Factors Beliefs about the Causes of Illness Previous Treatments / New treatments / Surgery Pub
Methods Methods
War Army Drs during Crimean War (1853-56) thought The
soldiers should put up with the pain. rese
Soldiers
Religion
Childbirth It was God's will for women to be in pain during
childbirth as punishment for sin.
Communication
Lister’s publications Lister’s antiseptic approach with carbolic acid. Amputation or surgery. Carbolic acid Surgeons long debated whether to leave Criti
Published results in Mar 1867. Details of 11 wounds to the open air or to dress them. So Hea
patients (0 died of infection). Publicised LP’s Lister’s theory of microbes in the air caused infe
Germ theory when explaining antiseptic infection was controversial
technique (‘Listerism’) Why
Aug 1867 - Lister lectures doctors on
Introduced the french serum for diphtheria to antiseptic technique ~ ‘Listerism’
GB. Widely used after 1895. Within 10 years the
mortality rate in ENG dropped to less than 50%
of what it was.
John Tyndall Spontaneous Generation dominates the public
view due to Charltain Bastian, (Professor of
Anatomy). Jan 1870, Tyndall publicly defended
LP’s Germ Theory. Lectured on both dust and
disease putting together Pasteur and Lister’s
work with experiments on light that showed tiny
microbes in the air.
In 1874, when Emmanuel Klein mistakenly
thought he'd found the typhoid microbe Tyndall
said Germ Theory explains typhoid fever.
, Factors Beliefs about the Causes of Illness Previous Treatments / New treatments / Surgery Pub
Methods Methods
Chadwick 1839: Gov. set up an inquiry to report on the
living conditions of the poor due to workers
dying because of cholera.
Science & Technology Pub
Spontaneous Generation 1868, John Bennet.
Charltian Bastian = most influential writer on
surgical infection strongly believed in this. Wrote
and lectured wildly against ‘Listerism’ in the late
1860s - early 1870s.
DEF: Belief that infection occurs spontaneously
when cells die which produces toxins.
C19th = Specific microbes 1835, Agostino Bassi linked a microbe (fungus)
caused specific disease. to a silkworm disease - muscarine.
1840, Friedrich Henle, Swiss professor of
Anatomy, suggests microbes are the cause of
infection. Based his work on Bassi. Theory =
dismissed.
Miasma Some still believe in Miasma
Old anaesthetics Alcohol, Opium, Hashish, Ether. Vomiting, highly flammable and surgery
Mandrake. was done near open flames at home.
Bad doses, death, alcohol
made blood loss faster and
increased heart rate.
Religious objections to
alcohol, so sang hymns. Op.
were quick & surgeons
couldn’t do complicated
internal surgery.
Microscopes 1677, 1st microscope
invented. Scientists
identify microbes and
tiny organisms.
Experiments e.g. 1699
Francesco Redi & John
Methods Methods
War Army Drs during Crimean War (1853-56) thought The
soldiers should put up with the pain. rese
Soldiers
Religion
Childbirth It was God's will for women to be in pain during
childbirth as punishment for sin.
Communication
Lister’s publications Lister’s antiseptic approach with carbolic acid. Amputation or surgery. Carbolic acid Surgeons long debated whether to leave Criti
Published results in Mar 1867. Details of 11 wounds to the open air or to dress them. So Hea
patients (0 died of infection). Publicised LP’s Lister’s theory of microbes in the air caused infe
Germ theory when explaining antiseptic infection was controversial
technique (‘Listerism’) Why
Aug 1867 - Lister lectures doctors on
Introduced the french serum for diphtheria to antiseptic technique ~ ‘Listerism’
GB. Widely used after 1895. Within 10 years the
mortality rate in ENG dropped to less than 50%
of what it was.
John Tyndall Spontaneous Generation dominates the public
view due to Charltain Bastian, (Professor of
Anatomy). Jan 1870, Tyndall publicly defended
LP’s Germ Theory. Lectured on both dust and
disease putting together Pasteur and Lister’s
work with experiments on light that showed tiny
microbes in the air.
In 1874, when Emmanuel Klein mistakenly
thought he'd found the typhoid microbe Tyndall
said Germ Theory explains typhoid fever.
, Factors Beliefs about the Causes of Illness Previous Treatments / New treatments / Surgery Pub
Methods Methods
Chadwick 1839: Gov. set up an inquiry to report on the
living conditions of the poor due to workers
dying because of cholera.
Science & Technology Pub
Spontaneous Generation 1868, John Bennet.
Charltian Bastian = most influential writer on
surgical infection strongly believed in this. Wrote
and lectured wildly against ‘Listerism’ in the late
1860s - early 1870s.
DEF: Belief that infection occurs spontaneously
when cells die which produces toxins.
C19th = Specific microbes 1835, Agostino Bassi linked a microbe (fungus)
caused specific disease. to a silkworm disease - muscarine.
1840, Friedrich Henle, Swiss professor of
Anatomy, suggests microbes are the cause of
infection. Based his work on Bassi. Theory =
dismissed.
Miasma Some still believe in Miasma
Old anaesthetics Alcohol, Opium, Hashish, Ether. Vomiting, highly flammable and surgery
Mandrake. was done near open flames at home.
Bad doses, death, alcohol
made blood loss faster and
increased heart rate.
Religious objections to
alcohol, so sang hymns. Op.
were quick & surgeons
couldn’t do complicated
internal surgery.
Microscopes 1677, 1st microscope
invented. Scientists
identify microbes and
tiny organisms.
Experiments e.g. 1699
Francesco Redi & John
