Exam Questions – Medicine: Causes of disease

1.Explain the significance of Louis Pasteur in the development of understanding the causes of disease. 8 marks

2.Explain the significance of the work of Koch in the development of understanding the causes of disease. 8 marks

3.Compare the work of Pasteur and Koch. In what ways were they similar? 8 marks

4.Explain the significance of John Snow’s discoveries. 8 marks

5.Explain the significance of science on the development of understanding the causes of disease in the twentieth century. 8 marks

6.Has religion been the main factor in understanding the causes of disease? 16 marks

7.Has war been the main factor in understanding the causes of disease? 16 marks

8.Has the government been the main factor in understanding the causes of disease? 16 marks

9.Have individuals been the main factor in understanding the causes of disease? 16 marks

10.Has science and technology been the main factor in understanding the causes of disease? 16 marks

11.Has improved communications been the main factor in understanding the causes of disease? 16 marks

12.Has chance been the main factor in understanding the causes of disease? 16 marks

Exam Questions – Medicine: Cures of disease

Source A: An illustration from a book published in 1250 showing a Medieval doctor examining a patient’s urine and checking his pulse.

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13.How useful is Source A to a historian studying medieval doctors? 8 marks

Source A: Illumination from the Book of Hours showing the Astrological Man and the Four Humours.

14.How useful is Source A to a historian studying medieval cures for disease? 8 marks

Source A: A sixteenth-century painting showing Saint Elizabeth of Hungary (tending to the patient, bottom left), who was famous in the thirteenth-century for helping the poor and the sick.

15.How useful is Source A for understanding Christian ideas about illness? 8 marks

16.Explain the significance of Christianity in the development of medicine. 8 marks

17.Explain the significance of Caliphs in the development of medicine. 8 marks

18. Explain the significance of Islam in the development of medicine. 8 marks

‘We opened a vein in his right arm and drew off 16 ounces (425ml) of blood, then another 8 ounces (212ml). To free his stomach of all impurities we have him an emetic and then a purgative to drain away the humours; to accelerate the purgative we have him an enema and applied blistering agents to his shaved head. (2 February)

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We gave him a purgative and drew off 10 ounces (300ml) of blood from both jugular veins. (3 February)

Alas his Majesty’s strength seemed exhausted: he was seized by a mortal distress in breathing, and died. (6 February)’

Source A: Excerpts from Scarburgh’s medical records of King Charles II in February 1685.

19.How useful is Source A to a historian studying seventeenth-century cures to disease? 8 marks

20.Compare Medieval cures to Renaissance cures. In what ways were they similar? 8 marks

21.Explain the impact of Jenner on the development of cures to disease. 8 marks

22.Explain the significance of Lister’s work for the development of medicine. 8 marks

23.Explain the significance of Paul Ehrlich’s magic bullets in the development of medicine. 8 marks

24.Explain the significance of the discovery of penicillin on the development of medicine. 8 marks

Source A: Advertisement for penicillin production from Life magazine, 1944

25.How useful is Source A to a historian studying the impact of the development of penicillin? 8 marks

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26.Explain the significance of science on medical progress in the twentieth-century. 8 marks

27.Explain the significance of antibiotic resistance. 8 marks

28.Explain the significance of alternative or complementary medicine. 8 marks

Source A: Acupuncture charts in an alternative therapy clinic.

29.How useful is Source A to a historian studying alternative therapy? 8 marks

30.Explain the significance of the Liberal social reforms on the prevention of disease. 8 marks

31.Has religion been the main factor in understanding cures of disease? 16 marks

32.Has war been the main factor in understanding cures of disease? 16 marks

33.Has the government been the main factor in understanding cures of disease? 16 marks

34.Have individuals been the main factor in understanding cures of disease? 16 marks

35.Has science and technology been the main factor in understanding cures of disease? 16 marks

36.Has improved communications been the main factor in understanding cures of disease? 16 marks

37.Has chance been the main factor in understanding cures of disease? 16 marks

Exam Questions – Medicine: Public Health

‘The jury decided that Ebbegate Lane used to be a public passage. Master Thomas Wytte and William de Hockele built privies projecting out from the walls of their houses. From the privies human filth falls onto the heads of the passers-by and blocks the passageway.’

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Source A: From the records of a London Court case in 1321.

38.How useful is Source A to a historian studying medieval public health? 8 marks

39.Compare public health in a Medieval town with public health in a Medieval monastery. In what ways were they similar? 8 marks

40.Compare Medieval hospitals to Renaissance hospitals. In what ways were they similar? 8 marks

41.Compare public health in a Medieval town to towns in the early 1800s. In what ways were they similar? 8 marks

42.Explain the significance in the growth of towns and cities in the 1800s. 8 marks

Source A: Bazalgette standing, on the right, above a London sewer during construction, many of Bazalgette’s sewers are still in use today.

43.How useful is Source A to a historian studying public health in the nineteenth-century? 8 marks

44.Explain the impact of the Boer War on public health. 8 marks

45.Explain the significance of the Liberal social reforms on public health. 8 marks

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Source A: This graph from 1907 shows the impact of the free school meals; it charts the weight children gained [and lost] during part of the school year.

46.How useful is Source A to a historian studying the impact of the Liberal social reforms? 8 marks

47.Explain the impact of the two world wars on public health. 8 marks

‘A person ought not to be stopped from seeking medical assistance by the anxiety of doctors’ bills… medical treatment should be made available to treat rich and poor alike in accordance with medical need and no other criteria. Worry about money in a time of sickness is a serious hindrance to recovery apart from its unnecessary cruelty. Records show that it is the mother in the average family who suffers most from the absence of a full health service. In trying to balance her budget she puts her ow needs last.’

Source A: From a speech by Aneurin Bevan in 1946.

48.How useful is Source A for a historian studying the reasons for the introduction of the NHS? 8 marks

49.Explain the impact of the NHS on public health. 8 marks

50.Has religion been the main factor in the development of public health? 16 marks

51.Has war been the main factor in the development of public health? 16 marks

52.Has the government been the main factor in the development of public health? 16 marks

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53.Have individuals been the main factor in the development of public health? 16 marks

54.Has science and technology been the main factor in the development of public health? 16 marks

55.Has improved communications been the main factor in the development of public health? 16 marks

56.Has chance been the main factor in the development of public health? 16 marks

Exam Questions – Medicine: Surgery

57.Explain the significance of Islam in the development in medieval surgery. 8 marks

58.Explain the significance of John of Arderne in the development of surgery. 8 marks

59.Explain the significance of the Renaissance on the development of surgery. 8 marks

60.Compare Medieval anatomy with Renaissance anatomy. In what ways were they similar? 8 marks

61.Explain the significance of Vesalius on the development of surgery. 8 marks

62.Explain the significance of Pare on the development of surgery. 8 marks

Source A: An illustration from Pare’s book showing the artificial limbs he designed for patients after amputations.

63.How useful is Source A to a historian studying the impact of Pare? 8 marks

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64.Compare the work of John of Arderne and Pare. In what ways were they similar. 8 marks

65.Explain the significance of the work of William Harvey for the development of surgery. 8 marks

Source A: The title page of Harvey’s book, published in 1628.

66.How useful is Source A to a historian studying the impact of Harvey? 8 marks

67.Compare the work of Andreas Vesalius and John Hunter. In what ways were they similar? 8 marks

68.Explain the impact of anaesthetics on the development of surgery. 8 marks

Source A: The public perception of surgeons. Photo: Wellcome Library, London. Five surgeons participating in the amputation of a man’s leg while another oversees them. 1793.

69.How useful is Source A to a historian studying the development of surgery? 8 marks

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70.Explain the impact of Lister on the development of surgery. 8 marks

Source A: Due to Listerism, carbolic acid became associated with a germ-free environment, as this 1910 soap advertisement shows.

71.How useful is Source A to a historian studying the impact of Lister? 8 marks

72.Has religion been the main factor in the development of surgery? 16 marks

73.Has war been the main factor in the development of surgery? 16 marks

74.Has the government been the main factor in the development of surgery? 16 marks

75.Have individuals been the main factor in the development of surgery? 16 marks

76.Has science and technology been the main factor in the development of surgery? 16 marks

77.Has improved communications been the main factor in the development of surgery? 16 marks

78.Has chance been the main factor in the development of surgery? 16 marks

Exam Questions – Medicine: Case Studies

Source A; A fifteenth-century French painting showing Saint Sebastian praying on behalf of plague victims.

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79.How useful is Source A to a historian studying medieval beliefs on the causes of the Black Death? 8 marks

Source A: Illustration in a fourteenth-century history book written by an abbot, recording the impact of the Black Death; it shows people carrying coffins.

80.How useful is Source A to a historian studying the impact of the Black Death in England? 8 marks 81. Compare the Black Death in the Middle Ages with the Cholera epidemics in the 19th century. In what ways were they similar? 8 marks

82. Compare the Black Death in the Middle Ages with the Great Plague of 1665. In what ways were they similar? 8 marks83. Compare the Great Plague of 1665 with the Cholera epidemics in the 19th

century. In what ways were they similar? 8 marks

84.Explain the significance of the Cholera epidemics in the 19th century in the development of medicine. 8 marks

Source A: A drawing from the 1830s showing barrels of tar being burned on the streets of Exeter; the smell from the tar was thought to stop the miasma spreading cholera along the street.

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85.How useful is Source A to a historian studying the cholera epidemic of the nineteenth-century? 8 marks

86. Explain the significance of WWI in the development of medicine. 8 marks

Source A: Lieutenant William Spreckley, above, was one of Harold Gillies’ biggest successes. To fashion him a new nose, Gillies hit the books and came across an old Indian idea known as the ‘forehead flap’. He took a section of rib cartilage and implanted it in Spreckley’s forehead. It stayed there for six months before it could be swung down and used to construct the nose. From start to finish, the process took over three years. 

87.How useful is Source A to a historian studying the impact of WWI on surgery? 8 marks

88. Explain the significance of WWII in the development of medicine. 8 marks

89.Explain the impact of WWI on surgery. 8 marks

90.Explain the impact of WWII on surgery. 8 marks

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