<P> They died by the hundreds, both day and night, and all were thrown in...ditches and covered with earth . And as soon as those ditches were filled, more were dug . And I, Agnolo di Tura...buried my five children with my own hands...And so many died that all believed it was the end of the world . </P> <P> Boccaccio wrote: </P> <P> How many valiant men, how many fair ladies, breakfast with their kinfolk and the same night supped with their ancestors in the next world! The condition of the people was pitiable to behold . They sickened by the thousands daily, and died unattended and without help . Many died in the open street, others dying in their houses, made it known by the stench of their rotting bodies . Consecrated churchyards did not suffice for the burial of the vast multitude of bodies, which were heaped by the hundreds in vast trenches, like goods in a ships hold and covered with a little earth . </P> <P> Although the Black Death highlighted the shortcomings of medical science in the medieval era, it also led to positive changes in the field of medicine . As described by David Herlihy in The Black Death and the Transformation of the West, more emphasis was placed on "anatomical investigations" following the Black Death . How individuals studied the human body notably changed, becoming a process that dealt more directly with the human body in varied states of sickness and health . Further, at this time, the importance of surgeons became more evident . </P>

Economic and social effects of the black death