Museum of the History of Medicine

On 29 July we visited the Museum of the History of Medicine, which is run by the Sapienza University of Rome. The museum covered everything from ancient medical theories and practices to modern day technologies and those that will likely come in the future. I thought that the section about Hippocrates was very interesting, since he was the first individual to understand that diseases were caused naturally, and not the result of gods. Hippocrates believed that a combination of environmental factors, diet, and living habits could potentially cause an imbalance in the fluids of the body, leading to disease. Even though it is known today that the biochemistry of the body is more complex, and that genetics play a huge role in our health, Hippocratic medicine was a huge step to the modern-day medicine is seen today. In fact, the oath that medical professionals take is based on the philosophies of Hippocrates, regarding the ethics that define good medical practice. The original version is not usually used, however the general ideas of morality in medicine still apply.

The Great Roman Aqueducts

On Thursday after a long metro ride and a bit of adventuring (aka not being sure where to turn then crawling through a fence), we walked up to the magnificent ancient structures known as the aqueducts. We visited the longest above ground stretch still standing, the Aqua Claudia, named after the ruler Claudius. It was crazy to imagine the 150-200 million gallons of water that would rush through these 11 structures daily to quench the Romans' thirst and bathing activities. What I found most impressive however was the math and engineering behind making sure that the water was at just a slight decline all the way from its source to Rome and the ridging in the aqueduct waterway, to make sure the water would make it there and flowed at the right speed. It was also interesting to learn that rulers built fancy public drinking water fountains to show off these awesome engineering feats as well, but really who can blame them... I would have too.

Aqueducts

Today we went and saw the aqueducts, which were Rome's ancient ways of getting water into the city. Most of it was underground, but we saw the parts of two different aqueducts that ran above ground. The partial ruins of the two we saw were actually 4 of the 11 aqueducts that ran to the city. After the initial construction the Romans built on top of the existing aqueducts to save cost. They most used lead pipes, and coined the term plumbing hence the symbol for lead on the periodic table is pb. They didn't get lead poisoning though because the natural sediments in the water built a protective  coating not allowing lead to get in the water. The oldest one dating I think back to 300bc still had water being piped to it which we and some other people and their dogs enjoyed the ice cold liquid flowing out of it.

Walking tour part 1

During the first part of the walking tour that took place in Florence, we saw the Ponte Veccio, which means "old bridge." The bridge was full of different shops and is where the term "bankruptcy" originated. If the merchants couldn't make the payments, their tables on which they sold their items would physically be broken. Also during WWII, this bridge was the only bridge in Florence that was not destroyed by the nazis.

Walking!

I really enjoyed the walking tour of Florence. It was fasinating to see the Ponte Vecchio bridge and how everything was still in use. The fact that they built shops on the side of the bridge is awesome and very clever. When walking through it felt like I was walking back through time because all the stores were still in use and the siding of each store still looked original. Plus the bridge was able to survive the devastation of World War II. Just amazing and so beautiful!

Galileo museum

Once again out group had a good experience with a knowledgable tour guide. At the Galileo museum we saw two different collections: the Medici and the Lorenese. The Medici collection contains older artifacts whereas the Lorenese collection has newer pieces geared towards educating the public during the time of the enlightenment. The Medici collection including many artifacts for navigation and measurement like telescopes, calipers, globes,and many others. Other parts of the exhibit includes early alchemy and chemistry tools, early static electricity generators, and many of galileo's works were also on display. The Lorenese collection included some models of children in the womb during complicated childbirths(to educate mothers about their anatomy and potential complications of childbirth). These were very interesting and also quite accurate anatomically, unfortunately their accuracy is due to mothers and their children dying during births and subsequent dissection. Still there were many other medical displays in this exhibit.

Trajectories

At the Galileo Museum, it was fascinating to learn about the original uses of different tools available at the time. The telescope was originally advertised for navigation and military purposes before it was pointed towards the heavens. In addition, compasses (the mathematical compass not the directional compass) were used to calculate distances and angles for navigation and trajectories. I enjoyed learning about how it was discovered that artillery followed a parabolic path. Because of this discovery, compasses were used to calculate the distance and angle required to hit the opposing forces.