Enlightenment Medicine Flashcards
c1700-c1900
Continuity in explanations of causes of disease
-People still believed in Miasma (but was becoming less popular)
Changes in explanations of causes of disease
-People no longer believed in the theory of The Four Humours
-Spontaneous Generation- Disease caused by Bacteria (Microbes)
Louis Pasteur Germ Theory 1861
-Germ Theory went against spontaneous generation. Pasteur found that microbes in the air caused decay and disease. In 1861, Louis published his ‘germ theory’ results
-Discoveries weren’t that significant due to attitudes in society
Robert Koch’s work on Microbes
-In 1882, Koch discovered that bacteria caused TB
-He then developed a new method for growing Bacteria in a Petri dish with agar jelly
-As well as a method of staining them with industrial dyes to make them easier to see
-Significant impact as it allowed many medical professors to recognise the link between microbes and symptoms of the disease and he inspired other scientists
Surgery: Anaesthetics
-Laughing gas was used for anaesthetics however it caused vomiting and irritation of the lungs. As well as it being flammable.
-CHLOROFORM was discovered by James Simpson in 1847 when him and his friends tried inhaling different chemicals
-The dose of chloroform had to be carefully controlled as it was easy to overdose and kill. It also affected the heart
-Chloroform allowed more complex surgeries. However, this caused the issue of infection and bleeding to become an even bigger issue.
-Queen Victoria made Chloroform popular
Surgery: Antiseptics
-Before antiseptics, surgeons didn’t clean themselves or their surroundings which made infection very common
-Joseph Lister got the idea for using CARBOLIC ACID from when he realised that if microbes in the air caused wine and vinegar to go bad, maybe they also caused flesh to rot. (Sewage Treatment)
-This was tested on aa patient with a broken leg where Joseph added a bandage soaked in Carbolic Acid
-Lister spread his discoveries when publishing in the LANCET MEDICAL JOURNAL where he described 11 different cases where his discovery worked successfully
-The impact of Carbolic Acid was that infection rates went from 50% to 15% in 4 years. However, it dried skin and left an odd smell and there was no explanation on how it worked
Hospital care: 18TH CENTURY
-Access to trained doctors
-Became a place for treatment, not only rest and prayer
-Still used herbal remedies
-Surgeon and apothecaries always on site
-Particular on who hospitals treated. It gave poor people access to trained doctors for the first time.
-Rich were often treated at home
-As more people attended, the less sanitary they were.
-Disease spread quickly
Hospital care: 19TH CENTURY
-Had trained nurses, Doctors and Junior Doctors
-Place for the sick to be treated
-Separate wards
-Surgery took place
-Antiseptics helped with cleanliness
-Hospitals were now very clean and focused on preventing germs
-Pavilion plan was introduced
Influence of Florence Nightingale
-Nightingales experience in the Crimean war made her famous in Britain because mortality rate dropped from 40% to 2% within 6 months. She also increased cleanliness in hospitals
-Florence changed the style of hospitals by adding more ventilation and separate wards.
-She influenced the use of the Pavilion Plan which helped hospitals stay sanitary and stopped diseases spreading from patient to patient
-Changed the way nurses were trained and opened up her own nursing school in London (1860)
Use of Vaccination
-By 1800, 100000 people around the world had been vaccinated including the French Commander Napoleon and his army
-Vaccinations increased after 1803 because the government made vaccine mandatory and 12000 British people were vaccinated in 2 years.
-Vaccine led to inoculation getting banned as it was more expensive, unsafe and unreliable
-The government helped to promote vaccine by providing children the vaccine for free then make it compulsory
Public Health Act 1875
-Before the act, the government had a Laissaz-faire, hands off approach to not get involved in public health.
-After the act, Interventionist- to get involved in public health.
-Attitudes towards Public Health changed because:
*Appeal to new voters- Government could get more votes from working class voters by passing laws to help their living conditions
*Edwin Chadwick (1842)- Showed the link between life expectancy and living conditions meaning the government would want to stop the spreading of disease
*Scientific developments- The government now had a reason and proof of what was causing disease so they may have been more interested in stopping the spread of disease
*Cholera epidemics- The government would link disease to bad economy and would want to help disease to stop spreading to help the economy
Jenner and the development of vaccination
-Jenner became interested in smallpox inoculation because he noticed milk maids didn’t catch small pox because they caught cow pox
-Jenner tested this in the 18th century when he tested the theory on James Phipps (1796)- gave James cow pox then small pox
-Jenner shared his discovery in ‘AN EQUIRY INTO THE CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF THE VARIOLA VACCINAE’
-It took a while for people to accept Jenners theory, however, he was unable to explain how or why it worked which made people suspicious
Fighting Cholera in London, 1854: attempts to prevent its spread
-Steps were taken to try and clean up the filthiest areas of cities and so prevent the spread of cholera.
-The belief that Miasmata and rotting material caused the disease was still widespread, so local councils and populations turned their attentions to the mess in which they were living.
-The government encouraged cities to set up boards of health and provide cleaning water supplies. However, this did not have a great effect on people’s living conditions
Fighting Cholera in London, 1854: The significance of the Broad Street Pump
-Discovered by John Snow
-In 1855, John presented his findings (the pattern that the number of deaths seemed to be centred around the pump) to a House of Commons committee. He showed the evidence that he had gathered which proved that Cholera was transmitted by dirty water.
-The government started to make massive improvements to the sewer systems.
