1877 – Koch’s Postulates

Known for his work on tuberculosis, for which he was awarded a Nobel Prize.
Established Koch’s Postulates that provide the basis for establishing if an organism is the cause of a disease
Koch pioneered the use of microbiologic techniques still used today –agar growth media, Petri dishes; bacterial purification and staining techniques.

1874 – Furnace incinerator for refuse at Nottingham, England

The first UK incinerators for waste disposal were built in Nottingham by Manlove, Alliott & Co. Ltd. in 1874 to a design patented by Albert Fryer. They were originally known as destructors. Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of organic substances contained in waste materials. Incineration and other high-temperature waste treatment systems are described as “thermal treatment”. Incineration of waste materials converts…

1873 – Dr. William Budd wrote: “Typhoid Fever, its Nature, Mode of spreading, and Prevention.”

Budd did not put his views before the profession until 1857-60 when he published a series of papers in The Lancet, afterwards embodied in his work Typhoid Fever in 1873. He had long since taught them in the Bristol Medical School. During the depressing period of opposition that he encountered, he gained support from fellow country doctors; otherwise…

1868 – Wilhelm Griesinger showed that hookworm disease was caused by the worm Ancylostoma Duodenale

In the early 1850s Griesinger went to Egypt to head the medical school and the health commission in Cairo, and became the personal physician to Egyptian viceroy Abbas 1. In Egypt, Griesinger and German physician Theodor Bilharz found hookworms during autopsies and linked them to local endemic occurrences of “Egyptian chlorosis” (iron deficiency anemia), which…

1868 – Edward Frankland in England recommended intermittent filtration of waste water through sand filters

Edward Frankland set up filtration experiments in the laboratory, using glass cylinders six feet high and about ten inches in diameter, open at the top and bottom and placed over; earthenware troughs. A glass tube was inserted in the middle for aeration purposes. Five different filter media were used: coarse gravel, sand, soil, loamy marl…

1866 – The great Sanitary Act

Finally, it was recognized that the 1848 Act had failed to produce the desired results: this was due mainly to that Act being permissive rather than compulsory. The 1866 Act compelled local authorities to improve local conditions and remove nuisances (health hazards). They became responsible also for the provision of sewers, water and street cleaning.…

1865 – Max Von Pettenkofer – professor of the first Institute of Hygiene, at the University of Munich

Pettenkofer was a major figure in the development of the academic stdy of public hygiene and sanitary reform in the nineteenth centur. In 1865, Pettenkofer was made ordinary professor of hygiene and elected university rector at Munich. During an audience with the young King Ludwig II, Pettenkofer promoted hygiene so effectively that chairs were created…