The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-12-25
Science
DAVID DIETZ
Scripps-Howard Science Editor

TINE history of medicine may be
Il written in a number of differ
ent ways, as various books published
during the last year testify 1t may
be told as a great unfolding drama
as DR.. Logan Clendening has done
in his Behind the Doctor" 1t may
be told through the biographies Of
the important figures in it as DR..
Henry Sigerist has done in The
Great Doctors"
DR.. Morris Fishbein, editor Of the
Journal of the American Medical
Association and of Hygeia. under
takes to give us a swift synopsis Of
the subject in Frontiers of Medi-
cine" small book Of 207 pages in
the Williams & wilkins Century Of
Progress" series. The price is 81.
Medical history, DR.. FiShbein tells
us, can be divided into nine great
epochs. These he Classics as fol-
lows:
l. The period previous to Hip
pocrates.
2. The period of Hippocrates and
Galen.
3. The Middle Ages. in which the
progress Of science was halted by
religious fantaciSm.
4. The revolt against Galen head
ed by ParacelSus.
5. The rise Of anatomy under the
leadership of VeSalius
6. The rise of physiology with the
announcement by William Harvey
of his demonstration Of the circu-
lation OF the blood.
7. The evolution of clinical medi-
cine, headed by Sydenham.
8. Pasteur'S announcement OF the
germ cauSation of disease.
9. The introduction of mechanical
accessories which have prolonged
and extended the human senses,
and thereby improved greatly mans
ability to study and treat disease.
DR. FISHBEIN sticks to this
~ outline in his book, but he d.
videS his space with economy, CIV
ing but a few pages to the days
before Hippocrates and saving ap-
proXimately half the book for the
discussion of present-day dtscov-
cries and practices.
There was some medicine n
ancient days before Hippocrates, he
tells us, yet the medicine of the
ancient Egyptians, Babylonians,
HinduS, Chinese and Jews was not
scientific medicine but the medi-
cine Of magic and mysticism"
Among the interesting items he
mentions is formula for Cleo
patra's hair tonic made from the
heel Of an AbySSinian greyhound,
date blossoms and asses hoofs in
oil.
With the first seventy-six pages
of his book, DR.. FiShbein brings us
to the beginning of the nineteenth
century.
1.-THE nineteenth century opened
on a medical world just beginning
to find itself in the field of SCI
ence," he writes, "just beginning to
have some understanding of the
uses of devices beyond the human
brain, eye and hand.
THE machine age, which was yet
to come, was to do remarkable
things for medicine. But there was
still much to be learned from &C
curate observation and from the
study of disease at the bedside"
If real romance is to be sought in
the many accomplishments of the
first half of the nineteenth CEN
fury, "the epoch marking events
are unquestionably the work of
William Beaumont and the discov-
cry of the use of ether as an anes-
thetic," he tells us.
WHLIAM BEAUMONT ushered
w in a new period in the under
standing Of the functions of the
human stomach with the publica-
ton of his Experiments and OBJ
Servations on the Gastric Juice, and
the Physiology of Digestion" in 1888.
In 1922, Beaumont was the phySi-
clan at FIT. Mackinac on Mackinac
islands ct the head of Lake Huron.
He was the only physician within
300 miles. On June 6, an accident
occurred. The explosion of a shot
gun tore a hole in the side of q
French-Canadian boy named Alexis
St. Martin.
DR.. Beaumont expected that the
boy would die within thirty-siX
hours. Instead, he recovered but
retained hole in his side which
opened directly into his stomach.
DR.. Beaumont took advantage of
this fact to study the workings of
the boys stomach.
To-day medical science has car
ried much farther the beginnings
established by William Beaumont"
DR.. Fishbein writes. THE secrets
Of appetite and hunger, Of digestion
and indigestion have been revealed.
Throughout the world doctors
diagnose the pains and the suffering
Of those who are i'll, using the
knowledge that Beaumont and
other Investigators secured for
them"
| DR.. FiShbein continues with the
story of the discovery Of anesthetics,
the work Of the great triumyirate
Of bacteriology, Pasteur, Koch and
Lister, the introduction Of aseptic
methods into obstetrics, the work
of Florence Nightingale, and
twentieth century developments in
the fields of public health, internal
medicine, surgery, and the various
specialties.
The book is an excellent one, au-
thoritative and clear, written with
force and charm in non-technical
language.