The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-04-05
The MEDICAL ART.

It 10 noteworthy fact that the arts of
medicine and surgery made greater prog.
ress in Greek, Roman, Hebrew and Arabic
civilization for centuries than they did in
the early history Of Christian civilization
In Europe. Even ~ late ~ the crusades
the Saracen was q better phi ysician, chemist
and surgeon than the Christian: tho
Moor than the Spaniard: the Jew than
the Christian. Scott. in his Craftsman"
makes the infidel Hakim cure the wounded
knight. Kenneth. cure the fever.stricken
King Richard of England. and in "Ivan-
hoe" the beautiful Rebecca, daughter of
Isaac of York, il the physician and sur
geon of the wounded lover of Rowena
indeed, the art Of medicine and surgery
does not seem to have grown much
under Christian hands until after the
middle of the seventeenth century.
The great French humorist. Rabelais.
who wrote about the middle of the six.
tenth century, reveals by his satire that
the medical and surgical knowledge of
Europe in his day was not much in ad.
vance Of tina; Of antiquity when CELSIUS,
the great Roman physician. wrote his
famous treatise.
The great medical and surgical discov.
cries of modern times were the circulation
of the blood. which Shakespeare alludes to
in play written a number Of years before
Harvey published his discovery: the iiga-
ton of the arteries substituted for cauterv
by the great English surgeon Hunter: the
discovery of incubation for smallpox by
Jenner. and the discovery Of the anasthet-
les. ether and chioroform. To these i'm por-
tant discoveries should be added the extra.
ordinary progress in the number of capital
surgical operations within the present
century. Twitchell. an American surgeon.
first tied the carotid artery. but since his
day operations have been successfully
performed involving almost all the great
arteries and important organs Of the body.
Even the aorta has been tied for aneurism
Of the heart. 80 daring has been the mod.
ern surgeon. functuring Assesses Of the
liver and kidney. operations in tracheot-
omy. lithotomy and ovario,omy. removal
Of cancer from the pylorus, and many
other operations are undertaken today
oy surgeons that were not attempted even
in the last decade of the eighteenth CEN
fury.
George Washington was sufYocated bv a
throat disease for the lack of surgical skill.
An operation in tracheotomy would have
saved his life. Napoleon Bonaparts died
Of cancer Of the pvlorus. but IN our dsv
the great German surgeon BlIroth ha,
more than once operated successfully tor
the extirraiion of such a cancer. Dean
Swift, the famous sssirist, became insane
by disease Of the eve which modern .ur.
geons could have cured by al operation.
Ia mechanical surgery such extran-di-
nary progress has been made tina.
hundreds Of limbs are saved by
the reduction Of fractures that would
have been instantly amputs;ei fifty wears
ago. The change from the trsditiona!
treatment Of bleeding and ealomel in
nearly ali eases. and of refusing water 10
terer-s,ricSea patients has been remark
able. but they are due chiefly 20 the emsn-
cipaiion Of the medical mind from big
otry. and tie freer play OF common sense
in the application and siminis;rat.on of
the curative Art The Use of snsisepiios