Medecine Key Dates

Question 1

400 BC

Answer 1

Hippocrates – founder of the Four Humours theory. This theory stated that there were four main elements in the body – blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm. Illness was caused by having too much of one of these humours inside of you. He also wrote the Hippocratic Collection, more than 60 books detailing symptoms and treatments of many diseases.

Question 2

162 AD

Answer 2

Galen – continues the four humours theory but extends it to have the humours in opposition to each other. This meant that an illness could be treated in one of two ways, either removing the “excess” humour or by adding more to its opposite. Galen also proves the brain is important in the body (operation on the pig). Galen’s books would become the foundation of medical treatment in Europe for the next 1500 years.

Question 3

1100s – 1200s

Answer 3

When Europeans went on crusades to the Holy Land in the 12th and 13th centuries, their doctors gained first-hand knowledge of Arab medicine, which was advanced by Western standards.

Question 4

1347- 1348

Answer 4

Black Death – across Europe more than 25 million people die. Two main types of plague
1. Bubonic – 50-75% chance of death. Carried by fleas on rats. Death usually within 8 days
2. Pneumonic – airborne disease. 90-95% chance of death within only 2-3 days
People had no idea how to stop the plague. People thought it was caused by various factors, i.e. the Jews, the Planets, the Gods

Question 5

1455

Answer 5

The Printing Press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg. This allowed for the massive reproduction of works without using the Church as a medium.

Question 6

1540s

Answer 6

Andreus Vesalius – proved Galen wrong regarding the jawbone and that blood flows through the septum in the heart. He published “The Fabric of the Body” in 1543. His work encouraged other to question Galen’s theories.

Question 7

1570s

Answer 7

Ambroise Paré – developed ligatures to stop bleeding during and after surgery. This reduced the risk of infection. He also developed an ointment to use instead of cauterising wounds.

Question 8

1620s

Answer 8

William Harvey – proved that blood flows around the body, is carried away from the heart by the arteries and is returned through the veins. He proved that the heart acts as a pump re- circulating the blood and that blood does not “burn up”. Successfully proving Galen wrong.

Question 9

1665

Answer 9

The Great Plague – little improvement since 1348 – still have no idea what is causing it and still no understanding of how to control or prevent it. In London, almost 69,000 people died that year.

Question 10

1721

Answer 10

Inoculation first used in Europe, brought over from Turkey by Lady Montague.

Question 11

1796

Answer 11

Edward Jenner – discovered vaccinations using cowpox to treat smallpox. Jenner published his findings in 1798. The impact was slow and sporadic. In 1805 Napoleon had all his soldiers vaccinated. However, vaccination was not made compulsory in Britain until 1852.

Question 12

1830s

Answer 12

Industrial Revolution. This had a dramatic effect on public health. As more and more families moved into town and cities, the standards of public health declined. Families often shared housing, and living and working conditions were poor. People worked 15 hour days and had very little money.

Question 13

1831

Answer 13

Cholera Epidemic. People infected with cholera suffered muscle cramps, diarrhoea , dehydration and a fever. The patient would most likely be killed by dehydration. Cholera returned regularly throughout the century, with major outbreaks in 1848 and 1854.

Question 14

1842

Answer 14

Edwin Chadwick reports on the state of health of the people in cities, towns and villages to the Poor Law Commission (fore- runner to the Public Health Reforms). He highlights the differences in life-expectancy caused by living and working conditions. He proposes that simple changes could extend the lives of the working class by an average of 13 years.

Question 15

1846

Answer 15

First successful use of Ether as an anaesthetic in surgery. The anaesthetic had some very severe drawbacks. In particular, it irritated the lungs and was highly inflammable.

Question 16

1847

Answer 16

James Simpson discovers Chloroform during an after dinner sampling session with friends. He struggles to get the medical world to accept the drug above Ether. Doctors were wary of how much to give patients. Only 11 weeks after its first use by Simpson, a patient died under chloroform in Newcastle. The patient was only having an in-growing toenail removed (non-life threatening). It took the backing of Queen Victoria for chloroform and Simpson to gain worldwide publicity.

Question 17

1847

Answer 17

Ignaz Semmelweiss orders his students to wash their hands before surgery (but only after they had been in the morgue).

Question 18

1848

Answer 18

First Public Health Act in Britain – It allowed local authorities to make improvements if they wanted to & if ratepayers gave them their support. It enabled local authorities to borrow money to pay for the improvements. It was largely ineffective as it was not made compulsory for Councils to enforce it. This was an element of the “Laissez-Faire” style of government.

Question 19

1854

Answer 19

Crimean War – Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole contribute majorly to the improvements in Hospitals.

Question 20

1854

Answer 20

John Snow proves the link between the cholera epidemic and the water pump in Broad Street, London. Unfortunately, he was unable to convince the government to make any substantial reforms.

Question 21

1861

Answer 21

Germ Theory developed by Louis Pasteur whilst he was working on a method to keep beer and wine fresh – changed the whole understanding of how illnesses are caused.

Question 22

1867

Answer 22

Joseph Lister begins using Carbolic Spray during surgery to fight infection. It reduces the casualty rate of his operations from 45.7% of deaths to just 15.0 % dying.

Question 23

1875

Answer 23

Second Public Health Act – now made compulsory. Major requirement is that sewers must be moved away from housing and that houses must be a certain distance apart.

Question 24

1881

Answer 24

Robert Koch discovers the bacteria that causes anthrax. He establishes a new method of staining bacteria. Using Koch’s methods, the causes of many diseases were identified quickly:

1880 – Typhus 1882 – Tuberculosis 1883 – Cholera 1884 – Tetanus 1886 – Pneumonia 1887 – Meningitis 1894 – Plague 1898 – Dysentery

Question 25

1889

Answer 25

Isolation Hospitals were set up to treat patients with highly infectious diseases.

Question 26

1895

Answer 26

William Röntgen discovers X-Rays. Though it is an important discovery, it is only WW1 and the treatment of soldiers that propels it into the medical spotlight.

Question 27

1901

Answer 27

Scientists discover that there are different blood groups- this leads to the first 100% successful blood transfusions.

Question 28

1905

Answer 28

Paul Ehrlich discovers first “magic bullet” – Salvarsan 606 to treat Syphilis. The problem was it was based on arsenic and so could kill the patient too easily.

Question 29

1911

Answer 29

National Health Insurance introduced in Britain

Question 30

1914- 1918

Answer 30

World War One – development of skin grafts to treat victims of shelling

Question 31

1928

Answer 31

Alexander Fleming – discovers Penicillin. The mould had grown on a petri dish that was accidentally left out. Fleming writes articles about the properties of Penicillin, but was unable to properly develop the mould into a drug.

Question 32

1937-45

Answer 32

Florey, Chain & Heatley work on producing penicillin as a drug. Their success will make the drug the second most finded project by the USA in WW2. They fund it to the tune of $800 million and every soldier landing on D-Day in 1944 has Penicillin as part of his medical kit.

Question 33

1942

Answer 33

William Beveridge publishes the Beveridge Report. The report was the blueprint for the NHS

Question 34

1946

Answer 34

National Health Service Act – provides for a free and comprehensive health service. Aneurin Bevan convinces 90% of the private doctors to enrol.

Question 35

1948

Answer 35

First day of the NHS. Hospitals were nationalised, health centres were set up and doctors were more evenly distributed around the country. However, the popularity and costs of the NHS would rapidly spiral out of control. The £2 million put aside to pay for free spectacles over the first nine months of the NHS went in six weeks. The government had estimated that the NHS would cost £140 million a year by 1950. In fact, by 1950 the NHS was costing £358 million.

Question 36

1950

Answer 36

William Bigelow (Canadian) performed the first open-heart surgery to repair a ‘hole’ in a baby’s heart, using hypothermia.

Question 37

1952

Answer 37

First kidney transplant (America)

Question 38

1953

Answer 38

Description of the structure of DNA

Question 39

1967

Answer 39

Christiaan Barnard (South Africa) performed the first heart transplant - the patient lived for 18 days

Question 40

1978

Answer 40

First test tube baby

Question 41

1990s

Answer 41

Increasing use of keyhole surgery, using endoscopes and ultrasound scanning, allowed minimally invasive surgery.

Question 42

1994

Answer 42

National Organ Donor register created

Question 43

1799

Answer 43

Humphrey Davy discovers the pain-killing attributes of Nitrous Oxide (Laughing Gas). It would become the main anaesthetic used in Dentistry. Horace Wells would try and get the gas international recognition. He committed suicide the day before it got the recognition it deserved.