By Odewoye Yetunde Theresa
In medieval times, medicine and astrology were not different things. People really believed that what happened in the sky could affect the human body. So if you were a doctor at that time, you had to know about the body and also about the stars.
Two major methods they used were Uroscopy, which is the checking of urine, and Planetary charting, where they used the zodiac calendar to treat patients. Today we depend on laboratory tests and scans, but then, this was how diagnosis started.
THEY USED URINE TO CHECK SICKNESS (UROSCOPY).
For more than a thousand years, urine was the main test for sickness. Doctors collected urine inside a clear bottle called MATULA and raised it up to see it under sunlight. They checked the colour, whether it was clear or not, the smell, and even the bubbles inside.
They had something like a wheel chart called the urine wheel, with about 20 different urine colors and what each color meant. For example, if the urine was very dark they would say the person had fever, if it was too pale and too much, they would say it was diabetes, and if it was cloudy, maybe urinary infection.
They did not have a microscope, no test strip, nothing, so they only used their eyes and nose to check. Many of their results were wrong, but it was still important because it was the first time doctors were trying to use something from the body to know what was wrong with a person. That idea is still what we use today.
ZODIAC MAN AND PLANETARY CHARTING
The other method was medical astrology. They believed that planets and zodiac signs controlled health. Each part of the body belonged to a zodiac sign. If you check old medical books, you will see a picture they called the Zodiac Man. The head is Aries, the neck is Taurus, the arms is Gemini, and it continues down to the legs which is Pisces.
Because of this belief, timing was very important for treatment. They could not do bloodletting or surgery if the moon was in the wrong sign, they believed it would be dangerous. So before treating, they would check the astrological calendar to find a good day. They believed planets could affect the four humours of the body blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. If one was too much, the person would be sick.
For us now it sounds like superstition, but at that time it gave them a way to make decisions when they did not know how the body really worked.
FROM MYSTICISM TO LABORATORY
Medicine has changed now. We still check urine but the method has changed. Now we use test strips, microscopes and machines. Instead of just guessing from colour, we can check glucose, protein, blood, bacteria and everything accurately.
But planetary charting has completely left medicine. No doctor now will say we should not do surgery because the star is not in a good position. Now we use clinical trials, biochemistry, anatomy and scans to treat patients.
But the goal is still the same – to detect sickness early and treat it. What remains from that time is the culture of observation. Those old doctors observed patients very well, and that habit is what brought modern diagnosis.
WHY SCIENCE REPLACED IT
The main change happened between the 17th and 19th centuries when science started. Chemistry started to explain what urine really contains. Microbiology discovered bacteria and germs that cause infection. Anatomy replaced the four humours theory.
Medical astrology could not stand because you cannot test it. If two doctors check the same urine or the same star chart, they will give different answers. But if two laboratory scientists run the same urine test today, the result will be the same. Medicine needs something that is consistent, that is why science won.
This does not mean those old doctors did not have sense. It was the best knowledge they had at that time that they used, and they really tried to bring order to sickness.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, if we look back, uroscopy and planetary charting show how far medicine has gone. It was a mixture of observation and belief because that was the only framework they had at that time. The urine wheel is no longer used, but the principle of using body fluid to diagnose disease is still central today. The zodiac chart is gone, but the idea of timing and planning treatment is still there.
The history of medical astrology shows us that science grows by questioning old ideas. Medieval doctors were wrong about many things, but they started something important to look at patients well, record what they saw, and try to find a pattern. That tradition is what connects the matula flask of before to the test tube of today.