All this happened, more or less.

For most patients in most places, the situation in 1815 was not so very different from that of 1648. In four ways, however, there can be said to have been progress, im the sense that the chances of patients receiving beneficial treatment improved. First, there was a fitful but definite move away from a humoral view of disease to one centred on the material structure of the body and employing a mechanical metaphor to understand its workings. The chief theoretical influence here was Descartes, whose rationalist philosophy divided soul from body, thus allowing the latter to be studied for its own sake and on its own terms. The chief practical influence was the growing practice of conducting post-mortems, which boosted anatomy and pathology at the expense of humoral theory. Tim Blanning, The Pursuit of Glory. Europe 1648-1815. p. 68.

I didn't realize that Descartes' mechanical approach played such an important role in promoting medical science. The separation between body and soul enabled physicians and practitioners to study human body without "violating" its soul.