Sudsie the Soap says:Be Clean!
This pamphlet was brought to you by Edwin Chadwick.
Copyright King’s Press: London, England. 1890.
What causes diseases and how do diseases spread?
It used to be believed that people contracted diseases when they breathed in the bad odors of decay and putrefying excrement. In the last few years, however, the miasmatic theory of disease has been proven false by scientists, doctors, and public health officials. Contagion is not caused by filth and excrement, it is spread by it. The leading disease theory of today is the germ theory, developed by Louis Pasteur.
Germs spread diseases!
Louis Pasteur
While studying fermentation in alcoholic beverages in 1854, the French Pasteur found that fermentation depended on the growth of germs (tiny living organisms) and that their activity could be suppressed by heating the beverage (a process now referred to as pasteurization). As evidence supporting the connection between germs and disease accumulated, scientists reasoned that germs caused diseases in humans and could probably be controlled, too.
What is being done to stop the spread of diseases?
Research on germs increased after Dr. Robert Koch and his coworkers in Germany grew harmful bacteria in cultures and studied their life cycles in the middle of the 1870s. In the last twenty years, several diseases have been connected to specific organisms and vaccines are available for some of them.
English surgeon Joseph Lister created chemical disinfectants to destroy germs in 1865 and applied them to wound dressings, saving many lives. The antiseptic principle and its benefits spreadto the mainlandof Europe soon thereafter.
In the 1880s, German surgeons took the disinfecting method further via sterilization of equipment. Rather than just cleaning woundswith germ-killing disinfectants, surgeons began to sterilize instruments, hands, clothing, and all other things that entered the operating room.
Even before germs were discovered, Edwin Chadwick, one of Britain’s commissioners charged with the administration of relief to paupers under the revised Poor Law of 1834, has been advocating public health. Following the teachings of Jeremy Bentham, Chadwick has made sure to fight public problems on a scientific, rational basis and according to the greatest good for the greatest number. Most filthy urban conditions are caused by a lack of proper drainage, sewers, and garbage collection. Since publishing his findings on the sanitary conditions of the laboring population in 1842, Chadwick has cleaned cities by installing sewers and running water in all sections of town.In 1846, Great Britain issued its first public health law, creating a national heath board and giving cities broad authority to build modern sanitary systems.
The public health movementbegan spreading to the United States, France, and Germany in the 1840s. Governments today take responsibility for the welfare of urban dwellers; and since the 1860s and 1870s, European cities have made real progress toward adequate water supplies and sewage systems. Death rates are beginning to decline.
What can YOU do to stop the spread of diseases?
Germs are found in all places that are not clean. Something that has a bad smell or an ugly color, has dirt or excrement on it, or has not been washed in a long time probably has germs on it. Dispose of it, along with all of your garbage, in a government-approved receptacle.
Vaccines are available againstsome of the germs that cause diseases. Ask a health professional for more details.
Do not deposit feces outside of outhouses.
Above all:be clean! Use soap, or some other disinfectant, and fresh water to wash yourself often. Like Sudsie the Soap says: be clean!