The first application of phenolic compounds as antimicrobial agents goes back as far as 1815, when coal tar was used as an antiseptic and disinfectant. It was, however, not until Kuchenmeister in 1860 and Lister in 1867 used phenol (carbolic acid) as a dressing for wounds and in surgery, respectively, that the full potential of…
When the incompetence of the medical services in the Crimea became common knowledge, Parkes was appointed to organize and take charge of a temporary hospital at Renkioi in Asia Minor to relieve pressure on the hospitals in Scutari. As a result of the glaring faults of organization in the Army Medical Department, which were revealed…
She noted the exceptionally high infant mortality rate in Taylor County, WV; seven of her eleven children died of communicable disease. She organized Mothers Day Work Clubs through churches in five local towns to provide medicine for the indigent, inspection of milk for wholesomeness, and care for children of tubercular mothers. She asked area physicians…
“The Apostle of Cleanliness”
Studied death rate from communicable diseases (principally cholera and typhus) among wounded British soldiers during the Crimean War (1855). Statistically proved that improvements in sanitation at hospitals led to a decrease in the death rate. Human health is first linked to environmentalconditions
In 1849 Snow published what should have been another groundbreaking paper, On the Mode of Communication of Cholera, demonstrating that more people died from cholera in the area served by certain South London water companies. These drew their water straight from the River Thames, which, at this time, had around sixty sewage outlets gushing into…
The summer of 1853 was a dark time in New Orleans, as yellow fever spread like fire throughout every corner of the city. Physicians and city officials scrambled to find a cure as people quickly succumbed to the effects of an epidemic that had killed 7,849 people by autumn 1853, making it the deadliest epidemic…
The first law on milk quality in the United States was a Massachusetts act in 1856 that prohibited adulteration of milk. The first regulations for the production of milk were prepared by the Board of Health in England and were known as the Dairy, Cowshed and Milk Shop Order of 1879. In 1896, New York…
As a disinfectant, chlorine was first used about the year 1800 by de Morveau, in France, and by Cruikshank, in England, who prepared the gas by heating a mixture of hydrochloric acid and potassium bichromate or pyrolusite; this is essentially the same as the original mixture used by Scheele. During the early part of the last century the…
Studied the geographic distribution of cholera deaths in London during the 1854 epidemic. Concluded that people who drank water from the Soho District Broad Street pump were more likely to get cholera. Removed the pump handle and stopped the epidemic. Contamination came from a “Dolphin” located downstream of a sewer outfall
Dr. J. C. Simonds issued his paper on “The Sanitary Conditions of New Orleans.”
During the 1850s, Ferdinand Carre of France developed a second type of refrigeration machine. In his system, the refrigerant (normally a vapor) is absorbed in a suitable liquid. This solution is heated, driving off the refrigerant as a vapor, which then is condensed. Evaporation of the liquid produces the desired cooling. The refrigerant vapor is…
Lemuel Shattuck was born in 1793 in Ashby, Massachusetts. His first career was as a teacher, and he moved westward with the wave of migration in 1817. Afflicted with poor health, he returned to the family home in Concord in 1822, where he became active in civic affairs. He had the strong conviction that collection…
The 1848 Public Health Act was the first step on the road to improved public health. One of the individuals who played an important role in its creation was Edwin Chadwick, a social reformer. He considered that the most important steps to improve the health of the public were: • improved drainage and provision of sewers • the…
Klencke stated that there is a positive connection between milk of tuberculous cows and tuberculosis in children.
After the influenza and typhoid epidemics in 1837 and 1838, Edwin Chadwick was asked by the government to carry out a new enquiry into sanitation. His report, The Sanitary Conditions of the LabouringPopulationwas published in 1842. Chadwick argued that disease was directly related to living conditions and that there was a desperate need for public…
Between 1832 and 1834, serious outbreaks of cholera traveled up the Mississippi River from the Gulf Coast, spreading that disease and the fear of it into areas which had previously seemed safe from the reach of “coastal” diseases. In response to this epidemic, Congress passed “An Act to Enforce Quarantine Regulations” on July 13, 1832,…
In 1825, the ponds of the Chelsea Waterwork Company were used as the basis of the Grosvenor Canal which was opened to traffic that year. By this time there were complaints about the quality of the water that the company was drawing from the River Thames, and in 1829, under engineer James Simpson the Chelsea…
Labarque in 1825 used calcium hypochlorite for washing mortuaries, hospital wards, and other potenitally contiminated sites. He also reprted that hypochlorites were used succesfully in Paris on infected wounds in burns, and in England for the purification of drinking water. Reference: Graham A. J. Ayliffe,Mary P. English (2003). Hospital Infection: From Miasmas to MRSA Photo:…
A patent was issued to Valaver for a machine in which dry air was passed over water thus extracting the heat by evaporation.
Report of a Committee of the Parliament of Great Britain stated that evidence bore out the practicability of smoke prevention