1. Question 4 – Medicine paper
Friday, 21 September 2018
Question 4 – Medicine paper
Why did the discoveries of the Renaissance make little practical difference to medical treatment in England in the period c1500–c1750?
(12 MARKS)
You may use the following in your answer.
Medical treatment
William Harvey
You must also include information of your own.
Always make sure that you underline the key parts of the question. This will help you make sure that you are focusing on answering the question only.
EXAMINERS TIP:
If you use the bullet points in your answer you MUST also include YOUR OWN KNOWLEDGE of that particular bullet point to gain the higher marks.

2. Task 1:
Read pages “Blue Book”
How were Harvey’s ideas different to Galen’s?
How did Harvey test his idea?

3. PLAN
INTRODUCTION:
In this answer I will explore why the Renaissance made little practical difference to medical treatment in England.
PARAGRAPH 1
The Renaissance made little difference to medical treatment. Much of the training in England continued to be based on the works of Galen and was largely unaffected by new discoveries………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

4. Mark scheme LEVEL 1 (1-4 marks) Simple statement = Grades G/F
Generalised comment with little supporting evidence.
Example – Harvey’s discovery had little effect on the way physicians treated illness; Harvey proved Galen was wrong about the heart; The Renaissance discoveries were mainly about anatomy; or Treatment in England continued to be based on Galen’s ideas.
LEVEL 2 (5-8 marks) Developed statement = Grades E/D/C
Detail given of Renaissance discoveries or of medical treatments.
Example – description of the details discovered by Harvey; general comments about reluctance to accept new ideas; or description of technological advances such as the printing press or microscope; or describes treatment or medical training based on Galen’s ideas.
MAX 7 MARKS for answers which do not describe additional aspects to those in the bullet points. Eg, the influence of the Church of England.
LEVEL 3 (9-12 marks) Analysis = Grades B/A/A*
Shows that the nature of Renaissance discoveries had little direct impact on the medical treatment in England or shows that training in England continued to be based on the works of Galen and was largely unaffected by new discoveries.
Example – since understanding of disease was based on faulty theories, Harvey’s improved understanding of physiology had little relevance to treatment; also the discoveries of Harvey related to anatomical and physiological knowledge which did not contribute to an understanding of illness or treatment; the Church’s influence on education and medical training was based on Galen’s ideas; doctors were not encouraged to move away from the accepted practice.
MAX 10 MARKS for answers which do not describe additional aspects to those in the bullet points. Eg, the influence of the Church of England, the prevalence of Galen’s ideas.

5. What makes a good answer?
REMEMBER: If you use the bullet points in your answer you MUST also include YOUR OWN KNOWLEDGE of that particular bullet point to gain the higher marks.
Example Student Answer.
“William Harvey published his book about the importance of the heart and the circulation of the blood in He included an explanation of his experiments and illustrations so that other doctors and scientists could check his ideas for themselves. This was very important because he was challenging the ideas of the ancient Roman doctor, Galen, who had said that blood was mixed with air and was used up as it ebbed and flowed in the body so that new blood was constantly being made in the liver. Harvey proved that blood was not used up but circulated in one direction around the body, being pumped by the heart and it could not flow backwards through the veins. Harvey also suggested that tiny blood vessels must exist to carry blood throughout the body; he was right but the microscopes were not powerful enough to prove this.
Other discoveries in the Renaissance were also important. In the century before Harvey, Vesalius had dissected bodies and proved that Galen’s descriptions of anatomy were wrong. The invention of the printing press meant that these ideas could be spread rapidly among educated people and illustrations could be included in the books to spread an accurate understanding of anatomy. Renaissance discoveries also included new plants which were brought back when explorers reached the Americas.
However, all this had little impact on medical treatment. First of all, discoveries about anatomy and physiology did not mean improved understanding of disease or of treatment. People continued to believe that disease was caused by an imbalance in the Four Humours or miasma and therefore treatment continued to be aimed at balancing the humours or getting rid of miasma.”