The Renaissance (jan 1, 1300 – jan 1, 1600)

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The Renaissance took place in Europe, beginning in the 14th century and lasting until the 17th century. It was a time of artistic, political, economic, and cultural change that followed the Middle Ages. Physicians and medical professionals latched onto the growth and change that was occuring in other realms of science during this time period. The study of anatomy, medically and artistically, was very important for medical advancement. Public dissections were introduced by Mondino de Luzzi in the early 1300s, these dissections led to extensive learning about human anatomy and began to correct Galen’s work. Even universities began requiring students to witness dissections as required coursework. Andreas Vesalius wrote the most famous and influential book about human anatomy called “De humani corporis fabrica” in 1543. The publication of this work is said to have officially begun the scientific revolution in medicine. In 1628, William Harvey, a successful and celebrated physician, published the book “De motu cordis” which explored the hearts of over 40 animals. Through this exploration, he discovered circulation which was a fundamental change in the understanding of the function of the human body. Due to all of these discoveries, Galenism began to crumble as its many holes and inaccuracies were revealed.
The deconstruction of these ideas led to a desire for new exploration and the same level of success as other fields of science like physics and astronomy were experiencing during the scientific revolution. Physicians derived inspiration from new findings in physics and chemistry and founded the ideas of Iatrophysics and Iatrochemistry. Iatrophysics was created by Rene Descartes based on the expression of medicine through the laws of physics. Descartes advocated that the body was like a machine with the heart as a pump and the cardiovascular system as a hydraulic system. Paracelsus was able to connect medicine to chemistry with Iatrochemistry in which treatment should be chemical and directed at chemically disordered tissue. The final major figure of the Renaissance was Thomas Sydenham who is considered “the English Hippocrates” through his medical observations, practices, and writings. He declared that medical knowledge should come from direct observation, “medical knowledge should come from medical practice” and “the best way of increasing one’s knowledge of medicine is through his own eyes – and not through the medium of books” (lecture). He applied an empirical approach to the investigation of disease rather than focusing on the analysis of healthy bodies. Vesalius and Harvey were focused on dissecting corpses while Sydenham was looking at patients. Contrary to Iatrophysical and chemical views, Sydenham was absolutely against any claim that medicine can be based productively on the basic sciences. Acting on his empiricist commitments, he would record detailed records of his patients and what he witnessed in the course of their disease. The patterns he recorded led to the first classifications of individual diseases. His generalization of patients and their symptoms did away with the individuality of the patient and caused the disappearance of the sick person from medical cosmology.

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