Medicine And The Human Body: Alcmaeon Of Croton

Medicine contains a variety of health care practices that help maintain and restore health by prevention and treatment of diseases. All human societies have a medical belief that provides some sort of explanation for cause and effect of the human body. Time and culture has helped evolve what is known as modern medicine. Alcmaeon of Croton (b. 435 BC) was a Greek philosopher known for his anatomical studies through dissection. He was the first man to make a significant contribution to biology by discovering the optic nerve. Alcmaeon had a theory of the mind in which the brain is the seat of perception and thought, and there are connections from all of the sense organs to the brain. He also believed that disease was caused due to a loss of

A young medical student attends a class as a lecturer explains the human anatomy, described by Galen, as an assistant reveals the equivalent details to the dissected corpse. The assistant cannot find the organs that are being described, but rather Galen be at fault, the corpse is to blame. The young student decides he will dissect a corpse to see what evidence awaits him. Vesalius’s skill is evident as this leads him to an appointment as professor of surgery and anatomy at the University of Padua in 1537. A few years later, he gives a public demonstration to show Galen’s anatomical theories were incorrect; the theories were correct for an ape, but did not show relations to a human. In 1543, Vesalius published De humani corporis fabrica, illustrating a series of dissections and drawings.

In the 16th century, the publication of a book provided one of the greatest breakthroughs in the understanding of the human body. It is titled Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis animalibus (‘The Anatomical Function of the Movement of the Heart and the Blood in Animals’) by William Harvey. The book demonstrated the precise circuit that blood is pumped in. Harvey dismissed the previously assumed belief that there were different bloods in arteries than in veins. He was unable to explain why the heart circulates the blood, but was able to discover it

Cowpox is a rare disease and it was not until 1796 until Jenner was given the opportunity to try his theory of immunity for the pox. A dairymaid developed symptoms of the pox, so Jenner took material from an eruption on her hand using a thorn and inoculates an ill boy with the substance on the thorn. Soon, the boy developed cowpox, but recovered quickly. The expectation was that his immune system would develop a mild attack, survive, and become