Medicine explained to kids

Medicine is the branch of health science and the sector of public life concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, treatment and possible prevention of disease and injury. It is both an area of knowledge – a science of body systems, their diseases and treatment – and the applied practice of that knowledge. The medicine dates back to prehistoric times when folk medicine and herbalism were the only treatments available. In the early civilized societies of Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China and ancient Greece, illness was thought to be caused by supernatural forces or by an imbalance of the basic elements of earth, water, air and fire. As these beliefs were slowly replaced by the concept of disease caused by contagious agents, the study and practice of medicine rapidly developed. During the medieval period in Europe, the main source of medical knowledge was the Greek physician Galen (129-216 AD). His ideas about the workings of the human body were based on his observations of animals, and were widely accepted for more than 1,000 years. It was not until the Renaissance in the 16th century that medical science began to develop rapidly. One of the most important figures in the history of medicine is the Italian physician and anatomist Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564). Vesalius refuted many of Galen's ideas and established the science of anatomy on a sound footing. Another important figure is the English physician William Harvey (1578-1657), who described the circulation of blood around the body. The development of medicine has been greatly aided by the establishment of universities, where medical knowledge has been passed down from generation to generation of physicians. In the 19th century, a number of advances were made in the field of medicine, including the discovery of the bacteria that cause disease, the development of vaccines and the use of anesthesia during surgery. Today, medicine is a highly developed science. There are many different specialties within medicine, such as cardiology (the study of the heart), dermatology (the study of the skin), oncology (the study of cancer) and psychiatry (the study of mental illness). Medicine is an important part of our society. It is the branch of health science and the sector of public life concerned with maintaining or restoring human health. It is a science of body systems, their diseases and treatment. It is an applied practice of that knowledge.