19th Century

Question 1

What did James Simpsons discover?

Answer 1

• Safe anaesthetic (Chloroform)

- Used to use Ether

Question 2

Why was chloroform revolutionary?

Answer 2

-It was an effective anaesthetic which made longer and more complex surgeries

Question 3

How did Chloroform get into more common use?

Answer 3

-Queen Victoria approved of it when she used it for childbirth in 1857

Question 4

Why did surgeons stop using chloroform?

Answer 4

• Did not reduce death rates
• Longer operations=Increased blood loss and deeper infections
• Hard to give the correct dose

Question 5

How did Lister develop antiseptic surgery?

Answer 5

• Experimented with Carbolic Acid to reduce infection (mortality rates fell)
• Started to sterilise wounds and operating rooms
• Started to use sterilised cat gut as stitches

Question 6

Why were Listers methods not accepted?

Answer 6

• Carbolic spray slowed operations
• Made operating conditions unpleasant
• Some surgeons weren’t as careful so failed

Question 7

What was Cholera?

Answer 7

• A disease which caused diarrhoea and sickness

- Often lead to death

Question 8

What was the common idea of what caused Cholera?

Answer 8

-Miasma

Question 9

What idea did John Snow have about cholera?

Answer 9

-That it was caused by infected water

Question 10

How did John Snow prove his theory?

Answer 10

• Did house to house interviews and mapped each Cholera case
• He worked out where each case was in reference to a water pump
• Removed the handle of the water pump and cases dropped
• Discovered it was down to a crack in a neighboring cesspit

Question 11

Who was Louis Pasteur?

Answer 11

• Scientist who was asked to investigate why alcohol turns sour but ended up discovering germ theory

Question 12

What were Pasteur’s key ideas?

Answer 12

• Bacteria caused decay
• Germs were in the air
• Germs caused illness

Question 13

What was the short term impact of germ theory?

Answer 13

• Robert Koch went on to link individual bacterium
• Vaccines were developed
• Joseph Lister developed antiseptic surgery to prevent germs

Question 14

What was the long term impact of germ theory?

Answer 14

• New treatments such as antibiotics
• Aseptic surgery developed
• Improved public health

Question 15

Who was Robert Koch?

Answer 15

• Rival of Pasteur but ended up helping one another
• Investigated anthrax, TB and other diseases
• Proved germ theory

Question 16

What is Aseptic surgery?

Answer 16

• Lead on from antiseptic surgery

- Involved ensuring no germs at all in operating room

Question 17

What did Aseptic surgery involve?

Answer 17

• Operating theatres and hospitals were fully cleaned
• Steam sterilising
• Surgeons wore gowns
• Sterilised rubber gloves

Question 18

What were the Public Health problems in the nineteenth century?

Answer 18

• Contaminated drinking water
• Overpopulation and overcrowding
• Cholera epidemics
• “The Great Stink”
• Badly ventilated houses
• Fresh food was hard to get

Question 19

How was the Black Death and the Cholera outbreak similar?

Answer 19

• Miasma was still seen to be a leading cause
• Praying to God
• Quarantine
• Burning clothes and bedding of victims
• Superstition

Question 20

Who was Edwin Chadwick?

Answer 20

• Civil servant who conducted a report on public health

Question 21

What did Chadwick discover?

Answer 21

• The poor lived in dirty, overcrowded conditions
• Poor conditions caused a huge amount of illness
• Many people were too sick to work
• Therefore other people had to pay higher taxes

Question 22

What was Chadwicks solutions?

Answer 22

• Improving drainage and sewers
• Removing refuse
• Providing clean water supplies