Key Vocabulary: History of Medicine

18th Century Science

  • Detailed observation was crucial, aided by the microscope after 1590.
  • Doctors learned from dissections and microscopes.
  • Medical books from ancient writers were found to be incorrect due to new discoveries.

Smallpox and Inoculation

  • Smallpox had a high death rate and no cure.
  • Inoculation: Spreading matter from a smallpox scab onto an open cut on a healthy person's skin to give a mild dose.
  • Inoculation became popular, but it was not entirely safe.

Smallpox and Vaccination

  • Dr. Edward Jenner investigated why milkmaids with cowpox never got smallpox.
  • 1796: Jenner injected James Phipps with pus from cowpox sores.
  • Phipps contracted cowpox but not smallpox.
  • Jenner discovered a way to make people immune to smallpox and called it vaccination (from the Latin word 'vacca' meaning cow).
  • Jenner's book on vaccination was published in 1798.

Industrial Period (c.1800s)

Medieval Attempts to Limit the Spread of the Black Death

  • Quarantining travelers.
  • Boarding up infected families in their homes.
  • Belief in scented flowers or dung buckets to combat 'bad air' (miasma).
  • Consuming potions believed to kill the plague.
  • Doctors wore hooded outfits with beaks filled with herbs or vinegar-soaked sponges.
  • Flagellants whipped themselves as penance.
  • Disinfecting houses with herbs and burning victims' clothes.

Alchemy

  • Alchemists aimed to turn metals into gold and create an 'elixir of life'.
  • They established the foundation for chemistry as a scientific discipline through experiments.

Physicians in Medieval Times

  • Physicians trained at university medical schools in Italy or Paris.
  • They used urine charts and 'zodiac man' charts.
  • Few knew about preventing disease due to a lack of understanding about the causes.

Medieval and Early Modern Periods (c.1300s-1700s)

Welsh Example: Physicians of Myddfai, Carmarthenshire

  • Used the stars to advise on preventing illness.
  • Most people relied on local 'wise women' or soothsayers.
  • These individuals possessed accumulated knowledge of sickness passed down through generations.
  • They collected plants, herbs, and stones in willow baskets and made special charms.
  • Mother Shipton was a famous 15th-century soothsayer.

WELSH EXAMPLE: Dynion Hysbys (wise men)

  • Belief that these wise men could break spells and undo evils spread by witches to protect people and animals.

Key Words

  • Quarantine: Isolation of a person who may be carrying an infectious disease.
  • Miasma: The 'bad air' believed to carry disease.
  • Flagellant: A person who whips himself as part of religious penance.
  • Alchemy: A medieval chemistry aimed at transmuting metals into gold and creating a cure-all medicine.
  • Mysticism: The belief that there is a hidden meaning to life.
  • Elixir: A liquid with magical power that would prolong life indefinitely.

WELSH EXAMPLE: Objections to Vaccination in Wales

  • Prosecution of parents in Newport for refusing vaccination.
  • Dr. Haviland objected to compulsory vaccination in Cardiff in 1869.
  • Many doctors opposed vaccination due to financial interests in inoculation.
  • 1852: Smallpox vaccination became compulsory for all children, facing parental objections.
  • Belief in miasma as the cause of smallpox persisted (Pasteur's theory came in 1880).

Discovery of Antibodies and Bacteriology Developments

  • Robert Koch identified bacteria causing specific diseases, starting with TB in 1882.
  • This new science was called bacteriology.
  • Koch and his team identified germs for cholera, typhoid, diphtheria, pneumonia, tetanus, and plague.
  • This allowed for the creation of vaccinations to prevent these killer diseases.
  • Koch realized antibodies could destroy bacteria and create immunity.
  • Each antibody worked on one bacteria.
  • Introducing a weakened form of the disease would allow the body to resist the deadly version.
  • Koch won a Nobel Prize in 1905.

Key Words

  • Vaccination: Injecting a harmless form of a disease to prevent it.
  • Bacteriology: The study of bacteria and how to deal with them.
  • Antibody: A natural defense mechanism of the body against germs.

20th Century

  • Endemic diseases and childhood killers like diphtheria (1940), polio (from 1955), whooping cough (1956), and measles (from 1963) were almost eliminated through vaccination programs.

World Health Organization (WHO)

  • Vaccines are available for 25 different preventable infections with WHO campaigns operating globally.
  • In 1979, WHO declared smallpox extinct.

21st Century

  • Vaccination rates fell due to the MMR vaccine scandal in the 1990s, where Dr. Andrew Wakefield wrongly linked the vaccine to autism.
  • The Anti-Vax movement has spread via social media, opposing vaccination.

Government Efforts to Improve Public Health in the 21st Century

  • Efforts have increased in health education by agencies like Public Health Wales and NHS Wales to encourage healthier lifestyles.
  • Examples include reducing cancer rates, persuading people to stop smoking, reducing heart disease through exercise, and reducing obesity and diabetes through healthier eating.

Modern Period (c.1900s-present day)