by Siedak Nazar

Evolution of Medicinein ancient times

THE “BEFORE CHRIST” TIME

2600 BC - THE EGYPTIAN IMHOTEP DESCRIBES THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF 200 DISEASES• Prehistoric medicine

incorporated plants (herbalism), animal parts and minerals. In many cases these materials were used ritually as magical substances by priests, shamans, or medicine men. It is clear that prehistoric societies believed in both natural and supernatural means of variably causing and treating disease. 

MEDICINE IN ANCIENT EGYPT

500 BC - ALCMAEON OF CROTON DISTINGUISHED VEINS FROM ARTERIES

300 BC - DIOCLES WROTE THE FIRST KNOWN ANATOMY BOOK

280 BC - HEROPHILUS STUDIES THE NERVOUS SYSTEM• Herophilus studied the ventricles (cavities) of the brain, the organ

he regarded as the centre of the nervous system; traced the sinuses of the dura mater (the tough membrane covering the brain) to their junction. Classified the nerve trunks—distinguishing them from tendons and blood vessels—as motor or sensory.

• He described and named the duodenum, at the lower end of the stomach, and the prostate gland. He was first to measure the pulse, for which he used a water clock.

• Herophilus wrote at least nine works, including a commentary on Hippocrates, a book for midwives, and treatises on anatomy and the causes of sudden death, all lost in the destruction of the library of Alexandria (ad 272).

• // Russo L. The forgotten revolution: how science was born in 300 BC and why it had to be reborn. — Berlin.: Springer, 2004

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