If you had told someone in the early 1600’s that the reason they felt ill or that tiny little invisible creatures were living on them and their clothes they would have thought that you had gone quite insane. If you’d said it even earlier than that you would probably have been burned as a witch. It wasn’t until the microscope was invented in 1590 by Dutch spectacle makers Hans and Zacharias that the proof of bacteria and microbes could be established.
The first thing that proves the existence of cells was done by Robert Hooke. He looked at a cork and discovered the cells rather than it being some big solid mass. Immediately the world’s interest was peaked, What did this discovery mean?
It meant that in terms of medicine we could no longer rely on the Four Humours theory laid down in Roman times. It also meant that the belief that a bad smell or miasma was the reason you got ill was wrong. This was especially true with water. The amount of harmful bacteria that showed up suggested that water quality was a priority.
This discovery meant that we could start to really treat diseases and build tests like a Chlamydia Testing Kits London authorities provide.
