Medicine in 18th and 19th Century England 1700-1899

• Factors Influencing Medicine


  • Church
  • Government
  • Education
  • Attitudes
  • Individuals
  • Science and technology
• Church


  No longer an influencing factor
• Government


  Quite influential due to the development of Public Health Acts which improved hygiene in cities and helped to prevent certain diseases like cholera. They also funded Jenner's vaccines and made smallpox vaccination compulsory in 1852 - the strict enforcement of the Vaccine after 1871 led to a significant decrease in cases.
• Education


  Influential as new ideas were being taught to ensure doctors and nurses were well trained and better at looking after patients, performing surgery and diagnosing diseases.
• Attitudes


  Influential as there was a desire to challenge old theories by scientists. This led to new discoveries.
• Individuals


  Very influential as they developed key discoveries to improve treatment (surgery). They had a huge impact on prevention (vaccines and influencing Public Health Act). Individuals led to understanding the cause of disease leading to the creation of new vaccines and impacting saving lives.
• Science and technology


  Influential due to microscopes and other scientific equipment facilitating for breakthroughs and allowing scientists to make discoveries.
• First vaccine by Jenner invented


  1798
• First successful anesthetic (chloroform) developed by James Simpson to put patients undergoing surgery to sleep


  1847
• First Public Health Act

  1848
• Crimean War broke out - Nightingale work in Crimea hospitals

  1854
• John Snow proves the link between infected water in the Broad Street Pump and the Cholera epidemic in London


  1854
• The first cottage hospital opened where working people could access healthcare through paying into a sick club. The poor and disabled could not access cottage hospitals.


  1859
• Publishing of Germ Theory by Louis Pasteur


  1861
• First effective antiseptics in surgery used to prevent infection

  1867
• Sanitary Act


  1866
• Public Health Act passed, it forced local councils to improve sewers, provide fresh water, appoint medical officers etc.


  1875
• Robert Koch was the first person to identify the specific bacteria to cause a specific disease (anthrax)


  1882