What is medicine?
Medicine is a system of knowledge, andpractical measures aimed at the recognition, treatment and prevention of diseases. This science has a ramified system of directions of work and a very long and rich history. More details about what medicine is, what its directions, history, we will tell further.
We will mention only a few key events and personalities that have become iconic for this direction of science.
Ancient world
In these distant days, the blame for the diseases was laid onsome unknown evil creature, which, penetrating into the human body, gave birth to diseases. Such an approach determined the emergence of shamans and healers, whose goal was to drive out the "unclean", which was supposed to bring healing. At first, various conspiracies and prayers were used for this. Then began to apply herbal infusions and other techniques of traditional medicine. Further, the doctors gradually began to master the method of physiological influence, studying the human body in parallel (for the present, at a rather primitive level).
Signed persons in the field of medicine of this erabecame Hippocrates, Gerofil, Galen. Also at this time, emerging are such treatment methods as acupuncture, Ayurveda, massage. In later years, the rudiments of dentistry were mastered (teeth were sealed and removed), surgery (trepanation of the skull, caesarean section), gynecology (the doctors already had a basic idea of how to promote successful fetal bearing, how to behave during childbirth, etc.). .
Middle Ages
The obtained knowledge accumulated andimproved. Hospitals were opened everywhere (in particular, with monasteries), including for the mentally ill. There were social institutions where help was rendered to poor people.
The corresponding specialty appeared in higher educational institutions. Wrote scientific treatises, books. The focus is on observations and experiments.
A grandiose contribution to the world medicine in the Middlethe doctors of the Arab countries and Byzantium. Signs of this time were Harun al-Rashid, Ahmad ibn Tulun, Abu Ali Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Ibn Zuhr. East dominated in the field of medicine until the XV century. Further, the countries of Europe are gradually beginning to strengthen their development in this direction. The Renaissance has already been marked by such names as Paracelsus, Vesalius, Garvey, Frakastoro, Pare.
New time
The accumulation of knowledge, honingmastery of healing, there are also microbiology and toxicology, experimental pharmacology, ophthalmology. The foundations for military and marine hygiene are laid.
The number of doctors the world owes outstandingdiscoveries, multiply increases - now medicine is everywhere. Among the Russian surnames - Haas, Zakharin, Pirogov, Sklifosofsky, Botkin, Pavlov, Yudin, Filatov, Voino-Yasenetsky, Ilizarov and many others.
However, despite the many centuries of relentlessdevelopment, medicine still has a grand amount of questions about the human body. Scientists, doctors have not yet learned to effectively combat such serious diseases as cancer, AIDS. They still did not disclose the secret of eternal life. And one of the most important and most mysterious organs of the body - the brain - has been studied hardly by 10%. Yes, and this is only if you consider that he generally has some limits in the possibilities. Therefore, we can safely say that ahead of mankind are waiting for many centuries of persistent attempts to unravel one of the most complex mysteries of nature.
Directions of medicine
The structure of medicine is very branched, and therefore we will list only its key areas and sections:
- Prophylactic medicine. He is engaged in issues of preventing the development of diseases and is divided into: hygiene, sanitation, epidemiology.
- Clinical medicine. He is engaged in analysis and treatment of diseases. Areas of this direction are: surgery, therapy, pediatrics, dietology, psychiatry, gerontology. Also highlight the following sections of clinical medicine: urology, cardiology, ophthalmology, neurology, dentistry, endocrinology.
- Pharmacology. Is engaged in the development of formulas of medicines and their production. It is divided into pharmacy and pharmacoepidemiology.
In addition, we can talk about numerous(for example, on anatomy, biophysics, molecular biology, physiology, etc.), as well as on separate areas of medicine that are linked to one or another kind of activity (for example, sports, judicial, space, military medicine and so on .).
Finally, there is a popular and non-traditional, andalso experimental medicine. It is usually used in cases where a person refuses for one reason or another from the use of classical methods of treatment, or in cases when such methods are ineffective. In particular, this concerns cases with severe diseases (for example, cancerous tumors), in the treatment of which modern science in many cases is powerless.
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