Industrial Medicine

• What is spontaneous generation?

  Spontaneous generation is a new theory developed in the early 1700s, it was the idea that bacteria were created by decaying things like rotting food.
• What is Germ Theory?


  Germ Theory was published by Louis Pasteur in 1861, he disproved spontaneous generation and stated that something in the air caused disease. Pasteur realised that if germs caused decay they might also cause disease.
• Who is Robert Koch?


  Robert Koch built on Pasteur's germ theory, he was the first person to identify a specific microbe. He discovered the bacteria that caused anthrax he also identified the microbes that caused tuberculosis and cholera.
• Who was Florence Nightingale?


  Florence Nightingale was a nurse who helped transform hospitals in England. She focused on introducing thorough cleaning, giving patients fresh clothing and bedding and providing fresh air.

  She founded the Nightingale School for Nurses.
• What was the issue with surgery?


  In the industrial period, surgery was very new and doctors could not reduce the pain or the infection that surgery caused often meaning it led to the quick death and people rarely survived.
• How was the issue of pain solved in surgery?

  A surgeon called James Simpson found that chloroform vapour was a good anaesthetic which meant it sent people to sleep so they would not get shocked and die from blood loss.

  However, some people overdosed and died on the drug.
• What was the issue of infection involved in surgery?


  Wounds would get infected from surgery causing diseases such as sepsis which led to death. Lister used carbolic acid, an antiseptic to prevent infected diseases.
• Who was Edward Jenner?


  Edward Jenner created the vaccination for smallpox by giving people a less serious disease called cowpox which made them immune to smallpox. Jenner did not know why it worked so he could not replicate it onto other diseases.
• What was the First Public Health Act 1848?


  This told local councils to make health improvements however it was not mandatory.
• Who was Joseph Bazzelgette?


  Joseph Bazzelgette developed the modern London sewage system to deal with sewage and water better to prevent disease and reduce the city from becoming smelly.
• What was the 2nd Public Health Act 1875?


  This one made it compulsory for councils to make health improvements in their regions to make it cleaner and better
• Who was John Snow?


  John Snow removed the handle from the Broad Street water pump as he identified where cholera was being spread from.