Passage #3
Medicine in the Middle Ages was dominated by religion. Sickness was believed to be a punishment
from God for sins committed and the only way to cure someone was to pray for their forgiveness. Doctors in
the Middle Ages were usually priests or other religious scholars. Hospitals often sprang up in monasteries and
other religious establishments. The patients were given food and comforted by religious nursing staff but little
else was done to cure their illness. Traditional cures, using herbal remedies and potions, were seen as
witchcraft and outlawed by the church. Laws stated that only trained and registered people could practice
medicine. Schools and universities began to educate wealthy individuals in religion, the arts, law and
medicine. Generally men, and occasionally a few women, were trained and allowed to become physicians. As
universities developed, more and more came from a non-religious background and eventually it was not
necessary to be a cleric to practice medicine. The biggest challenge to medieval medicine came in the form of
the Black Death, or Bubonic Plague. In 1347, an outbreak of Bubonic Plague broke out in Istanbul (modern
day Turkey). Traders soon carried the disease throughout Europe and records show that in some areas it killed
up to 90% of the population. That is the equivalent of 49 million people in the UK today. We now know that
Bubonic Plague is a form of highly contagious and fatal pneumonia. During the Middle Ages, the only
treatments were superstitious remedies, prayer, herbal medicines
and recipes for clearing the air of miasma or poison. The plague was considered to be a punishment from God
and so public health was not considered to be important. There was never any attempt to control the many rats
that infested villages and towns and carried the disease. This was one of the main reasons that the plague was
so devastating.
【題組】50. It can be inferred that miasma is ________.
(A) toxic (B) fragrant (C) hygienic (D) fresh
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