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The Physician |
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Meagan —AP English—Aarons—11/15/10 |
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Historical Medicine has been around since the times of the ancients, but t= he practices and methods have changed. Modern day medicine bears almost no = resemblance to the medicine of Chaucer’s time. The Four Humors Surviving from the time of Hippocrates, the four humors were used = by medieval doctors to diagnose and treat patients. Even the Physician in <= /span>The Canterbury Tales is said to use th= em.
“He knew the cause of every malady, Were it of hot or cold, of moist or dry=
,
The four humors were Blood, Phlegm, Yellow Bile, and Black Bile. Each hu= mor related to a personality type and a natural element. Blood—Sanguine—Air Doctors of the middle ages sought to keep the four humors balan= ced. If they thought that one was imbalanced they would employ various meth= ods, such as bloodletting, to get their patient back in good health. Astrology Though now just used for fun, horoscopes and zodiac signs were = once serious medical considerations. In fact, doctors were once required to= check the position of the moon before they attempted any risky medical pro= cedures. They also consulted the Zodiac Man to determine if it was safe to = work on a certain part of the body. Each Zodiac sign corresponded with a bo= dy part. The list is as follows: Capricorn—Goat—Knees, bones,=
skin
If a patient had a problem with a certain body part doctors wou= ld only treat it if that body part’s sign was not in the sky. = Do It Yourself Now that you know about medieval medicine, you can try to
Social When judged by today’s standards, doctors from the middle= ages don't seem to be very educated, but to become a certified physician y= ou had to go to school for ten years (I guess that’s one similarity t= o today’s doctors). The Physican from The Canterbury Tales seems to be very w= ell educated, which leads us to the conclusion that he had been given his c= ertification. “Well read was he in Esculapius,<=
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And Deiscorides, and in Rufus,
Not every doctor of the time was a licensed physician, th= ere were different kinds of doctors for different kinds of ailment= s. Only the richest people could afford to have a certified practitioner tr= eat them. Physician Surgeon Barber Apothecary Wise Woman It may come as a surprise to someone so used to the separation = of church and state, but the middle ages there was no such distinction. In = fact, in 1215 Pope Boniface III made it illegal for doctors to break any of= the ten commandments out of the fear that their misbehavior would ad= versely affect their patients.
Cultural The Doctor in The Canterbury Tales is a skilled one = by his time’s standards. Chaucer praises him as “a very good pr= actitioner,” but he goes on to tell us of his other, not as desirable= , qualities. “Ready he was, with his apothecar=
ies,
Far from his oath to be morally upright, this doctor takes advantage of both his p= atients’ sickness and ignorance by telling them to buy either unneces= sary or overpriced medicine. The section of the Hippocratic Oath with which= he is most at fault reads:
“Into whatever homes I go, I will=
enter them for the benefit of the sick, avoiding any voluntary act of impr=
opriety or corruption”
No matter how skilled a doctor he was, he can never be considered = a = good doctor if the wel= l-being of the patient was not his first priority. Corruption runs through = time and unites all people, as it is found in almost every culture, no matt= er how much people don't want it to be there. Chaucer had the perfect closi= ng line for The Physician and this webpage will close the same way. =
“And therefore loved he gold exce=
eding all.”
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