Medicine Before Microbes

As I intend to pursue a career in the field of microbiology, I am always interested in what I learn in my bacterial physiology class on the subject of how and when microbes were discovered and how scientists at that time determined that the microbes that they found were causing disease. As fascinating as this may be to me, I realize that there was a time when none of what we think of today as common knowledge was known by even the most learned of scientists and physicians. So what was known and how was medicine practiced based on this knowledge?

Hippocrates of Cos (450-380BCE), the "father of Western medicine", is best known for his writings on the practice of medicine and ethics in the profession. His moral guidelines for physicians are still called upon today in the Hippocratic Oath that is recited by new medical professionals as a rite of passage. Although this practice is not done as frequently as it was back then, some medical schools still carry on the tradition and the Oath serves as an insight into the mentality of medical professionals from the time.

From other writings by Hippocrates we know that physicians at this time were unaware that microbes existed. They typically relied on their knowledge of the four humors of the body to diagnose and treat illness. They believed that the body's four humors were blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile and that an excess or lack of one or more of the humors caused disease.

Treatment during this time was completely dependent upon maintaining balance within the body. If a patient was too hot, for example, the cause was thought to be an excess of blood and the physician bled the person until their body temperature returned to what was considered to be normal. Treatments for other ailments by maintaining a balance of secretions were similar and dependent upon what humor they were connected with. To determine this, physicians relied on a diagram that looked much like the image below.

While we may consider some of their medical practices to be crude or dangerous, I cannot help but wonder which of the treatments that we rely on today will be frowned upon in the future.

The Silk Road

I find it very intriguing how cultures manage to imprint upon each other, it happens constantly, even in the smallest ways. For example, having a camp counselor from England, who called lunch dinner and dinner tea, so, instead of having breakfast, lunch and dinner, we had 'Breakie' as she put it, dinner and tea. While that example is just a small one, the Silk Road is one of larger consequence.

The Silk Road brought trade goods and culture across the region of the ancient Eurasia. According to this website, The Silk Road began in China at Chang'an under the Han Dynasty and is divided into three routes when it reaches Dunhuang:(Northern, Central and Southern). These three routes reach as far as the ancient Roman empire.It carries goods, ideas, and culture over land and sea.

According to the notes I took in class, the Silk Road was developed in the second century B.C.E when land routes were opened by China.
Beginning in the Han capital, travelers would head west toward the Tamaclain desert. Due the inhospitable environment, the road split and skirted around it, reforming near Cashgar. Continuing west into Bactria and the Kushan empire, travelers could head south out of Kushan and into Toxcilia, going farther into India. Travelers could also go west in to present day Iran, where ports on the Caspian and Persian sea were accessible. Eventually, the route would end near Constantinople where Roman Trade routes took over. Keep in mind also, that these routes had many branches off of the main routes in order to reach other places.

Since China was the only maker of silk at the time, it was traded often for other goods. This is how the routes became known as the Silk Road. During that time, silk was an important resource and many cultures used it in death rituals or to show nobility.

Each trading area had it's own unique items to trade.
From India, travelers could get pepper, cotton textiles, coral, pearls and ivory.
From Asia, things such as horses, jade, cloves and nutmeg were available.
Romans offered goods like glass jewelry, art, olive oil, wine, textiles, perfume and things of that nature.

As stated earlier, Goods were not the only things traded; Ideas and culture were as well.
Ideas like Mahayana Buddhism, Christianity, military and fighting tactics, and Islam, as well as many political ideas and other ways of living were transported along these routes.

Today, we find ourselves living in a Melting Pot of cultures. We are constantly surrounded by things that, until we look deeper, are taken at face value. We never stop to think where these things may have originated.
The silk road was a major influence on many household items we have today; the clothing and spices we have originated across the world, and without the use of trade, these items never would have been discovered.

The Fall of a Once Great Empire

Every great empire has its beginning. Every great empire also must fall, at one point or another. For my critical book review for our history course, I read How Rome Fell: The Death of a Superpower, by Adrian Goldsworthy. In our current economic recession, I found this particular book to be quite fascinating and would highly recommend it to anyone. Rome is considered to be the greatest empire of all time as it certainly lasted the longest out of all the "modern" empires in ancient history. In our world today, America currently holds that record, but how long will we stand?

As Goldsworthy writes Roman history, he describes the events leading up to the initial fall of the Roman capital. He talks about the great leaders that Rome once had, including Marcus Aerulius and Caesar. There were many main reasons that he lists as to why Rome actually fell. Economic reasons, as we discussed in class, were some of the main reasons. The other was unstable rulers towards the end of the once great Roman empire. This website is a pretty good outline of the Roman emperors and when they ruled. In the beginning, there was some time between changes of emperors. But as the years continued and approached 476, the length between shifts in rulership condensed. Suddenly there are multiple emperors in a single year taking charge of the slowly dividing kingdom. It is no wonder that the Roman empire eventually fell.

So I pose this question to anyone who enjoys discussing politics. With the changing society that America is facing today, are we on our way downward, or is this just a moment of stagnation after half a century of fighting a world war? Is this our way of trying to bounce back to normalcy, or is America truly declining as a world superpower, as Rome had in 476?