2.2.1

The Great Plague

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Changing Methods of Treatment

In the Renaissance, methods of treatment began to change.

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Doctors

  • Doctors in the Renaissance period still didn’t have much training.
    • They still used old methods that people like Harvey thought were ineffective but some began to use more modern techniques.
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Lack of alternatives

  • The printing press and the works of Harvey, Pare and Vesalius helped to spread new ideas.
    • However, blood transfusions only offered a solution to treat patients using Harvey’s theory of circulation in 1901.
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Religion and supernatural

  • Europe in the Renaissance was still a very religious place.
  • Doctors still believed that supernatural things caused illness.
  • Pilgrimages and prayers were still prescribed to cure illnesses.
  • The people believed the ‘Royal Touch’ could cure disease.
    • People would flock to the King to be cured of scrofula.
  • People still sought wise women and apothecaries to cure disease.
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Advances in Medicine

  • There were advances in approaches to medicine.
    • Hospitals began to focus on treating patients, not just caring for them.
    • Lots of towns had pharmacies.
    • Books were being published which covered how to treat illness at home.
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Quackery

  • Quackery was a form of medicine based on spectacles and displays.
  • Many people viewed this as fraudulent medicine and this became more common in the 17th and 18th century.
  • Quacks claimed their medicines could cure everything but they were usually ineffective.
  • Quacks often gave patients stimulants like opium, which gave patients the impression that they were getting better. In reality, they were giving their patients an addiction.

The Great Plague - 1665

In 1665, the bubonic plague reappeared in Britain. The epidemic killed 100,000 people (almost 25% of London’s population).

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Believed causes

  • People still blamed miasma or supernatural/religious causes (God’s will) just like they did in the Black Death.
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Remedies

  • Remedies for the plague included bloodletting through leeches, smoking, using animals such as frogs or snakes to ‘draw out the poison’ or moving to the countryside.
  • In 1666 the plague seemed to be ending. Some people think that the Great Fire of London (1666) killed a lot of the bacteria causing the plague and helping to end the epidemic.
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Improvements since the Black Death in 1348

  • There were some significant improvements in the 317 years between the Black Death and the Great Plague.
  • People recognised the connection between dirt and disease.
  • Local governments were more organised. Quarantine was more effective, bodies were collected and buried at least 6 foot deep in plague pits, trade stopped and communal gatherings were banned. The England-Scotland border was closed.
  • People were locked in their houses to stop the disease spreading.
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Understanding the Great Plague

  • Plague doctors wore special suits to protect them against “miasma”. They had masks stuffed with aromatic herbs to stop the “bad air” from reaching them.
    • This was not based on correct science but luckily the suits probably helped to reduce the spread of the plague.
  • Local governments and special suits helped to deal with the plague better, but nobody really understood why it had happened or what caused it.

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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