\u201cA bit more on science during the Middle Ages, with a note in defense of Brigham Young\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll follow up on that with a few more notes from James Hannam, The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution<\/em> (Washington DC: Henry Regnery, 2011). \u00a0Here, Dr. Hannam is writing about Girolamo Cardano (b. 1501), who is better known in the English-speaking world as Jerome Cardan, and who was both the foremost astrologer and the foremost physician of his day:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cardan\u2019s success as a physician was almost entirely due to his philosophy of non-intervention. \u00a0His peers tortured their patients with a gruesome regime of bleedings, purgatives, and potions guaranteed to weaken the constitution of even the hardiest soul. \u00a0As we have already seen, doctors of the time based their theories on a mixture of Galen and the Arabic medical writers, with a dose of natural magic and plenty of guesswork. \u00a0Merely by sporting a professional qualification, doctors could demand hefty fees for accelerating the demise of their clients. \u00a0This is surely the reason that so many people put their trust in the village wise women and the intercession of the saints. \u00a0Both were much less likely to kill them before they had a chance to get better on their own.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nWhether by intuition or genius, Cardan gave his patients a chance to heal themselves. \u00a0Rather than the constant round of prescriptions and bloodletting, he suggested a healthy diet and plenty of rest. \u00a0In this way, he gained a reputation far beyond the borders of Italy as a doctor without parallel.<\/strong> \u00a0(237)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
And another relevant passage:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Given the demise of the magical worldview in polite society, the doctrine of sympathy and other alternatives also fell from favor. \u00a0Protestants even tended to reject religious miracles. \u00a0Somehow, scientific medicine had seen off its main rivals while actually being less effective than either of them. \u00a0Thus, the history of medicine until the mid-nineteenth century, with the significant exception of smallpox vaccination, is a history of failure. \u00a0Most doctors [for example] were comfortably oblivious to the damage they were doing by bleeding their patients . . . \u00a0<\/strong>(265)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
For a relatively recent American illustration of that last point, see \u201cBloodletting and blisters: Solving the medical mystery of George Washington\u2019s death.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Ucluelet, British Columbia<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cDoctors and their medicines I regard as a deadly bane to any community. . . . I am not very partial to doctors. . . . I can see no use for them unless it is to raise grain or go to mechanical work.\u201d \u00a0(Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 4:109 [3 August 1869]) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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