Early Modern Medicine 1700-1900 Flashcards
What was inoculation?
Making a cut in a patient’s arm and soaking it with smallpox pus
Why was inoculation somewhat unsuccessful?
Some people caught smallpox and died
It was also expensive
How did Edward Jenner come up with and test the theory of vaccinations?
He observed that milkmaids caught cowpox but not smallpox
He injected cowpox pus into a young boy and attempted to infect him with smallpox
The boy did not get smallpox
Why were some people opposed to vaccinations?
What shows their success despite this?
It was mostly doctors who did not want to lose money if inoculation became obsolete
1853 - smallpox vaccinations became mandatory
What was the theory spontaneous generation?
Microbes are created by decaying matter
What were the results of Louis Pasteur’s experiment with flasks?
Think: germs
An open flask of sterilised water bred germs. A closed flask did not
When did Pasteur publish the Germ Theory, and what did he argue in it?
1861 - that microbes caused decay, rather than the other way around
Why did Pasteur’s Germ Theory not become useful until several years after it was published?
It was initially met with scepticism by trusted surgeons
How did Robert Koch identify specific microbes?
Which ones did he identify in the 1880’s?
Grew a culture of them using agar jelly, and then stained them for viewing under a microscope
Cholera and tuberculosis
Which war did Nightingale and Seacole nurse in?
Crimean War
What did Florence Nightingale do to the Scutari hospital?
How much did the death rate fall by?
- Put an emphasis on cleanliness, e.g. handwashing
- Put more reliable water supplies and better food in place
40%
What did Nightingale set up in London, with funding from the public?
When did she publish her book, ‘Notes on Nursing’?
Nightingale School of Nursing
1859
What did Mary Seacole set up with her own wealth?
The British Hotel - a collection of makeshift buildings that served as a hospital, a shop, and a canteed for soldiers fighting in the Crimean War
Who discovered chloroform as an anaesthetic?
How?
James Simpson knocked over a bottle of chloroform - he and his friends passed out from inhaling it. He was originally trying to discover pain relief for childbirth
Who famously used chloroform in her childbirth?
Queen Victoria
What was the problem with chloroform?
It was hard to get the correct dose. There was always a tiny margin between a correct dose and a lethal dose
Who invented the chloroform inhaler?
John Snow
Why was Joseph Lister inspired to use carbolic acid in the operating theatre?
He had seen it used in sewage to keep down the smell
He was also inspired by Louis Pasteur’s Germ Theory
What is carbolic acid?
What did Joseph Lister start using it on?
An antiseptic
Medical instruments and bandages
From 1864-1870, due to carbolic acid, how much did death rates in surgery decrease by?
What did this allow?
35%
Longer and more invasive surgeries
What is asepsis, and when was it first achieved?
A germ-free environment
Late 1800’s
When was the Cholera outbreak in the Broad Street area of London?
Who conducted investigations in this area?
1854
John Snow
What did Snow’s investigations about Broad Street conclude?
The victims were all using the same pump - Cholera had to be waterborne
What did Snow convince the council to do? Was it successful?
Remove the handle from the Broad Street Pump
Yes - it turned out that a nearby cesspit had leaked into the water supply
What did John Snow’s investigations on cholera make people realise?
Government intervention was needed to clean streets and waterways
When was the first Public Health Act?
Why was it unsuccessful?
1842
The government made nothing compulsory, so local councils did not follow it
What was laissez-faire?
What changed these attitudes?
The idea that the government should not intervene in public health
John Snow’s discovery on Broad Street, as well as writers such as Charles Dickens
When was the second Public Health Act?
What did it put in place?
Why was it more effective than the first?
1875
Forced councils to appoint health inspectors, maintain sewerage systems, and keep the streets clean
It was compulsory
