HIST 123 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Night Soil, Human Waste, Germ Theory Of Disease

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: History
• Course: HIST 123
• Professor: Elizabeth Piper

Document Summary

Sanitation, germ theory, and the rise of public health. 19 th century cities were dirty: we are inclined to see history as progress, but cities were cleaner probably in the 14 th century than in the 19 th century. Buildings were better build and smaller populations, so less demand of water supply. Things got worse in the 19 th century, night soil or human waste was all over the city. Older cities were better constructed, built with better materials and smaller populations. 19 th c problems: deterioration by a number of factors that creates a problem sanitation and public health had to solve. Populations increase alone in relatively short amount of time is contributing to sanitation problems: water resources, removal of waste. 19 th c. cities: ideal conditions to diseases: inadequate nutrition, poverty, overcrowding, 2. 5 million lbs of poop in the streets every single day population decline too.