In the initial years, medicine was highly influenced by religious practices and the clergy. The origin of diseases was traced to the anger of a deity. The remedy was to propitiate that deity. Medicine was practised in France by Shaman before 17000 years. In Mesopotamia and Egypt, the religious leaders practised it. In India, the bhagats, guravs, mantrics and clergy were into medicine. In Arabia and China, it was believed that mantras, witchcraft and propitiation of dieties cure the diseases. Even planets, stagnant water, sins committed and spells spread the diseases that lead to holocaust or burning of some people at stake.
In the development of modern medicine, dissection of the dead bodies played a vital role. That gave an idea of the causes of diseases. The religious people looked down upon the dissection.
In ancient times, the nursing of the diseased in monasteries was considered worship of God amongst the Buddhists and Christians. Here the symptoms of the diseases were addressed without the diagnosis of the disease. Such places become hospices that later led to hospital. In the Muslim rule the first hospital was established in 875 AD. Later, 34 hospitals were established across Spain to India. In the struggle between the Church and monarchy, the kings of England reduced the importance of religion from the hospitals. Hospitals were committed to practise modern medicine.
The cause of the diseases are the flaws in the organs. This principle was enunciated by Geovanni Battista Morgagni, an Italian anatomist after 700 postmortems. Rudolf Virchow put forward the principle that there are cells in the human body and the changes in the cellular structure cause diseases. Louis Pasteur, a French biologist, traced diseases to microorganisms and made the vaccine for Anthrax. He also developed the method of pasteurisation of milk. His contemporary was Joseph Lister, a British surgeon, who used carbolic acid as disinfectant and initiated aseptic surgery. Ronald Ross , a British medical doctor, made research for malaria in India. Robert Koch, a German physician and microbiologist, discovered the microbes of TB, cholera and anthrax. He supported the concept of infectious disease. Jonas Salk, American medical researcher and virologist, made polio vaccine. Sabin made oral polio vaccine.
The discovery of sulphas and antibiotics made modern medicine respectable. Organ transplant and DNA studies are the recent advances in medical science.