Physician
Doctors during the Medieval Ages were very primitive. The doctors during this time were separated distinctly by what their jobs entailed. Physicians focused primarily on issues inside the body. Surgeons focused mainly on wounds, dislocations, skin diseases, amputations, and urinary infections. Other than these two types of doctors, there were not many other doctors. Physicians during this time had primitive ways of tending to patients, many illnesses and diseases to deal with, and increasing education to handle.
Physicians during the Middle Ages had a limited knowledge compared to the access that today’s physicians have a hold of. Because of this lack of knowledge, the treatment that ill patients received was very inadequate. Physicians believed in humors or body fluids. There were four humors in the entire body, and these humors related directly to the four elements of the universe. It was even thought that the body was part of the universe. “Physicians diagnosed their patients by close examination of their blood, urine and stools, and determined their complexion or balance of humors.” The element of fire related to the yellow bile. The element of Earth related to black bile. The element of air related to blood. The element of water related to phlegm. It was a physician’s goal to ensure that theses four humors were balanced at all times. When a patient came to a physician with an illness, the physician focused on their body’s humors in order to fix the illness. This thought led to physicians performing bleeding procedures. This was where the doctor applied leeches to a patient’s skin to suck the blood out in order to get the excess of that humor out of the patient’s body (Middle Ages). This thought came from the ancient Greek physicians Hippocrates and Galen. Herbs and plants also played a big role in medicine during this time. Many herbs that were used then are still used today. The theory that herbs that had the similar...