Evening star., 1902-01-03
LANDMARKS IN MEDICINE,
BRIEF REVIEW OF SOME OF THE
GREAT MEDICAL DISCOVERIES.
How Vaccination Was SuEge~ted to
Jenner - The Beginnine OF
the stethoscope.
From Afosher,. Magazine.

From Mosher's Magazine.
Just before the beginning OF the nine
teenth century an epoch-making discovery
was made by an English country physician
that foreshadowed the greatest advances
that were to be made during the next hum
dred years IN medicine. Edward Jenner
u749-1S23), finding tradition among milk
maids In his native Worcestershire that
those who had suffered from a disease
called cowpox, caught from an eruption on
the cows udders, did not afterward con-
tract smallpox, investigated the matter. He
found that cowpox was probably an animal
modification of human smallpox. and he
suggested the introduction Of vaccination
that Is, incubation with the virus OF cow
pox-iu order to produce immunity to small
pox. At the end of the eighteenth century
his practical application OF a chance dis
coyery anticipated such ideas as immunity.
protection and modification Of disease, that
are now, at the beginning Of the twentieth
century, topics of acutest interest In the
most promising department Of medicine.
At the beginning of the nineteenth CEN
tury the impression was very general that
| most OF the symptoms of disease were due
to living causes. AS nothing was known
OF the minute germs of disease 1t was con-
cluded that worms in the Intestinal tract
were a frequent cause of otherwise mex
plicable symptoms A great number Of
prescriptions for the removal of worms
were In use. The vermifuges, as they are
called. were the most popular family rem
edies.
Resources of Bichat.
Supposedly scientific medicine at this time
was occupied with the thought that disease
was due to a change in one Of the humors
Of the body. the blood, the lymph or the
bile. During the first few years the teach
ing Of the eminent Frenchman Bichat
d711-1sO2) did much to counteract this false
notion. He showed that most diseases were
due to changes in special tissues.
The first to take advantage Of Bichats
teaching and apply 1t seriously to practical
medicine was another Frenchman, Laennec
Q7s1 1925. Laennec found that by listening
to the sounds produced In the heart and
the lungs he could tell much of the char
acter Of the ailments from which these
organs suffered. This was an extremely i'm
portant advance in diagnosis At first Laen-
nee applied his ear directly to the chest.
During his Investigations into diseases of
that part Of the body, young woman was
admitted to the benefit Of his service at
the Necker Hospital In Paris. In order to
save her modesty he did not apply his ear
directly to her chest, but used a roll Of
paper as q tube to convey the sound from
the chest to his ear. This was the first
stethoscope, and the invention of an instru-
ment that has proved Of very great service
in the accurate detection Of lung and heart
diseases.
After Laennec the most Important work
by Richard Bright Q7S9-1S5s), who showed
that certain symptoms, and especially
dropsy. were connected with changes in
the kidneys. Brights work was very COM
plete in it's way and since then the degen-
erative kidney affections have been called
Bright's disease.
A revolution in medical thought with
regard to the basis Of disease was prepar-
ing. Theodor Schwann C1S1O-1Ss2) a Ger
man professor in the Catholic University
at Louvafn, showed that the tissues Of all
animals, like those of plants. are composed
Of distinct minute portions separated from
one another, which he called cells. The
study Of cells and cell life soon led to better
knowledge Of the intimate constitution Of
organs and Of the manner In which their
functions are performed.
Cellular Pathology.
Another famous German, virchow, 0SZ-
y. the father Of cellular pathology. as
he is called, showed, about the middle Of
the century, that 1t is not the organs as q
whole that are affected by disease, but the
cells Of which the organs are composed.
Not all Of the cells are affected, but differ
ent ones in different diseases. This was
the new idea that was to revolutionize
pathology. Ten years before Virchows
discoveries, the great medical men Of
Vienna were teaching that disease was due
to changes in the body humors.
Another great change in medicine was
effected by the illustrious Frenchman.
PGsteur ds22-1ssO, shortly after Vir-
chow's first work was published. Pasteur
showed that certain diseases in animals
and, later, certain diseases In human
beings also, are due to the presence of MI
mute living germs. which are called bac-
terra Pasteurs work represents some OF
the most practically valuable advances in
medicine during the whole century.
Another distinguished Frenchman was do
ing great original work In medicine about
the same time This was Claude Bernard
Q813- 3-1ST0. who taught us the function OF
the ductless gland and a number OF the
important physiological truths with regard
to the nervous system and nervous refiexes
that enable us to understand the intimate
sympathy that exists between all portions
Of the body.
Lord Lister following closely the work
done by Pasteur with regard to the ex-
istence Of germs In the air that cause fer
mentation, suggested the employment OF
methods to prevent these germs from get
ting into wounds-the antiseptic treatment.
This made possible the great advances in
surgery at the end Of the nineteenth GEN.
tury.