18th & 19th Century British Medicine Flashcards
All 30 cards in this deck
What was spontaneous generation?
The belief that microbes were created by decaying matter, rather than being the cause of disease.
Who published Germ Theory, and in what year?
Louis Pasteur, in 1861.
What did Koch's work on microbes add to Pasteur's Germ Theory?
He identified the specific microbes that caused individual diseases (e.g. TB in 1882, cholera in 1883), so vaccines and treatments could be developed.
True or false? Pasteur's Germ Theory was accepted in Britain straight away and quickly led to new treatments.
False. The cause of each disease had to be researched individually, so new vaccines only came in the 1880s and treatments later still.
What did Florence Nightingale publish in 1859?
Notes on Nursing, the foundation for improved nursing care and the professionalisation of nursing.
Why did Nightingale insist on cleanliness and ventilation in hospitals?
She believed disease was caused by miasma; it did improve the standard of care.
What impact did the development of anaesthetics (1846) have on surgery?
Patients were more willing to have surgery, and longer, more complex operations beyond amputations became possible.
What impact did antiseptics have on surgery in the nineteenth century?
They greatly reduced infection — a major cause of death after operations — so operations became safer and survival rates improved.
What did the Public Health Act of 1875 make compulsory?
Local councils had to provide clean water and deal with sewage and rubbish.
Why was the 1875 Public Health Act significant for prevention?
It showed central government taking responsibility for public health nationwide, so policies could be enforced everywhere.
In which years was smallpox vaccination made compulsory, and then enforced?
Compulsory in 1852, enforced in 1872.
What did the Royal Jennerian Society do?
It made smallpox vaccination freely available, so prevention could take place on a wide scale.
What did Edward Jenner develop?
Vaccination against smallpox, using cowpox, which made it possible to prevent people getting smallpox.
How did the public and Parliament show acceptance of Jenner's work?
Parliament gave him a grant, and there was public recognition of the improvement in preventing illness.
True or false? Jenner could explain scientifically why his smallpox vaccination worked.
False. He could not explain how it worked; Pasteur's Germ Theory (1861) later provided the scientific explanation.
What did John Snow prove in the 1854 cholera outbreak in London?
That cholera was water-borne, spread by infected water, not by miasma.
What happened when the handle of the Broad Street pump was removed in 1854?
No more cases came from the pump, and that local outbreak ended (it was already slowing).
Who was Joseph Bazalgette?
The engineer appointed to build London's new sewer system, which drastically reduced cholera epidemics.
True or false? Snow's findings were accepted immediately and cholera prevention changed at once.
False. Without Germ Theory to explain the link, many still blamed miasma, and government action such as the new sewers came later.
What did Pasteur's Germ Theory (1861) show about decay?
That microbes carried in the air cause decay, rather than being produced by it, so spontaneous generation was wrong. He believed germs caused disease too, but could not yet prove it.
Give one method Robert Koch developed that helped scientists identify microbes.
Growing bacteria on agar jelly, or staining bacteria with chemical dyes so they showed up clearly under a microscope.
Why were improved microscopes important for Germ Theory in the nineteenth century?
By the mid-1800s microscopes were good enough to show microbes clearly, which made the work of Pasteur and Koch possible.
What antiseptic did Joseph Lister use from 1865, and how?
Carbolic acid: on dressings, wounds and instruments, and later as a spray. Deaths from infection after operations on his wards fell sharply.
What was smallpox inoculation, used in Britain from the 1720s?
Deliberately infecting a healthy person with matter from a smallpox sore, so they caught a mild case and became immune. It was risky (some died) and costly.
What experiment did Jenner carry out on James Phipps in 1796?
He gave the boy cowpox, then later exposed him to smallpox. Phipps did not catch smallpox, supporting Jenner's idea that cowpox gave protection.
How did Jenner make his findings public in 1798?
The Royal Society refused to publish them, so he paid to publish his own book, An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae.
Give one reason some people opposed Jenner's vaccination.
Any one: inoculators feared losing the money they earned; some thought giving people a disease from cows was unnatural; some believed it went against God's will.
How did John Snow find the source of the 1854 cholera outbreak in Soho?
He marked every cholera death on a street map and saw that they clustered around the Broad Street water pump.
What was later found to have contaminated the Broad Street pump?
Sewage seeping into its well from a cesspool only a few feet away.
Why did the 1848 Public Health Act do little to prevent cholera?
It was mostly voluntary: towns could set up local boards of health to improve water and drains, but most were not forced to, so few did.