The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-03-01

knife, permitting the surgeon to work
on as methodically as If he were re-
pairing an iron machine. About year
later chloroform, which had been in
vented in 1880, was first used as an an
aesthetic by James Y. Simpson and the
scientific world was then willing to ad-
init that the problem of anaesthesia
had been solved beyond a question of
doubt
In no branch of medicine has the
progress been more great than in the
science of bacteriology, and 1t must be
admitted that much of this advance
ment has been due to the remarkable
work performed by Pasteur. In 1878
he proved conclusively that disease
was often caused by tiny bodies that
had been living in the blood and from
that day the progress in this science
has been great.
Bacteriology has revealed the organ
isms which caused the relapsing fever,
typhoid fever, tuberculosis, cholera
diphtheria, tenatus and other dieases.
In 1884 DR.. Kitasato, a Japanese path
ologiSt, discovered that the bubonic
plague had been caused by a 1nicrobe
koch had already elucidated the fact
that diseases of the lungs owed their
origin to microbii, and, later, Laveran
discovered the microbe of malarial fe-
| yer.
All this was important but the es-
| enlistment of the germ theory" of
disease was not of more consequence
| than the great work performed by Jo-
| seph Lister. Listers achievement was
| the application of Pasteur's discovery
| to surgery. He discovered that putre-
| faction was caused by fermentation
| due to animal organisms and the fact
enaL ne was able to destroy these
| germs was one of the most important
steps that science has made during the
present century.
TTCTEpyc ryn1u
In fact, as Professor Morris says.
his work forms the most conspicuous
| landmark in surgical progress. The
| history of surgery falls by a natural
| division into two eras-'before Lister
and after Lister The Historian prin-
clple of safeguarding wounds from
every possible contamination will
stand forever as the foundation stone
| of scientific surgery
] Another thing for which the nine
| teenth century is conspicuous is the in
vention of surgical instruments and
ments in this line are the opthalrno-
scope, invented by Helmholtz, in 1851;
| the laryngoscope, invented in the same
year by Garcia; the sphymorgraph and
| cardlograph; the clinical thermometer:
| the electric searchlight for the storn-
| ach; the microscope; the spectroscope
and haem Undergraduates, but. above
| all, stand the stethescope, by means of
| the
condition of the heart and lungs, and
| the test-tube that disclosed the exist
ence of any irregularities in the struc-
ture or functions of the kidneys.
There can be no question but that the
| discovery of the x ray was one of the
most remarkable achievements of the
| century, although there is reason to be-
| lieve that physicians and scientists in
| general have not yet discovered the
means of making it fulfill its full mis-
| sion.
THE x RAY.
! History will probably repeat itself
| with the x ray. At first it was a toy,
an instrument that could be used to
| amuSe. and, to a certain extent in
struct. Later it was discovered that it
| might be made to do good work in the
| location of fractures, the position of
| foreign substances and the formation of
| certain portions of the human system.
| Little by little these tests have led to
| new discoveries until to-day the x ray
| has extended its usefulness to other de-
| partments of practical medicine to such
| degree that it has become valuable
| aid to correct diagnosis. 1t is true that
| the Y ray is still most efficient as an
| aid to surgery, but there are reasons to
| believe that the time is not far distant
| when it's therapeutic value will be so
| developed that it will be as great an
aid to the ordinary physician in the dis
covery of the cause and the treat
| ment of disease. Already it has
| been used with good results in deter
| mining the size and location of tumors.
| clotS and other RrowthS, as well as for
| tuberculosis has been suspected AS
the result Of these tests II seems safe to
say that the Importance Of the x ray
has not yet been definitely realized and
| that the experiments of the next few
| years will greatly widen the scope at its
usefulness.