PHSC 401 Lecture 4: Black death part 2
9 Feb 2017
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Birth of naturalistic explanations of the world, including health, illness, the body. Humoralism: humors, qualities, elements, key concept: balance/imbalance. Q: who was the figure most associated w/ humoral theory: a: hippocrates (kind of), galen. Challenged humoral models: prompts early contagion theories. Within first 3 days of onset of symptoms: profile of victims. Seems unnatural/supernatural: endemic diseases usually got young and old. Responses: mass hysteria, terror, violence, religious revivals: assuage divine wrath, scapegoats/witchhunt. Witches, foreigners, jews, prisoners: first forms of public health. Military style policy carried out by army/navy. Sanitary cordons (military lines isolating a population) New heath authorities- health magistrates/boards of health: enormous power, erection of stocks/scaffolds, challenge to hippocratic model of epidemics. Hippocratic model: epidemic is a local outbreak of acute/virulent disease. New model: physicians sought to explain black death by broadening notion of epidemic. Their pov: global infection or tainting of atmosphere (cosmo/astro explanation) Results in poisoning of soil, water, food, etc. over wide regions.
