Today, no one even wonders whether to wash their hands when they come from the street, no one doubts the need to wash daily, 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 dating back to the deep past. Her sprouts today are relevant and common in all countries, among all nationalities.
Hygiene as a science: subject, goals and objectives
What is this discipline and what is it studying? Let's try to figure it out.
The purpose of this science is the development of comprehensive preventive measures that can ensure a person a normal existence in the environment and relieve him of unwanted 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, home, healthy, and leave your health untouched.
Accordingly, the subject of the study of science is a person and the environment, their interaction with each other and the mutual influence on the state and health of each other.
According to the goal, the discipline is aimed at solving the following tasks:
- To study the influence of factors of the biotic and abiotic environment, as well as social factors on the health and condition of a person, including his psycho-emotional sphere. And on the basis of the data obtained, to develop a set of wellness measures that can limit or eliminate this influence.
- To develop methods to increase the stability and resistance of the human body to various factors.
- Consider the effect of pathogenic microorganisms on people and create a set of measures to combat them.
So, what tasks does this science set itself? Human hygiene is first of all prevention, prevention, elimination of possible troubles in advance.
Discipline classification
With the development of knowledge about hygiene standards in this science, sections have appeared that study any specific factors affecting a person. So, we can distinguish several basic branches of hygiene.
- General - aimed at the formation of a complex of anti - epidemiological measures, vaccination of the population from the effects of ailments under the influence of the external environment.
- Community hygiene - studies the direct impact of housing conditions and various settlements on human health. So, this includes the hygiene of soil, water, air, populated areas, dwellings and public buildings.
- Nutrition . This industry is aimed at studying the influence of the quality and quantity of food on maintaining normal vitality and human health. It is the employees of the food hygiene departments that are able to correlate a person’s lifestyle with the required number of calories, as well as develop nutritional measures to prevent various diseases (obesity, anorexia, bulimia, diabetes mellitus and others).
- Occupational health compares the working conditions of a person and the state of health, as well as the mutual influence of these indicators.
- Hygiene of children and adolescents. A special industry, as it is aimed at the formation of knowledge about the importance of preventive measures specifically for schoolchildren and preschoolers. They are the first to know that science is studying hygiene, why it is needed, and what its benefits are.
The main sections of hygiene
In addition to the above, there are a number of different sections of the discipline in question:
- radiation;
- military;
- sports;
- transport;
- space;
- sick leave;
- resort;
- hygiene;
- personal
- public;
- hygiene of the village.
It is clear 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 (first and foremost). This is also confirmed by its close ties with other human sciences.
The relationship of hygiene with other sciences
Given the specifics of the discipline in question, it is easy to guess that the main sciences associated with it are:
- the medicine;
- epidemiology;
- ecology (general and human);
- microbiology;
- toxicology.
All of them are in close interaction, and when forming a theoretical base, hygiene relies heavily on the data of the above disciplines.
Especially close contact are hygiene and human ecology. After all, the object of the first is man, and the subject of study of the second is the environment. Since people are in constant and continuous close contact with nature, the sciences indicated above cannot but interact. So, for example, hygiene defines the norms of maximum permissible concentrations of harmful substances, gases, and impurities in the air. Ecology also relies on these indicators when calculating and characterizing the quality of the atmosphere.
The formation and development of science in the ancient world
The history of hygiene is deeply rooted in the past. After all, even in the ancient world there were first signs of concern for the preservation of health and the importance of ensuring cleanliness and order.
There are several main historical centers in which the basics of hygiene were born. For example, in ancient India, a number of important laws were adopted. They reflected the basic rules of personal and public hygiene (garbage collection from the 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 abide by the following rules:
- sexual hygiene;
- personal rules for keeping the body clean;
- compliance with the diet;
- isolation of sick people from healthy;
- sun baths;
- medical gymnastics and more.
The basics of community hygiene in antiquity
Despite such an ancient period of time in question, nevertheless, already in Ancient Egypt (many years before our era) work was carried out that today constitutes the subject of communal hygiene. So, the Egyptians drained the soil to prevent excess moisture and the development of parasites, mold, fungi and other microorganisms. Although they still knew practically nothing about their existence.
They were the first to build the simplest water systems. There were certain rules by which the streets of the city were arranged. Gradually, all these skills and knowledge were transferred to other regions of the planet.
The Romans generally managed to build such sewer systems, which were considered simply a miracle of technology. Their streets were empty and free from sewage, cleanliness reigned around.
Ancient Greece became the main center for the accumulation and development of theoretical knowledge about what the history of hygiene is.
Hippocratic Contribution
Ancient Greece was famous for its beautiful people. After all, it was precisely on this that the inhabitants of Hellas made the main emphasis. Physical development and maintaining the strength, training and beauty of the body - all this was very important for every Hellenic. The basic hygiene rules during this period were:
- healthy and normal nutrition;
- physical beauty of the body;
- exercises and training for the development of strength and muscles.
All this was reflected in the writings 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 these factors to be very important factors in maintaining the normal state of human health. He also believed that even ordinary water and air can cure ailments, if they are pure, healing.
Another of his works - “On a healthy lifestyle” - also confirms how much importance was already attached at that time to the rules of hygiene and basic sanitation.
Discipline in the Middle Ages
The history of the development of hygiene during this period, as well as the formation of all other sciences, underwent stagnation. In many countries it was considered indecent to wash and clean their clothes and housing; 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 fever, tuberculosis, cholera and so on are rampant.
Only a few states (the 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, and typhoid. There were wars everywhere, feudalism and serfdom were strong.
The development of hygiene as a science in the XV-XVII centuries
Starting from the 15th century, interest in hygiene began to revive in many countries. Water pipes again appear, streets are laid out with stone, sewage merges into specially designated places. Ablutions were no longer considered a manifestation of stupidity and belonging to the lower class. On the contrary, baths appeared that were filled with fragrant water. Soap began to be boiled everywhere with the addition of aromatic oils.
The number of epidemics has decreased, but the situation still remained extremely unfavorable. The first person of that time, who dared to theoretically justify the importance of hygiene, was the Italian Bernardino Ramazzini. It was he who created the work "Reasoning about 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 the science of hygiene in this period is rapidly gaining momentum. After all, numerous cities begin to be built, the infrastructure is undergoing changes. People were afraid of outbreaks of epidemics, so they carefully monitored cleanliness and timely isolated patients.
It was during this period that such sciences as physics, chemistry, biology, and microbiology began to develop. This leaves its mark on hygiene. Now human health is considered only in conjunction with the state of the environment, is inseparable from it. The effect 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 the history of hygiene tell us? Modern science may be due to the German physician Pettenkofer. He was the first to open the Department of Hygiene at the department at the University of Munich, so he is rightfully considered the father of this discipline.
The historical past of hygiene in Russia
The history of hygiene in Russia went its own special way. About 300 years earlier than this happened in Europe, Russia already paid tribute to both practical and experimental hygiene. Prominent scientists who have made a great contribution to the development of this science are:
- Pies
- The wise ones;
- Zakharyin;
- Dobroslavin;
- Erisman;
- Khlopin;
- Nikolsky;
- Osipov;
- Belousov;
- Soloviev and many others.
Hygiene was most intensively developed only in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was then that human diseases and ailments that are associated with the environment were identified.