Public Health In Roman Times

Public health in roman times The very wealthy people in Roman Kent would have been able to consult doctors in towns like Rochester, Canterbury and London. These doctors would have been trained in the Greek methods of observing and recording the symptoms of the patient. The doctors would have had to deal with an increasing number of infectious diseases for which they would have had a number of natural remedies and treatments, but their understanding of the causes of disease was very limited. They knew nothing about microscopic germs and explained illness through the theory of the four humours. The Romans learned some of there knowledge on medicine from the Greeks if it want for the Romans and Greeks we wouldn’t of have as much knowledge as we do . The theory of the four humours was based on a belief that there were four elements that were linked to the seasons. These elements were treated with their opposites. For example, if you had a temperature in the summer you were treated by being made cold. The careful observation of patients tended to confirm that this was the cause of disease. The Romans were able to perform surgery but they faced the three major problems that would not be solved until the twentieth century. They could not ease the terrible pain, they were unable to stop infection and they could not control bleeding. This meant that they could only perform a limited number of operations.