An introduction To the history of modern medicine Western Medicine An introduction To the history of modern medicine

Medicine is the science and practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases. The word “medicine” is derived from the Latin verb “mederi”, meaning “to heal” in English. The Rod of Asclepius

The origins of medicine One of the most important founders of the European Medicine, which laid the foundations for what we currently know as Western Medicine, was Hippocrates, a Greek physician (a kind of doctor-philosopher) who lived in V century B.C.; he’s in fact called “the father of Western Medicine”. He revolutioned the concept of medicine, traditionally associated with sorcery, religion and philosophy, locating it as a profession. Another important Greek physician was Aelius Galenus, better known as Galen of Pergamon. He lived in III century A.D; he was a surgeon and a philosopher in the Roman Empire. He influenced the development of various scientific disciplines, including anatomy and physiology.

Medicine in the middle ages In the Middle Ages, because of the Roman Empire’s decay, the backward medical culture merges with Arabic medicine. In 1300 in Italy was founded the first anatomy school. This was a bad period for the European medicine: a quarter of the European population died because of the Black Plague. Avicenna

In the early and late modern period From the XV to the XVII century, in the period of the European story called Renaissance, there weren’t lots of changes in the medicine, but there was only a methodological change. (It passes by the old methods of the Greek physicians to the new scientific method). In the XVI century the first human anatomy’s book was written by Andreas Vesalius. The book was called “De humani corporis fabrica” (About human body).

Nowadays In the contemporary history the medicine is helped by experimental sciences like biology, phisiology, chemistry. In this period was discerned the medical research, which led to important breakthroughs like the discovery of the first natural antibiotic, named Penicillin, by the Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming, in 1928. Sir Alexander Fleming