Renaissance

Renaissance

(approx. from 1500)

The Renaissance physician (from around 1500) gradually rejects the medical beliefs of the Middle Ages, which were influenced by the Christian faith and by superstition; he begins to make tentative steps towards practising natural "scientific" medicine.

Hirsch-Apotheke Offenburg (The Stag Chemist's, Offenburg):
Mural painting around 1900 using Renaissance motifs.

The painting shows the Renaissance physician fighting death and his companions-diseases (depicted as black birds) with "new weapons":

• with rational (scientific) thought (symbolised by the owl);
• with the experience and knowledge of ancient Greek and Roman physicians (symbolised by books);
• with natural, specially prepared substances (symbolised by the mortar and pestle);
• with chemical-physical experiments (symbolised by chemical apparatus).

One of the most famous and influential Renaissance physicians was Paracelsus, who devoted much time to the study of the "falling sickness", epilepsy.

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