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Victorian misconceptions

High mortality rate for mothers

(18%)

Miasma

Not washing hand (or anything else for that matter..)

Shutting windows

A doctor died because he got cut with a scapel

Semmelweis' hypothesis

The mortality rate dropped to 1%

Doctors were offended by the implication that their hand could be dirty

Semmelweis had a mental breakdown and later died

Louis Pasteur raised awareness of pathogens

Robert Koch discovered the anthrax bacillus

The British surgeon Joseph Lister pioneered antiseptic surgery, which included handwashing

Florence Nightingale intuitively improved hygiene in military hospitals during the Crimean war