Renaissance – Doctors, Scientists And Inventors

Renaissance – Doctors, Scientists and Inventors.

While the renaissance period is best known for the its achievements in art and architecture, it also had a strong impact on areas like medicine and science.

During the Middle Ages the knowledge of medicine was extremely poor. Any surgery carried a great risk of death and basic human anatomy was not understood.

Part of the reason for peoples ignorance about human anatomy was the fact that it was illegal in most places to dissect (cut open) bodies so that they could be studied. As a result, most knowledge about the human body was based on the study of apes and monkeys. Therefore, most medical diagnosis was based on educated guesswork and was often totally wrong.

Vesalius’ work paved the way for others. The Frenchman Paré also preferred to learn from experience rather than accept old ideas. He worked as a surgeon on the battlefields in the service of four different French kings.

While treating French soldiers at the siege of Villane in Italy, Paré developed an ointment (cream) made of egg yolk and turpentine. He found that when treated with this ointment, musket (gun) wounds healed much better than ever before, and with far less suffering to soldiers. Up to that time musket wounds were treated by pouring boiling elderberry oil into the wound and sealing it with a red-hot iron. It is likely that as many soldiers died in agony from the cure as from the musket wounds themselves.