Here I am in Europe during the Medieval Age! How cool is this?! Once again I'm in what appears to be a market place. I see a blacksmith over there working away. I see a many selling fruit, or what they refer to him as a costermonger, funny name! There is an apothecary over there and an eggler, or someone who deals in eggs. Why don't we still have these names? They are quite amusing. Ok so I came here to find out more information about their medical practices. I have studied some about their bloodletting techniques and their belief that our body is made up and balanced out by the four humors. Also I heard something about their diagnostic techniques of urinalysis and examination of the pulse. Lets see if I can find some people to talk to about it.

Me: Hello there. I was wondering if you could help me.

Giles: I can certainly try. I am Giles of Corbeil. I am a writer here in this city.

Me: I am a medical student from back West and was trying to find some information out about your medical practices here.

Giles: Well I have done some writings about urinalysis. That is my specialty right now. This is where we analyze urine. I believe it to be able to show how the liver is functioning.

Me: Are there any certain ailments that come along with different types of urine?

Giles: Well yes. I have come to think that thick urine, whitish, milky, or bluish-white, indicates dropsy, colic, the stone, headache, excess of phlegm, rheum in the members and flux (Lindberg, pg 339). I have written up charts that show the connection between the colors of urine and these different problems of the body.

picture of a medieval doctor holding a urine flask

Website: God Medieval

Weblink: http://gotmedieval.blogspot.com/2008/02/what-did-medieval-doctors-look-like.html

Me: Very interesting. Is there anything you can tell me about the pulse of humans? I have heard that people here believe it to have a connection to the heart in showing how it is functioning.

Giles: Well physicians here take the pulse in order to determine a person's strength, duration, regularity, and breadth. There are different classification schemes that were developed also for the pulse such as motion of arteries and regularity or irregularity of the beat. This helps doctors to decide what is wrong with the patient exactly. Sometimes a failing pulse was used to show what the time of death would be for the patient which helped with prognosis and diagnosis of the patient.

Me: That is cool.

Giles: Cool?

Me: Oh sorry, our dialect is a little different where I am from. Its another term for good.

Giles: Ah, I see. Well if there is nothing else I really must be getting along.

Me: Oh of course. Thank you again for all of your help.

Giles: My pleasure. Good day!

I traveled on hoping to find someone else with more information. I walked up to what appeared to be some sort of university. I entered and found many students as well as professors walking around. I read that the more formalized organization of universities didn't begin until around the 13th century. Some of the curriculum included "The Articella," which depicted medical consultation, examination, and instruction. (As seen to the right, website:Jewels in Her Crown, Weblink: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/eresources/exhibitions/treasures/html/long_topic8.html) I finally found a student who attended this university.

Me: Hey there you look busy.

Student: Always, the life of a medical student isn't very busy.

Me: I'm a medical school student also! But at a school way back West. I was doing some research for a class of mine                       

and was wondering if you could help me out.

Student: Umm, sure what were you wondering?

Me: Well, I was just curious about your medical practices here in your country.

Student: Hmm, well right now I am conducting research on blood letting. We have an experiment lab and are studying about the four humors.

Me: Humors? What are those?

Student: Humors are what make of the balance of your body. They consist of blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. When these become out of balance something needs to be done in order to restore this balance. Blood letting is a method of doing that. Usually how we perform the procedure is as follows: tie off an area with a tourniquet, find a vein in the arm, leg or neck and cut it open with a lancet.

Me: That sounds pretty basic. And this is practiced by many physicians?

Student: Yes its a major part of surgery here.

Me: And what were the negative outcomes of it?

Student: There are a few. Infection can occur in an individual of course. Also, we have to be careful to cut a vein and not an artery which would cause major loss of blood. Same thing with nerves, we don't want to cut those! And the loss of consciousness was a major problem with patients undergoing phlebotomy. But when careful this is a very helpful procedure. Oh one other method was to use leeches.

Me: Leeches?!

Student: Yes, and yes many people fine them disgusting, but they do help. They are placed on the patient with the intentions of sucking out blood.

Me: Wow, these practices seem so much different from what we use back in my country.

Student: How so?

Me: Well we generally don't use bugs to do anything for one. haha!

Me:Yes perhaps! Thank you again for all of your help and good luck with your studying.

Student: To you as well, Good day!

Alright then. That was interesting. Leeches and draining of a person's blood. Time to get out of here before they find something wrong with me and want to "operate."

Clausen, Carol. (2006). Medieval Manuscripts in the National Library of Medicine. Retrieved November 29, 2008, from US National Library of Medicine Web site:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/medieval/articella.html

Krzywicka, Maggie. (2000). Medieval Medicine. Retrieved November 29, 2008, website: http://www.intermaggie.com/med/index.php

Lindberg, David C. (2007). The Beginnings of Western Science. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.

Starr, Douglas. (2002). Early Practices: Bloodletting. Retrieved November 29, 2008, from The Education Broadcasting Corporation Web site:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/redgold/basics/bloodletting.html