http://notsobadatall.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] notsobadatall.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] fandomhigh2010-02-03 12:20 pm
Entry tags:

History of Medicine - Second Period - Wednesday, 2/03

Nick looked somewhat unhappy in class today, unhappy and a little bit on edge. That said, there was nothing actually wrong or out of line in the way he conducted class. Just a lack of joy.

"Today, we'll be doing the medicine of Ancient Greece. Our lesson will focus on, obviously, Hippocrates as well as his another physician, Galens, who extended some of his ideas while also adding his own."

He leaned against his desk.

"All of you have heard of the Hippocratic oath, I'm sure, but for those who haven't, there's a copy on each of your desks. The basic idea behind this oath is that a healer, someone working in the medical arts, would always do his best to provide the best care possible. Also, that he would do no harm to the patient. It's a guiding principle for medicine even today, with almost any doctor you would know having sworn it. But, of course, there's more to Hippocrates than just that oath."

He started pacing in front of the board, pausing to think every few moments before he finally spoke.

"Hippocrates cleared medicine of the magic and superstition that had proceeded him. Illness did not come from demons or monsters, but from imbalances in the human body. He said that the physician should observe a disease as much as possible and treat it according to what was observed, not as the Egyptians did, with pre-written remedies for every ailment. He also believed that surgery, as it was dangerous and not always successful, should be held off unless absolutely necessary."

Nick managed a small smile at the class.

"But he's best known for his work with the theory of the four humors, a medical idea which persisted well into Western history. Now, the four humors started up with Aristotle, but it was Hippocrates and his followers who argued that each humor would more than likely be effected during it's season. The humors, which were bodily liquids, were blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile, and their seasons were as follows: yellow Bile with summer, black bile with autumn, phlegm with winter and blood with spring. If you were wondering where 'bleeding' of patients came from, you can look to Hippocrates; it was his method of dealing with too much 'blood' in the balance."

He breathed out then, glancing at those Danger Shop windows, the ones that had very nice sunlight eeking through them.

"Galens, on the other hand, was known for his physiology. A supporter of observation and reasoning, he was one of the first experimental physiologists, researching the function of the kidneys and the spinal cord in controlled experiments. His main message involved the believe that observation and experimentation should be the most important part of a doctor's research in general, that to understand the functions of the body would be to know it's disease. Sounding pretty modern now, isn't it?"

[ocd up!]

Re: Sign In

[identity profile] she-sheds.livejournal.com 2010-02-04 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
Joolushko Tunai Fenta Hovalis

Re: Listen to the Lecture / Chat Amongst Yourselves

[identity profile] wantstocheer.livejournal.com 2010-02-03 05:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Claire scribbled some half-hearted notes, but her mind was otherwise occupied.

Re: Listen to the Lecture / Chat Amongst Yourselves

[identity profile] walks-two-paths.livejournal.com 2010-02-03 05:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Savannah was taking detailed notes.

Re: Listen to the Lecture / Chat Amongst Yourselves

[identity profile] fratboybitch.livejournal.com 2010-02-03 06:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Alex wasn't taking notes but he was listening so that was a point in his favor. Medicine was freaking weird.

Re: Listen to the Lecture / Chat Amongst Yourselves

[identity profile] awesomebigsis.livejournal.com 2010-02-03 08:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Ellie was taking as many detailed notes as she could.

Re: Listen to the Lecture / Chat Amongst Yourselves

[identity profile] she-sheds.livejournal.com 2010-02-04 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
Joolushko was taking notes and feeling glad that she hadn't needed any medical care on this world and that if she were to need it, it would at least be somewhat more modern than what was being described.

Re: Discussion

[identity profile] fratboybitch.livejournal.com 2010-02-03 06:13 pm (UTC)(link)
"Some of the older versions of that oath are pretty strange," Alex noted. "The modern version doesn't sound so bad but the older versions are kind of screwed up in places. Sure it worked for the time but wow."

"And maybe getting theories from a philosopher was the worst of all evils or something?" Alex said and then shook his head. "He needed to get theories from somewhere so he chose one of the less mystic professions? He went for something that's historically less mystic than astrology or something like that."

Re: TAs

[identity profile] walks-two-paths.livejournal.com 2010-02-03 05:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Savannah was here. She wasn't fond of leeches, though.

Re: TAs

[identity profile] wantstocheer.livejournal.com 2010-02-03 05:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Claire was most definitely giving Nick the Eye.

Re: Nick

[identity profile] wantstocheer.livejournal.com 2010-02-03 05:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Claire hung around until all of her classmates were gone.

"So, did you hear radio on Monday night?"

Re: Nick

[identity profile] wantstocheer.livejournal.com 2010-02-03 05:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"Was it you?" Claire asked.

Re: Nick

[identity profile] wantstocheer.livejournal.com 2010-02-03 05:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Claire was inclined to believe him (damn Petrelli genes). But that left the question as to who it was.

"Are you aware of others of your kind around?"

Re: Nick

[identity profile] wantstocheer.livejournal.com 2010-02-03 06:05 pm (UTC)(link)
"Hrm, well, either you aren't alone or there's some outside threat here," Claire said. "Does anyone else know about you?"

Re: Nick

[identity profile] wantstocheer.livejournal.com 2010-02-03 06:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Claire nodded. "I won't say anything if you don't think they will."

Too bad neither of them spotted the squirrel scampering out of the classroom.

Re: OOC

[identity profile] wantstocheer.livejournal.com 2010-02-03 05:38 pm (UTC)(link)
*hugs*

That was me last week.