Medicine In The 18th And 19th Century Flashcards
Germ theory
Louis Pasteur
Microbes can be killed by heat
Microbes in air cause Decay
Microbes aren’t distributed evenly in the air
Influence of the germ theory
Little impact because he wasn’t a doctor
Other scientists promoted the link between microbes and disease Lister
Koch
Successfully identify the different germs cause different diseases
Made it easier for future scientists to study it
Inspire others
Impact of the germ theory in Britain
Progress is very slow
British government rejected it at first
Mystery of the causes of disease have been solved
Main individuals in the discovery of germ theory
Louis Pasteur
Robert Koch
Hospitals in the 18th century
Only five hospitals left in Britain
some doctors offered services for free of charge to practice new skills
Sick people were treated
Florence Nightingale
She began nursing and dirty hospital conditions and demanded change
pairing a team of other nurses demanded 300 scrubbing brushes to remove the dirt
they organised to treat 2000 wounded soldiers
Hospitals by 1900
Split up infectious patients
Cleanliness was the utmost importance
New hospital designs
New purpose was to treat the sick
3 problems with surgery
Pain
Infection
Bleeding
Anaesthetics
Ether
Positive:
It was successful
Negative:
Made people vomit
Gas irritated the lungs
Flammable
Simpson
Discovered chloroform as an anaesthetic
Knocks people out for surgery
Why was there opposition to chloroform
Easy to overdose a patient and kill them
Could cause heart problems
What did Joseph Lister discover?
Carbolic acid
It allowed wounds to heal cleanly
there was opposition because it dried out skin and it left a funny smell
Edward Jenner
Discovered the dairy maid who had had cowpox couldn’t get smallpox
Discovered vaccinations from this
Why was there opposition to Edward Jenner’s Discovery
Took time to be accepted
Suspicious as he couldn’t explain how it worked
Impacts of vaccinations
Short-term:
Saved many lives
Very popular overseas
Slow to become popular in Britain
Long-term:
Vaccination against smallpox became normal
Compulsory to have them
His work inspired others
First public health act 1848
Miles of sewers built
Slums demolished
Prevented sewage going into the water where they drank from
Second public health act
1875
Provide clean drinking water
Disposing of sewage
Building public toilets
New housing that was better quality
John snow
He discovered what caused cholera
It was caused by dirty water
he was respected because he gave Queen Victoria chloroform during childbirth
Impact and significance of Jon snow
He investigated deaths in his local area
short-term his work had no effect as people from outside the area didn’t accept it
What theory had scientists come up with two explain disease in the early 18th century
Spontaneous combustion
What was the impact of pastures work
He encouraged other scientists to look for alternatives to spontaneous combustion
Why were herbal remedies still popular in the 19th century
Treatments for everyday diseases were not successfully developed until after 1900
Where did Florence Nightingale test out her theories about the importance of clean hospitals
The Crimean War
