The Evolution of Time and Disease in the 19th Century
Summary
The 19th century saw a significant standardization of time due to the spread of railways, telegraphing systems across the world, and the establishment of an international telegraph network. This uniformity and linearity of time provided the underpinning for the idea of progress, leading to an expansion of the concept of past, becoming more pressing in the present. Infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, typhoid, typhus, and cholera were the leading causes of death and health problems during this period, affecting mostly the poor due to poor living and working conditions, malnourishment, and overcrowding. The evolution of medicine introduced the most effective treatments for these diseases, including fresh air, a healthy diet, rest, vaccination, BCG vaccine, and antibiotics.
Table of Contents
- The Standardization of Time
- The Evolution of the Concept of Time
- Diseases in the Nineteenth Century
- Tuberculosis: The Disease of the Poor
- Vaccination: Robert Koch and Edward Jenner
- Typhoid and Typhus
- Asiatic Cholera: The New Threat to Europeans
Q&A
Q: What led to the need for standardizing time in the 19th century?
A: The spread of railways led to a need to standardize time as it was too complicated for railway timetables to use the bewildering variety of local times that existed. Railway companies began using synchronizable electric clocks from the mid-1840s, and by 1855, nearly all public clocks in the UK were set by Greenwich Mean Time. By the 1890s, most European countries had established a national standard time.
Q: How did the concept of time evolve during the 19th century?
A: The uniformity and linearity of time made it possible to imagine a distant past beyond one’s experience, which became different from the present and stretched back further in the imagination. While time expanded in the past, it became more pressing in the present. People felt increasingly that they were living a hurried life. Time became malleable, changeable, and uncertain, especially with the theory of relativity.
Q: What were the leading causes of death during the 19th century?
A: Infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, typhoid, typhus, and cholera were the leading causes of death and health problems during this period.
Q: Who were the most affected by these diseases?
A: These diseases mostly affected the poor due to poor living and working conditions, malnourishment, and overcrowding.
Q: What was the most effective treatment for tuberculosis during this period?
A: The most effective treatment for tuberculosis was fresh air, a healthy diet, and rest in places like southern climates, the mountains, or the seaside, but such luxuries were only available to the wealthy. Despite the success of Robert Koch’s discovery of the tuberculosis bacillus and his work on cultivating and studying it in a lab, it had little effect on reducing the incidence of the disease. The BCG vaccine and the antibiotics of the twentieth century were more effective.
Q: Who revolutionized the treatment of smallpox?
A: Edward Jenner is most remembered for revolutionizing the treatment of smallpox with his new preventive treatment, vaccination.
Q: What was the impact of state authorities making vaccination compulsory?
A: State authorities began making vaccination compulsory, and Prussia created laws that required a vaccination certificate for young people to attend school, apprenticeships, employment, or the army.
Q: How did typhoid decrease by the eve of the First World War?
A: Typhoid was a water-borne disease that increased with growing pollution in cities, but it decreased by the eve of the First World War because of public health campaigns that included water purification and education in personal cleanliness.
Q: What was the leading cause of death in England and Wales in the age group between twenty to twenty-four?
A: Consumption or tuberculosis affected almost half of all recorded deaths in England and Wales in the age group of twenty to twenty-four.
Q: What was the initial time centre of the International Conference on Time in 1912?
A: The French government organized an International Conference on Time in 1912 and established a generally accepted system of establishing the time and signalling it around the globe, with Paris being proclaimed the initial time centre.
Conclusion
The 19th century saw a significant evolution in the concept of time and provided the underpinning for the idea of progress. Infectious diseases continued to be the leading cause of death, affecting mostly the poor due to poor living and working conditions, malnourishment, and overcrowding. The evolution of medicine introduced the most effective treatments for these diseases, including fresh air, a healthy diet, rest, vaccination, BCG vaccine, and antibiotics. The 19th century showed significant progress and advancements in science, medicine, and technology, paving the way for a brighter future.
