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Medicine: The Nineteenth Century
Louis Pasteur gives his name to pasteurisation - the process guaranteeing the purity of milk.

Medicine: The Nineteenth Century

Nineteenth century medicine saw huge change, from germ theory to safer surgery. This quiz explores how new ideas, technology, and public health reforms transformed medical treatment.

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Fascinating Fact:

In 1865 Lister used carbolic acid to clean wounds and instruments. His antiseptic methods reduced deaths from infection after surgery.

In GCSE History, nineteenth century medicine is studied as a period of rapid change. Doctors built on earlier ideas but began to link germs with disease, improve hospital cleanliness, and campaign for better sewers and water supplies. New technologies, from microscopes to anaesthetics, changed how operations were carried out and helped move medicine towards a more scientific and organised system.

Key Terms

  • Antiseptic: A method or substance used to kill germs on wounds, instruments, and surfaces to reduce the risk of infection.
  • Germ theory: The idea that tiny microorganisms cause many diseases, replacing older beliefs about miasma or bad air.
  • Public health: Actions taken by governments and authorities, such as sewers and clean water, to protect the health of whole communities.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

How did Joseph Lister improve surgery in the nineteenth century?

Joseph Lister introduced antiseptic surgery by using carbolic acid to clean wounds, dressings, and instruments. This greatly reduced post-operative infections and showed that controlling germs could save lives.

What is germ theory in nineteenth century medicine?

Germ theory is the scientific idea that specific microorganisms cause specific diseases. It helped doctors move away from miasma theory and encouraged better hygiene in hospitals and towns.

Why were public health reforms important in the nineteenth century?

Public health reforms, such as building sewers and providing clean water, reduced diseases like cholera and typhoid. They showed that government action could improve the health of large populations.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .
Where did Florence Nightingale set up her military hospital during the Crimean War?
Scutari
Trebizond
Constantinople
Sebastopol
Most of the patients treated here were affected by disease rather than war wounds
2 .
Between 1814 and 1886, in Britain and on the continent, Carpus, von Graefe, Mertauer, Dieffenbach, Roe, Weir, Israel and Monks worked on a kind of surgery which had to wait until the Twentieth Century to reach full fruition. What sort of surgery was that?
Organ transplants
Key hole Surgery
Plastic Surgery
Laser Surgery
These were pioneers, but they worked mainly in isolation from each other
3 .
Which substance did Joseph Lister propose as an antiseptic wound treatment in 1865?
Carbolic Acid
Formic Acid
Lysergic Acid
Sulfuric Acid
Lister was knighted for his work in surgery
4 .
What name is given to a widespread outbreak of a contagious disease across continents - or even worldwide?
An epidemic
An endemic
A pandemic
A geodemic
Cholera would be a good example of this. Outbreaks often affected huge swathes of continents, or even the whole globe
5 .
The German medical scientist, Robert Koch, called it "bacteriology". What name is usually given to his main discovery by 1881?
Microbe theory
Bacillus theory
Germ theory
Spore theory
Koch had worked on tuberculosis, cholera and anthrax before coming up with his general idea
6 .
James Young Simpson was a pioneer in Edinburgh of anaesthetics. Which substance did he reveal as an extremely effective anaesthetic?
Chorophyll
Chloroform
Mercury
Liquid Hydrogen
The original experiment with this substance sent all of the observers to sleep, including Simpson himself!
7 .
After a massive cholera epidemic in Hamburg in 1892, scientists were clearer about the way to prevent the disease. What were their main recommendations?
A mass vaccination campaign
Improvements in sanitation and water systems
The elimination of infection through asepsis
The burning of the clothing of victims
1892 turned out to be the final fling of this fatal disease in Europe
8 .
The Jamaican-born nurse, Mary Seacole, founded a hospital near Sebastopol in the Crimea to tend the wounded. What name was given to this establishment?
The British Clinic
The British Hotel
The British Hospital
The British Infirmary
Little was known about her and her work until relatively recently. Before her emergence into the limelight she tended to be overshadowed by Florence Nightingale
9 .
On return from nursing in the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale founded a nursing school at a well known London hospital. Which hospital was this?
The Royal Free Hospital
The Royal Marsden Hospital
The Charing Cross Hospital
St. Thomas's Hospital
Florence Nightingale hoped that - in the event of another war - her new school would produce sufficient nurses to make a difference to the inevitable wounded
10 .
Pasteur opened his institute in 1888. For which of the following diseases did he develop a vaccine?
Anthrax
Ebola
Typhoid
Typhus
Pasteur, of course, gives his name to the procedure of pasteurisation to guarantee the purity of milk
You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Changes in health and medicine, c.1340 to the present day

Author:  Edward Towne
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