18th and 19th Century Medicine

Question 1

Which years are covered by the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries?

Answer 1

1700-1900

Question 2

When was Germ Theory published, and by whom?

Answer 2

1861. Louis Pasteur

Question 3

When was the bacteria causing TB identified, and who identified it?

Answer 3

1882. Robert Koch

Question 4

What procedure for studying bacteria cultures did Koch publicise?

Answer 4

The use of agar jelly in a petri dish, as well as staining bacteria so it could be more easily studied

Question 5

What did Florence Nightingale believe caused disease and how did this affect how she ran her wards?

Answer 5

Miasma. Emphasised the need for hygiene, fresh air etc.

Question 6

When did Florence Nightingale publish Notes on Hospitals?

Answer 6

1859

Question 7

At which hospital did Nightingale establish a training school for nurses?

Answer 7

St Thomas’

Question 8

Which two key developments improved surgery in the 198th and 19th centuries?

Answer 8

Anaesthetics and Antiseptics

Question 9

What was Chloroform and when was it first used?

Answer 9

An anaesthetic. From 1847

Question 10

What was the Black Period of Surgery?

Answer 10

The period between the 1850s and 1870s when death rates from infection increased in surgery

Question 11

Who developed the first antiseptic?

Answer 11

Joseph Lister

Question 12

What is an antiseptic?

Answer 12

Something that kills germs. Eg carbolic acid

Question 13

When did Lister first soak bandages in carbolic acid to prevent infection?

Answer 13

1865

Question 14

When did Lister develop the carbolic spray?

Answer 14

1866

Question 15

What kind of surgery was commonplace by 1900?

Answer 15

Aseptic

Question 16

What new treatments for disease were developed during the 18th and 19th centuries?

Answer 16

Not really any - people experimented with killing bacteria but didn’t have any luck

Question 17

When was the Second Public Health Act passed?

Answer 17

1875

Question 18

What were the key features of the Second Public Health Act? There are 9.

Answer 18

1) City councils must provide clean water
2) Sewers must be provided
3) Public toilets must be provided
4) Street lighting must be provided
5) Public parks must be provided
6) Councils must inspect lodging houses for cleanliness
7) Councils must check the quality of new houses being built
8) Councils must check the quality of food sold in shops
9) A public officer of health must be employed to monitor disease

Question 19

What is the term used to describe the government’s attitude towards getting involved in daily lives of people before the 19th century?

Answer 19

Laissez-faire

Question 20

Why did the government’s laissez-faire attitude begin to change in the 19th century?

Answer 20

Electoral reform meant more people could vote. Several epidemics (eg cholera) forced them to take action. Scientific evidence that diseases were caused by poor living conditions.

Question 21

When did Jenner discover his smallpox vaccination?

Answer 21

1798

Question 22

Which disease did Jenner find a way to prevent?

Answer 22

Smallpox

Question 23

Before Jenner’s smallpox vaccine, how did people try to avoid catching the disease?

Answer 23

Inoculation

Question 24

What was the problem with inoculation?

Answer 24

It was dangerous and expensive

Question 25

How did Jenner’s vaccination work?

Answer 25

Give someone a dose of cowpox to make them immune to the more serious smallpox

Question 26

When did the government begin making smallpox vaccinations free for the poor?

Answer 26

1840

Question 27

When did the smallpox vaccination become compulsory?

Answer 27

1852

Question 28

When did the government begin enforcing the law around compulsory vaccination?

Answer 28

1872

Question 29

Why were some people opposed to Jenner’s vaccination?

Answer 29

• Royal Society felt not enough understanding of how it worked
• Church disapproved of the use of an animal disease
• Inoculators feared losing business

Question 30

Why might some people argue Jenner’s vaccination had limited significance?

Answer 30

Because the reasons it worked were not understood, so the technique could not be more widely applied.

Question 31

Which doctor did pioneering work around Cholera?

Answer 31

John Snow

Question 32

When was the Broad Street outbreak of Cholera?

Answer 32

1854

Question 33

What did John Snow prove caused Cholera?

Answer 33

Drinking dirty water

Question 34

Why was John Snow’s work slow to be accepted?

Answer 34

Because Germ Theory hadn’t been published yet.