A Brief History of Hygiene

The word hygiene - a French latinisation of the Greek 'hugiene techne' - literally means 'the art of health'. These days we place a high value on it. It’s a crucial concern in many professions, such as dentistry, and is governed by laws and regulations. But whether it’s personal or occupational, it’s taken us centuries to reach hygiene enlightenment. Perhaps the earliest example of personal hygiene awareness came around 3000BC, in Mesopotamian medical texts which highlighted how to clean teeth. Two hundred years later, the Babylonians began mixing water, cassia oil and alkali, creating the world’s first soap. The long march of hygienic history crawled along at an astoundingly slow pace. Sanskrit writing from around 2000BC extolled the virtues of water purification – that is, boiling water to kill harmful bacteria. But it would take another 300 years before baths would be invented, with the first bath-tub uncovered by archaeologists in Minoan Crete. photo Strigiles_zpsbd2f7c16.jpg Fast forward to the 4th century. Romans, not content with simply owning half a continent, spread the custom of public baths across their Empire. When they weren't building straight roads or designing a primitive sewage system, they'd relax in the company of others at public baths. Today soaking in a bath is generally accepted to be a personal venture – and one to be enjoyed until your skin starts creasing – but back then it was very much a communal affair where friends could bond, business was conducted, and lovers could woo each other. Nor was this pastime restricted to one particular social stratum, as the entire empire discovered the joys of public baths. Interestingly, rather than using soap to clean themselves, the Romans preferred a very different method. Oils were massaged over their bodies, and then scraped away, along with any dirt, by a curved metal blade called a strigil. A mere century later Pope Boniface I declared bathing unspiritual, believing it to be linked to paganism, and an extravagant preserve of the idle rich. Two centuries after Boniface's declaration, leading Muslim figures emphasise the importance of hygiene in accordance to Islamic jurisprudence. Before you know it, we're in the renaissance period – a glorious era when knowledge and culture ruled all. Having said that, while steps were taken by some to understand the hows and whys of hygiene – notably Ellenbog’s 1473 pamphlet On the Poisonous Evil Vapours which explored the hazards associated with mining, coal smoke and lead poisoning - right up until the 1500s it was believed demons were responsible for many infections. Though it wasn’t until 1700, when Italian physician Bernardo Ramazzini published the seminal De Morbis Artificum, that the actual danger of workplace disease was studied in a strictly scientific sense. Despite this research, throughout Northern Europe, many favoured sweating themselves clean and dousing themselves in perfume. Which makes sense in a historical context, given that many believed that water would spread infections through the skin’s pores. Twenty-five years after Ellenbog's publication, in 1498, the Chinese invent what many consider to be the first recognisable incarnation of the toothbrush. Prior to this, society favoured simple toothpicks or chewing sticks which were rubbed against the teeth to clean them. Interesting then that the father of modern dentistry, Pierre Fouchard, advised in 1728 not to brush teeth, but to pick them clean. Not heeding such advice, just fifty-two years later (a nanosecond in historical hygiene terms), William Addis sold the world's first mass-produced toothbrush in England. 1833 saw the English Factory Act passed into law. It was the first serious attempt by the government to offer protection for workers health, and formed the basis for all further workplace health and safety regulations. In 1865, William Shepphard invented the world's first liquid soap. This was swiftly followed in 1898, by B.J. Johnson's 'Palmolive' soap brand – a brand, and company, which still exists to this day. Still hygienic standards were low during the early Victorian era. Some historians have speculated that, incredibly, those living during the medieval period bathed more than those of the 1800s. Sanitation as we recognise it didn’t take off until around the beginning of the Edwardian era. 1890 was a watershed moment for hygiene, when William Stewart Halsted used the first sterilised gloves while working at the hospital at John Hopkins University. He contacted the Goodyear Tyre Company when he discovered his assistant was allergic to the carbolic acid used to sterilise hands. He asked for rubber gloves that could be dipped in the carbolic acid. The first modern toothbrush hit the market in 1938, replacing the boar bristles previously used, with nylon ones. Twenty-two years after that, the world's first electric toothbrush – the Broxodent – debuted in America. 1964 was the year the first disposable latex gloves were produced. Two years after that, Lupe Hernadez created an alcohol-based hand sanitiser, which became popular outside of the medical profession during the 1990s. By 1975, occupational hygiene had become so important that the United Kingdom created the Health and Safety Executive, in order to further protect workers, and educate them as to the best practices at work. And in 1994 we established The Glove Club for all your hygiene requirements. The rest, as they say, is history. Here at The Glove Club we can provide you with a range of hygiene products, from protective face masks and hand sanitisers to medical-grade latex gloves. To find out more about how we can assist your needs, contact The Glove Club on 0500 456 832 today.