18th and 19th Century Medicine: Germ Theory and Vaccination

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering Louis Pasteur's Germ Theory, Robert Koch's bacteriological discoveries, public health developments, and Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccination.

Germ Theory

The medical theory published by Louis Pasteur in 1861 arguing that microscopic organisms (germs) cause disease and decay.

Spontaneous Generation

The mistaken 18th-century scientific belief that microbes were created by and resulted from decaying matter, such as rotting food or human waste, rather than being the cause of it.

Dr. Henry Bastian

A prominent and highly respected British doctor who advocated for spontaneous generation, leading many British physicians to reject Pasteur's Germ Theory initially.

Robert Koch

A German scientist who identified the specific microbes responsible for specific diseases, discovering the bacteria for anthrax (1876), tuberculosis (1882), and cholera (1883).

Agar Jelly and Staining Dyes

Laboratory techniques utilized by Robert Koch to culture microbes on a solid medium and dye them to become visible under the microscope.

Pasteur's Rabies Vaccine

The first human vaccine created by Louis Pasteur, developed and successfully tested in 1885 on a boy who had been bitten by a rabid dog.

The Great Stink (1858)

An event during a hot summer when the overwhelming stench of sewage from the River Thames compelled the British Parliament to take action on public sanitation.

Public Health Act of 1875

British legislation that required local authorities to take responsibility for public health by improving clean water supply and sewage drainage.

Edward Jenner

A rural English general practitioner who developed the smallpox vaccine in 1796 using fluid taken from cowpox sores.

Inoculation

An older, riskier method of smallpox prevention that involved infecting a healthy person with smallpox scabs or pus; banned by the British government in 1840.

Vaccination

A preventative treatment developed by Edward Jenner using the milder cowpox virus to protect against smallpox, made compulsory in Britain in 1853.

The Royal Society's 1798 Rejection

The refusal of Britain's leading scientific body to publish Edward Jenner's findings because his ideas were considered untested and he could not explain how the method worked.

1802 Parliamentary Grant to Jenner

A funding award of £10,000 granted by the British government to Edward Jenner to establish a vaccination clinic in London.

Compulsory Vaccination Act of 1853

British legislation that made the smallpox vaccination compulsory for all children.

Vaccination Act of 1871

British legislation that strictly enforced compulsory smallpox vaccination by introducing fines for non-compliance, leading to a dramatic drop in smallpox deaths.

World Health Organization 1979 Declaration

The official announcement by the WHO that smallpox had been completely eradicated from the global human population.