Industrial

• Nitrous oxide- Discovered in 1775 by Humphry Davy as he experimented by by inhaling it although Horris Wells identified it's uses

  Effects- Relaxed, laugh, giddy

  Used for removal of teeth
• Ether

  Used for tooth extraction and leg amputation

  But difficult to inhale, caused vommiting and highly flammable
• Chloroform - Discovered in 1847 by James Simpson

  He knocked over a bottle of it and everyone was found asleep
• John Snow convinced Queen Vic's husband to let her use cholorform to giver birth and she did
• Crawford Long used ether to remove neck growth
• 1677 First microscope invented so scientist could see tiny organisms everywhere. Saw microbes in the blood of the sick but never managed to make the connection between microbes and disease
• Theory of spontaneous generation

  People thought microbes appeared by magic and disease caused microbes and assumed all microbes were the same
• Francesco Reid boiled up liquid and sealed it against the air - no microbes appeared concluding infection came from the outside
• Then people believed not all microbes were the same and certain ones caused specific disease
• Friedrich Henle was the first to challenge spontaneous generation suggesting microbes were the cause of infection yet his theory was dismissed
• Anti- Contagionists

  Believed epidemics like cholera, plague and typhoid were caused when infections interacted with the environment

  Thought to avoid this by cleaning up the area and moving hospitals to the country
• Contagionists

  Believed infection was spread by contact with an infected person or bacteria

  Thought you could avoid by quarantining

  BUT

  Some people came into contact with disease and didn't become ill
• Robert Koch

  Found a way of staining and growing a particular germ he thought was responsible for anthrax

  Found a way to photograph microbes
• Louis Pasteur

  Discovered germs/ bacteria

  Can scientifically prove that germs cause disease

  Helped a brewing company find out why their alcohol went bad - discovered tiny bacteria germinating - when boiling the liquid they dead (pasteurisation)

  Investigated chicken cholera and a member of his team accidentally injected a chicken with old germs. The chicken didn't die so he realised he had made a mistake and injected it with new germs and it still didn't die

  Found out why Jenner's vaccines worked

  Finally doctors understood the cause of disease
• Joseph Lister

  Helped bring Pasteur's germ theory to acceptance

  Believed infection happened when skin was broken so the microbes would infect the wound

  Believed he needed a chemical barrier so used carbolic acid

  Revolution in surgery

  Soaked bandages, ligatures, dressing, rinsed hands,tools and wounds in carbolic acid

  Mortality rates in surgery decreased
• Accepting Pasteur's theory

  Aseptic surgery (microbes fully excluded from the area)

  Cattle plague 1866 spread nation wide but could be stopped by quarantining cattle
• Growth of towns and cities

  In Birmingham population increased from 71,000 to 232,000. This was because people desired to work in factories

  Factories employed thousands of people so rows of houses were built back to back

  Many contagious diseases spread quickly

  Few rules controlling machinery (body parts got crushed)

  Boy chimney sweeps came into contact with soot/gas

  Girls worked in factories inhaling phosphorous

  Few houses had toilets so buckets were emptied into streets and rivers were dumping grounds for waste yet people still drank it
• Cholera

  People believed it was caused by miasma

  The government finally decided to act in 1837 and set up an inquiry to find out what the living conditions were like for the poor

  Edwin Chadwick made the report over 100,000 copies were handed out to politicians, journalists and anyone who could change public opinion

  It stressed the need for cleaner streets/water

  Required government to get involved yet laissez-faire was the approach people believed
• Public health act of 1848 gave town councils power to spend money on cleaing towns
• John Snow proved link between cholera and water supply as he discovered the water pump was giving people cholera so removed the handle so it couldn't be used and people stopped dying
• Great stink of 1858 - A heat wave happened to make the Thames stink

  Mp's demanded to meet somewhere else because of the smell
• Government turned to Joseph Bazalgette who had drawn up a sewage network three years prior

  He got given £3 million and built 83 miles of sewers

  Cholera never returned
• Working class men got the vote so public health improved as they suffered the most
• 1875 Artisan dwelling act meant house owners were responsible for keeping their property in order
• Local council had to appoint medical officers and cover up sewers/ supply fresh water/ provide street lighting
• Sale of food and drugs act introduced guidlines for quality and sale of food and medicine