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6 AFRICAN HISTORY  HISTORY OF MEDICINE LESSONS

History of Medicine
Glossary

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Anaesthetist A medical specialist who gives a patient anesthetic before he is operated on.

Anatomy The structure of the human body.

Antibiotics A medicine that prevents, inhibits, or destroys bacteria.

Architecture The design, construction and decoration of buildings.

Astronomy The study of the star and the universe.

Ayurvedic According to Ayurvedic medicine, health is a state of total balance between the body, mind, senses and the soul.

Cardiologist A medical specialist in the function and diseases of the heart.

Circumcision To cut off the foreskin of a male or the clitoris of a female.

Derived Formed or developed from something else.

Diviner
Someone who claims to have supernatural powers and special hidden knowledge.

Embalming To embalm literally means "to place in balsam or resin", which is one of the last steps of the whole process to prevent the body from rotting.

Epidemic A widespread outbreak of a disease where many people are infected and affected at the same time.

Exhume Dig up a dead body for medical investigation or reburial.

Homeopathy A system of medical practice that treats a disease especially by the administration of very small doses of a remedy.

Immunologist A medical scientist who specializes in the study of the human body’s immune system.

Jaundice When a person’s skin and whites of their eyes turn yellow because they have too much bile pigment in their blood.

Khoi-San From Khoikhoi + San. A group of African peoples speaking Khoisan languages or a family of African languages comprising principally of Hottentot and the Bushman languages.

Manuscript A handwritten book or document.

Microbiology A branch of biology dealing especially with microscopic forms of life.

Midwifery A branch of medicine that deals with childbirth and care of the mother.

Mummification A mummy is an embalmed body.

Nguni A member of a group of peoples of southern and southeast Africa, including the Swazi, Ndebele, Xhosa, and Zulu.

Nomadic A traditional way of life in which a community moves from place to place according to different seasons, because of the availabitlity of food and water supply and other factors.

Nurse Someone who is trained to look after sick people.

Oasis A place in the desert where there is water.

Oppress Keep down by unjust use of authority.

Organic Relating to living organisms.

Pacemaker
An electronic device that is implanted into the chest to regulate the heartbeat.

Papyrus A tall sedge (Cyperus papyrus) of the Nile valley of which the pith is cut in strips and pressed into a material to write on.

Pathologist A doctor that specialises in diagnosing or identifying diseases.

Pharaoh
A ruler of ancient Egypt.

Physician
A trained medical doctor.

Prophet Interpreter of God’s will.

Radiologist A medical specialist that uses radioactive substances and x-rays to treat diseases.

Serum A watery fluid in the blood containing protein.

Sotho Any one of the Sotho languages and especially Sesotho or a group of closely related Bantu languages of Lesotho, Botswana, and northern South Africa.

Species Specific categories of organisms that share certain characteristics.

Suppress Keep under control.

Surgeon A doctor who specialises in surgery, or operating on people.

Symptom A sensation or change in the body that is related to a specific disease.

Technician Someone who has advanced technical skills in a specific area.

Tissue A group of similar cells that form a part of a body or organ, like muscle tissue or skin tissue.

Vaccination A weak strain of a disease is injected into a person to stimulate antibodies to develop. This ensures that the body is strong enough to resist the disease.

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