The Van Buren press., 1903-08-01
LAYMEN HAVE HELprn
Medical Research Has Been
Aided by the Efforts of M, ="
professional Men.


Medical discoveries by the non.n.,.
cal are being discussed by physic,..
generally. and Investigations of tbo1@-'
ject reveal that many important aids,.
the profession are the result OF theI.1
mans labors. In writing on the TO-,
DR.. George NJ. Gould OF Philadelnta
says:
II have been struck by the fact ~.
the majority of great medical Disc
cries. truths and instruments. have
been made completely and suddenly h.,
have been led up to by preliminary a..
progressive steps, and that the laym,'
has often made these discoveries n,o.
to the medical practitioner. This grs,,
medical truth is, indeed but an illust,,
tion of the general law that all pro,o.
sional progress, in whatever branch a
study, is a result of stimulus from with
out"
Many lessons are to be learned fror
such observations IN medical historv
One is struck by the fact that our broth.
ers, the animals" were first in learpD,
not a little of medical art, says the Chi
cago Tribune.
Birds often show surgical instinct
Tatio has often killed woodcock conv,
lescent from wounds previously received
and in every instance he found the in.
Jury neatly dressed, with down plucked
from the stems of feathers and skillfur5
arranged over the wound, evidently vim
the beak In other cases ligatures had |
been applied to wounded or broker
limbs. Fulbert Dumonteil youches "a,
the fact that ten times he had found
birds with the fractured ends OF Their
legs neatly approximated and ligated
together.
Dr. Weir believes many higher ami.
mails have discovered a materla media
which should be recognized by phys.
clans Dogs will seek out conch grass
when ailing; horses and mules will es
clay for internal maladies. and cattle
with eczema have been seen to plasts-
hoof and Joint with mud. DR.. Wier men
tions a COW which broke thin ice on
pond to treat joint with a mud poul.
tice Sick cats will so miles for dos
OF Catnip.
Wier also tells Of large monkey who
scratched his shoulder on a PROJECTING
nail in his cage. The animal seized
handful of clean sawdust and pressed 4
on the bleeding scratch, stopping The
bleeding and leaving a coat under which
the healing was prompt.
Ophthalmology was one Of the earlles
subjects to command professional opin.
ion. The origin of the operation Of
COUGHING cataracts is so lost in antiquity
that Elianus says men learned it from
goats who, by pushing their head.
against thorns Of bush, operated Oh
their own Cateractous eyes
Babbage, a nonmedicai man, devised
an instrument for the purpose of look.
ing into the interior Of the eye Plneys
description Of the visual defect Of th,
Emperor Nero suggests compound as
tigmatism Nero viewed the arena
through a large, highly polished emer
aid, probably of uneven curvature In ln
two principal diameters Nero may
thus be credited with the discovery q
an eyeglass suited to short-sighteG peo.
pie. Bifoca lenses were devised b!i
| layman, Benjamin Franklin
The laryngoscope 10 a great medical
discovery made by nonmedlcal man
Senor Manual de Garcia, a singing mas
ter OF London made physiologic obser.
vations on the voice in 1865, using mir.
rors on his throat, as are employed To-
day. C2ermak converted the invention
into an instrument of scientific research
Sir Kenelm Dicby published book
on the Powder of Sympathy" in The
seventh century The knowledge Of this
powder he says, came from priest out
Of the orient. He claimed TO heal wounds
without even touching or seeing the pa
tient, by dlssolying some Of the pOwdg
In water, and putting In this water any
article having on 1t blood from The
wound. In the meantime the patient
was advised 80 cast away all plasters
keep the wound clean and In moderate
temper 'twixt heat and cold" Absurd
as this may seem it was the beginning
OF the cure Of wounds by immediate
union.
The Apaches employed as a splln'
strips OF CCtar wood bound together
with sinews and fastened to the arm
with knots In the loose ends Of the SIN
ews. Water could be applied through
the spaces and free discharge could
be secured.
In passing from surgery to medIclne
II Is noted that the most ancient ano
persistent philosophy OF disease lasting
down to the present time was that 'ne
malady was due 10 some evil principe
or spirit coming into the body from lhe
outside, 10 be fought against and driven
out by any means possible and powerful
The germ theory, Infection, and para
stlsm, on which medical science nov
bullded, shows how essentially true W"
the old perception. Indeed the foreshao'
owings of the mlcroblc origin OF coh'"
glOus disease are numerous,
More than 70 all others Is due 10 faF
teur the credit Tor discovering the w
croblc origin Of contagious disease WV
Pasteur WAS not medical man or e'en'
physIologIst--he was simply chemM
by his researches into the ORIGIN on W,
silkworm disease, Of splonIc fever an'
Of chicken cholera, he laid the ionnuS
tion Of preventive medicine, n branV'
of science, beyond question the g'e"
est benofaclor of civilization
Ampiinrd Metaphor 81
This world IL but n lloellug sho"