Nineteenth century medicine (Discovery of germs)

Question 1

What did people think was the cause of disease in the eighteenth century?

Answer 1

People believed in the old idea of miasma, or bad smells causing disease.

Question 2

How was the invention of the microscope significant in the development of medicine?

Answer 2

In 1677, a Dutch clock maker invented the first microscopes and found tiny creature in everything around him. These were germs and scientists found them in the blood of sick people as well. However, people believed in the idea of spontaneous generation; that the disease caused these germs to spontaneously generate rather than the germs causing the disease.

Question 3

How did Pasteur prove that germs caused disease?

Answer 3

1. Pasteur found that germs were the cause of alcohol and milk turning sour by experiments and looking under a microscope.
2. Pasteur discovered that if you kill the germs by gently heating them, then the liquids will not turn sour as quickly.
3. He then went on to prove that spontaneous generation was wrong. He did this by having two flasks with long necks with a liquid inside that would turn cloudy if germs were present.
4. He curved one neck into a swan neck shape, preventing germs from entering from the air.
5. As he predicted, the liquid in the swan neck flask didn’t turn when the liquid in the other flask did.
6. He then went on to prove that germs caused disease in silk worms.
7. He thus concluded that disease in humans must also be caused by germs.
8. He published his ideas in 1861.

Question 4

What was the significance of Robert Koch in the development of medicine?

Answer 4

1. Koch discovered the germ that was causing human disease, proving once and for all that disease in humans was caused by germs.
2. He developed the method of staining and identifying certain germs with certain dyes.
3. He developed the method of growing germs in petri dishes and on agar jelly rather than in liquids, which was a better way of doing it.
4. The success of Koch spurred Pasteur into discovering vaccinations for chicken cholera, anthrax and rabies.