The late 18th and early 19th centuries
During the late 18th and 19th centuries, a more scientific approach to the study of medicine was adopted. Scientists and medical professionals began to use observations, carry out experiments and record their findings.
Though many doctors still based their treatment on the four humours, the works of Galen and other ancient writers gradually became less important.
Smallpox
The greatest medical development before 1850 was the discovery by Edward Jenner of a successful method of preventing smallpox, one of the deadliest diseases of the time. He was, therefore, a pioneer in preventive medicine.
Smallpox epidemics occurred every few years, leaving many dead. It killed about 30 per cent of those infected, while survivors were left horribly marked. In the 1730s, a young Welsh poet, Cadwaladr Roberts described himself as this grubby elf with perforated skin and thought that only a keen witch would now marry him.
In Turkey, Lady Mary Montague saw a method of inoculation which involved giving people a mild dose of the smallpox disease to make them immune. She introduced the idea to Britain. However, inoculation involved risks. Some died of the mild dose they were given, while the poor could not afford the inoculation. Among those inoculated was eight-year-old Edward Jenner. He survived but at the expense of a lifetime of poor health.
