GCSE History / Britain : Health And The People / C1000 - Present Day

Question 1

Who is Hippocrates and what did he do ?

Answer 1

Doctor in ancient Greece. Developed the idea of clinical observation of the patient, rather than illness. His results established the Hippocratic Oath. He established the theory of the 4 humours.

Question 2

Define the theory of the 4 humours.

Answer 2

Believed the body was made up of blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. Pain would occur in the body if one of the substances was either deficient or in excess ( they all need to be in balance ). Some humours are hot so can call sweating illness, etc. Different foods and seasons could affect the humours. Galen believed in and developed the theory.

Question 3

Who was Galen ?

Answer 3

Greek doctor during the Roman Empire. Followed Hippocrates ideas of observation. Trained as a doctor to gladiators and practically increased his knowledge of human anatomy while treating wounds. Dissected animals. His books survived the fall of the Roman Empire so his ideas lasted through the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance.

Question 4

Describe concepts regarding Medieval medicine and Religion.

Answer 4

It was believed that if you led a sinful life then you were punished by God. If society was sinful then outbreaks and epidemics would occur.

Question 5

Explain what the Doctrine of Signatures is.

Answer 5

The belief that God had created illness, however, created the right herbs and plants to treat the illness.

Question 6

Besides Religion, Supernatural, and the 4 Humours state two additional concepts that were heavily linked to Medieval Disease.

Answer 6

Bad smells and everyday life.

Question 7

Explain how the belief in the supernatural was linked to Medieval medicine and health.

Answer 7

Witchcraft was feared and many believed the world was full of demons trying to cause trouble and death. These concepts were fueled by the Church.

Question 8

State the year and purpose of the Workmen’s Compensation Act.

Answer 8

1906. Granted compensation for injury at work.

Question 9

State the year and purpose of the Education ( Provision of Meals ) Act.

Answer 9

1906. Introduced free school meals.

Question 10

State the year and the purpose of the Education ( Administrative Provisions ) Act.

Answer 10

1907. Created school medical inspections.

Question 11

State the year and the purpose of the Matrimonial Causes Act.

Answer 11

1907. Maintenance payments to be paid to divorced women.

Question 12

State the year and purpose of the Children and Young Person’s Act.

Answer 12

1908. Made it illegal to sell alcohol, tobacco or fireworks to children.

Question 13

State the year and the purpose of the Old-Age Pensions Act.

Answer 13

1908. Over 70s received 5 shillings a week, 7s 6d for married couples.

Question 14

State the year and the purpose of the Labour Exchanges Act.

Answer 14

1909. Helped individuals find jobs.

Question 15

State the year and the purpose of the Housing and Town Planning Act.

Answer 15

1909. Made it illegal to build back-to-back houses.

Question 16

State the year and the purpose of the National Insurance Act.

Answer 16

1911. Sick and unemployment plan introduced if you paid contributions to the scheme.

Question 17

When was the National Health Service established ?

Answer 17

1948, 5th of July

Question 18

Why did many oppose the establishment of the NHS ?

Answer 18

Many in the medical profession saw the NHS as trying to curtail their livelihood and their rights to treat whoever they liked. Churchill said it was a ‘curse on the country’. The British Medical Association found that only 10% of doctors were in favour of the NHS.

Question 19

Who Louis Pasteur and what did he do ?

Answer 19

( 1822 - 1895 ) A French chemist who was the first person to establish the link between germ and disease. He believed in the concept of germ-theory, which stated that micro-organisms were responsible for disease. His work on chicken cholera led to a rabies vaccine in 1880. Also invented pasteurisation to preserve liquids.

Question 20

Who was Robert Koch and what did he do ?

Answer 20

(1843-1910) A German micro-biologist who took the work of Pasteur further. He invented a way to stain disease bacteria so it was easier to see under a microscope. He identified the cause of tuberculosis (1882) and cholera (1884), confirming the work of John Snow.

Question 21

Who was Paul Ehrlich and what did he do ?

Answer 21

(1854-1915) He was a German physician and one of Koch’s students. Best knows for developing Salvarsan 606 in 1919, as a treatment for an STD. Salvarsan became known as a magic-bullet - targeting specific germs in the body with little tk no side effects.

Question 22

Who was James Simpson and what did he do ?

Answer 22

In 1847, Simpson used chloroform after experimenting on himself and friends to reduce pain in childbirth. Chloroform indices unconsciousness and dizziness in patients and needed to be administered carefully so there was opposition. Opposition was partially overcome in 1853 when Queen Victoria uses it for childbirth. In the 1850s, cocaine was produced and used as an anaesthetic. Higher mortality rates used anaesthetics so in the 1879s, chloroform was no longer used.

Question 23

Who was Joseph Lister and what did he do ?

Answer 23

Read Pasteur’s work on germ theory. In 1865, after experiments he found that a thin mist of carbolic acid sprayed over a wound would limit infection. He reduced mortality rate from 46% to 15% in three years. In 1875, he invented a machine that sprayed carbolic acid over an entire room.

Question 24

State the opposition to anaesthetic Progression ( Lister ) .

Answer 24

Using carbolic acid would slow down procedures. The equipment was expensive. Lister kept updating his work to improve it and many doctors believed he was unsure of his work.

Question 25

In what years were the Cholera epidemics ?

Answer 25

1831-32, 1848, 1854, 1866.

Question 26

Who was John Snow and what did he do ?

Answer 26

In 1849, after the cholera epidemic in 1848, he published a book arguing cholera was spread by dirty water. In 1854, Snow mapped the locations of each death and worked out that they had all been drinking from the same pump. ( links to cess pit and brewery ).

Question 27

Who was Edwin Chadwick and what did he do ?

Answer 27

Chadwick was a secretary to the Poor Law Commissioners. He used statistics to investigate links between I’ll health and poverty. He published a report in 1842, arguing for the urgent need to improve living conditions if the government wished for economic growth.

Question 28

When was the Public Health Act passed ?

Answer 28

1848

Question 29

What urged the PHA to be established ?

Answer 29

The cholera epidemic of 1848, urged the government to act.

Question 30

Who was Alexander Fleming and what did he do ?

Answer 30

During WW1, Fleming observed that antiseptics seemed to be unable to prevent infection in deep wounds. In 1928, on returning from holiday, Fleming noticed a mould-penicillin that had grown on an unattended petri dish. He noticed that staphylococci bacteria around the mould has been killed off. Fleming called it an anti-biotic , meaning destructive of life’.

Question 31

Who were Florey and Chain and what did they do ?

Answer 31

In 1937, Florey and Chain overcame the difficulties of producing enough of the drug. They experimented on mice in 1940 and humans in 1941. Their first trial, a policeman has been badly infected after being scratched by a rose bush, and died after 5 days after their stock of drug ran out. The trial concluded how effective penicillin was.