Natural and supernatural approaches towards medicine through time

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History essay:

Natural and supernatural approaches towards medicine through time

During the periods you have studied this term, which had the most impact on medicine: supernatural or natural approaches to disease?

Supernatural is something which is not natural. This is something that does not exist or something that is beyond nature’s laws. However, natural is something that is within nature’s laws such as natural thinking. Natural approaches would be something that is lifelike and easy to believe.

In my essay, I will be explaining what was more important: natural or supernatural approaches towards medicine and how this was changed over time. I will be explaining when there was a real ‘change’ in the medicine world and why this came about.

There were many supernatural approaches coming from the Egyptians. For example, in the Ancient Egypt period, people still believed that bad spirits were entered into their bodies and so they would need to cast them away with things. Many people casted out evil spirits by mixing up some sort of bad smelling herbs potion or they made charms that would protect them. These charms were called amulets. They also still believed in gods and goddesses such as Sekhmet who was the goddess of war.  However, as well as the supernatural approaches, there were some natural approaches too. For example, the Egyptians did use herbal remedies which also included plants. Embalming allowed people to identify certain parts of the body. Embalming is when you cut up a dead corpse’s body and take out the important organs that you want to research. After looking at these organs in full detail, you then preserve them so that the organs do not rot. Another thing that improved in the Egyptian period was writing. This is because the Egyptians developed a simpler and quicker form of writing as well as paper made from weeds. This paper was called ‘papyrus.’ People began using this to write down important ideas and discoveries that they had tried out. Trade also brought many more natural thinking into the Egyptian period. This is because ships and merchants from other countries such as India, China and parts of Africa bought new herbs and recommended them as medicines. Another good impact in the Egyptian period was wealth. This played a big part as if Egyptians had more wealth, they would have been able to grow better crops which would have been useful to them and would help them a great deal with understanding medicine. Also, richer people were able to hire doctors for them and because they had better equipment, the cures were also better. The River Nile and farming showed a lot of natural thinking as the Egyptians referred to the rivers as their bodies. This may not always have been correct but people were beginning to show that they understand medicine better than they used to before.

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As well as the Egyptians, the Greeks were not much different. They still believed in gods and goddesses and they began building Asklepians which were buildings where they believed you could get healed. You would have to stay over for the night and during the night, Ascleipius would attend you with his two helpers and you would get healed. This has not been proven and so it is a supernatural approach towards medicine. Greeks also began thinking for scientific reasons for explanations. Some Greeks were passionate thinkers and were called ‘philosophers.’ This means that they were ‘lovers of wisdom’ ...

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