Industrial/19th Century Medicine Flashcards
What did people in the Industrial period think caused disease?
Miasma theory. People knew there was a link between dirt and disease but concluded that filthy places smelled so that must cause disease.
Pasteur proved that germs were the cause of disease rather than result (spontaneous generation theory) with his germ theory (1861).
Robert Koch proved certain bacteria caused particular diseases e.g. anthrax, TB. He also showed how to stain bacteria with dye to study it.
Who treated disease in the Industrial period?
Doctors were university trained but very expensive, many poor people continued to use folk-medicine and home remedies.
Elizabeth Garrett was the first woman to qualify as a doctor in 1865 despite opposition from male doctors.
How was disease treated in the Industrial period?
Prevention of disease was revolutionised with the introduction of Vaccination in 1798 by Edward Jenner although he did not understand why his method worked.
Pasteur discovered new vaccines for Chicken Cholera, Anthrax and Rabies in the 1880s.
What surgery could they perform in the Industrial period?
At the beginning of the period surgeons were still limited to mainly external surgery.Great steps forward were made in internal surgery after the introduction of chloroform (1847) and anti-septic surgery (1864).
What anatomical knowledge did they have in the Industrial period?
The authority of the church was weakened, dissection was legal and the previous works of Vesalius revolutionised anatomical knowledge.
Could surgeons in the Industrial period control pain, bleeding and infection?
Pain - Robert Liston used ether as an anaesthetic in 1846 but it was flammable and irritated the throat. James Simpson used chloroform in 1847 but people overdosed. John Snow created the Chloroform inhaler which made it safer in 1848; Queen Victoria used his inhaler in 1853 ending opposition.
Infection - Ignaz Semmelweiss cut the death rate in his maternity ward by making the doctors wash their hands in calcium chloride solution before treating their patients. He was ignored and went mad. Standards of hospital cleanliness and nursing care rose under the influence of Florence Nightingale in 1854. Joseph Lister based his ideas on Pasteur’s Germ Theory and cut the death rate from 46 to 15 per cent by soaking instruments in carbolic acid and creating the carbolic spray in 1865. Aseptic surgery developed in 1890, surgeons started boiling their instruments to sterilise them - WS Halstead used rubber gloves when operating.
Bleeding - No effective way of replacing blood loss as blood groups were not discovered until 1901.
What was Public Health like in the Industrial period?
Huge problems caused by urbanisation - overcrowding, poorly ventilated housing and dirty water caused epidemics.
In 1842, Edwin Chadwick argued that cleaning the streets, providing clean water, sewers and appointing a medical officer would reduce taxes; he was ignored. In 1848, a cholera epidemic forced the government to act on the Chadwick report but this was voluntary.
John Snow proved the link between dirty water and cholera in 1854 by is investigations on Broad Street.
The 1875 Public Health Act forced councils to make these changes because Snow and Pasteur had proved the link between dirty water, germs and disease. Also the votes for working class men (1872) forced the government to act on the behalf of the poor.
What factors affected Medicine in the Industrial period?
Individuals - Jenner discovered the first vaccine, Pasteur proved the germ theory and created new vaccines, Koch identified the bacteria that caused particular diseases.
Science & Technology - Microscopes and advancements in chemistry enabled discoveries to be made in anaesthetics, antiseptics and vaccines.
War - The Crimean War led to improvements in nursing and hospitals under Florence Nightingale.
Government - The government became more involved in public health (1848 & 1875 Public Health Acts) and were less laissez-faire (leave it alone) in their attitude.
