Evening star., 1927-04-21

| to tender to you my most cordial
| thanks for having, by your brilliant
researches. demonstrated to me the
| truth of the germ theory of putrifac-
| tion and thus furnished me the prin-
| ciple upon which alone the antiseptic
system can be carried OUT
Lister then proceeded to demon
strate that not alone by killing the
germs in wound, but by prevent
| ing the germs ever getting into
wounds through contact with the
surgeons hands and instruments
what was known as wound fever
could be prevented, for the germs are
not SO much in the air as they are on
| instruments and hands. Thus he in.
| troduced aseptic surgery, supplanting
antiseptic. He also introduced the
use Of catgut in place of thread in
sewing up internal wounds. for catgut
could be absorbed and needed not the
reopening of the wound to remove the
| threads.
BY the discoveries of Lister and
Pasteur, typhoid fever has practically
been banished from humanity Prior
to their work, surgery had not ad
yanced materially since 400 BIC.
when Hippocrates first systematized
it, to a degree, and especially since
Galen, 500 years later, modified some
of Hippocrates' methods. In 1868
Servetus discovered pulmonary cir
culation, and was burned for heresy,
by Calvin, because of it. In the
eighteenth century, John Hunter
founded pathology and comparative
| anatomy, and adopted as his dictum
6Sx,Iy l1,.fxA,
Anasthesia was first introduced in
1876 by two Americans, Warren and
Morton, in Boston. While the use of
anesthetics partly relieved the tor
| ture of surgery, it was not until Lis
ter and Pasteur in the sos, demon
strated the cause Of wound fever" to
be bacterial germs, which could be
wholly barred in aseptic surgery, that
stride forward was made, greater
than all progress for 1000 years.
For years, Sir Patrick Manson had
been seeking the germ of malaria. In
1877 he made many experiments in
China, whereby he traced the "filaria"
from the blood of mosquito into it's
stomach and watched it's development
into the muscles Of the insects wings.
Lister was present at a sitting of the
geological department of the British
| Association in Toronto, in 1897, where
! a young pathologist. MacCullum, of
Johns Hopkins University, at Balti-
more, showed the presence of a similar
parasite in the blood of birds and in
| malaria of man, and In 1906 Lister
sent to Manson some infected mosqui-
toes dispatched from Rome. They were
permitted to bite Mansons son, who
thereupon developed malaria. That
| was the first proof that mosquitoes
| caused malaria-and that made the
| building of the Panama Canal possible,
| through the elimination of mosquitoes
| 1t also made life safer in the world by
| the annihilation of yellow fever, due
| to mosquitoes, and also the control of
| sleeping sickness. The benefits are
! just beginning to be realized.
| 1t is. well known that the length of
! life has been increased some Is years
| within the last SO years of medical
progress. but it has generally been ex-
planned that this is due to the saving
| of infant mortality, rather than in
| creased longevity of adults.
This is disproved by the tables pub
! lished in the London Times.
| The tables show the number of per-
sons of different ages, out of 100 900
| total. In 1841, the number under 5
| years was 1926; between 5 and 10
years, 1870; between As and So years,
| 1899.
In 1911, the first class (under s
years. numbered 1861: the second
/ class, 10,249; the third class, 9,782.
| In 1921, the first class numbered
S.767; the second class, 9,2S8; the third
class (45 to SIS years., II .667.
| Infant mortality has not decreased
| adult age has increased.
| OF the ages between Is and IS years,
| there were in 1871. 1,196; in 1911,
| 1858, and in 1921, 1,511.
Above IS years in 1871 there We're,
| per 100000, 202; in 1911, 1T. and in
! 1921. 201.
! Offsetting longevity, in England and
/ Wales, the birth rate has dropped
| from 80 per 1000 in 1S41. to Is in
| 1921. The drop iS1 greatest amongst
| the "intelligentsia
Says the Times writer: THE man
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