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Biomedical subjects

C Rawcliffe

Publications and source records attributed to C Rawcliffe.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Medieval surgery.

How many readers of this journal have tried to imagine what surgery was like before the sophisticated technical developments described in its pages? Not just before such important advances as blood transfusion, anaesthesia and asepsis, but long before the evolution of teaching hospitals, with their steeply-raked operating theatres, crowded with students and other curious onlookers. Today's medical experts tend to dismiss early practitioners of surgery as "primitive" and "unscientific" because their ideas about human physiology (which appeared perfectly rational at the time) now seem tinged with superstition. Surgery in medieval England was certainly very different from anything we are likely to encounter in the sanitized environment of the modern hospital, yet it was well organised, carefully regulated and made great demands upon the skill and dedication of the men and women who plied a difficult trade, in which the rewards could be considerable but the risks even greater.

Female↗
PubMedDate not supplied

God, mammon and the physician: medicine in England before the college.

Medieval medical practice has all too often been depicted by historians as ineffective, overpriced and riddled with superstition. Yet the physician, who boasted an impressive range of academic accomplishments, exercised considerable influence in political, religious and cultural affairs. How was this achieved? The overwhelming authority of the Church, in an age of high mortality, when life was generally painful as well as short, helps to explain an apparent paradox. For the practitioner, who was often also a priest, dealt with spiritual as well as earthly diseases, plumbing the recesses of men's souls while he examined their bodies. He was a confidant and mentor, offering advice on all aspects of the human condition. Since physical suffering was often regarded as a consequence of sin, confession loomed large in treatment. Indeed, the practice of both medicine and surgery was regulated by canon law, which looked beyond mere physical fitness to the quest for eternal salvation.

Cultural Characteristics↗