History of the development of hygiene as a science

Today, no one even thinks about whether you need to wash your hands when you come from the street, no one doubts about the need to wash every day, clean the apartment, remove dust and dirt. However, this was not always the case. There were time periods when people completely did not attach importance to such things. Therefore, the history of the development of hygiene as a science has long roots that go back to the deep past. Sprouts, however, are still relevant and common in all countries, among all nationalities.

Hygiene as a science: subject, goals and objectives

What is this discipline and study of what it does? Let's try to understand.

The goal of this science is the development of comprehensive preventive measures that can ensure a normal existence in the environment for a person and relieve him of undesirable ailments. That is, preventing the development of harmful bacteria, viruses, fungi around people, providing the latter with complete information on how to keep your body, your home healthy, in healthy condition, and leave untouched health.

Accordingly, the subject of the study of science is man and the environment, their interaction among themselves and mutual influence on the state and health of each other.

According to the goal, the discipline is aimed at the following tasks:

1. To study the influence of factors of the biotic and abiotic environment, as well as social factors, on the health and human condition, including its psycho-emotional sphere. And based on the data obtained, develop a set of health measures that can limit or eliminate this influence.
2. To develop methods for increasing the resistance, resistance of the human body to various factors.
3. To examine the influence of pathogenic microorganisms on people and create a set of measures to combat them.

So, what are the tasks this science sets for itself? Human hygiene is first and foremost prevention, prevention, elimination of previously possible troubles.

Classification of discipline

With the development of knowledge of hygiene norms in this science, sections appeared that study any specific factors of influence on humans. So, it is possible to distinguish several basic branches of hygiene.

1. General - is aimed at the formation of a complex of antiepidemic measures, vaccination of the population against the effects of diseases under the influence of the external environment.
2. Communal hygiene - examines the direct impact of housing conditions and various human settlements on human health. So, here it is possible to carry hygiene of soil, water, air, populated places, dwellings and public buildings.
3. Power . This branch is aimed at studying the influence of quality and quantity of food on maintaining normal viability and human health. It is the employees of food hygiene departments that are able to correlate the lifestyle of a person with the required amount of calories, and also develop dietary measures to prevent various diseases (obesity, anorexia, bulimia, diabetes mellitus and others).
4. Hygiene of labor compares the working conditions of a person and the state of health, as well as the mutual influence of these indicators.
5. Hygiene of children and adolescents. A special branch, as it is aimed at forming knowledge about the importance of preventive measures for schoolchildren and preschool children. They are the first to learn that science is studying hygiene, why it is needed and what is the benefit in it.

Main sections of hygiene

In addition to these, there are a number of different sections of the discipline under consideration:

• Radiation;
• Military;
• Sports;
• Transport;
• Space;
• Hospital;
• Resort;
• Psychohygiene;
• Personal;
• Public;
• Village hygiene.

It is obvious that this science covers all social, biological, chemical, physical factors that can affect people's health. That is why hygiene is the science of health (in the first place). This is confirmed by her close ties with other sciences about man.

Interrelation of hygiene with other sciences

Given the specifics of the discipline in question, it is easy to guess that the main related sciences are:

• medicine;
• epidemiology;
• Ecology (general and human);
• microbiology;
• toxicology.

All of them are in close interaction, and in the formation of a theoretical basis, hygiene is largely based on the data of the above disciplines.

Particularly close contact is hygiene and human ecology. After all, the object of the first is man, and the object of study of the second is the environment. Since people are in constant and continuous close contact with nature, then the sciences indicated above can not but interact. So, for example, hygiene standards for the maximum permissible concentrations of harmful substances, gases, impurities in the air are defined. Ecology is based on these indicators when calculating and characterizing the quality of the atmosphere.

Formation and development of science in the ancient world

The history of hygiene development is deeply rooted in the past. After all, in the ancient world, there were first signs of concern for the preservation of health and the importance of ensuring cleanliness and order.

Several main historical centers can be identified, in which the basics of hygiene were born. For example, in ancient India, a number of important laws were enacted. They reflected the basic rules of personal and public hygiene (cleaning of garbage from streets, burial of corpses to prevent the spread of infections, keeping the body clean and so on).

Almost the same rules were included in the code of state laws of the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Chinese, Jews, Romans. All these peoples were obliged to observe the following rules:

• Sexual hygiene;
• Personal rules for keeping the body clean;
• Adherence to the food regime;
• Isolation of sick people from healthy people;
• Sunbathing;
• Therapeutic gymnastics and so on.

Basics of communal hygiene in antiquity

Despite such an ancient period of time in question, nevertheless, already in ancient Egypt (many years before our era) works were carried out, which today constitute the subject of communal hygiene. So, the Egyptians dried the soil to prevent excessive moisture and development of parasites, molds, fungi and other microorganisms. Although they practically did not know anything about their existence.

They were the first to build the simplest water supply systems. There were certain rules on which the streets of the city were arranged. Gradually, all these skills and knowledge were transferred to other regions of the planet.

The Romans in general were able to build such sewer systems, which were considered simply a miracle of technology. Their streets were empty and free from impurities, around it was clean.

The main center for the accumulation and development of theoretical knowledge about what the history of hygiene is, became Ancient Greece.

Contribution of Hippocrates

Ancient Greece was famous for its beautiful people. After all, this was the main focus of the inhabitants of Hellas. Physical development and maintenance of strength, training and beauty of the body - all this was very important for every Hellenes. The basic rules of hygiene in this period were:

• Healthy and normal nutrition;
• Physical beauty of the body;
• Exercise and training for the development of strength and muscles.

All this was reflected in the works of the great philosopher, physician, scientist and thinker of the time of Hippocrates. In his work "On air, water and soil," he makes it clear that he considers the above factors to be very important factors for maintaining the normal state of human health. He also believed that even ordinary water and air can cure diseases if they are clean, healing.

Another of his work, On a Healthy Lifestyle, also confirms how much importance was already attached to hygiene and basic sanitation at that time.

Discipline in the Middle Ages

The history of hygiene development in this period, like the formation of all other sciences, has been stagnant. In many countries, it was considered indecent to wash and clean up their clothes and shelter, people freely poured sewage directly from the windows of houses onto the streets of the city. During these periods, epidemics of diseases such as plague, typhoid, tuberculosis, cholera and so on are rampant.

Only a few states (Ottoman Empire, China, Japan, Russia) still pay due attention to cleanliness. Baths, hammams, baths - all these were facilities for washing the body.

However, almost all of Europe suffered from unsanitary conditions. There were massive infections with syphilis, eye diseases, smallpox, typhoid. Wars were waged everywhere, feudalism and serfdom were strong.

Development of hygiene as a science in the XV-XVII centuries

Since the XV century in many countries, the interest in hygiene has gradually begun to revive. Water pipes again appear, the streets are laid out with a stone, the sewage is merged into specially designated places. The ablutions were no longer considered a manifestation of stupidity and belonging to the lower class. On the contrary, baths appeared that filled with fragrant water. Everywhere began to cook soap with the addition of aromatic oils.

The number of epidemics decreased, but the situation was still extremely unfavorable. The first person of the time, who dared to theoretically justify the importance of hygiene, was the Italian Bernardino Ramazzini. It was he who created the work "Discourses on the diseases of artisans", in which he showed the dependence of people's health on the state of the environment.

XVIII-XIX centuries in the history of hygiene

The history of the development of science of hygiene in this period is rapidly gaining momentum. After all, many cities are starting to be built, the infrastructure is undergoing changes. People were afraid of outbreaks of epidemics, so they carefully monitored the cleanliness and isolated the sick in time.

It is during this period that such sciences as physics, chemistry, biology, and microbiology begin to develop. This leaves its imprint on hygiene. Now human health is considered only in conjunction with the state of the environment, is inseparable from it. The influence of air, soil composition, drinking water quality, nutrition, cleanliness and personal hygiene on the general physical condition of a person is studied.

What else can tell us the history of hygiene? Modern science by its origin may be due to the German doctor Pettenkofer. He was the first to open the faculty of hygiene at the department of the University of Munich, so he is rightly considered the father of this discipline.

The historical past of hygiene in Russia

The history of hygiene development in Russia went its own way. Approximately 300 years earlier than it happened in Europe, Russia already paid tribute to both practical and experimental hygiene. Prominent scientists who made a great contribution to the development of this science were:

• Pies;
• Mudrov;
• Zakharin;
• Dobroslavin;
• Erisman;
• Chlopin;
• Nikolsky;
• Osipov;
• Belousov;
• Soloviev and many others.

The most intensive development was hygiene only in the XIX-XX centuries. It was then that the diseases and ailments of man were identified, which are related to the environment.