History of medicine

The first forms of documented medicine were practiced back in China thousand of years ago. The use of herbs in medicine was also used in ancient Egypt. The Chinese are known for using natural ingredients for the compounds of there medicine. This practice of herbal medicine has grown in popularity. Today more and more traditional doctors are looking to the past for cures.

The Egyptians were known for some forms of minor surgery. The drawback of surgery in ancient times was the potential for infections. More people died due to colds and infections then any other disease.

As time passed the techniques in medicine in some cases actually declined. For example due to religious fears and pressures, in the middle ages many unique yet ineffective forms of medical treatment were devised. One of the most common techniques was blood letting. Bloodletting consisted of draining a portion of the blood from a sick patient. The patient would be cut of leaches would be placed on the patient. The thought was the unhealthy blood would be drained and the body would replace it with healthy blood. Needless to say many patients bled to death.

As the centuries continued to pass, medicine took a turn for the better. With the invention of the microscope doctors could now see many of the organism, which caused us to become ill. With this tool the scientist and doctors could experiment with different medicines to see what effect they had on the viruses.

Today medicine is not only better then ever it has also become a multi billion dollar industry. One of the unfortunate results of the Industrial revolution was an increase in work related injuries and illnesses. Over all people around the world are healthier then ever but a lot of work still needs to be done at both the nutritional and fitness level.

We should all be happy to live at this point in the history of medicine.