Germ Theory

Miasma

• poisonous air, caused by rotting matter, swamps, volcanoes caused ppl to be ill

Spontaneous Generation

• living creatures (microorganisms + maggots) suddenly appeared from rotting matter, could cause illness

Germ theory

• Louis Pasteur - was investigating why beer going sour

• discovered germs were cause of decay not product of it

• swan neck experiment to prove theory

• GT published 1861

• Pasteur also made breakthrough of vaccine for chicken cholera

4 parts of theory

• microbes can decay

• be caused by heating

• air full of microbes

• more microbes in some areas

Pasteurisation

slow heating to kill microbes

Germ theory breakthroughs

• Joseph Lister - used ideas to develop antiseptics, surgery safer

• more vaccines made

• campaign for cleaning hospitals gain support

• inspiration to other doctors/scientists

• antibiotics, magic bullets

• 1875, PHA, provided clean water + proper disposal of sewage

Germ theory drawbacks

• many diff microbes, hard to identify which caused which disease

• microscopes showed 100s microbes (even in healthy ppl), hard to believe those microbes caused disease too

• Florence Nightingale didn’t believe GT, still promoted miasma + still made huge developments in hospitals