2.1.2

Paré & Harvey

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The Work of Paré

In the 16th century, Ambroise Paré made significant advancements in surgical techniques. Paré was a barber surgeon who then worked as an army surgeon. These experiences helped him to develop new and better methods.

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Gunshot wounds

  • When Paré began work as a battlefield surgeon, gunshot wounds usually became infected.
  • Gunshot wounds were usually treated using boiling oil and this would cauterise (seal) the wound, but often this did not work.
  • In 1537, Paré ran out of oil on the battlefield. He used cream/ointment instead of oil. This seemed to work better than oil.
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Amputations

  • Paré used ligatures to tie blood vessels together before amputation instead of burning them as had been done previously.
    • This did increase the risk of infection but was a lot less painful for patients.
  • Paré also seems to be the first person to have fitted prosthetic (artificial) limbs on his patients.
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Writings and ideas

  • In 1575, Paré’s Works on Surgery was published. One individuals’ ideas had a huge impact on surgery in medieval and Renaissance times.
  • Surgeons across Europe read Works on Surgery and Queen Elizabeth I’s surgeon William Clowes promoted Paré’s discoveries.
    • Paré then became the surgeon to four French Kings.

The Work of Harvey

William Harvey was an English physician (doctor) who was born in 1578. He studied medicine in Padua and was particularly interested in physiology. He was the physician for the English Kings James I and Charles I.

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Harvey and Galen

  • Harvey challenged Galen’s understanding of blood and how it circulated around the body.
    • He thought that blood circulated around the body. This view is different to Galen’s view that new blood was made in the liver and used as fuel.
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Circulation of blood

  • Harvey used valves to show that blood could only flow one way in the body and he thought that too much blood was in the body to be continually created as fuel.
  • He showed that the heart was a pump for the blood in the body.
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Resistance to change

  • When Harvey first published his theory, he was ridiculed.
  • Professional opinion did change, but it took a lot of time and lots of doctors continued to use bloodletting despite Harvey showing it would not be effective.
    • This highlights the limited impact of one individual. Although Harvey made this major discovery, his ideas needed to be accepted by the medical community.
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Limited understanding

  • Harvey’s theory implied that bloodletting was a counterproductive (ineffective) method of treatment.
    • But this continued for many years as doctors didn’t know what else to do.
  • Despite his discoveries, Harvey did not understand why blood needed to circulate around the body and why blood in arteries and veins was different.
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After Harvey

  • His theory of circulation was the first stage toward blood transfusions becoming possible to save people’s lives.
    • In 1901, the discovery of blood groups made blood transfusions successful.
  • In 1661, after Harvey had died, a microscope was developed. This microscope showed that veins and arteries were linked by capillaries.

Jump to other topics

1Medicine Stands Still

2The Beginnings of Change

3A Revolution in Medicine

4Modern Medicine

5Themes in Public Health

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