History of Medicine 1750 – 1900.
LO: How did scientists discover that germs cause disease.
All will be able to…identifywhat people thought caused disease prior to Pasteur.
Most will be able to…describe the work of Louis Pasteur and germ theory. (D)
Somewill be able to…explainfactors that were important in the discovery of germ theory. (A)
Spontaneous Generation - Disease was caused by germs that were produced by flesh and vegetables as they rotted.
In 1677 – A clock maker from Holland, Anthony van Leeuwenhoek, made a very basic microscope. To his amazement, he found tiny creatures moving about in nearly all of the things he placed under his new intervention. Found them in water droplets, pepper, food and faeces. He called them animalcules and published his findings.
Louis Pasteur born in France 1822. He studied chemistry and biology, taking charge of science at Lille University in 1854.
It was his reputation as a top chemist that first led one of Lille’s top wine producers to go to Pasteur for help…
For centuries doctors had tried to find out how disease was caused. In the mid-19th century, many people inBritainstill believed inMiasma, the idea that disease was caused by polluted air. The real breakthrough in understanding the cause of disease was made by Louis Pasteur.
Having discovered that 'bad' wine had germs in it which could be seen through a microscope, Pasteur developed a process for killing the germs by boiling the wine and then cooling it down.
He called this process 'pasteurisation'. Pasteur then set about proving that the germs came from the air and could therefore be prevented from entering the liquid in the first place. He demonstrated this by sealing a quantity of a liquid in an airtight jar and leaving another quantity exposed to the air.
There were multiple factors involved in the work of Pasteur such as;
Education.
Industry.
Scientific Methods.
Technology.
Communication.
Pasteur's work was revolutionary in discovering the link between germs and disease. This led the way forRobert Kochto later discover how each type of germ caused specific disease and who established a complete germ theory of disease
- Todays Lesson.
- Revision Help.