Introduction: History of medicine in the 17th century. Unfortunately, 17th-century medicine was still handicapped by misconceptions about the human body. Most doctors still thought that there were four fluids (or “humor”) in the body: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile, and believed that an excess of one humor caused disease.
However, during the 17th century, a more scientific method of medicine emerged, and some doctors began to question these traditional views.
For instance, physicians observed indigenous techniques and discovered that malaria could be ministered with the bark of the cinchona tree (effective because, as we now know, it contains quinine). However, the cause of malaria (a parasite) and its vector (the mosquito) remained unknown until the 1880s.
In the first half of the 16th century, Paracelsus’s disdain for the alchemical tradition was replaced by Aristotelian traditions and the recognition that physicians should rely more on their observation of disease than on ancient texts and theories.
Paracelsus, a controversial Swiss philosopher and scientist, also introduced using metals such as mercury and antimony to treat disease.
History of medicine in the 17th century
Parliament’s biography contains many anecdotal details about medicine in the early 17th century, although the emerging picture differs significantly from modern medical experience.
Although anatomical knowledge was improving, the human body generally functioned according to principles formulated by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, in which disease was defined by an imbalance of four physiological properties, or ‘humour.’
Accordingly, most treatments were designed to restore balance through bloodletting, purging, or poultices (then known as ‘plasters’). While some tried-and-tested herbal remedies may be effective, many drugs contain foreign ingredients that are either useless or functionally harmful.
A doctor, Antoine, who treated Adolphus Carey for smallpox in 1609, was later prosecuted for hastening his end with ‘unknown medicines.’ External factors were also considered relevant.
Fashionable doctors like Richard Napier were both physicians and astrologers. Illnesses that defied diagnosis, such as the ‘writing sickness’ suffered by the 1st Earl of Sunderland, Emmanuel Scrope, could be blamed on witchcraft.
The same factor was often used to describe mental illness. The estranged wife of John Villiers, Viscount Purbeck, was attempted in 1625 for bewitching with charms she received from the notorious astrologer John Lambe. Alternatively, epileptic Toby Mathew was accused by his father of ‘hypocritical publicity’ for the disease.
And, of course, health and well-being were still widely considered as evidence of divine grace. Francis Rousse’s 1622 treatise, Diseases of the Time, Attended by Their Cures, was not a medical treatise but an impassioned plea for national repentance to avert the wrath of God, which he attributed to several factors, including the plague.
Indeed, when the 1625 Parliament was first adjourned due to an attack of plague in London and then moved to Oxford, the response of the House of Commons was to call for a public fast to appease God.
If you went to a physician in the 17th century, many of the treatments provided would be based on superstition and personal belief. Treatments offered may include:
Leeches – commonly used (and still occasionally employed today);
maggots – to clear dead flesh (still in use today);
Mice – for problems like gout, earaches, and even brushing teeth;
ferrets & woodlice – in the treatment of whooping cough;
Spider webs – used to stop runny noses, heal wounds, and draw out poison (swallowing a spider cures fever); And
Clove oil – to remove worms causing toothache (if this failed, tooth extracted).
Medicine, however, continued its slow progress, beginning with the invention of an Italian, the “thermoscope,” an early type of medical thermometer with a visual scale.
Drug production in the 17th century
Although Jamestown was far from a lonely island of disease in the 17th century, the early settlers had more than their fair share of ill health. Poor food, dirty water, and extreme climate conditions reduced their resistance. Diseases ranging from smallpox to scurvy can easily overcome them.
The colonies were subjected to physical hardships but fought as best they could. From the employment of tried-and-true remedies to the introduction of Indigenous substances into the traditional pharmacopoeia, physicians and laypeople alike worked to control the appalling mortality rates.
A physician working in the Galenic tradition typically diagnosed disease by determining which humors were out of alignment. He then treated the condition by either removing an excess of a substance or trying to increase a weak one.
The former course was usually the process of choice and could be accomplished by physical or chemical means. Venization (bleeding), sweating, blistering, or clustering (enemas) were common physical means to balance the patient. With the use of effective drugs, the patient may be caused to sweat, urinate, defecate, cry, or vomit to relieve the imbalanced humors.
Healers never took the healing properties of common plants out of hand. In the reign of Elizabeth I, knowledge of herbs was considered an indispensable part of the training of housewives, hoarders, and physicians. The age of herbs had begun.
These books, which described plants and their uses, were often beautifully illustrated and drew heavily from earlier sources. The most famous herbalists are John Gerard (published in 1597) and Nicholas Culpepper (published in 1648).
New knowledge in medicine came with the discovery of new therapeutic substances in the Western Hemisphere. Colonists brought old, familiar plants from home but were willing to experiment with the unknown.
Common remedies discovered during this time included tobacco (good for everything from worms to lung congestion), Peruvian bark (from which quinine is derived, an antimalarial drug), sassafras (sometimes its weight is in gold since it was considered an independent remedy for syphilis) jalap and ipecac (both powerful purgatives).
Preparing herbal remedies, whether by a doctor, an apothecary, or a layperson, can be a complex process. Some medicinal substances were imported from other countries. Others had to be collected either from the wild or the garden. Most colonists with kitchen gardens grew medicinal herbs such as hyssop, lavender, comfrey, fennel, vegetables, and flowers.
Time was essential in collecting botanicals as weather, temperature, time of day, and the phase of the moon were all assumed to affect the potency of the potions prepared.
Seeds, stems, leaves, bark, flowers, and roots can all be used, depending on the plant and treatment. Most of the flora was air-dried, hung upside down in a warm, dry place, or cut into pieces and dried on screens.
After completely dries the herbs, they can be transferred to opaque containers for extended storage. Whenever possible, plant material was retained until needed for treatment. Grinding or powdering reduces its effectiveness by removing essential oils.
Scientific discoveries
In 1628, William Harvey published his treatise on how blood circulates the body. Like many scientific developments over the centuries, it flew in the face of all prevailing ideas at the time and caused much controversy. Many years passed before his theory gained general acceptance.
Besides Harvey, the most famous 17th-century Englishman was Dr. Thomas Sydenham (1624-1689, pictured). He is occasionally called the “English Hippocrates” because he emphasizes the significance of carefully observing patients and their signs.
Medicine was also aided by the microscope, invented in the late 16th century. Robert Hooke was the first to represent cells in his book “Micrographia” published in 1665.
However, in 1683, Antony van Leeuwenhoek could see individual red blood cells and even identified bacteria under the microscope (although he did not appreciate their importance).
Surgery and Urology
Surgery in the 17th century was still relatively crude. Barber surgeons treated wounds and cut them without an aesthetics, using instruments not washed since they were last used—washing iron instruments would rust them.
There is an incentive. Bleeding was stopped by cauterization with a hot iron. Trephining of the skull (piercing a hole in the bone) was still performed to improve “blood and brain balance.”
Marie Colinet developed improved techniques for cesarean sections and was probably the first physician to use a magnet to remove pieces of metal from a patient’s eye.
Urologically, this was the era of the “travelling lithotomists” who travelled the country to remove gallstones by making an incision in the perineum without anaesthesia. Among the lithotomists of this period was Thomas Hollier, who operated on diarist Samuel Pepys in 1662 to remove his stone.
Pepys was one of the lucky ones – very few patients survived the procedure, and those who did often suffered from incontinence due to damage to the sphincter and urethra.
Conclusion: History of medicine in the 17th century
The 17th century was a transformative period for medicine, marked by significant developments that laid the groundwork for modern medical science. This era saw the intersection of traditional practices with emerging scientific methodologies, leading to advances in understanding the human body, disease mechanisms, and treatment approaches.
Medical education in the 17th century underwent considerable changes, with a greater emphasis on empirical observation and hands-on experience. Universities such as Padua, Leiden, and Montpellier became renowned centres for medical training.
Padua, in particular, was a hub for anatomical studies, where students could learn from dissections and attend lectures by prominent anatomists. The establishment of medical institutions and societies also contributed to the advancement of medical knowledge.
The Royal Society of London, established in 1660, was crucial in promoting scientific inquiry and exchanging ideas. Physicians and scientists shared their discoveries through publications and meetings, fostering a collaborative environment that accelerated medical progress.
also read: History of black women in medicine; History of medicine in 20th century; History of medicine in India