medicine through time c1700-1900

• What was the Enlightenment? a new intellectual movement that stressed reason and thought and the power of individuals to solve problems
• main idea of the 18th century: spontaneous generation - microbes visible on decaying matter were spontaneously generated by decay
• When was germ theory published?

  1861
• what were the 4 principles of Germ Theory: - The air contains living microorganisms

  - Microbes aren't evenly distributed in the air

  - Microbes in the air cause decay

  - Microbes can be killed be heating them up (pasteurisation)
• Robert Koch: applied germ theory to prove how bacteria caused disease

  
  

  identified the bacteria which caused TB, cholera and anthrax
• Florence Nightingale: in 1854 during the Crimean War she went to Turkey and cared for wounded soldiers

  
  

  She significantly improved hygiene in hospitals e.g. washing bedding, opening windows to circulate air and better quality food
• change in hospital care: wards which split up infectious patients and those needing surgery

  
  

  operating theatres and specialist departments

  
  

  cleanliness utmost importance

  
  

  apothecaries are now pharmacies
• continuity in hospital care: lots of people treated at home

  
  

  quack remedies were still common

  
  

  hospitals ran off donations
• what did james simpson do: first used chloroform successfully and was used for childbirth and operation
• What did Joseph Lister do? he was the first to use carbolic acid as a disinfectant during surgery to prevent infection
• Edward Jenner: in 1796, Jenner injected James Phipps with cowpox pus from a milkmaid's sores, then small pox. James Phipps developed cowpox bur not smallpox.
• what did chadwick do: in 1842 Chadwick compiled a report on living conditions of poor citizens

  
  

  argued that there should be organised drainage and clean water

  
  

  1848 outbreak of cholera pressured government to pass Public Health Act - was not compulsory and didnt have much power

  
  

  1875 Public Health act forced authorities to provide clean water and sewage systems
• 1875 Public Health Act: public parks for exercise

  creating street lighting

  checking quality of foods in shops
• John Snow: discovered a water pump was cause of spread of cholera

  
  

  when pump was removed spread reduced