Industrial: Germ Theory Flashcards
Name 3 types of pain relief.
Hashish, mandrake, opium
Why was pain relief in the 1700s often ineffective/dangerous?
It was difficult to judge dosage of anaesthetics
What other substance was often used for pain relief?
Alcohol for pain relief
Why was alcohol an ineffective anaesthetic?
Made heart beat faster and bleeding more difficult to control
How did 18th Century anaesthetics prevent some surgery?
Operations had to be done quick to spare patients pain so this prevented complicated surgeries
What is cauterising?
Placing burning hot metal on a wound to seal it closed
What is the Spontaneous Generation theory?
The idea that germs or harmful microbes appear spontaneously/randomly
How did people in the 18th Century think disease was caused?
They thought disease caused microbes, not the other way round
Who was Friedrich Henle?
A Swiss professor of anatomy, challenged Spontaneous Generation
What did Henle suggest?
Henle suggested that microbes caused infections.
What happened to Henle’s theories?
At the time, they were dismissed.
What belief did Florence Nightingale and William Farr both have?
Anti-contagionism
What was believed to cause cholera, plague and typhoid fever?
Infections interacting with the environment.
What did anti-contagionists do to reduce infection?
Anti-contagionism: clean up the environment
Who was Louis Pasteur?
French scientist carried out the ‘swan-necked flask’ experiment
What happened in the swan-necked flask experiment?
- Pasteur put liquid in two glass containers
- Heated the spout of one and bent it into a swan-neck shape
- Heated up the liquid to kill microbes
- Germs could not reach the liquid.
What is pasteurisation?
Heating up a liquid to kill microbes
What did the swan-necked flask experiment prove?
Disproved Spontaneous Generation theory
What book was published by Pasteur and when?
‘Germ Theory’ - 1861
When was ‘Germ Theory’ published?
1861
What was Robert Koch known for?
Became famous in the 1870s for his work on anthrax microbes.
What is anthrax?
A killer disease that causes sores on the lungs
What did Robert Koch do?
- Stained and grew anthrax microbes in an agar plate
- Injected it into mice which made them ill
What did Koch’s experiment prove?
Koch proved specific microbes caused disease
What was the Magic Bullet theory?
The idea that it was possible to kill germs in the body without harming healthy human cells
What was Salvarsan 606?
The first ‘magic bullet’ - cured syphilis
Who created the ‘magic bullet’?
Paul Ehrlich
What was Paul Ehrlich’s experiment(s)?
- Investigated the germs that would kill syphilis germs without harming healthy human sells
- Infected rabbits with syphilis
- Gave the rabbits the chemical to see if it cured it without giving them any other illness
How many trials did Ehrlich conduct before finding the ‘magic bullet’?
605
Why was typhoid fever so infamous?
It was a common killer disease
Awareness spread in 1861 when Prince Albert died of it
When was the typhoid microbe identified?
1874
Who identified the typhoid microbe?
Emmanuel Klein in 1874
Who were William Dallinger and John Drysdale?
Dallinger and Drysdale published a paper on the life cycle of microbes
Who was John Tyndall?
A scientist who promoted Pasteur’s theory, lectured on Koch’s discovery of anthrax in the 1870s
