Anatomy and Medicine
Discoveries in Biology and Anatomy
Just as astronomers moved away from the works of ancient Greeks, other
scientists used the scientific method to acquire new knowledge and make
great discoveries in the fields of Biology and Anatomy.
Biology
Vesalius
• European Middle
Ages doctors relied
on Greek, Galen
• Used bodies of
executed criminals
for dissection
• Galen’s works
inaccurate
• Hired artists to
produce accurate
drawings
• Flemish doctor
Andreas Vesalius
became known for
work in anatomy
• On the Workings of
the Human Body,
1543
William
Harvey
• English physician,
early 1600s
• Observed, explained
workings of human
heart
• Described blood,
circulatory system
functions
Antony van Leeuwenhoek
• Dutch scientist, 1600s
• Used interest in developing magnifying lens to invent
microscope
• First to describe appearance of bacteria, red blood cells,
yeast, other microorganisms
Robert Hooke
• English physician, inventor
• Used early microscope to describe appearance of plants at
microscopic level
• Credited with creating the term cell
Scientific Revolution: Paracelsus:
Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus
Bombastus von Hohenheim
• 1493 to 1541 AD
• Swiss
• One of the first to
challenge the ideas of
Galen
• Said that people
could only learn by
experience
• So when he became
a teacher, he burned
the books of Galen
• He was the first to
realize that poisoning
could causes diseases
like breathing metal
vapors
• He was the first to think
of chemicals as
medicine
• Unfortunately his
favorite medicine was
mercury, so he actually
poisoned the people he
was trying to heal
Paracelsus (1493-1541)
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Rejected the work of both
Aristotle and Galen
Replace the traditional system
with a new chemical
philosophy based upon a new
understanding of nature
derived from fresh observation
& experiment
Believed disease was caused
by chemical imbalance in the
organs which could be solved
by chemical remedies
Although chemical remedies
had been used, Paracelsus
and his followers differed by
giving careful attention to the
proper dosages of their
chemically prepared metals &
materials
Paracelsus
Paracelsus (11 November or 17
December 1493 in Einsiedeln,
Switzerland - 24 September 1541)
was an alchemist, physician,
astrologer, and general occultist.
Born Phillip von Hohenheim, he
later took up the name Philippus
Theophrastus Aureolus
Bombastus von Hohenheim, and
still later took the title Paracelsus,
meaning "equal to or greater than
Celsus", a Roman physician from
the first century BC.
“Bier is a really divine
medicine”. Paracelsus (1493 –
1541).
Paracelcus
Paracelsus: Genius with bad press agent
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Attended Universities of Heidelberg, Freiburg, Ingolstadt,
Cologne, Tübingen, Vienna, Erfurt and Ferrara, left without
degree, drank to excess, and wandered over most of known
world, took part in the Peasants War (1525)
Practiced medicine in Spain, Portugal, England, Denmark,
Poland, Prussia, Hungary, Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, probably
other places as well, frequently aggravating established
practitioners.
Investigated the use of opium, coined the term laudanum for
tincture of opium, an opium extract containing 40-80%
ethanol.
Pioneered use of chemicals, elements in medicine (Zn, Hg,
Au)
Introduced draining to replace amputation or cauterization
Introduced dose-response concept
Recognized the first industrial disease in miners
Paracelsus
•
Alle Ding' sind Gift
und nichts ohn' Gift;
allein die Dosis
macht, dass ein
Ding kein Gift ist.
("All things are
poison and nothing
is without poison,
only the dose
permits something
not to be
poisonous.”)
Paracelsus crater
photographed by Apollo
15. An 83 km crater on the
far side of the moon.
Paracelsus: a few weird facts
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“Paracelsus” a 1943 film by Georg Wilhelm Pabst,
essentially a Nazi propaganda film.
Professor Bulwer in 1922 Murnau film 'Nosferatu' is a
follower of Paracelsus
“Paracelsus” (lengthy dramatic poem by Robert
Browning)
Paracelsus is mentioned as an inspiration to Victor
Frankenstein, the main character in Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein.
Paracelsus is one of the people featured on a Chocolate
Frog card in Harry Potter. A bust of Paracelsus is in the
castle at Hogwarts, near Gryffindor, between the
entrance to the Gryffindor common room and the Owlry,
as mentioned in Order of the Phoenix
Andreas Vesalius (1514 to 1564)
Barber surgeon (combination
barber, dentist, doctor).
Got special permission from the
Pope to dissect criminals.
First scientist to understand human
anatomy.
Wrote the first accurate book on
human anatomy – Fabrica.
Andreas Vesalius: 1514 - 1564
• Belgian
• Proved Galen wrong by stealing bodies
and dissecting them
• Grave-robbing for corpses became
common
Shortage of cadavers
• In England and Scotland, medical
schools began to open.
• No one donated bodies to science
– churchgoers believed in literal
rising from grave, so dissection
spoiled chances of resurrection.
• Became a tradition to rely on
executed prisoners, even up to
18th and 19th centuries.
Serious Crimes
• The added punishment of being
dissected after death was considered
another deterrent from crime.
•
Ex. – Steal a pig: you were hung
•
Kill a person: you were hung
and dissected
• Anatomists were often associated
with executioners.
Need for Body Parts
• Because they needed body parts,
anatomists at medical school
bought odd things.
• A man could sell the leg of his son
if it had to be amputated
Grave Robbing
• Some medical students raided
grave yards; some professors
did also.
• In certain Scottish schools in
1700s, you could trade a
corpse for your tuition.
Resurrectionists
• By 1828 in London, body snatchers
(or resurrectionists) provided the
medical schools with corpses.
• Not a crime; a dead body could not
be owned or stolen.
• (Anatomy studies were only
conducted from October to May to
avoid stench of decomposition.)
Reactions to Grave Robbing
• Wealthy people chose to be buried
in iron cages, some covered in
concrete.
• Also churches built “dead
houses” which were locked and
guarded.
The Body in the Scientific Revolution
A New Doctor – A New Body
Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564)
• Dutch-born Physician
• Taught medicine at University of
Padua (Italy)
• 1543 –Publishes new textbook on
anatomy, On the Workings of the
Human Body
• Same year Copernicus publishes On
the Revolutions of the Heavenly
Spheres
•Textbook attacks many of the
established theories of Aristotle and
Galen on the basis of Vesalius’s own
dissections.
• Book is illustrated with detailed
printed images.
Andreas Vesalius:
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(1514-64)
Belgian anatomist and physician whose work help correct many
of the misconceptions of the time
Dissected actual human bodies, in a belief that Galen’s work was
inaccurate because it was based on animals
Published his finding in 1543 in On The Structure of the Human
Body
wrote De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Structure of the
Human Body) – seven volumes on the structure of the human
body which he illustrated himself
– These were the most accurate and comprehensive anatomical
texts at the time
Appointed as physician to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
Vesalius
• Images from Vesalius’s
book
This anonymous German
print shows a thigh
wound being
cauterized. Above the
action we can see the
various medical
instruments used for
different types of
wounds
Source: Hans von
Gersdorff,
Feldbuch der
Wundartzey
(sSrasbourg, 1540).
Andreas Vesalius
• The new anatomy of the sixteenth century was
based on the work of Andreas Vesalius.
• He reported his results from dissecting human
bodies as a professor of surgery at the
University of Padua, presenting an accurate
view of the individual organs and general
structure of the human body.
• He erroneously believed that the body had two
kinds of blood
Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564)
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His studies corrected Galen in relation to anatomy believed practical research as the best way for
understanding human anatomy
1543 published On the Fabric of the Human Body
– Based upon his lectures at Padua
– Deviated from traditional practice by personally
dissecting a body to illustrate what he was
discussing
Through his “hands-on” approach, Vesalius rectified
some of Galen’s more glaring errors
For example, the belief that the great blood vessels
originated from the liver, but he still clung to Galen’s
belief about the ebb & flow of two kinds of blood in the
veins and arteries
The Body in the Scientific Revolution
An anatomy lesson from the title
page of Vesalius’s book.
Giovanni Morgagni: 1682 –
1771AD
• Italian
• Studied the effects of disease on the
body’s insides
• Published a big book listing the effects of
diseases on the body’s organs
• Proved the ancient doctors wrong and that
death was caused by damage to organs
and not by humours
Morgagni
• Giovanni Battista Morgagni was born at Forli, Italy, on
February 20, 1682; he died at Padua on December 6, 1771.
• He was educated at the University of Bologna, receiving a
degree in philosophy and medicine there in 1701.
• He studied under A. M. Valsalva (1666-1723), whom he
venerated for the rest of his life;when Valsalva left Bologna
for Parma, Morgagni succeeded him as demonstrator in
anatomy.
• He was made President of the Accademia at the age of
24,and he gained a reputation for his dislike of speculation
as opposed to accurate observation.
• In 1706 he began publication of a series of anatomical
works, which led to his becoming known in Europe as an
anatomist.
Morgagni
• In 1712, he left Bologna for Padua, where, except for a short
unsuccessful attempt at practicing medicine in Forli, he was to
spend the rest of his life as Professor of Anatomy.
• Shortly after settling in Padua, he married Paola Vergieri of
Forli,with whom he had 15 children.
• His eight daughters all entered convents, which is said to have
caused him considerable sadness near the end of his life.
• After his wife died in 1770, the aged widower did not have
much desire to continue living.
• Ironically, his life, which had contributed so much to the
understanding of the pathological basis of stroke, came to an
end on December 6, 1771, when he (like his teacher Valsalva
before him) succumbed to the condition.
Morgagni
• Morgagni taught at the renowned University of Padua for 56 years
(1715 to 1771).
• His greatest professional achievement came in 1761 when, at the
age of 79, he published his masterpiece, De Sedibus et Causis
Morborum (translated into English as On the Sites and Causes of
Disease).
• The book, consisting of five volumes of letters (for a total of 70
letters), described Morgagni's observations of some 700 autopsies,
and it included his correlationsbetween clinical symptoms and
postmortem findings (lesions) for each of the cases studied.
• (Morgagni expressed his debt in De Sedibus to previouslypublished
work by Theophile Bonet, 1629-1689, although the latter's work,
Sepulcretum, translated in English as Graves), is generally
considered to be a poorly organized and inconclusive summary of
autopsy findings up to 1679.)
Morgagni
• It was Morgagni's study that introduced the clinical principles and
practices that are still used today.
• Morgagni also drew on the ideas of Hippocrates, whose methods of
observation and reasoning formed the basis for many of Morgagni's
own ideas.
• For example, whereas Hippocrates made systematic
differentiations of diseases based on observed external symptoms,
• Morgagni went farther and related the external expressions of the
particular disease to the internal conditions within the body.
• Morgagni thus focused on theinternal damage within the body that
gives rise to disease.
• In clinical practice, Morgagni carefully noted the symptoms during
the course of a patient's illness, and then attempted to identify the
organic or pathological causes off that disease during the
postmortem examination.
Morgagni
•Because Morgagni's studies were so extensive, it became possible
for him to predict or visualize internal conditions based on
symptomatic observations.
• Morgagni's work was also instrumental in debunking the ancient
humoral theory of disease, according to which there is one cause for
all diseases.
•Morgagni'sDe Sedibus clearly identifies the pathologies of a number
of diseases, including hepatic cirrhosis (acute yellow atrophy),
cerebral gummata, cardiac valvular lesions, renal tuberculosis,
pneumonic solidification of the lungs, and syphilitic lesions
(aneurysms) of the brain.
•Morgagni also proved, through many autopsies, that cerebral lesion
in stroke occurs on the opposite side from the resulting paralysis.
•Morgagni has bequeathed his name to many anatomical part's and
conditions of the human body, e.g., the Morgagnian cataract.
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Morgagni
• Morgagni was held in high esteem by his colleagues and
students; he was the friend of many Venetian senators and several
popes.
• His international reputation was attested to by his election to the
Academia Naturae Curiosorum(1708); the Academy of Science,
Paris (1731); the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg (1735); and the
Berlin Academy (1754).
• Morgagni was largely responsible during the more than 50 years he
spent as a professor at the University of Padua for that university's
foremost reputation in Europe during the 18th century.
• Besides being recognized today as one of the leading figures in
18th-century medicine, he is considered the father of morbid
anatomy, and a founder of modern anatomy and pathology.
William Harvey:
• English Physician
• Also disproved many of Galen’s hypotheses
• discovered the circulation of blood, the function of valves in
the heart
• Worked with small animals and with humans
• Published his observations in Exercitatio Anatornica de Moto
Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus aka De Moto Cordis
• Discovered the lack of circulation to the lungs in the fetal stage
and therefore that lungs were collapsed and inactive in this
phase
• Largely influenced by the mechanical philosophy in his work
with the flow of blood
• First doctor to use quantitative and observational methods in
his experiments
• Very skeptical of spontaneous generation; proposed that all
animals originated from an egg
Harvey
“[The heart] is the household divinity which,
discharging its function, nourishes, cherishes,
quickens the whole body, and is indeed the foundation
of life, the source of all action” - Harvey
William Harvey
• He also showed that the same
blood runs through veins and
arteries and that the blood makes
a complete circuit through the
body.
• Harvey’s work was based on
close observation and
experiment.
William Harvey and the Human
Blood System
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It was only with the discoveries of William
Harvey that this belief was corrected
Through his research & observations,
Harvey demonstrated that the heart, not the
liver, was the beginning point of circulation
of blood in the body, that the same blood
flows in both veins and arteries, and most
important, blood makes a complete circuit
as it passes through the body
The Body in the Scientific
Revolution
From Observation to
Experimentation
William Harvey’s experiments
to demonstrate the circulation
of blood (1628).
This illustrates an experiment
to show that blood in the veins
only flows toward the heart
because of valves that stop
blood from flowing back away
from it.
LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU (1689-1762)
· A famous poet
· Herself a smallpox victim;
In December 1715 smallpox ruined her good looks left her without
eyelashes and with deeply pitted skin
•Lady Mary was the wife of the British Ambassador to Turkey (1716-1718).
Learned how to variolate persons in Turkey and variolated her son in 1717
and her daughter in England in 1721.
· Although there was much resistance to the acceptance of this vaccination
method and Lady Mary was heavily criticized by the higher society in
England, the permission to vaccinate the children of the Prince and Princess
of Wales in 1772 dramatically promoted the adaptation of this method in
England and in other part of Europe.
· By the second half of the 18th century, Europe was being ravaged by
smallpox epidemics.
By this time, in rural England, it was noticed that women who milked cows
were frequently spared clinical smallpox disease and several undocumented
accounts suggest that the connection was made between contact with
cowpox virus and protection from smallpox.
Edward Jenner: 1749 - 1823
• Developed the first vaccination in 1796
• It was to treat smallpox.
• His vaccine used smallpox pus from the
less deadly disease cowpox.
• by 1800 most were using it. Jenner was
awarded £30 000 by Parliament to enable
him to continue carrying out his tests.
• Deaths from smallpox plummeted and
vaccination spread through Europe and
North America.
• Jenner worked in a rural community and most of his patients were
farmers or worked on farms with cattle.
• In the 18th century smallpox was a very common disease and was a
major cause of death.
• The main treatment was by a method which had brought success to a
Dutch physiologist Jan Ingenhaus and was brought to England in 1721
from Turkey by Lady Mary Wortly Montague.
• This method involved inoculating healthy people with substances from
the pustules of those who had a mild case of the disease, but this often
had fatal results
• In 1788 an epidemic of smallpox hit Gloucestershire and during this
outbreak Jenner observed that those of his patients who worked with
cattle and had come in contact with the much milder disease called
cowpox never came down with smallpox.
• Jenner needed a way of showing that his theory actually worked.
• Jenner was given the opportunity on the 14 May 1796, when a young
milkmaid called Sarah Nelmes came to see him with sores on her
hands like blisters.
• Jenner identified that she had caught cowpox from the cows she
handled each day.
• Jenner now had the
opportunity to obtain the
material try out his theories.
He carefully extracted some
liquid from her sores and
then took some liquid from
the sores of a patient with
mild smallpox.
• Jenner believed that if he
could inject someone with
cowpox, the germs from the
cowpox would make the
body able to defend itself
against the dangerous
smallpox germs which he
would inject later.
• Jenner approached a local
farmer called Phipps and
asked him if he could
inoculate his son James
against smallpox.
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He explained to the farmer that if his
theory was correct, James would
never contract smallpox. Surprisingly,
the farmer agreed.
Jenner made two small cuts on
James's left arm.
He then poured the liquid from
Sarah's cowpox sores into the open
wounds which he bandaged.
James went down with cowpox but
was not very ill.
Six weeks later when James had
recovered, Jenner vaccinated him
again, this time with the smallpox
virus.
This was an extremely dangerous
experiment. If James lived Jenner
would have found a way of preventing
smallpox.
If James developed smallpox and
died he would be a murderer.
•
Jenner wrote a paper in 1798 explaining his experiments, and
wanted to report his first case study in the “Transactions of the
Royal Society of London” His study was rejected.
•He then went to London to demonstrate his theory.
•No one would submit to his vaccination. Discouraged, Jenner
returned to Berkeley.

In 1801, Jenner published “The Origin of the Vaccine
Inoculation” describing how cowpox virus was prepared and used to
protect ("vaccinate") healthy persons against smallpox.
Material used as the vaccine was prepared from the arm of a
vaccinated child, thus the distribution of vaccine involved the
transportation of vaccinated children all over Europe.
Orphans were often used for this purpose.
Eventually, material from infected cows was used directly as
vaccine. By 1840, the British government had banned other
preventive treatments against smallpox.
“Vaccination,” the word Jenner invented for his treatment (from the
Latin, vacca, a cow), was adopted by Louis Pasteur for immunization
against any disease.
Florence Nightingale
• Florence Nightingale (1820 - 1910)
– In 1854 Florence Nightingale took 38 women to Turkey to nurse
wounded and sick British soldiers in the Crimean War.
– This was the first time the government had allowed women to do this.
– She suffered from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) for the rest of
her life.
– She became not only the first modern war nurse and nurse commander
but its first documented psychological casualty.
– She publishes a small booklet titled "Notes on Nursing." It is very
popular.
– It is expanded and published again in 1860 and in 1861 with special
section on taking care of babies.
– This book sold millions all over the world: the only money she ever
earned in her life was her royalties from this book.
– This book establishes the foundation for the nursing profession
1854 heard of Crimean War
(between Britain & Russia)
Bad conditions during war
for injured (hurt) soldiers
Men happy to have cleaner
hospitals and good food.
The Lady with
the Lamp
Florence cared for the
soldiers by walking
round at night and
checking they were
alright
Most soldiers sent to
Turkey
Florence got supplies and
a group of nurses to go
and help
So, soldiers called
Florence...
Florence Nightingale
• In 1854 the Crimean War
broke out – England was at
war with Russia
• People in England heard that
soldiers in hospitals were
poorly treated.
• Florence was invited to take a
group of 38 female nurses to
work in hospitals in the
Crimea.
Florence became famous when
war ended in 1856
Queen Victoria wanted to meet
her.
1860
Florence set up the
Nightingale School of Nursing in London
Lots of people wanted her help
and advice
She died in 1910
Florence Nightingale
Florence is
remembered today
as the person
responsible for
improving
conditions in
hospitals and
making nursing an
acceptable job
Why was Florence called
‘The Lady with the Lamp’?
…because Florence cared for the soldiers
by walking round at night and checking
they were alright.
She gave them good food to eat.
The Men of Biology
Louis Pasteur
- Confirmed the theory of
diseases
- Introduced the process of
pasteurization
- First to create a vaccine
against rabies
- Disproved the theory of
spontaneous generation
Medical Breakthroughs
Preventing Disease
• Breakthroughs in late 1800s as result of scientific advances earlier in century
• Fundamental concepts of disease, medical care, sanitation revealed
• Mysteries of what caused diseases began to be solved
Microbes and Disease
• Louis Pasteur showed link between the two, 1870
• Disproved spontaneous generation concept of bacteria from nonliving matter
• Showed bacteria always present though unseen, can reproduce
Fermentation
• Bacteria in the air causes grape juice to turn to wine, milk to sour
• Heating liquids, foods can kill bacteria, prevent fermentation
• Process became known as pasteurization, makes foods germ-free
Medical Breakthroughs
Anthrax
• Deadly disease a constant threat to people, livestock
• Pasteur sought to prevent anthrax
• Injected animals with vaccine containing weakened anthrax germs
Antibodies
• Vaccine worked because body builds antibodies
• Antibodies fight weakened germs when they enter body
Rabies
• Pasteur’s next goal
• Developed vaccine, 1885
• Saved life of young boy bitten by rabid dog
Louis Pasteur
• Louis Pasteur (1822 - 1881)
– He proved that air contains living organisms (bacteria)
– That these microbes can produce putrefaction
– That these microbes could be killed by the heating of the
liquid they were in - sterilization by high temperature ->
Pasteurization
– He proved that the old idea that diseases start out of
nothing (spontaneous generation) was inaccurate and
that micro-organisms cause disease.
– Demonstrates the presence of bacteria in air and
explains how disease can be transmitted by airborne
route.
Louis Pasteur: 1822 – 1895AD
• French
• Developed the theory
that the bacteria we
call germs caused
disease and not bad
smells
• Found out how to
preserve wine by
heating it to kill
germs--pasteurization
• Found the causes of
anthrax and cholera
• Discovered how to
weaken germs by
heating them up until
they are damaged
and can no longer
multiply
• He used this to
develop vaccinations
for rabies
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)
Stereochemistist: molecular asymmetry
Fermentation and silk worker disease, Pasteurisation ,
Germ Theory of disease
Thus started microbilogy
Attenuated vaccines for cholera, anthrax, and rabies
On July 4, 1886, 9-year-old Joseph Meister was bitten repeatedly by a
rabid dog. Pasteur treated him with his attenuated rabies vaccine
two days later. Meister survived.
Joseph Meister later become a gatekeeper for the Pasteur Institute.
In 1940, when he was ordered by the German occupiers to open
Pasteur's crypt, Joseph Meister refused and committed suicide!
 Another way to look at Louis Pasteur:
THE DREAM AND LIE OF LOUIS PASTEUR
by R. B. Pearson
http://whale.to/a/b/pearson.html
Pasteur’s contributions

First, championed changes in hospital practices to
minimize the spread of disease by microbes.

Second, discovered that weakened forms of a microbe
could be used to immunize against more virulent forms of the
microbe.

Third, found that rabies was transmitted by agents so
small they could not be seen under a microscope, thus
revealing the world of viruses. As a result he developed
techniques to vaccinate dogs against rabies, and to treat
humans bitten by rabid dogs.

And fourth, developed "pasteurization," a process by
which harmful microbes in perishable food products are
destroyed by heat, without destroying the food.
Pasteur and the Defeat of Spontaneous Generation
• Louis Pasteur
(1822-1895)
– Discovered that alcoholic
fermentation was a
biologically mediated
process (originally thought
to be purely chemical)
– Disproved theory of
spontaneous generation
• Led to the development of
methods for controlling the
growth of microorganisms
– Developed vaccines for
anthrax, fowl cholera, and
rabies
The Defeat of Spontaneous
Generation: Pasteur’s Experiment
What Causes Fermentation?
• Spoiled wine threatening livelihood of
vintners, so they funded research into how
to promote production of alcohol, but
prevent spoilage by acid during
fermentation
• Some believed air caused fermentation
reactions, while others insisted living
organisms caused fermentation
• This debate also linked to debate over
spontaneous generation
Pasteur’s Experiments on Pasteurization
Figure 1.14
Pasteur Strikes it Lucky
• Impressed by Jenner’s work on Smallpox
– But Jenner and Pasteur did not understand how
vaccination worked
– Trial and error
• Chicken Cholera, 1879
– Common disease affecting farmers livestock
– Pasteur experiments with injecting weaker forms of
disease into chickens
• Little success
• His team goes home for the summer
• On return, they accidentally use a strain that had been left
uncovered for the whole summer
• It works!
• Exposure to the air had weakened the germs
• “Chance only favours the mind which is prepared”
Medical Breakthroughs
Treatment of Infections
• Many surgical patients died from infections
• English surgeon Joseph Lister, 1860s
– Began cleaning wounds and equipment with
antiseptic containing carbolic acid
– Reduced post-surgery deaths in one hospital ward
from 45 to 15 percent
Joseph Lister
• Joseph Lister (1827 - 1912)
– A Professor of Surgery at Glasgow University, he was very aware
that many people survived the trauma of an operation but died
afterwards of what was known as ‘ward fever’
– Work on ward cleanliness and the link between germs and good
post-operative health had already been studied by a Hungarian
doctor called Ignaz Semmelweiss.
– He argued that if a doctor went from one patient to another after
doing surgery, that doctor would pass on to the next visited patient a
potentially life threatening disease.
– He insisted that those doctors who worked for him wash their hands
in calcium chloride after an operation and before visiting a new
patient -> Introduces antiseptic surgery
– At the time, it was not known that the infections were caused by
bacteria
Early needs and success for disinfection
(Early 1800’s) —— a historic story
•
•
•
almost half of post-operative patients died of sepsis (then called “hospital
disease”). A common report by surgeons was: operation successful but patient
died.
By mid-1800’s,
A hypothesis: ① exposing moist body tissue to oxygen  sepsis; ② best
prevention: keeping air away from wounds by means of plasters, collodion or
resins.
•
Having tried methods to encourage clean healing with no success, surgeon
Joseph Lister discarded the concept of direct infection by bad air but
postulated that sepsis might be caused by a 'pollen-like dust‘, although he did
not know yet the “dust” was living microbes.
•
When Louis Pasteur suggested the presence of living organisms in the air, Lister
made the connection with wound sepsis: the microbes in the air were likely
causing the sepsis and should be destroyed before they entered the wound.
•
Lister had previously heard that 'carbolic acid' was used to treat sewage, and
that fields treated with the affluent were freed of a parasite causing disease in
cattle. He then began to clean wounds and dress them with carbolic acid..
Biography
• A doctor who was Born in
Prussia in 1843
• Interested in Pasteur’s Germ
Theory
• He received a Microscope as
a present in 1873
• Franco – Prussian Rivalry
– Franco-Prussian War 1870/1
– German Government gave
Koch money to set up a
research institute to rival
Pasteur
Read Dialogue
page 130
Robert Koch
• In the late 19th century two of the most
dangerous killer diseases were cholera
and tuberculosis.
• Cholera was nicknamed 'King Cholera'
because no one seemed to be able to cure
it.
• Tuberculosis was known as the 'White
Death' because sufferers vomited up white
matter as their lungs disintegrated.
• The man who made a breakthrough in the
fight against these diseases was Robert
Koch.
Who Was Robert Koch?
• Koch was a German scientist, born in
Hanover in 1843.
• Koch read Louis Pasteur's work and in
1872 began research into the microbes
affecting diseased animals and people.
What made Koch famous
• In 1878 Koch discovered that microbes cause
wounds to go septic, but his big breakthrough
came when he decided to stain microbes with
dye, enabling him to photograph them under a
microscope.
• Using this method he was able to study them
more effectively and prove that every disease
was caused by a different germs.
• He identified the microbes that caused
tuberculosis in 1882 and cholera in 1883.
How did he do this?
• Koch's discoveries were the result of careful
research and observation using the microscope,
photography and dyes.
• As a result of his work, the German government
also set up an 'Institute of Infectious Diseases' in
Berlin in 1891 for medical research and
development.
• These developments set the pattern for the
future.
• In the 20th century medical research has
increasingly involved teams of researchers
supported by large public or private funds.
Robert Koch (1843-1910)

German physician; also started to
work on Anthrax in 1870's. Identified
the spore stage. First time the
causative agent of an infectious
disease was identified.

Koch's postulates: conditions that
must be satisfied before accepting
that particular bacteria cause
particular diseases.

Discovered the tubercle bacillus
and tuberculin.
Detailed tuberculin skin test (DTH).
Awarded 1905 Nobel Prize.
Isolating the Germs that
caused Anthrax
• Explain how 1 Sheep and 20
generations of mice allowed Koch to
prove that a particular germ caused
Anthrax. Explain why he succeeded?
Germ Cultures
• Koch’s isolation technique
pioneered the use of culture
plates
– He extracted the blood from an
infected animal
– He found that if he injected an
animal with the infected blood it
would catch the disease much
quicker
– The more times he did this the
stronger the disease would
become
– Eventually, this germ could be
extracted and be encouraged to
breed a pure form in a glass
culture plate.
The Floodgates open
• Using Koch’s methods, other
scientists were able to isolate
and identify the germs that
caused particular diseases
• List the causes of diseases
discovered in the 1880s and
1890s
• However, knowing the cause of
these diseases still did not help
to treat any sick patients, yet.
Robert Koch
• Robert Koch (1843-1910)
– Definitively demonstrated the link between microbes and
infectious diseases
• Identified causative agents of anthrax and tuberculosis
– Developed techniques (solid media) for obtaining pure
cultures of microbes, some still in existence today
– Awarded Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine in 1905
– Koch’s postulates
Koch’s Postulates
1. The microbe must be present in
every case of the disease but
absent from healthy organisms
2. The suspected microbe must be
isolated and grown in a pure culture
3. The same disease must result when
the isolated microbe is inoculated
into a healthy host
4. The same microbe must be isolated
again from the diseased host
Koch’s Postulates
Koch’s Postulates
Robert Koch
• Robert Koch (1843 - 1910)
– Koch was a German doctor, influenced by Pasteur's work. In 1872,
he began research into the microbes affecting animals and people.
– The first animal disease that Koch investigated was anthrax. Koch
found out that the anthrax microbe produced spores that lived for
a long time after an animal had died. He also proved that these
spores could then develop into the anthrax germ and could infect
other animals.
– Koch also devised a method of proving which germ caused an
infection: Koch Postulates
– He perfected the technique of growing pure cultures of germs
using a mix of potatoes and gelatine. This was a solid enough
substance to allow for the germs to be studied better.
– In 1882 he identified the bacteria causing tuberculosis (TB).
– In 1883, he identified the bacteria causing cholera.
– By 1900, twenty-one germs that caused diseases had been
identified in just 21 years
Koch’s Postulates (1884)
1. Suspect pathogenic organism
should be present in all cases
of the disease and absent
from healthy animals
2. Suspect organism should be
grown in pure culture
3. Cells from a pure culture of
suspect organism should
cause disease in healthy
animal
4. Organism should be
reisolated and shown to be
same as the original
Results of his Research
• The scientific evidence
of microbes helped
reformers in public
health prove that
pollution spread disease.
• It meant certain kinds of
action could be taken to
prevent certain types of
disease, since cholera
was carried in water, for
example, its spread
could be prevented with
clean water supplies.
Long Term Importance
• Koch was responsible for establishing the new
'Science of Modern Bacteriology'.
• By 1900 he and his students had identified 21
germs causing diseases.
• Koch's assistant, Emil Behring, developed the
first anti-toxin that could help to destroy the
poison spread by bacteria in the blood stream.
• Koch's research on bacteria won him the Nobel
Prize in 1905.
The Men of Biology
Sir Alexander Fleming
- Isolated and discover
the antibiotic
properties of
penicillin.