Renaissance Period (jan 2, 1500 – jan 1, 1700)
Description:
1500 - 1700
The 'renaissance' is the 're-birth' of old ideas from ancient Greece and Rome. People began to question and challenge assumptions but a lot of things stayed the same.
Change in medical thinking:
- Gradually throughout the renaissance, fewer people believed in the supernatural and religious causes of disease
- New explanations regarding the causes of diseases spread (inc. seeds spreading disease through the air)
- A reduction of control from the church means increased scientific thinking
Continuity in medical thinking:
- Miasma remained the no.1 theory for causing disease
- The four humours continued to be an accepted cause of disease although many physicians didn't believe in it by 1700
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