During the 1750’s through the 1850’s medicine still had made little to no progress. Doctors still had no idea what caused disease. Neither did they no how to stop them. People had many theories of why disease was caused. They believed that sickness was a form of punishment from god, and the only way to be healthy was to go to church and be good. The number of those who believed this started to decline with new anatomy research and discoveries.

The work done by doctors on the human body improved our knowledge of the human anatomy, but this had not  helped society in terms of advances in medicines against common illnesses. Infection during operations led to death most of the time. Doctors wore dirty coats to keep there clothes from getting bloody. Surgical tools weren’t well disinfected after surgeries. Hospitals lacked the  hygiene to help those in them.

Even with all this going on. By 1800, the world stumbled upon an important discovery. A vaccination against a common illness. In 1786, Otto Muller, discovered several types of bacteria and Edward Jenner had discovered a vaccine against smallpox in 1796.But doctors still believed that germs were the result of a disease rather than a cause of it. Knowledge was crude and death from diseases common.

A great deal of progress was to be made in the nineteenth century, however. During the 1750’s through the 1850’s medicine still had made little to no progress. People still died from easily treatable diseases.