Comparison Between Egyptian and Medieval Medicine
Criteria | Egyptian Medicine | Medieval Medicine |
---|---|---|
Images | ![]() | ![]() |
Achievements and Legacy |
| This period is considered a dark age, and left no lasting scientific
contributions
- Western medicine advanced very little in Europe during the Middle Ages |
Medical Knowledge | The Egyptians were advanced medical practitioners for their time, they are credited with being the first to use and record advanced medical
practices, they based their knowledge from careful and astute observations, as well as trial and error. This led to the advancement of medical science worldwide.
- Magic was not always a part of the curing arts, it is an erroneous belief among the lay public that Egyptians necessarily thought that all or most illnesses or injury was the work of hostile powers. | Scholarship fell into the religious sphere, and clerics were more interested in curing the soul than the body. No new medical research was conducted, and no new practices were created. |
Autopsy and Surgery | The use of autopsy and surgery came through the extensive embalming practices, this involved removing most of the internal organs including the brain, lungs, pancreas, liver, spleen, heart and intestine. | Physicians followed the church approved classical techniques developed by Galen. |
Medical documents |
| Mere reproductions of classical Greek and Roman texts hand copied by monks |
Prescriptions |
| Many theologians considered disease and injury to be the result of supernatural intervention and insisted that cures were only possible through prayer. |
Dentists | Dentists used gold wire as a means to bind a loose tooth to a neighboring tooth that was sound. Patients would have their jaw bone drilled in order to drain an abscessed tooth or teeth. Teeth were filled using a type of mineral cement, and gum disease were also treated by using myrrh and other antiseptic herbs. | teeth-pullers |
Doctors |
- Doctors had a scientific mind, they studied practical clinical cases and documented them extensively, they had a basic knowledge of organ functions within the human body, except for the brain and heart which they thought had opposite functions. | bone-setters, oculists, and midwives |
Hospitals | Healing sanctuaries and temples of Sekhmet were built, these would allow for physician and priests to treat the patients. | Large hospitals built and run by monastic orders. Although little was done to cure the patients, they were usually well fed and comforted by a religious nursing staff. |