Medicine 18th–19th centuries c1700–c1900
This is the period when medicine became scientific in cause and increasingly effective in treatment. Five names dominate Edexcel's spec.
Edward Jenner (1749–1823) — vaccination
Observed that milkmaids who had cowpox didn't catch smallpox. In 1796 inoculated 8-year-old James Phipps with cowpox material, then with smallpox — Phipps did not develop the disease. Published Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae in 1798.
Importance: First effective vaccine. UK government made smallpox vaccination free 1840 and compulsory 1853. Limitation: Jenner couldn't explain why it worked — germ theory was 60+ years away.
Louis Pasteur (1822–95) — germ theory
French chemist. Showed that microbes ("germs") cause decay and disease — published in 1861. Used a series of experiments with sterilised broth + swan-neck flasks to disprove "spontaneous generation". Later developed vaccines for chicken cholera, anthrax, rabies.
Importance: Provided the theoretical framework explaining infection. Limitation: Pasteur was a chemist, not a physician — translation to clinical practice took another 20+ years.
Robert Koch (1843–1910) — bacteriology
German doctor. Built on Pasteur. Identified the specific bacteria causing tuberculosis (1882) and cholera (1883). Developed staining + culture techniques that let other scientists identify bacteria for typhoid, diphtheria, plague.
Importance: Linked specific microbes to specific diseases — opened the door to targeted treatment.
Joseph Lister (1827–1912) — antiseptic surgery
British surgeon at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Read Pasteur, hypothesised that surgical infection ("hospitalism") was caused by germs entering wounds. From 1867 used carbolic acid spray in operating theatres + on bandages.
Result: Death rate from operations dropped from ~46% to ~15% in his ward. Initially resisted by other surgeons (smell, time, scepticism) but became standard by ~1890.
James Simpson (1811–70) — anaesthesia
Edinburgh obstetrician. Found chloroform (1847) was a more effective anaesthetic than ether. Despite Church opposition (claiming pain in childbirth was God's punishment), Queen Victoria used it during Prince Leopold's birth (1853) — silenced critics.
Combined with Lister's antisepsis = revolution in surgery from ~1880.
Public health revolution
| Event | Year | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| 1832 cholera epidemic | First Public Health Act 1848 | But weak, optional |
| Edwin Chadwick's Sanitary Report | 1842 | Linked poverty + filth + disease |
| Great Stink of London | 1858 | Forced parliament to act |
| Bazalgette's London sewers | 1858–75 | Massive infrastructure project |
| Public Health Act | 1875 | Compulsory sanitation duties |
| John Snow + Broad Street pump | 1854 | Mapped cholera deaths, removed pump handle, proved waterborne cause — before Pasteur's germ theory |
| Florence Nightingale | Crimean War 1854 | Hospital reform — Notes on Nursing 1859, statistics + sanitation focus |
⚠Common mistakes
- Confusing Pasteur and Koch — Pasteur = germ theory (microbes cause decay/disease, general). Koch = specific bacteria causing specific diseases.
- Putting Snow's pump 1854 after Pasteur's germ theory 1861 — Snow's epidemiology preceded and helped catalyse germ theory acceptance.
- Saying "Lister cured infection" — he reduced it; antibiotics came later (1940s).
- Forgetting Chadwick's role — the social/political work was as important as the science.
AI-generated · claude-opus-4-7 · v3-edexcel-history