Medical Sociology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Medical Sociology - Essay Example Robert Koch, a German physician, continued work related to the bacteriological revolution and discovered, along with others, the reasons for specific diseases by linking them with specific bacteria as identified by their different types. As a result, medical science reached new heights as hospitals became safe havens for treatment for a multitude of diseases. The mortality rates of Europe declined primarily because of the bacteriological revolution-led improvement in medical treatment. The bacteriological revolution took place over many years and in phases. The first one began, roughly, around 1835 and lasted till 1875 in Berlin by Theodor Schwann, who experimented in the laboratory to observe the phenomenon that alcoholic fermentation took place in unheated air i.e. in the presence of microscopic organisms. Louis Pasteur took forward Theodor Schwann’s work, and conducted the fermentation of wine, bread, cheese, etc, twenty years later. Unlike others, Pasteur experimented in an artificial environment which was controllable, and so, each micro organism could be studied in isolation. After immense research, training students and publishing numerous papers and books on the subject, Pasteur established his own school of research. Pasteur’s methods were considered very difficult and thus, were not adopted by many people (Mendelsohn, 2010). Louis Pasteur was teaching at a university when he was persuaded by a wine company to find out why some wine becomes sour in the process of being made. He discovered, during his research, that germs in the air which could be seen under the microscope are behind this phenomenon. Consequently, the process of pasteurization came into being whereby, germs are killed by boiling the liquid and then cooling it—in this case, the liquid was wine. From this process, Pasteur went further to prove that germs are present in the air and so, could be stopped from getting into the liquid. This formed