19th century

• 48. Who developed Germ Theory and when was it developed?


  Louis Pasteur published Germ Theory in 1861. It theorised the link between dirt and disease. It corrected the previous theory of spontaneous generation (the idea that germs were created by decaying matter).
• 49. How was Germ Theory received in Britain?


  There was some initial scepticism and not everyone accepted it (Florence Nightingale continued to believe miasma theory until her death in 1910). Pasteur's ideas were accepted over time and they were helped by John Tyndall who carried out experiments that supported Pasteur's ideas.
• 50. How did Robert Koch's work support and advance Germ Theory?

  Koch created a method for hunting the germs that cause specific diseases in a lab. It involved isolating a bacteria and then testing it on mice in order to prove a specific bacteria caused a specific disease. This proved Pasteur's theory. He identified the bacterium that caused anthrax in 1875. He built on this by identifying the germ that causes tuberculosis in 1882 and Cholera in 1883.
• 51. What new vaccines did Pasteur develop?

  Pasteur built on the work of Jenner and Koch and developed a vaccine for chicken cholera in 1880. He developed a vaccine for anthrax in 1881 and rabies in 1885.
• 52. How did Koch influence later developments?

  Koch taught Paul Ehrlich who was also part of his research team. Ehrlich would go on to create the first magic bullet in the 20th century.
• 53. Why was there a strong rivalry between Koch and Pasteur?

  The Franco-Prussian War meant that their friendly rivalry became more serious.
• 54. Were there still quack doctors in the industrial period?

  Yes. Quacks were still very active and medicine was not strongly regulated.
• 55. How did treatments change during the industrial period?

  Medicine became big business as people could make a lot of money manufacturing and selling cures. New machines meant that tablets and medicines could be made much more quickly. One example of this was Thomas Beecham who made a lot of money selling Beechams tablets.
• 56. How was there progress in relation to medical practitioners in the industrial period?

  Doctors and surgeons became increasingly well educated at Britain's growing number of universities. Nursing was professionalised and improved dramatically by Florence Nightingale and her colleagues. She opened the Nightingale School of Nursing in 1860.
• 57. How was there progress in hospitals during the industrial period?

  Florence Nightingale became famous working as a nurse during the Crimean War. She pioneered the 'pavilion plan'. This meant that they were built with more windows, larger wards and separate infection wards to stop disease spreading.
• 58. How were surgeons professionalised in the industrial period?

  The General Medical Council was set up in 1858. It was set up to regulate surgeons and ensure they were only appointed if properly qualified.
• 59. What were the anaesthetics developed before chloroform?

  On 19th December 1846, Doctor Boot extracted a tooth from a patient using an anaesthetic called ether. Ether was flammable and irritated the lungs of patients. William Morton also used Nitrous Oxide as an anaesthetic.
• 60. Who discovered the anaesthetic chloroform?

  James Simpson (Professor of Midwifery at Edinburgh University). On 4th November 1847, Simpson and 2 of his friends discovered the anaesthetic effects of chloroform. It quickly became very popular and widely used.
• 61. Why could chloroform be dangerous?


  Too great a dose of chloroform can kill a patient. Young patients needed more to knock them out which made it even more dangerous e.g. Hannah Greener who was killed during an operation to remove a toenail at 14 years old. Doses were not always controlled carefully which put patients at risk.
• 62. How was chloroform made a safer drug?

  In the late 1840s, Doctor John Snow developed a chloroform inhaler, which reduced the risk of overdose. Queen Victoria used the inhaler when delivering a child in 1850.
• 64. How did Joseph Lister help deal with the problem of infection?

  Lister was inspired by Pasteur's work. Lister developed the antiseptic Carbolic Acid in 1867. It was used to wash instruments and was also sprayed by a machine in the surgical theatre. He reduced his mortality rate from 46% to 15% in the 1860s. He became known as the 'father of antiseptic medicine'.
• 65. Why was there opposition to Lister's ideas?

  Many surgeons did not like the smell of Carbolic Acid and it irritated throats when it was used as a spray.
• 66. What was aseptic surgery?

  Aseptic surgery was the next step from antiseptic surgery and focused on not allowing germs into the operating theatre in the first place. Charles Chamberland developed sterile instruments in 1881, Gustav Neuber developed the aseptic surgical theatre in 1886 and William and Mrs Halstead developed sterile clothing in 1892.
• 67. What was the attitude of the government to public health at the start of the 19th century and how did it change?

  They adopted a 'laissez-faire' attitude that meant that they did not want to intervene or do too much. They felt that it was down to people to help themselves. This attitude was challenged and changed between 1800 and 1900.
• 68. How did Edwin Chadwick contribute to changing attitudes to public health?

  He published a report on poverty and the conditions in towns and cities called Report on the Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Classes in 1842. This helped to raise awareness of the problem and to provoke discussions about what to do with it.
• 69. What diseases were common in the overcrowded and dirty cities of 19th century Britain?

  Cholera, diphtheria, typhus, yellow fever. In London, the Broad Street cholera outbreak in 1854 killed 616 people. Another cholera outbreak in London claimed 5,596 lives in 1866. This happened in an area of London that was not connected to the new sewer system.
• 70. What did the first Public Health Act of 1848 include?

  The first Public Health Act aimed to improve the conditions in towns and cities by encouraging cities to set up boards of health and clean water supplies. However, it was not successful as it was not enforced and many places chose not to do it.
• 71. What did the second Public Health Act of 1875 include?

  The second Public Health Act was compulsory (officials had to follow its rules) and it said that they had to provide clean water, dispose of sewage, banned public toilets, employ a public officer of health to monitor disease outbreaks as well as other public health measures.
• 72. How did John Snow help improve public health?

  The physician John Snow studied the causes of cholera in 1854 and correctly hypothesised that germ-contaminated water was the source of cholera, rather than miasma particles in the air. This helped motivate the government to build a new sewage system under Joseph Bazalgette.
• 73. What role did the Great Stink play in improving public health?

  1858: The Great Stink the hot summer exacerbated the smell of untreated human and industrial waste on the banks of the River Thames. By June this had become so bad that Parliament was affected. This helped motivate the government to pay for Bazalgette's sewage system (finally completed in 1875).