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Medicine In The Elizabethan Era

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The Elizabethan Era was marked by the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and was known as the golden age in English history. An abundance of redeeming qualities came from this era, such as comedies and tragedies of Shakespeare as well as the successes and failures in medicine. Although much of Elizabethan medicine was trial and error, it was also an accumulation of interesting beliefs, superstitions and fascinating ways in curing illnesses. Belief in the supernatural is evident throughout the era, and included when trying to understand the human anatomy. Although people of the Elizabethan times worked with natural remedies they believed in humors. The four humors included blood, phlegm or mucus, yellow bile and black bile. They believed disease resulted from an imbalance of these humors, so physicians would prescribe medicines and foods that were thought to possess the opposite properties of the excessive humor (Wagner 199).A not so common theory emerged as to the thought that diseases were caused by influences of the stars and planets upon the astral body of man (Lyons 376). A man by the name of Theophrastus Bombastus Von Hohenheim, or Paracelsus, believed in this medieval pathophysiological idea. …show more content…
Despite the fact women could not practice medicine as physicians; many had medical training and served as country healer and midwives (Wagner 200). As for the surgeons, they had little formal education and learned their trade by performing operations under the instruction of physicians. Barbers played an important role within the medical community. Barber surgeons became the first recognized medical guild in England. They were allowed to pull teeth, engage in minor surgery and cut hair. Barbers generally wore short robes and surgeons along with physicians wore long robes. Physicians rarely saw patients, preferring the method of diagnosing illnesses from a urine sample (Wagner

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