Industrial Medicine

Question 1

What were the three key problems with surgery in the early 19th century?

Answer 1

Pain, infection, and blood loss.

Question 2

Why did surgery need to be quick in the 1800s?

Answer 2

To reduce pain and blood loss due to lack of anaesthetics.

Question 3

Who was Robert Liston?

Answer 3

A surgeon known for amputating a leg in under 40 seconds.

Question 4

What did Humphry Davy discover?

Answer 4

Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) as a local anaesthetic.

Question 5

Why did nitrous oxide fall out of favour initially?

Answer 5

A failed demonstration made people think it didn’t work.

Question 6

What anaesthetic did William Morton promote?

Answer 6

Ether.

Question 7

What were the problems with ether?

Answer 7

It was flammable and caused side effects like sore throats.

Question 8

Who discovered chloroform?

Answer 8

James Simpson.

Question 9

Why was chloroform important?

Answer 9

It was an effective general anaesthetic that replaced ether.

Question 10

What were some objections to anaesthetics?

Answer 10

Religious concerns, risk of overdose, and military objections.

Question 11

How did John Snow improve the use of chloroform?

Answer 11

He invented an inhaler to control dosage.

Question 12

What royal figure popularised chloroform?

Answer 12

Queen Victoria during childbirth.

Question 13

What is spontaneous generation?

Answer 13

The belief that germs were a result of disease, not the cause.

Question 14

What did Louis Pasteur discover?

Answer 14

Germ theory – microbes cause disease.

Question 15

What experiment proved Pasteur’s germ theory?

Answer 15

Boiling broth in swan-neck flasks.

Question 16

What did Robert Koch do?

Answer 16

Identified anthrax bacteria; stained bacteria with dyes.

Question 17

What was significant about Pasteur and Chamberland’s chicken cholera vaccine?

Answer 17

It was discovered by chance and led to immunity.

Question 18

What invention helped Koch grow bacteria?

Answer 18

The Petri dish.

Question 19

How did war influence medical research?

Answer 19

Rivalry during Franco-Prussian War pushed governments to invest.

Question 20

What is antiseptic surgery?

Answer 20

Using chemicals like carbolic acid to kill germs and prevent infection.

Question 21

Who pioneered antiseptic surgery?

Answer 21

Joseph Lister.

Question 22

What effect did carbolic acid have on surgery?

Answer 22

Reduced mortality rates from 40% to 15%.

Question 23

What were objections to carbolic acid?

Answer 23

Irritation to surgeons and slippery instruments.

Question 24

Who promoted aseptic surgery?

Answer 24

William Halsted.

Question 25

What was the role of rubber gloves in surgery?

Answer 25

Helped maintain cleanliness and avoid carbolic acid irritation.

Question 26

Who discovered blood groups?

Answer 26

Karl Landsteiner.

Question 27

Why was blood group discovery important?

Answer 27

Made blood transfusions possible, enabling longer operations.

Question 28

Who was Henry Bastian?

Answer 28

A critic of germ theory who supported spontaneous generation.

Question 29

What did John Tyndall do?

Answer 29

Proved microbes in air caused decay through sterile air experiments.

Question 30

What did William Roberts support?

Answer 30

Lister’s carbolic spray and experiments to disprove spontaneous generation.

Question 31

How did William Cheyne contribute?

Answer 31

Supported Lister, promoted antiseptics, and translated Koch’s work.

Question 32

What caused people to move from rural to urban areas from 1750?

Answer 32

The Industrial Revolution.

Question 33

Why did towns and cities grow quickly during the Industrial Revolution?

Answer 33

People moved to work in new steam-powered factories.

Question 34

What was a common type of housing for workers during the Industrial Revolution?

Answer 34

Back-to-back terraced housing.

Question 35

What caused rapid spread of disease in urban areas?

Answer 35

Overcrowding, poor sanitation, and shared contaminated water sources.

Question 36

How did air pollution affect health in the 19th century?

Answer 36

Smog from coal burning caused breathing difficulties and lung damage.

Question 37

What disease first arrived in England in 1831?

Answer 37

Cholera.

Question 38

How is cholera spread?

Answer 38

By contaminated water or food.

Question 39

Who was Edwin Chadwick?

Answer 39

A lawyer who reported on poor living conditions and promoted sanitation reform.

Question 40

What did Chadwick’s 1842 report reveal?

Answer 40

Poor living conditions reduced life expectancy in urban areas.

Question 41

What was the laissez-faire attitude?

Answer 41

A belief that the government should not interfere in people's lives.

Question 42

What did the 1848 Public Health Act do?

Answer 42

Allowed local health boards and taxed for clean water and sewers.

Question 43

Why was the 1848 Public Health Act limited?

Answer 43

It lacked funding and was not compulsory.

Question 44

Who was John Snow?

Answer 44

A physician who linked cholera to a contaminated water pump in Soho.

Question 45

What did John Snow prove about cholera?

Answer 45

It was a waterborne disease.

Question 46

What event led to action on public health in 1858?

Answer 46

The Great Stink.

Question 47

What was the Great Stink?

Answer 47

The River Thames smelled due to low water levels exposing sewage.

Question 48

Who designed London’s new sewerage system?

Answer 48

Joseph Bazalgette.

Question 49

When was Bazalgette’s sewer system completed?

Answer 49

1875

Question 50

What act replaced the laissez-faire attitude in 1875?

Answer 50

The 1875 Public Health Act.

Question 51

What did the 1875 Public Health Act require?

Answer 51

Clean water, sewerage systems, and medical officers.

Question 52

What did the 1875 Artisans’ Dwellings Act do?

Answer 52

Set new standards for housing quality.

Question 53

What was the 1875 Sale of Food and Drugs Act?

Answer 53

It tightened food labelling laws.

Question 54

What was the aim of the 1876 Rivers Pollution Prevention Act?

Answer 54

To clean up rivers and the water supply.

Question 55

Who was Charles Booth?

Answer 55

A social reformer who mapped poverty in London.

Question 56

What did Charles Booth find in 1889?

Answer 56

35% of Londoners lived in extreme poverty despite working full-time.