Inoculation and Germ Theory

By Mr Day Downloaded from SchoolHistory.co.uk

Lesson Objectives

• To learn about the development of inoculation and germ theory (micro biology) to medicine and assess its importance.

Part 1 Inoculation

Edward Jenner and Inoculation

• Read the sheet that you have been given on Edward Jenner.

• Describe in your book if you believe that Edward Jenner mad a breakthrough or a development in the history of medicine.

• Don’t write huge amounts of information already on the sheet. You are evaluating the significance of his discovery.

Significance of Jenner

• This was a massive breakthrough in the prevention of disease.

• Smallpox was a massive killer on a worldwide scale.

• It is almost impossible to estimate how many lives were saved by his ‘discovery’.

Opposition

• Many people could not accept that it was natural to inject matter that came from a cow.

• Some doctors gave inoculation a bad name. Patients were injected with smallpox by accident or with dirty needles.

Part 2 The Development of Germ Theory and Micro

Biology

Spontaneous Generation

• By 1800 some doctors were beginning to speculate about germs or micro-organisms. This was mainly due to the invention of the microscope.

• Those doctors that believed germs existed believed they were the result of disease and not the cause of it!

• This idea was called spontaneous generation.

Micro Organisms

Pasteur and Germ Theory

• Louis Pasteur was the man that made the breakthrough and linked germs to disease.

• He made his discovery by accident, in 1857 when investigating why sugar beat soured unexpectedly.

• He proved that the Sugar Beat soured because of germs carried in the air.

• He devised an experiment to prove this. (details in your text book)

Pasteur and Germ Theory

• Even though his experiment supported what he was saying there were a number of people that simply refused to believe what he was saying. The idea of invisible life was simply too big a leap of faith for some to make.

• Other scientists were convinced.

Pasteur’s Influence

• His influence was huge.• He discovered vaccines

for chicken cholera. (1880)

• Anthrax (1881)• Rabies (1885)• What is even more

remarkable is that in 1868 he suffered a massive stroke that had left him paralysed down one side of his body.

Robert Koch

• Koch took Pasteur’s work a step further.• He would spend his working like looking to link

particular germs to particular diseases.• His first major breakthrough came in 1875 when

he identified the microbe for anthrax.• With the development of technology he

discovered microbes that had preciously been invisible to the most powerful microscopes.

• He even developed ways of staining the microbes with dyes so he could calculate their life span and rates of reproduction.

Significance

• In 1882 he discovered the germ that caused tuberculosis. (TB)

• In 1883 he discovered the germ that caused cholera.

• With his work he ‘proved’ what the real cause of disease was.

• This paved the way for other scientists to take up the challenge and conduct research. Many did just that.

Rivalry!

• Koch was German, Pasteur was French.• Both men took a dislike to the other and in turn

they inspired each other to new heights.• It is difficult to judge whether this rivalry helped

the development of micro biology or hindered it.• Both men continued to push boundaries and the

rate of progress and discoveries during this era was stunning.