, and by what means?
13.What Yoga provides control the mind, and what does it give a modern
person?
14.What stages are distinguished in the history of Ancient India, and why exactly these?
15.Give an assessment of the level of development of surgery and anatomy in Ancient India, what was it connected with?
16.What obstetric operations were performed in Ancient India, and why?
17.What traumatological operations and wound treatment methods were known in Ancient India, what was the reason for this?
18.What plastic surgeries were performed in Ancient India, what was the reason of its wide spreading?
19.What ophthalmic operations were widespread in Ancient India, what was the reason?
20.What did the most ancient sanitation facilities of the Indian civilization include?
191

21.What is “Ayurveda”, and why is it considered to be a description of the traditional system of Ancient Indian healing?
22.What is written in the “Sushruta Samhita” about the structure of the human body and the development of surgery in Ancient India of the classical period?
23.How was medical care organized in Ancient India of the classical period, and what determined exactly this structure of medical care?
24.Why did medical ethics arise in Ancient India of the classical period, and what is written in the “Charaka samhita” about the requirements for doctors?
25.What measures were carried out for the prevention of diseases in Ancient India, in which country of the ancient world first began to vaccinate, and why in this country?
192

Theme 4. Healing in the Mediterranean countries.
Healing in Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece occupied a favorable geographical position at the commercial sea lanes crossroads. It contributed to the high level of development of the economy, culture, medicine of Ancient Greece, strengthening ties with the countries of the East. Scientists distinguish five main periods in the history of Ancient Greece:
1)Crito-Achaean or Aegean (3-2 millennium BC);
2)prepolisian (11th-9th centuries BC);
3)polisny (8-6 centuries BC);
4)classical (5-4 centuries BC);
5)Hellenistic (mid-4th century BC - mid-1st century BC).
Before the archaeological excavations of the 19th century, scientists had little information about this civilization. Rare material artifacts were supplemented from written sources. Homer's poems “Iliad” and “Odyssey”, “History in 9 books” by Herodotus, “Hippocratic Corpus” have been known for a long time (since their creation). However, systematic excavations began only at the end of the 19th century, when the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann found the legendary Troy, about which Homer wrote. Then excavations continued in Mycenae, at the beginning of the twentieth century on island Crete. As a result, valuable information on the early periods of the development of Greece was obtained. In the poem The Iliad, Homer describes the siege by the Greeks of Troy. An outstanding physician, the founder of the family medical school Asclepius took part in the Trojan War. Asclepius had two sons – Machaon (surgeon) and Podalirius (therapist) were military doctors – as well as two daughters: Panakeya (“allhealing”) became famous for knowing the recipes for all diseases, and Hygiea was able to prevent diseases. Asclepius also had other children, but they are not so famous and prefer activities that are not related to medicine. Subsequently, with the advent of temple medicine in Greece, Asclepius was deified and became the god of medicine of Ancient Greece. He was portrayed as an experienced man who sits leaning on a staff wrapped around with a snake. The snake symbolizes
193

wisdom, immortality and constant renewal, and the staff is the hard, long and thorny path of medicine and the doctor. The staff and the snake are now the emblem of both world medicine (the emblem of the World Health Organization – WHO) and some national health systems. Panakeya (in another transcription – Panacea) became the goddess of drug therapy. Hygiea became the goddess of health and was portrayed as a young maiden who holds a cup and water the snake. It is considered from the cup the snake draws knowledge, wisdom and immortality. According to the assumptions of the ancient Greeks, the bowl is bottomless, i.e. there is no limit to knowledge. The bowl and the snake are currently the emblem of medicine in Russia and some other countries. Medicine in Ancient Greece was empirical, folk, and developed due to family medical schools (dynasties), which were formed in the prepolisian period. The appearance of cities and colonies on islands in the Aegean, Mediterranean and other seas contributed to the emergence of secular (paid) medical schools. These the Croton, Sicilian, Knidos, Cos, Rhodes and other medical schools The greatest influence on the further development of medicine was rendered by the Knidos and Cos medical scientific schools. The philosophical
natural-scientific basis of medicine in Ancient Greece was natural philosophy, according to which a person was part of the world around him and was in harmony with it, and the causes of diseases were associated with a violation of lifestyle and the influence of the environment. Knidos Medical School was formed in the city of Knidos on the coast of the Aegean Sea (today it is the western coast of Turkey). The heyday of this school is associated with the activities of the doctor Eurifon (5th century BC). Doctors of this scientific school paid attention to the diagnosis and symptomatology of diseases, to development of surgery. The biggest achievement was the creation of 4 body “humours” doctrine – the blood, yellow and black bile, and phlegm, which are present in the everybody and must be in balance. Diseases occur when an imbalance occurs. Subsequently, the doctrine took shape in the 1st theory of pathology – humoral, which lasted until the middle of the 19th century in Western Europe. Cos school of science developed on island Cos and its heyday is associated with the name of the outstanding
194

physician of Ancient Greece, Hippocrates (5-4 centuries BC). A prominent healer of the Cos School was also Proxagoras (4th century BC). Doctors of the Cos Scientific School paid attention to the prognosis of the disease, developed the principle of observation and treatment at the patient’s bed, laid the foundations of ethics and deontology in the professional behavior of the doctor. They created teachings on 4 types of temperament based on the humoral theory and 3 types of physique. The main achievements of physicians of various medical scientific schools in the 3rd century BC were brought together in a multi-volume work, dubbed the “Hippocratic Corpus”. All works of the “Hippocratic Corpus” were anonymous, because medical secrets were not taken out of the family and modern scholars cannot say exactly who wrote these or those sections of the collection. There are suggestions that the sections on surgery, The Hippocratic Oath; Aphorisms; On Airs, Waters and Places; The Book of Prognostics; Epidemics could be written by Hippocrates personally. Some methods of diagnosis and treatment that bear the name of Hippocrates have reached us: “the face of Hippocrates”, “the fingers of Hippocrates”, “the bench of Hippocrates” and “the cap of Hippocrates”, as well the “Oath of Hippocrates”. In the classical period medicine began to go beyond the family, and the professional medical community began to form from non-blood relatives and from non-relatives at all. This process was accompanied by the emergence of hospitals and attached to them medical schools. From the 7th century BC temple medicine appeared and began to treat people as the folk (family) medicine did. In honor of the god of medicine Asclepius (Aesculapius in Rome), Asclepions began to be built in every major city. Often it was selected for building a picturesque place: a cypress grove, a mineral spring, clean air. Priests of Asclepius temples treated patients mainly with natural factors, immersed in a hypnotic dream, and used music therapy. Asclepions acted as a modern sanatorium. The Hellenistic period is the final period of the development of ancient Greek civilization and is associated with the rule of Alexander the Great (4th century BC). For several centuries, the city of Alexandria has become the center of culture (Today it is the territory of Egypt). Autopsies
195

were allowed during this period. This contributed to the development of anatomy. Surgery has also been greatly developed. Alexandrian surgeons learned to bandage large vessels to stop bleeding, which made it possible to carry out amputations of limbs and other surgical interventions more successfully. An extract from the root of the mandrake and other narcotic plants were used for anesthesia. The main successes in anatomy and surgery are associated with the names of Herophilus and Erasistratus. Herophilus studied the structure of the body, and Erasistratus studied functions – physiology. Both were experienced surgeons. Many prominent representatives of the medicine of Ancient Rome were graduates of the famous Alexandria school (Asklepiad, Dioscorides, Galen, Oribasius etc.). In the 1st century BC the center of cultural, economic life moves to the Roman Empire.
Questions for self-control:
1. Who was the God of Healing in Ancient Greece (brief biography and genealogy)?
2. Who was the Goddess of Health in Ancient Greece (brief biography and genealogy)?
3.Who was the Goddess Medicinal Healing in Ancient Greece (brief biography and genealogy), and why in the classical period the priority of “Health” was
replaced with the priority of “Medicinal Healing”?
4.On what theoretical basis was healing in Ancient Greece of the classical period based, what was the previous basis and why was it abandoned?
5.What causes of diseases were the main ones according to the natural philosophical views of the doctors of Ancient Greece?
6.What theory of pathology originated in Ancient Greece of the classical period, what were its origins and consequences?
7.Doctors of which medical school created the humoral theory, what is its essence and modern significance?
8.What is the famous Cos Medical School, what were its main achievements?
196

9.Which representative of Cos Medical School is considered an outstanding physician (Father of World Medicine), and why?
10.What famous works are included in the “Hippocratic Corpus”, and why?
11.What emblem of medicine, which arose in Ancient Greece, is the emblem of medicine in Russia, what is its original meaning associated with?
12.What symbol of healing, which arose in Ancient Greece, is the emblem of world medicine, what is its original meaning?
13.What does it means the symbol “Staff twined by a snake”?
14.What does it means the symbol “Bowl with a snake”?
15.What periods are distinguished in the history of medicine in Ancient Greece?
16.What are the sources of information about healing and medicine in Ancient Greece?
17.How does Ancient Greek mythology display healing and healers?
18.How and why did temple healing appear Ancient Greece?
19.What is the Asclepeion of Ancient Greece, what is their structure and function?
20.What medical schools of Ancient Greece of the classical period left the greatest mark in the history of medicine, with the names of which of the largest healers of Ancient Greece is this connected?
21.What are the similarities and differences between the Sicilian, Croton, Cnidus and Cos medical schools of Ancient Greece?
22.Who is Hippocrates II the Great Cos; his life and work, what methods (signs, etc.) have been named in honor of Hippocrates and why?
23.How was the “Hippocratic Corpus” (an encyclopedia of ancient Greek medicine) created, and why is it called that?
24.What can you read in the “Hippocratic Corpus” about the causes of diseases and their treatment?
25.What does the “Hippocratic Corpus” tell us about ancient Greek surgery?
26.Why is the contribution of the ancient Greeks to the formation and development of medical ethics so great?
197