Before the development of germ theory and the discovery of bacteria and viruses, medicine relied on ancient theories that often caused more harm than good. Without modern knowledge, doctors had often used dangerous procedures or had performed surgery without washing their hands.
Today I want to talk about medicine before the discovery of germ theory. In order to talk about this topic, or other events that have happened in the past, we need to understand and know how to use the past perfect tense.
Let’s practise the past perfect and learn about the history of medicine!
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Grammar Lesson
The past perfect tense is used to talk about an action that was completed before another action in the past. It’s like taking a step back in time to talk about something that happened even earlier.
The past perfect is incredibly useful for talking about the order of events that happened in the past.
Here’s how it’s formed:
- Subject (I, you, he, she) + had + past participle (watched, visited, caught)
- For example, She left the party by the time I arrived.
- This means that first, she left the party, and then later, I arrived at the party.
- We also use signal words with the past perfect – words like “before”, “by the time”, “when”, and “after.”
Here are some more examples:
- I had finished my homework before I watched TV.
- This means that first, I finished my homework, and then later, I watched TV.
- They had eaten dinner when we called them.
- This means that first, they ate dinner, and then later, we called them.
- He had already eaten breakfast when I woke up.
- First, he ate breakfast. Then, I woke up.
- I didn’t know that she had moved to a new city.
- First, she moved to a new city. Then, I found out (or didn’t know until later).
Remember, the past perfect tense is used to show the sequence of two past actions. The action that happened first uses the past perfect, and the action that happened second uses the simple past.
Medicine Before the Discovery of Germs
The past perfect tense is really useful for talking about events that happened in the past, including technological advancements, historical events, personal achievements, and scientific discoveries.
If you are an avid listener of Thinking in English, you probably know that I studied the politics of Asia at graduate school. You might even know that I had studied a joint degree in history and political science before my masters.
You won’t know, however, that I specialised and wrote my undergraduate thesis in medical history. So today, to demonstrate the past perfect, I thought I’d talk a little bit about medicine before the discovery of germs (at least, western European medicine).
Before the discovery of germs, medicine had relied heavily on theories and practices that we now consider outdated and ineffective. Before Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch made their ground-breaking discoveries of microorganisms in the 19th century, medical practitioners had based their treatments on the ancient theories of humourism and miasma.
Before the germ theory of disease was developed, doctors had believed that illnesses were caused by imbalances in the body’s four humours: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. Today we know that bacteria and viruses can cause infections, but for most of history we had no knowledge of this.
Instead, we believed in the four humours, a concept Hippocrates, the Greek philosopher, had written about thousands of years ago. According to this theory, good health depended on the balance of the four humours (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile) and if someone was sick, treatments tried to balance these substances in the body.
Before germ theory, they had practised treatments such as bloodletting and purging, hoping to restore balance to these humours.
In other words, they would force patients to be sick or let patients bleed. Physicians had trusted that these methods, which had been passed down through generations, were the best ways to cure their patients.
In addition to the four humours, the medical community had also accepted the miasma theory, which suggested that diseases were caused by “bad air” or miasmas. We still have elements of this in modern society – I worked at Japanese schools which would open every window in the middle of winter if a student had influenza (to change the air).
Without modern knowledge, people had assumed that foul smells and rotting things were responsible for spreading illnesses.
Consequently, they had taken measures to improve sanitation and eliminate foul odours, not realising that the true culprits were germs too small to be seen.
Surgical practices had been particularly dangerous before the discovery of germs. Surgeons had performed operations without sterilising their instruments or washing their hands, leading to high rates of infection and mortality. This is because they didn’t know about the invisible bacteria on their hands.
By the time antiseptic techniques were introduced, countless patients had already suffered from infections that could have been prevented.
Childbirth was also a traumatic affair. Midwives and doctors had often delivered babies without adequate hygiene practices. Many women had passed away due to fevers and deadly infections.
It wasn’t until doctors demonstrated the importance of handwashing that mortality rates began to decline.
Vaccination, too, had an interesting history before the acceptance of germ theory.
Edward Jenner had developed the smallpox vaccine in 1796, but the reason why it worked remained a mystery. Scientists had known that the vaccine worked but had not understood why until the germ theory provided a clear explanation.
Jenner’s discovery of the smallpox vaccine is actually fascinating. He had observed that milkmaids, women who milked cows, who had contracted a different disease called cowpox did not catch smallpox.
He had hypothesised that exposure to cowpox could protect against smallpox. To test his theory, Jenner took material from a cowpox sore and used it to vaccinate an eight-year-old boy.
After the boy had recovered from a mild case of cowpox, Jenner exposed him to smallpox, and the boy did not develop the disease. This confirmed that the cowpox infection had provided immunity against smallpox.
The most remarkable thing about this is that Jenner had created a vaccine before knowing anything about bacteria, viruses, germs, or modern medicine!
Overall, medicine before the discovery of germs had been guided by theories like humours and miasma, as well as hazardous and dangerous practices.
The discovery of germs and the development of sterilisation, vaccination, and antibiotics marked a turning point that has since saved countless lives.
Final Thought
Today I’ve introduced you all to the past perfect tense. We use this grammar to talk about an action that was completed before another action in the past.
After explaining how to form and use the past perfect, I tried to demonstrate the grammar through a discussion of medicine before the development of germ theory.
Now you have listened to this episode and grammar lesson, let’s practise your English!
Think of a time when you missed an important event. What had you been doing before you realised you missed it, and how did you feel about it afterward?
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