Unit 3: Medicine In 18th And 19th Century Britian Flashcards
Who was Jenner?
When he was 8 they gave him small pox for an experiment, he wanted to become a doctor because he knew there was a better way. He had a great discovery that if you put a mild disease into someone they wouldn’t get a different disease. It was successful but he didn’t know why
What did physicians
Physicians advised only wealthy clients by suggesting regular washing, cleaning teeth, combing hair, exercise in fresh air and bathing in hot water.
What did people do to prevent disease and illness?
People tried to keep towns clean, simple hand copied guides to healthy living were given out
What did people think caused disease?
-four humours
-supernatural
-common sense (e.g bad smells)
-religion
What did barber surgeons do?
They could pull out teeth, let blood and lance boils. They could even do basic surgery like amputation, however they had a very low success rate for surgery.
What were hospitals like in the Middle Ages?
They mostly cared for older people who couldn’t look after themselves, they rarely let sick in incase they spread infections. Most were set up by the church with care provided by monks. Mostly prayed for treatments but sometimes included herbal remedies
What were the main problems in towns that made people fall ill?
-too many animals which made water supplies dirty
-waste and litter which were sometimes emptied into streams used for drinking and washing
-dirty water, butchers threw bloody animals into the streets
-leaking latrines, animals were often left butchered in the streets
What were two types of the plague?
-bubonic plague
-pneumonic plague
What was the bubonic plague?
It was a germ that lived in the blood of black rats and in the fleas on their body’s, the fleas would hop onto humans and bite them passing on the disease. Victims would get a fever and large boils in their armpits groin and behind ears. They would develop a rash and black spots, it lasted a week and lots would die
What was the pneumonic plague?
It was also a deadly germ, it traveled in the air and was caught by breathing it in. It attacked the lungs causing victims to cough up blood and spread as they sneezed. The victims breath would smell as their lungs rotted inside them and victims would die within a week
What were the symptoms of the bubonic plague?
Day 1- egg sized lumps appeared under the arms and in the groin
Day 2- the victim began to vomit
Day 3- patches appeared on the skin caused by internal breathing
Day 4- the victim suffered uncontrollable muscular spasms
Day 5- if the victim was lucky the lumps would burst releasing black pus making their chance of survival higher, usually they would die
What were the effects of the Black Death?
At least 40% of the population died, with an even higher death rate in towns and ports. It didn’t go away straight away and there was outbreak every few years and it carried on killing large number of people for 300 years
What is inoculation?
To insert a mild dose of a disease to weaken its effect, it aims to lesson the effects of disease and it did save lives, it could still be dangerous as you could still spread the disease. Introduced by lady montague
What is a vaccination?
To insert another substance to stop a person from getting a disease, its aim is to lesson the effects of the disease and it saved lives. It caused the person to be completely immune from the disease. It was introduced by Edward Jenner
Who was Louis Pasteur?
He discovered the germ theory and that was the theory that germs make things go bad. He figured out that germs made liquids go bad, germs can be killed by heat, germs are in the air, germs can cause disease in animals and he developed a range of vaccines to prevent disease
Who was Robert Koch?
He developed a technique for identifying the specific bacteria which caused disease, he also developed a technique for finding germs which are invisible to the human eye
What was the impact of the germ theory?
At first it had no impact on the ideas of what caused disease, some scientist did start to look for a link between the microbes and disease, one of these were Joseph lister. He read Pasteur germ theory and linked it to the problems in his surgeries, another scientist was John Tyndall in 1870 he gave a lecture linkjng his discovery of particles in the air to the germ theory and listers work on wound infection
What was the public health act 1848?
A national board of health was set up, in towns where death rate was very high the government could force the local council to make public heath improvements to water supply and sewerage and appoint a medical officer of health. Local councils were encouraged to collect taxes to pay for improvements.
What was the public health like in the early 19th century?
The population was rapidly increasing and due to no transport people had to live in crammed housing near factories. There was a frequent outbreak of epidemics such as cholera
What is cholera?
It is a disease which broke out in the uk in 1831 and caused thousands of deaths. It caused diarrhoea and dehydration, blood to. Become thicker busting vessels and skin to turn blue.
Who did cholera mostly effect?
It mostly effected the poor people living in the dirty conditions and the heavily populated places,
What the attempts to prevent cholera?
There was still belief that miasma was the cause, attempts were made to clean the streets and the government encouraged cities to set up boards of health to tidy up the mess.
Who was John snow?
He was a surgeon who moved to London, he became a anaesthetist and was very popular and well respected. He had a theory that cholera could not be spread by miasma as the disease affected the stomach not lungs. And that drinking water was being contaminated by the cholera infected human waste thrown away in the city drains
How did John snow prove his theory?
When the disease broke out again in 1854, he took away the handle of a water pump so people couldn’t use it and directed them to another pump instead. The cases of cholera started disappearing and after looking at the pump closely it had been leaking waste into the water
What was the impact of John snow?
He presented his provings to the government and suggested an improved sewer system. But many decided not to belive him
What were hospitals like in 1700s?
-wealthy people started donating
-Thomas guy helped found st Thomas hospital in London giving £1,000
-cottage hospitals were opened
-attempted to treat illness and carry out surgery
-treatment was normally free
-access to qualified doctors
-only 5 hospitals existed in Britain
- nurses had a reputation for heavy drinking
-most doctors went a while without washing hands
How were people treated in hospitals?
You were treated generally deepened on how much money you had
How did people prevent illnesses?
Physicians advised wealthy people to regularly wash, clean their teeth, comb hair, exercise and bath. Guides were given and sold for staying healthy. People tried hard to keep towns clean
What were workhouses?
People who were old, sick, blind, deaf or disabled would be sent there. There was an increasing pressure to improve the condition of hospital care, these infirmaries went on to become major general hospitals with specialist doctors.
Why did the poor still suffer?
The government didn’t help the poor, those without family or relatives or characters had to give up there homes and go to workhouses.
What were patent medicines?
They were often known as ‘Cure all’s’ they were big businesses. James Morrison claimed his pills cured everything, from scarlating, tuberculosis to smallpox and measles.
Who was Florence nightingale?
She came from a wealthy family and she was very clever. She wanted to be a nurse and so she travelled to crimea. She looked after soldiers but the hospitals smelt really bad, she believed in miasma and started cleaning the hospital to get rid of the bad smell without realising she was getting rid of germs, there fore saving a lot of lives.
What did Florence nightingale do after the war?
When she got home she received a large sum of money and became quite famous, she then opened a school for nurses
What did florence nightingale do in the hospitals to clean?
She focused on cleaning and hygiene, she gave out mops and buckets and organised the hospital. She demanded 300 scrubbing brushes to remove dirt, she got patients good meals and clean bedding. At this point the germ theory wasn’t published yet so she continued to believe in miasma
What were Hospitals in 1900 like?
They started to look very different, the wards were lightened and ventilated and more spread out, infectious patients were isolated in special wards. Hospitals became training centres for junior doctors to get a hand on experience, cleanliness was important and antiseptics cleaned germs, doctors wore masks and gloves
Why was pain with patients such a problem?
Opium and alcohol was used to calm patients, surgery had to be done quick to prevent shock, people would be screaming and moving whilst being sick from pain with would cause infections and harder to perform surgery.
How did they use laughing gas to help the problem of pain?
Surgeons needed to find a way to operate on patients who could remain still and without pain, nitrous oxide was identified as an anaesthetic by Humphrey Davy in 1795.
How did they use ether to solve the problem of pain during surgery’s?
In 1846 Robert listen successfully amputated a patients leg by using ether as an anaesthetic and they recovered fully. It made people totally unconscious and lasted a long time however it made patients cough and vomit during operations. It was also highly flammable which was a problem as operating rooms were lit with gas lamps
Who was James Simpson?
In 1847 he wanted to find a better solution to laughing gas, he and his friends started inhaling chemicals to see what would happen. They inhaled chloroform which had only been tested on animals, they found that it was highly effective
What was listers research on carbolic acid?
He began to use carbolic acid, he operated on a patient with a broken leg and soaked the bandages in the acid as a way to stop infection. The wound healed cleanly and they made a full recovery.
