on this cheat sheet
Everything on the GCSE History The Medical Renaissance: Vesalius, Paré and Harvey poster is written out below, section by section. Use it to search the sheet, copy parts into your own notes, or check a fact quickly.
The Renaissance was the turning point
The Renaissance was the turning point when doctors began to test Galen and the other ancient authorities instead of simply trusting them, though everyday treatments still changed slowly.
What opened the door to change (c1440)
- The Renaissance (approx. 1300s-1600s) revived learning and encouraged people to observe and question rather than accept old authority.
- The printing press, invented around 1440, spread new medical books and accurate anatomical drawings quickly across Europe.
- Human dissection became more common and the Church's control of learning weakened, so doctors could at last examine the body for themselves.
- British doctors trained at leading European universities such as Padua in Italy and brought the new ideas home.
Vesalius corrected the anatomy (1543)
- Andreas Vesalius dissected human bodies and published On the Fabric of the Human Body in 1543, filled with detailed and accurate drawings.
- His work proved that Galen had made mistakes, such as claiming the human jaw was made of two bones when it is really one, because Galen had only ever dissected animals, not humans.
- Showing that the great authority could be wrong encouraged other doctors to trust their own observation over the ancient texts.
Paré improved surgery (c1545)
- Ambroise Paré was a French battlefield surgeon who replaced painful old methods with gentler and more effective ones.
- In place of sealing wounds with a hot iron, he tied off blood vessels with silk threads called ligatures.
- In place of burning wounds with boiling oil, he used a soothing ointment of egg yolk, rose oil and turpentine, and he designed artificial limbs for amputees.
Harvey explained the blood (1628)
- William Harvey proved that the heart pumps blood around the body in one direction, a closed circulation, and published his findings in 1628.
- He disproved Galen's belief that the liver made fresh blood all the time which the body then used up.
- All three men met strong resistance from doctors still loyal to Galen, and their ideas won acceptance only slowly, the continental work of Vesalius and Paré reaching Britain through translations and teaching.