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Ideas about Causes of Disease and Treatments – page 1 of 3

Summary – the real cause of disease was unknown until Pasteur’s germ theory in 1861. Previous to that main theory that was believed about cause and treatment was the 4-

humours theory. Hippocrates, a Greek doctor, came up with this by observing that there were 4 elements, 4 seasons and thus he deduced that there were 4 humours in the body

that needed to be kept in balance. Balance meant health, imbalance meant you were unhealthy. The Roman doctor Galen really believed this theory and belief in Galen is what

kept the 4-humours theory as virtually the unquestioned approach to diagnosing and treating illness. In 1861 Pasteur came up with Germ Theory. It took a few years for it to be

universally accepted. Once it was accepted then medicines, vaccinations could all be developed to treat illness more in the way that we think of things today.

Key time periods/Key Dates

Greek – Hippocrates was Greek

Roman – Galen was from the Roman

period.

Medieval

1. Influence of Islam

-Islam encouraged medical learning as

Muhammad said ‘For every disease Allah

(God) has given a cure

-preserved books from of Galen and

Hippocrates, hospitals treated patients

not just cared for them, scientists

encouraged to discover new cures

-Knowledge from Islamic doctors spread

via books that came to Europe via Italy.

2. Influence of Christianity

-hindered medicine as it was believed

that illness was a punishment from God.

Prayers more important than drugs.

Hospitals run by monks – focus on caring

not curing, believed in miraculous curing

eg going on pilgrimage. Believed in

helping sick as Jesus had helped healed

the sick

Key Terms/events - From Medieval – Supernatural and Natural Thinking

4-humours theory – the main theory of the cause of disease the idea that the body is

made of of 4-humours – blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. If the humours got out

of balance then you were ill. The aim of any treatment was to restore the balance of the

humours. Believed up until Germ theory of 1861

Purgatives – things that induce vomiting or diarrhoea to restore balance

Bleeding/Blood-letting – treatment based on 4-humours theory – restore balance by

removing blood from the body. Done up until germ theory

Ideas about what caused disease –imbalance of humours, miasma, Superstitious causes

eg God – punishment from God for sins, astrology – planets and stars aligned in a way to

cause ill-health

Ideas about Treatments – natural – eg herbal remedies (onions/garlic), praying to God,

Urine Chart (medieval) – used to diagnose illness – physician would look at urine colour,

taste it, smell it and use this to decide on a treatment

Zodiac Chart – would tell a physician treatment based on the astrology – eg when to treat

a person, what part of the body to take blood from

Flagellants – associated with Black Death of 1348 – people who went from town to town

whipping themselves in order to prevent getting the Black Death – thought the cause was

punishment from God

Herbal Treatments – wise women had a knowledge of herbs that would help

Key people/groups

Hippocrates – came up with the 4-

humours theory. He was a Greek

physician (doctor)

Galen – kept the 4-humours theory going

for 100s of years (he was a Roman

physician)

Wise women – associated with villages –

a women who had a knowledge of herbal

remedies

Apothecaries – like a ‘chemist’ of today –

associated with towns, you could buy

remedies from them

Ibn Sina (Avicenna) - Islamic doctor,

wrote an encyclopaedia containing

information on many drugs, it became

the standard European medical textbook

Rhazes – Islamic Doctor- wrote many

books, first doctor to distinguish measles

from small pox

Ibn-al-Nafis – challenged Galen about the

heart – said it circulated via the lungs

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Ideas about Causes of Disease and Treatments page 2 of 3

Key Dates

1500s – 1600s – The Renaissance

1798 – First small pox vaccination

1853 – Vaccination for small pox

made compulsory

1866 - Anti vaccine league set up

opposing compulsory small pox

vaccine

1861 – Pasteur’s Germ Theory

1870s – 1890s – many microbes for

many diseases identified such as

cholera, TB, anthrax, dysentery,

typhoid and more

1880 – Koch discovers the TB

microbe. It was so small it was

missed by other doctors

1885 - First human vaccine – rabies

– by Pasteur

1890s onwards – many more

human vaccines developed

Key Terms/events

Renaissance (ideas about cause of disease the same as medieval, and most treatments the same)

Renaissance – a period of time of new inventions (eg the microscope, the printing press), travel to new lands

(America, India, Australia), developments in art (more accurate drawings of the human body), development of

scientific method

New Herbal Remedies – travel to the new world meant some new herbs for treatments eg opium, tobacco,

cinchona bark (which is aspirin),

Quacks – travelling salesmen/conmen who sold ‘cure-all’ medicines (up until the Victorian times)

Culpepper’s Complete Herbal – book of herbal remedies – printing press helped to spread this useful knowledge

Blood-letting – still a common treatment

Early Modern (ideas about cause of disease the same as medieval and renaissance, and most treatments the

same, although idea of God and 4-humours was fading, but still believed)

Spontaneous Generation - as a cause of disease – the idea that decaying, rotting matter turns into germs.

New Theories - Contagionists – believed that disease was person to person/anti-contagionists – believed that

disease came from environment thus cleaning/hygiene was important

Small Pox – biggest killer of the 18th century

Vaccination – Jenner – uses cow pox to make a vaccination for small pox

19th Century/Victorian England

Vaccinations – against a range of diseases. Pasteur discovers how vaccinations work by doing work on chicken

cholera.

Anthrax – Koch discovers the microbe but Pasteur develops the vaccine for it (for animals)

Staining microbes/using photographic lenses – enabled Koch to work out which microbe caused which disease.

Magic Bullets – chemical cures for disease discovered - First one was for syphilis in 1909

Key people/groups

Renaissance

Wise Women/Apothecaries –

the same as medieval

Galen – believed as in medieval

Sydenham – English doctor at

this time

Early Modern

Inoculation for small pox -

main way of preventing small

pox Inoculators made a lot of

money from it

Jenner – came up with

vaccination for small pox

19th Century

Anti-Vaccine League – opposed

compulsory vaccination

Pasteur - French scientist who

came up with germ theory in

1861. Rival of Koch

Koch – German doctor who

found out which microbes

caused which disease. Rival of

Pasteur

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Ideas about causes of Disease and Treatments – page 3 of 3

Key Terms/events – 20th century Modern Medicine

20th century – The ‘real cause of disease’ and technological developments meant that

huge advances in medicine have been made

-from 1940 – 1960s - free vaccines for TB, diphtheria , whooping cough, tetanus, polio,

measles, mumps, rubella – all still offered today

-hearing aids, organ transplants, open heart surgery, contraceptive pill, heart transplants,

key hole surgery, IVF fertility treatment, small pox eradication, cancer treatment –

chemotherapy, prosthetics

-growth of pharmaceutical industry – growth of amount of drugs to treat illness,

-growth of alternative medicine – acupuncture, aromatherapy, homeopathy,

-antibiotic resistance – overuse of antibiotics has meant some diseases are resistant to

them

Key people/groups

Fleming – Motivated by his experiences in

WWII and treating soldiers. Accidentally

discovered penicillin by leaving dirty petri

dishes – Fleming discovered that the mould

was killing the bacteria. Fleming thought it

was an anti-septic not an antibiotic. He

didn’t test it, and therefore few people

took Fleming’s discovery seriously

Florey and Chain – able to prove penicillin

worked to kill infection but got no funding

to mass produce it. The American

government funded this after Pearl Harbour

attack of 1941. By the end of WWII

penicillin was being mass produced

Crick and Watson – discovered DNA.

Developments in hereditary illness could be

made, as well as genetic screening and gene

therapy

Key Dates

1928 – Fleming discovers penicillin

1938 – Florey and Chain

1953 – Crick and Watson

1968 – First British Heart Transplant

1980 – Small pox eradicated

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Key Time Periods/Key Dates

Roman Britain – had good public health (aqueducts, latrines

(privies) mainly because they needed to keep the army healthy.

After they left Britain in 410 AD, all of these facilities and

knowledge was lost

Medieval Britain - Towns– virtually non-existent public health –

overflowing cesspits, cesspits near wells/contamination of water

supplies, animal waste on streets (waste from slaughter and

faeces/poo),

Attempts to clean the towns were made – laws to encourage

clean steets, most towns had privies, some towns got water from

springs so water was clean

Monasteries – public health better there – privies (toilets) put

where waste would flow away, pipes delivered clean water,

monks washed regularly – clothes and hands/feet, hospitals to

treat sick

Renaissance – after 1665 plague stricter quarantine laws prevent

epidemic diseases coming to the country on ships

From Renaissance to 19th century – public health still not a

priority- no commitment to spend money on public health

Public Health – Medieval to Present Day – page 1 of 3

Public Health up to the 19th Century

Summary Public Health is when the authorities/government take an active role in helping people stay healthy by taking measures (doing things) to prevent illness. The

authorities/government are able to do this by using taxes (rates) collected from the people. Today, public health is a priority for the government/society and we have full public

health/full government intervention in that we have a free (at the point of access/using it) NHS, guaranteed clean streets due to rubbish collection, guaranteed clean water. It

also extends to alleviating poverty – as poverty and higher levels of illness were proven to be linked. This means taking measures/doing things to help keep people out of poverty,

such as unemployment benefit or providing free school meals.

Up until germ theory (1861), public health was not a priority. The authorities/government didn’t intervene/get involved public health measures were reactionary and this means

that the authorities/government might do some things in reaction to an epidemic. Examples of this are the Black Death 1348, The Plague epidemic 1665, and the Cholera

outbreaks in the 19th century. After germ theory began to be more accepted, there was more of a case to get the government to take an active role and to stop their laissez faire

(don’t get involved/don’t intervene). This was coupled with the actions of individuals, politicians and some factors such as the Boer War. This led to the full government

intervention that we have today

Key Terms/events

The Black Death 1348 – new disease that spread very quickly due to poor public

health – streets dirty – animal waste on streets, poor cleaning of streets, throwing

rubbish on streets made rats breed quickly, no idea about the real cause of disease

Belief of the causes of the Black Death – miasma, position of the stars/planets, God,

wells poisoned by Jews

Treatments of the Black Death – prayer, moving away from those with plague, some

quarantine, unusual remedies like strapping a shaved chicken to the buboes,

treatments based on 4-humours theory

The Great Plague of 1665 authorities react to the plague epidemic and order certain

public health measures- people recognised there was a connection between dirt and

disease - sweeping streets, quarantine - women searchers to tell if person died of

plague and then a cross painted on that door, bodies moved at night and buried in

mass plague pits, gathering in crowds banned – eg theatre was banned

Causes of the Great Plague – same as medieval times-Treatments of Plague –

Renaissance – smoking to keep poisoned air away/burning tar, using animals eg

frogs/pigeons to ‘draw out plague’. Moving away/quarantine. Plague ends due to

rats developing greater resistance to disease

Key people/groups

Flagellents – Black Death –

thought the Black Death was

a punishment from God -

they thought that by

whipping themselves they

could atone for people’s sins

thus prevent the Black Death

Raker- cleaned streets

(poorly paid, not enforced)

Gong Farmer – emptied

cesspits

Charles II – King during the

Plague of 1665

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Public Health 19th and 20th century – page 2 of 3

Key people/groups

Miasma – the idea that bad

smells/corrupted air causes disease

Spontaneous Generation the idea

that microbes/germs appear as if ‘by

magic’ from rotting matter and that

germs are the result of disease

Edwin Chadwick – was minister for

workhouses but did an

investigation/wrote a report

Louis Pasteur – discovered Germ

theory

John Snow – used scientific method

to prove that cholera was in the

water by mapping an area of London

and linking the outbreak to a specific

water pump

Joseph Bazalgette – ‘the sewer king’

– oversaw the construction of

London’s sewers (after Great Stink)

Key Terms/events

Industrialisation – rapid development of

machines/factories

Rapid/very fast Growth of Towns – mass

migration of people from the

Laissez Faire –– means the government should not

get involved/should not use taxes/rates and invest

in public health, prevailing idea about government

intervention

Cholera – new disease in England, very quick

unpleasant death

Report on the Labouring Poor – written by

Chadwick 1842, linked ill health and poverty,

suggested that the government provide sewers,

clean water, remove rubbish from streets. He

suggested that taxes be used to fund this (and not

the workhouses – basically said if the government

spent the money on public health there would be

no need to spend money on workhouses)

The Great Stink – very hot summer in 1858,

Thames ‘evaporated’ revealing the filth, the smell

was so vile that Parliament couldn’t meet, the rich

are affected by poor public health and so are more

motivated to take measures/do something

Key Dates

1831/32 – first cholera outbreak/epidemic in England; first time cholera had ever

been in England; quick death

1842 – Chadwick’s Report on the Labouring Poor – suggested the government

intervene and improve conditions in the poorer areas of towns. Basically

suggested diverting/moving funds from workhouses to better public health.

Suggestions were ignored by government

1848/49 – second cholera epidemic

1848 - First Public Health Act, which was based on Chadwick’s suggestions.

Government reacted to the cholera outbreak of 1848, not compulsory

1853/54 third cholera outbreak

1854 – First Public Health act abolished (as it didn’t prevent another outbreak of

cholera), John Snow proves that cholera is in the water. His findings are largely

ignored

1858 – The Great Stink. Rich now affected by poor public health

1866/67 – Fourth Cholera outbreak

1867 – more working class men get the vote; encourages government to

improve/implement (start) public health, so that they will get the votes of the

working classes

1875 – Second Public Health Act – compulsory – clean water supply, proper

toilets, drains, sewers, better standard of housing, shorter working hours for

women and children, compulsory education

Summary – There were many changes in public health on the 19th century. At the beginning of the century the government and the wealthy upper and middle classes strongly

held to the belief of laissez faire and did not want to invest their taxes in providing public health facilities. This was due to the attitude that the poor should help themselves out

of poverty, and that it was their fault that they were poor. This was also pre-germ theory and so the true cause of disease wasn’t known. As the century progressed there was

not only a change in knowledge of the cause of disease, but a change in attitude about why the poor were poor. This led to increased government intervention, to the point that

in the 20th century, in 1948, the government took full responsibility for the health of the nation, and security of the nation by providing the ‘cradle to grave’ welfare state.

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Public Health in the 19th and 20th centuries - page 3 of 3

Key Dates

1890s Charles Booth and Seebohm Rowntree and other rich men (but not

politicians) investigate and highlight the link between poverty and ill health

and pressurise the government for

1901 – Rowntree produces his Poverty Line

1899 – 1902 – Boer War

1906 – Liberal government wins a landslide victory, largely due to their

campaign promised to introduce reforms/laws to improve lives of poor

The Liberal Reforms 1906 – Free School Meals Act, 1907 – Free Medical

inspections, 1908 – Children’s and Young persons act – Children are protected

people- parents can be charged with neglect, 1908 – Old Age pension act,

1909 – first job centres set up, 1911 – National Insurance Act

1942 – Beveridge Report

1948 – Introduction of the ‘cradle to grave’ welfare state – Full government

intervention in terms of public health. Prevention and treatment/cure

Key Terms/events

Poverty Line – a line that shows the minimum

amount of money needed to live – living ‘on it’ or

falling below it means you are living in poverty

Rowntree’s Poverty Line – produced/done by

Rowntree; proved that poverty was out of the

control of the people, revealed that poverty occurred

at certain points in a person’s life (eg childhood, old

age) and that the government should provide help at

these stages

Boer War – reveals/highlights that more government

intervention needed and that poverty and ill-health

are still a problem due to recruits for the war being

both underweight and under height

Liberal Reforms – laws promised by and done by the

Liberal Government to improve life for the poor

WWII – people were making sacrifices and felt they

deserved better lives which included good housing

and free health care

5-Giants that could ruin lives – disease, want (being

in financial need), ignorance (lack of education),

idleness (being unemployed), squalor (very bad

housing/living conditions.

Cradle to Grave Welfare State – the idea that the

government should take charge of social

security/health care

NHS – National Healthcare Service 1948

Key people/groups

Charles Booth – investigate

poverty in London, found that

30% lived in extreme poverty – he

used this to pressurise the

government to intervene/get

involved

Seebohm Rowntree – produced

Poverty Line he used this to

pressurise the government to

intervene/get involved

Liberal Government –

government that introduced

reforms at the beginning of the

20th century

David Lloyd George – Liberal

Government Politician who

introduced the reforms (he was

the Chancellor of the Exchequer)

Beveridge – wrote a report in

1842 identifying need for the

welfare state based on the right

of all people to be free of the 5

giants

Bevin – introduced the cradle to

grave welfare stated which

included the NHS in 1948

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Surgery and Anatomy – page 1 of 3

Summary – Surgery from the Medieval period up to the 19th century was a risky business. Surgeons had not idea that dirt carried disease. Some believed it was good to cause pus in

wounds and operations were done without effective anaesthetics. Surgery was limited since surgeons could not help patients with deep wounds to the body; these patients would die

from bleeding, shock and infection. Pain, infection and blood loss were the major problems in surgery and remained up until the 19th century. A lot of surgery occurred on a

battlefield. In everyday life surgery was performed as a last resort. Barber surgeons did minor surgery on the outside of the body. Speed was the priority and speed (along with a very

dirty apron) was the mark of a good surgeon, and surgeons were considered a ‘lower class’ within the medical profession. Much remained the same until the 19th century when there

was a revolution in surgery. Chloroform was discovered to be an effective anaesthetic and carbolic acid was found to be and effective antiseptic. There was however opposition to

these. Eventually there was acceptance and surgery developed. WWI and WWII were both important in the development of surgery. The scientific developments of the 20th century

meant continued major developments in surgery

Key people/groups

Medieval

John of Ardene – example of in English

medieval surgeon. War surgeon. Set up

the Guild of Surgeons. Use Arab

knowledge and Knowledge from

experience of 100-years war

Abulcasis – Muslim surgeon – wrote

books and invented 26 new surgical

instruments; made cauterisation

popular

Key Terms/events

3 problems of surgery – PAIN, INFECTION BLOOD LOSS (PIB) – These limited the surgery

that could be done

Speed – the main priority in surgery. A surgeon was judged on how fast they and had a

good reputation if they were very fast

Barber Surgeons – barber who carried out surgery and dentistry. Considered a ‘lower class’

than physicians (medical doctors)

Bloodletting – medical treatment of removing blood from a patient by opening a vein or

using leeching to suck it out. Done to balance the humours

Amputation – cutting off a limb – a main type of surgery

Cauterisation – using a heated iron to stop bleeding and seal a wound thus stopping the

flow of blood

Trepanning – drilling holes in the skull

Apprenticeship – surgeons learned their skill by being apprenticed to another surgeon –

watching an copying them. Some learned on battlefields

Anaesthetics – opium/hemlock use as anaesthetics- overdoses possible, a lot of surgery

had involved no anaesthetic

Key Time periods/Key Dates

Medieval Surgery

Any advancements were made by

surgical pioneers who tried new

methods. Books were read in

Latin by religious men and were

translated in to English. Surgery

however remained very basic and

very dangerous.

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Surgery and Anatomy Page 2 of 3

Key time periods /Key Dates

Renaissance

1500 – 1600 – time period of

the Renaissance

1500s – Pare and Vesalius

1600s - Harvey

Early Modern

1700s – John Hunter a

pioneer of scientific surgery.

Some hospitals begin to

teach surgery

Key Terms/events

Renaissance – period of change and development. Surgery mostly stayed the same but there

were some individuals who made discoveries in terms of surgery and anatomy. These did not

have impact (did not change things) at the time but laid the foundations for the future

developments and advancements

Gunshot wounds – new wounds – gunpowder – it was thought to be poisonous (it wasn’t).

Pare made developments in the area of treating gunshot wounds.

Boiling Oil- treatment used to treat gunshot wounds – thought to kill the poison

Ligatures – silk threads that were used to tie off arteries to stop bleeding in surgery. Used by

Pare

The Fabric of the Human Body – the book produced by Vesalius showing his findings on

anatomy

Key people/groups

Renaissance

Pare (surgery) – used ligatures to tie arteries

instead of using cauterisation. Used a cream

instead of boiling oil. Not widely believed or

useful at the time

Harvey (surgery) – Blood – worked out that blood

circulated around the body in 1 direction.

Disproved Galen – who said that blood was

produced in the liver. Heart - Proved that the

heart pumps blood around the body. Not widely

believed or useful at the time

Vesalius (anatomy) – did dissections on his own

and realised that Galen was wrong about

anatomy. Examples – the jaw bone is one bone

and not 2. (Galen had dissected animals). Proved

Galen wrong. His books were translated into

English and read by English surgeons. Not widely

believed or useful at the time

John Hunter – pioneer of scientific surgery (see

‘hospitals section for more information on John

Hunter)

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Surgery and Anatomy – Page 3 of 3 – Revolution in Surgery – 19th and 20th centuries

Key time periods /Key Dates

1847 – chloroform as an anaesthetic

discovered by James Simpson

1848 – Hannah Greener dies of a

chloroform overdoes during minor

toe surgery

1850 – Queen Victoria uses

chloroform and likes it

1861 – Germ theory discovered –

bacteria cause disease

1867 - Carbolic Acid discovered as an

effective anti-septic

1850 – 1870 – Black period of surgery

– death rate in surgery increased due

to discovery of chloroform as deeper

surgery could be carried out, yet the

problem of infection had yet to be

conquered. Led to opposition of

chloroform

1895 – X-rays discovered

1914 – 1918 – WWI – field hospitals -

new weapons mean new wounds and

development in surgery – eg head

wounds

1915/1916 – blood – sodium citrate

and citrate glucose means blood

doesn’t clot and can be stored for

longer

1938 – Blood transfusion service set

up enabling blood banks to store

blood. This is still in existence today

1967 – First heart transplant surgery

Key Terms/events

Pain/Infection/Blood loss (PIB) in the 19th century still the main problems with surgery

Speed – still the priority in surgery – a surgeon was judged on his speed and his reputation depended on it

Anaesthetic – something that dulls pain, numbs the body, makes you unconscious

Nitrous Oxide/Ether – anaesthetics used before chloroform. (Ether was flammable and caused vomiting)

Chloroform – used as an anaesthetic

Opposition to Chloroform – slowed surgeons down – reputation was based on speed, pain meant you

were ‘fighting to stay alive’, childbirth – God intended women to have pain, death due to overdoses,

Anti-Septic – a chemical applied to wounds/surgical instruments to clean it and to prevent bacteria from

being/growing on it

Carbolic Acid – was used to clean sewers – Lister made the link that it could be used to

Aseptic – keeping an environment/the air (eg in an operating theatre) free of any bacteria

Opposition to Carbolic Acid – unpleasant to use – cracked the skin, a lot needed and was quite messy,

took time for germ theory to be accepted therefore for an antiseptic to be accepted, Lister kept changing

the precise way it should be used which made surgeons lose faith in him/carbolic acid,

X-rays – used extensively for the first time in WWI – could locate broken bones/shrapnel or bullets and so

know exactly where to operate

Blood transfusion – having blood put in you. The blood comes from another person

Sodium Citrate – keeps blood from clotting, enabling blood banks meaning more surgery could be done

Citrate glucose – stores blood for longer, meaning more blood transfusions so more surgery (WWI)

Plastic Surgery – developed during WWI – facial (face) wounds due to shrapnel, first done in WWI. This

continued to develop during WWII. It continues today. Plastic surgery units are often attached to burns

units.

Heart Surgery – progressed in WWII – shrapnel taken out of hearts which helped to develop other heart

surgery after the war, also transplant surgery/key hole surgery/laser surgery part of modern surgery

Key people/groups

James Simpson – discovered

chloroform as an anaesthetic

Joseph Lister – discovered

that carbolic acid worked well

as an antiseptic

Hannah Greener – died of an

overdose of chloroform during

minor surgery on her toe (an

example of why there was

opposition to chloroform)

Landsteiner – discovered

blood groups therefore

enabling blood transfusions in

surgery

Queen Victoria – liked

chloroform – helped with

acceptance of chloroform

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson –

first female surgeon

Marie Currie = developed x-

rays

Gilles – did plastic surgery in

WWI

McIndoe – did plastic surgery

in WWII

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Hospitals over time

Key time periods /Key

Date

1720 – 50 – 5 new general

hospitals set up in London

By 1800 – London

Hospitals had over 20,000

patients

Key Terms/events –

Middle Ages

Hospitals were funded (given money by) the Church or wealthy people

-Hospitals focused on caring for the sick and not curing; most patients had a priest rather than a doctor

-nuns cared for the sick

Over 700 hospitals set up between 1000 – 1500 – most in monasteries

-treatments based on the beliefs of the time (see section on beliefs of causes/treatments in this booklet)

18th Century- 1700s

Scientific medicine in more modern hospitals began

-funded (paid for) either by the rich or by local people getting together to set up a hospital

-many new hospitals built – 5 new general hospitals built in 1700s, hospitals had specialist wards, some

hospitals trained doctors, treatment mostly based on 4-humours theory; less emphasis on illness being sent

from God and the scientific method/approach becoming more common, some hospitals had pharmacies,

specialist hospitals began to grow eg maternity hospitals

Key people/groups

Monks/Nuns – gave most treatment in

hospitals

John Hunter – pioneer of scientific surgery –

wrote many books based on his

observations, skill at dissecting and his

experience as an army surgeon

-taught many surgeons (eg Jenner) some of

his pupils went on to establish teaching

hospitals

-Demanded careful observation in surgery;

would take risks and do ‘radical surgery’

rather than just opt for amputation

-had a large collection of anatomical animals

– plants, fossils, diseased organs, - which

could be used in teaching and helping to

understand disease

Summary –In the Middle Ages hospitals were primarily in monasteries and care was given by monks and nuns. They were more like today’s ‘care homes’ than hospitals.

Care was more important than cure. This remained the case until the 18th century. The scientific revolution that was beginning meant that surgeons such as John Hunter

were making advancements in hospitals. Hospitals then developed further with the introduction of the NHS in 1948.

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Hospitals page 1 of 2

Key time periods /Key Dates

1850s – Crimean War

WWI 1914 – 1918 –field

hospitals and hospitals in

England for treatment and

recovery

WWII 1939 – 1945 field

hospitals and hospitals in

England for treatment and

recovery

1948 – NHS set up

Key Terms/events

19th Century hospitals

Crimean War = Florence Nightingale, who believed in the miasma theory, developed hospitals in

terms of cleanliness, promoting having separate wards and training nurses. Previous to this

nurses did not have proper training. She set up nursing schools, set standards for nurses eg no

drinking of alcohol, and made nursing ‘professional’

WWI and WWII –medical knowledge develops and hospitals develop with more treatments

offered in hospitals – wounded soldiers treated in field hospitals but also in hospitals in England.

Creation of the NHS – this puts all hospitals under government control. Surgery, treatment of

disease, blood tests, x-rays, labour wards all offered in hospitals

Key people/groups

Florence Nightingale – pioneer of

modern nursing

.

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Factors

Factors are things that are not directly connected with medicine, that have had an influence on the development of medicine. The factor might help or

hinder medicine

Looking the factors, explain how they have helped medicine, or have hindered medicine. Use all time periods to do this

War

Science and Technology

Individual Brilliance/Genius/’the role of the individual’

Chance (luck)

Government

Communication

Superstition and religion

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Britain : Health and

the People

1000 – Present Day

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