19th Century Medical Revolution: Preventive Medicine
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This article is from the Health Articles series.
19th Century Medical Revolution: Preventive Medicine
Up till 1800 human communities existed with very little control of public health. There were some municipal regulations against the disposal within towns of sewage and garbage and during plagues municipal officials were appointed to seek out cases, but there was little organization or enforcement. Cities of the European Industrial Revolution were overcrowded and had poor water supplies. In the early 19th century over half a million people in London got their water from stand pipes in the street. Excrement was discharged into open sewers. Epidemic cholera and typhoid were frequent and the rates of morbidity and mortality among the general population, and especially among infants were high. These things happened early in England, which was an early country to industrialize. Poor relief cost so much that a number of Royal Commissions were set up to look into various public health matters. These investigations were supported by the leading humanitarians of the day, notably a lawyer named Edwin Chadwick, who led the agitation for control of public health. This started in Britain with the 1848 Public Health Act. There was a major epidemic of cholera in London in 1854; Dr John Snow demonstrated that many cases occurred among people who drank water from a pump in Broad Street; those who obtained water from other pumps did not contract the disease. The pump handle was removed and in that area there were no more cases of cholera. When adequate water supplies and sewage systems were installed and slums were cleared, the epidemics abated. John Snow was also a pioneer in surgical anaesthesia.
by Dr. Ian Carr, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba
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