Industrial

• Spontaneous Generation

  Microscopes could see bacteria on decaying matter. Scientists thought that the germs were spontaneously (automatically) generated (created) by the decay.
• Louis Pasteur

  • French chemist
  • 1861 published Germ Theory
  • Microscopes aided his work- improved microscopes meant he was able to observe unwanted microbes as it was possible to magnify substances to a higher level.
  • Limited impact- attitudes among doctors meant that people refused to recognise the link between germs and disease
• Germ Theory

  Microbes in the air causes decay and could be killed by heating them. This disproved the old theory that rotting matter caused microbes and spread through miasma
• Robert Koch

  • The 'Father of Bacteriology'
  • 1882: discovered the bacteria causing Tuberculosis
  • 1883: discovered the bacteria causing Cholera and proved it was spread through water
  • Developed technique of growing bacteria using agar jelly + developed methods of staining them to make them easier to see
  • Inspired others to find microbes for other diseases.
• Factors Affecting the Understanding of Causes of Disease

  • Individuals
  • Attitudes in Society
  • Science
  • Institutions- the British Government
  • Technology
• Technology

  • Microscope- allowed scientists to spot most microorganisms
  • Koch developed new ways of growing and staining bacteria
• Attitudes in Society


  People were more interested in finding the reasons behind disease than they had been in previous centuries. They were looking for rationale explanations and links were made between unhealthy living conditions and disease.

  However, people were reluctant to change their minds and it took a long time to accept the germ theory. Until the 1880s, when it could be proved that the same microbe was present in disease, the germ theory was not accepted.
• Institutions (Government)


  The government did not help improve understanding in the cause of disease,

  After 1867 more people in Britain had the right to vote so the government had to listen to them but were only interested in practical solutions; the Germ Theory actually offered no practical solutions.
• Science

  • Strong desire to prove new theories and provide practical solutions
  • Improved communication- able to read the work of others and draw their own conclusions and theories
• In what ways were hospitals changing in the 18th century?

  • Attitudes towards them
  • Doctors visited patients regularly
  • Treated- not just a place for rest
• What changes did Nightingale introduce in Crimea?

  • 300 scrubbing brushes to get rid of dirt demanded
  • Nurses organised- treat 2,000 soldiers
  • Clean bedding
  • Good meals provided
• Effects of Nightingale's changes (Crimea)

  In 6 months morality rate dropped from 40% to only 2%
• Nightingale's Impact on British Hospitals

  • Changed the way hospitals were designed-follow pavilion plan
  • Nurses training-established a nursing school’ called Nightingale School for Nurses in 1860
• Nightingale's Impact


  Wrote Notes on Nursing in 1859-setting out the key role of a nurse and the importance of thorough training
• New hospitals


  • Built out of materials that could be easily cleaned (tiles on the floors and painted walls and ceilings made it possible to wash down all surfaces and get rid of dirt)
• 'Pavilion style' hospitals


  Separate wards were built in hospitals to ensure infectious patients could be kept separate
• Nursing


  • Became a respectable occupation-'Nightingale nurses' were more often middle class women. Previously, nurses had been from working class backgrounds, and had a reputation for being drunk, flirtatious and uncaring
• Rigorous training


  • Turned nursing into a profession, rather than a simple, unskilled job. This encouraged more women to sign up, and so the number and skill of nurses grew rapidly.
• The Nightingale School for Nurses (1860)


  Nurses were trained mainly on sanitary matters
• Change in Care and Treatment

  • Hospitals cleaner especially during surgery
  • Vaccines developed
  • Problem of pain and infection in surgery solved
  • Government more involved in improving sanitary conditions
  • Hospitals more wide spread and focused on treating the sick
  • Germs discovered- treatments now being developed for specific diseases
• Continuity in Care and Treatment

  • 'Quack' remedies still common-now known as patent remedies
  • Sick people still mainly treated at home by family- hospital places still limited
  • Apothecaries kept the same principle but became known as pharmacies
• The pharmacy Boots opened in 1849
• The three main risks in surgery:

  • Pain
  • Infection
  • Blood loss
• James Simpson

  • Developed the first anaesthetic
  • He inhaled various different vapours of chemicals and discovered that chloroform made you pass out
• What was the first anaesthetic?

  Chloroform
• How did anaesthetics benefit surgery?

  Paitents in less pain
• Joseph Lister

  • Realised that flesh was rotting in infected wounds- inspired by Pasteur
  • 1865- operated on a patient with a broken leg and added a bandage soaked in carbolic acid. The wounded healed cleanly
  • Developed a series of steps to ensure the wound was not infected- spraying carbolic acid in air during operations.
• Why did Lister's ideas not spread quickly?

  • Not fully understood
  • Carbolic acid dried skin
  • Lister a 'doer' not a 'thinker'
• What was important about Lister's discovery?

  • Surgeons' attitudes towards antiseptic and aseptic changed
  • Surgeons understood that performing safe surgery was their duty
• Opposition to Change

  • Pain relief was interfering with God’s plan, particularly in childbirth, which was meant to be painful
  • Some doctors believed that patients were more likely to die if they were unconscious during the operation
  • It took a long time for doctors to accept that germs caused infection. Surgeons did not want to believe that they might have been responsible for the infections that killed their patients
• In 1853 Queen Victoria used chloroform during the birth of Prince Leopold and spoke favourably of it
• Edward Jenner

  • Developed the first vaccination
  • Observed milk maids who caught cowpox didn't catch smallpox- thought there was a connection
  • Injected James Phipps with cowpox and he didn't catch smallpox
• Short Term Impact of Smallpox Vaccine

  • Saved lives
  • Became very popular- 100,000 people around the world vaccinated by 1800
  • Napoleon had his entire army vaccinated in 1805
  • Uptake slow in Britain due to anti-Jenner propaganda but 12,000 brits vaccinated in two years
• Long Term Impacts of Smallpox Vaccine

  • Inspired other scientists like Pasteur
  • Eradication of smallpox
  • 1872- number of smallpox cases dropped dramatically- government enforced compulsory vaccinations.
  • End 19th century- vaccinations against smallpox had become normal
• Reactions to the New Vaccination

  • Inoculators: AGAINST- destroyed business, used money/position in society to spread negative things about vaccinations
  • Church: AGAINST-using animal infection in human medical trials is against God’s will
  • Royal Society: AGAINST- a lot of opposition in the scientific community
  • Government: FOR- it was a safer and more reliable alternative to inoculation
• Government Intervention to the Vaccination

  • 1840: The government makes inoculation a crime.
  • 1840: The government agrees to provide children with vaccinations at the taxpayer’s expense
  • 1852: The government makes smallpox vaccination compulsory
  • 1871: Public Vaccinators are appointed
  • 1872: The British government begin to enforce the compulsory vaccination
• Inoculation: giving someone a small dose of a disease to create immunity
• Laissez-faire: a government who does not intervene with the lives of their people
• Gangrene: death of body tissue
• Pasteurisation: heating food to kill bacteria