Eve - Sex, Childbirth and Motherhood Through the Ages by Petrina Brown

Author:Petrina Brown [Brown, Petrina]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Matrix Digital Publishing
Published: 2007-01-28T23:00:00+00:00

Gordon sectioned three cases and found pelvic peritonitis. ‘The disease seized such women only as were visited, or delivered by a practitioner [...] or nurse who had previously attended patients afflicted with the disease. It is a disagreeable declaration for me to mention that I was myself the means of carrying the infection to a great number of women.’ Once again the suggestions were not taken seriously by the medical profession as a whole and the fever continued to break out in hospitals throughout the eighteenth century.

Despite the studies by a few doctors around Britain, hygiene and sanitation were, if anything, worse during the eighteenth century than in the previous one. Population growth meant that towns became overcrowded and little effort was made to prevent disease. When animals died their carcasses were often discarded in the streets and left to rot. Water supplies were often contaminated, causing dysentery and worms. Even dead human bodies were not always buried properly and the stench of decaying flesh permeated the air. There were many dreadful diseases to cope with, the most feared being smallpox. No treatment was available and survivors of the disease were left either blind or disfigured in some way.

Fortunately the knowledge of an inoculation against the pox, known in the Middle East for hundreds of years, spread to Britain via Lady Mary Wortley Montagu during the eighteenth century. Although a medical breakthrough, it was not understood why the procedure of injecting a small amount of the disease into a vein ensured protection against the disease.

Gradually the public became aware of the connection between lack of hygiene and disease, aided by men like Sir John Pringle, an army doctor who noted that fevers rarely broke out amongst troops in well-spaced and open camps. Following reports from the navy of improved health in sailors who enjoyed a better quality diet it was realised that poor nutrition could be responsible for a weakened constitution. Although there were no great improvements in medical treatment during the eighteenth century, as the next century approached it was at least appreciated that many diseases could be avoided by improving sanitation.

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