History of medicine
Every human society has medical beliefs that provide explanations for birth, death, and disease. Throughout history, illness has been attributed to witchcraft, demons, adverse astral influence, or the will of the gods. These ideas still retain some power, with faith healing and shrines still used in some places, although the rise of scientific medicine over the past millennium has altered or replaced mysticism in most cases. Although there is no record to establish when plants were first used for medicinal purposes (herbalism), the use of plants as healing agents is an ancient practice. Over time through emulation of the behavior of fauna a medicinal knowledge base developed and was passed between generations. As tribal culture specialized specific castes, Shamans and apothecaries performed the ‘niche occupation’ of healing.
Ancient Egypt developed a large, varied and fruitful medical tradition. Herodotus described the Egyptians as “the healthiest of all men, next to the Libyans” [1] due to the dry climate and the notable public health system that they possessed. According to him, “the practice of medicine is so specialized among them that each physician is a healer of one disease and no more.” Although Egyptian medicine, to good extent, dealt with the supernatural [2] it eventually developed practical use in the fields of anatomy, public health, and clinical diagnostics.
Medical information in the Edwin Smith Papyrus [3] may date to time as early as 3000 BC[4] as earliest known surgery in Egypt was performed in Egypt around 2750 BC. Imhotep in the 3rd dynasty is sometimes credited with being the founder of ancient Egyptian medicine and with being the original author of the Edwin Smith Papyrus, detailing cures, ailments and anatomical observations. The Edwin Smith Papyrus is regarded as a copy of several earlier works and was written circa 1600 BC. It is an ancient textbook on surgery almost completely devoid of magical thinking and describes in exquisite detail the examination, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of numerous ailments [5]
Conversely, medical institutions, referred to as Houses of Life are known to have been established in ancient Egypt as early as the 1st Dynasty [6] and By the time of the 19th Dynasty some workers enjoyed such benefits as medical insurance, pensions and sick leave[7]. In addition, China also developed a large body of traditional medicine. Much of the philosophy of traditional Chinese medicine derived from empirical observations of disease and illness by Taoist physicians and reflects the classical Chinese belief that individual human experiences express causative principles effective in the environment at all scales.
There can be causative principles, whether material, essential, or mystical, correlate as the expression of the natural order of the universe. Medicine was revolutionized in the 19th century and beyond by advances in chemistry and laboratory techniques and equipment, old ideas of infectious disease epidemiology were replaced with bacteriology and virology. The 20th century witnessed shift from a master-apprentice paradigm of teaching of clinical medicine to a more “democratic” system of medical schools. With the advent of the evidence-based medicine and great advances of information technology the process of change is likely to evolve further, with greater development of international projects respectively.
[1] Herodotus. “Chapter 77, Book II” (in English translation). The Histories.
[2] Nunn, John F. (2002). Ancient Egyptian Medicine. University of Oklahoma Press.
[3] J. H. Breasted, The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, University of Chicago Press, 1930
[4] Medicine in Ancient Egypt 1
[5] Edwin Smith papyrus – Britannica Online Encyclopedia
[6] P. W. Bryan, The Papyrus Ebers, Geoffrey Bles: London, 1930
[7] Griffith, F. Ll. The Petrie Papyri: Hieratic Papyri from Kahun and Gurob
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