The Rise of Cities Chapter 6.2

Medicine and the Population Explosion Between 1800 and 1900 the population of Europe more than doubled! because the death rate fell. Nutrition improved medical advances improvements in sanitation

1870 French chemist Louis Pasteur clearly show the link between microbes and disease. Pasteur made other contributions in medicine, including the development of vaccines against rabies and anthrax. He also developed a process that killed diseases in milk, called pasteurization.

In the 1880’s, German doctor Robert Koch identified bacteria that caused tuberculosis, which killed 30 million people in the 1800’s. As people learned how germs caused disease, they bathed and changed their clothes more often. Better hygiene helped decrease the rate of disease.

Florence Nightingale was a famous British nurse who insisted on better hygiene and introduced sanitary measures. She also founded the world’s first school of nursing. English surgeon Joseph Lister discovered how antiseptics prevented infection and insisted surgeons sterilize their instruments and wash their hands before operating.

City Life Changes Growing wealth and industrialization changed the landscape of cities. City planners created spacious new streets and lined them with government buildings, offices, stores and theaters. The most extensive urban renewal, or rebuilding of the poor areas of a city took place in Paris in the 1850’s. Old medieval streets full of tenement buildings were destroyed and beautiful new streets and buildings were built.

In America, the rich lived in nice houses on the outskirts of the city. The poor crowded into slums near the city center, within reach of factories. In the worst tenements, whole families crammed into a single room. Unemployment or illness meant lost wages that could ruin a family. High rates of crime and alcoholism were a constant curse.

Paved streets made urban areas more livable. Gas lamps and electric street lights lit up the night, increasing safety. Cities organized police forces and fire departments. Underground sewage systems were created, which led to cleaner water. .

Working-Class Struggles At first, business owners and governments tried to silence protesters, but by mid 1800’s, workers began to make progress. Workers formed mutual-aid societies, or self-help groups to aid sick or injured workers. They organized unions and began to bargain for better working conditions.

The main tactic of unions was the strike, or stopping work. Workers used strikes to negotiate what they wanted. Violence was often a result of strikes, as employers often called in the police to try to stop the strikes. Pressured by unions, voters and governments passed laws to regulate working conditions. Early laws forbid the hiring of young children and women working in mines and limited work hours and improved safety.