Medicine is among the most ancient of human occupations. It began as an art and gradually developed into a science over the centuries. There are 3 main stages in medicine development: Medicine of Ancient Civilizations, Medicine of Middle Ages and Modern Medicine.
Early man, like the animals, was subject to illness and death. At that time medical actions were mostly a part of ceremonial rituals. The medicine—man practiced magic to help people who were ill or had a wound. New civilizations, which developed from early tribes, began to study the human body, its anatomic composition. Magic still played an important part in treating but new practical methods were also developing. The early Indians, e. g., set fractures and practiced aromatherapy. The Chinese were pioneers of immunization and acupuncture. The contribution of the Greeks in medicine was enormous. An early leader in Greek medicine was Aesculapius. His daughters, Hygeia and Panacea gave rise to dynasties of healers (curative medicine) and hygienists (preventive medicine). The division in curative and preventive medicine is true today. The ethic principles of a physician were summarized by another Greek, Hippocrates. They are known as Hippocrates Oath.
The next stage of Medicine's development was the Middle Ages. A very important achievement of that time was the hospital. The first ones appeared in the 15–th century in Oriental countries and later in Europe. Another advance of the Middle Ages was the foundation of universities during 13–14–th centuries. Among other disciplines students could study medicine. During 18–th century new discoveries were made in chemistry, anatomy, biology, others sciences. The advances of that time were invention of the stethoscope (by Rene Laennec), vaccination for smallpox, discovery of anesthetics and development of immunology and scientific surgery. The next century is rise of bacteriology. Important discoveries were made by Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch. The development of scientific bacteriology made possible advances in surgery: using antiseptics and control of wound infection.
Medicine in the 20–th century made enormous contribution in the basic medical sciences. These are discovery of blood groups and vitamins, invention of insulin and penicillin, practice of plastic surgery and transplantation.
