8-3Medicine

//Prepared by Riley Pelisek// Elizabethan England, a time period known for its creative revolution in the arts and literature, unfortunately did not fare as successfully in the area of medicine and health. Disease and illness flourished in the 16th Century and cures heavily relied on Mother Nature and superstitions. Due to these despicable conditions, more than half of England’s population was under the age of twenty-five and to live to forty was considered a lucky, fulfilling life. Plague and disease teemed in Elizabethan England and people suffered from a gamut of illnesses. Plagues such as the bacillus //Yersinia petis// ruthlessly attacked London, killing a quarter of the population in 1563. Bubonic Plague is also a suspected killer of many unfortunate sufferers. It was a rodent’s disease, so those working near granaries, warehouses, and docks where rats ran free were likely victims. Those affected suffered from buboes that formed on the human body, these buboes were “swollen, darkened, and often painful lymph nodes,” according to Holly Cefrey in her book __Epidemics; The Plague__ (pg 17). In addition to plagues, epidemics such as smallpox lashed out on English residents. Small pox could leave dreadful scarring on those inflicted and was often fatal to children. Queen Elizabeth herself fell victim to small pox in October of 1562 but astonishingly was able to get out of bed in six days, passing the disease on to friend Lady Sidney. Another disease typhus, also known as “the bloody flux,” spread like wildfire throughout Europe. It was louse-transmitted or acquired if you had human lice. Tuberculosis also known as “Consumption,” accounted for the same proportion of deaths as plagues. The Thames River became a breeding ground for mosquitoes carrying malaria. These calamities were nightmares for the people in England according to James Giblin, author of __When Plague Strikes__, “They filled the whole world with terror. In places, not even a fifth part of the people survived,” (pg 31). With all these new diseases sparking up left and right people looked to doctors to come up with treatments and explanations. Treatments were often absurd and highly inaccurate. In fact, the most effective way people with these diseases were treated was quarantining them. According to Holly Cefrey, once a physician discovered someone had contracted disease they were “required by law to isolate the patient from everyone else,” (pg 47). The law banned them from leaving their house and burning everything they touched. Usually, once a person in the house contracted a disease it was a death sentence for family members in the residence. Although heartless, with diseases left untreated there was no solution. As far as diagnosis went general appearance was the most common method with the doctor using his or her experience to spot different illnesses. However, urine proved to be the most effective indicator of health, and purgation a form of treatment. Thomas Phaire wrote a book on treating different sicknesses including things as absurd as “rubbing the brains of a hare onto gums” to cure toothaches and other mouth pains. A stomach ache could be treated with cow’s dung boiled in the same cow’s milk. As you can see there were no real scientific measures discovered for curing most diseases. Part of the reason why no real medical advances were being made was due to the primitive beliefs of most doctors. Most doctors still used theories that were formed by Aristotle or Hippocrates. Most 16th century doctors believed in the humour theory. This stated that the body was made of four substances called the four humours; blood, phlegm, choler, and black bile. When one was ill it meant there was an imbalance of humours and this would often lead to the draining of patients where doctors would make a cut in the arm or foot and let blood drain out to “restore balance.” People also believed astrology played a huge role in human health. No real science was behind any of these beliefs so people did not know who to turn to. Superstitions and magic were the main form of curing most calamities. Elizabethan England was still living in a time where little was known about health or medicine. Despite the government’s best efforts, many unregistered practitioners roamed the streets tending to patients in aloof ways all the while spreading false beliefs about anatomy and medicine. ** Works Cited ** Cefrey, Holly. __The Plague Epidemics, Deadly Diseases Throughout History)__. New York: Rosen Group, 2001. Giblin, James. __When plague strikes the Black Death, smallpox, AIDS__. New York: HarperCollins, 1995. Picard, Liza. __Elizabeth's London everyday life in Elizabethan London__. New York: St. Martin's P, 2004. Stewart, Gail. __Life in Elizabethan London__. San Diego, Calif: Lucent Books, 2003.
 * WHAT WERE COMMON MEDICAL BELIEFS, PRACTICES, AND MEDICINES IN ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND?**