PREFACE
When we remember that sound health is the foundation of every other good, of all work fruitful and enjoyed, we see that in this field new knowledge and new skill have won their most telling victories. Pain, long deemed as inevitable as winter's cold, has vanished at the chemist's bidding: the study of minutest life is resulting in measures which promise to rid the world of consumption itself. Dr. Billings's masterly review of medical progress during the nineteenth century, following upon chapters from other medical writers of the first rank, strikes Prevention as its dominant note. To-day the aim of the great physicians is not simply to restore health when lost, but the maintenance of health while still unimpaired.
Worthy of remark is the co-operation in this good task which the physician receives at the hands of the inventor and the man of business. To-day the railroad, quick and cheap, disperses crowded cities into country fields: even the poorest of the poor may take a summer outing on mountain slopes, on the shores of lake or sea. As easily may the invalid escape the rigors of a Northern winter as he journeys to the Gulf of Mexico. For those who stay at home the railroad is just as faithfully at work. It exchanges the oranges of Florida for the ice of Maine, and brings figs and peaches from California to New England and New York. These, together with the cold storage warehouse and the cannery, have given the orchard and the kitchen garden all seasons for their own. Nor must we forget the mills that offer a dozen palatable cereals for the breakfast table, most of the drudgery of preparation shifted from the kitchen to the factory. Because food is thus various and wholesome as never before, the health and strength of the people steadily gains, while medicine falls into less and less request; for what is medicine three times in ten but a corrective for a poor or ill-balanced diet?
But if the best health possible is to be enjoyed by everybody, the co-operation with the physician must include everybody. Already a considerable and increasing number of men and women understand this. If they have any reason to suspect organic weakness of any kind, they have recourse to the physician's advice, to the end that a suitable regimen, or a less exacting mode of livelihood, may forefend all threatened harm. A few pages of this volume set forth the due care of the eyes: the work from which those pages is taken gives hints of equal value regarding the care of the ears, the lungs and other bodily organs, so much more easily kept sound than restored to soundness after the assail of disease.
George Iles.
CONTENTS
| PAGET, SIR JAMES, M.D. | |
|---|---|
| [Escape from Pain. The History of A Discovery] | |
| About 1800 Humphry Davy experimented with nitrous oxide gasand suggested its use in surgery. Horace Wells, a dentistof Hartford, Conn., uses the gas for the painless extractionof teeth. Sulphuric ether also observed to produce insensibilityto pain. Dr. Crauford Long, of Jefferson, Ga., uses it in1842 for the excision of a tumour. Wm. T. G. Morton, Boston,employs ether in dentistry, and Dr. Warren in surgery. Dr.Simpson, Edinburgh, introduces chloroform to prevent thepains of childbirth. Anæsthesia not only abolishes pain,it broadens the scope of surgery and makes operations safewhich formerly were most perilous. | [3] |
| BENNETT, SIR J. R., M.D. | |
| [Jenner and Pasteur] | |
| Jenner's indebtedness to John Hunter. Jenner's early observationsin natural history. He hears a countrywoman say, “I can'ttake small-pox for I have had cow-pox.” This sets him thinking.He finds that of various forms of cow-pox but one givesprotection against small-pox. In 1796 successfully vaccinatesa patient. Holds that small-pox and cow-pox are modificationsof the same disease and that if the system be impregnatedwith the milder disease, immunity from the severer is conferred.Immense saving of life by vaccination. | |
| Pasteur, a chemist, studies fermentation, which is due tothe rapid multiplication of organisms. Similar organisms hedetects as the cause of the silkworm disease and of anthraxin cattle. He adopts the method of Jenner, prepares anattenuated virus and protects cattle from anthrax. | [25] |
| GEDDES, PATRICK, AND J. ARTHUR THOMSON | |
| [Pasteur and His Work] | |
| Distinguishes minute facets, not before observed, in certainchemical compounds. Proves that the fermentation of tartrateof lime is due to a minute organism and that a similaragency underlies many other kinds of fermentation. Protectswine from fermentation by heating it for a minute to 50° C.Disproves the theory of spontaneous generation. Discoversan antitoxin for hydrophobia. | [51] |
| PRUDDEN, T. M., M.D. | |
| [Tuberculosis and Its Prevention] | |
| In Nature an extremely important part is played by minuteorganisms. Some of them take up their abode in the humanbody and there set up diseases of which consumption is thechief. The tubercle bacillus is the sole cause of consumption:its entrance may be prevented, mainly by destroying thespittle of patients. Susceptibility to consumption may beinherited: the disease itself is not. Any cause which lowersvitality increases susceptibility. Dust is a source of dangerboth out-of-doors and in. Dust in houses should be removed,not simply stirred up. Encouragement for sufferers in earlystages of disease. | [63] |
| STERNBERG, G. M., M.D. | |
| [Malaria and Mosquitoes] | |
| Malaria, long believed to be due to bad air, is reallychargeable to a mosquito discovered by Dr. Laveran, 1880,and first detected in America by Dr. Sternberg, 1886.Healthy individuals inoculated with blood containing theparasite develop malarial fever. The mosquito theory ofinfection was advanced by Dr. A. F. A. King, Washington,1883. Dr. Manson and Dr. Ross confirmed the theory byobservation and experiment. Five individuals exposed to theJuly air of the Roman Campagna escape malaria by usingscreens on doors and windows and nets over their beds. | [89] |
| ROOSE, ROBSON, M.D. | |
| [The Art of Prolonging Life] | |
| What is the natural term of life? One hundred years theextreme limit. Longevity runs in families. Clergymen arelong-lived. Abstemiousness, sound digestion, capacity forsleep usually found in the long-lived. Work is healthy,especially intellectual work. Reasonable hobbies are good.Beyond middle life exercise should be judicious. Diet shouldbe digestible and moderate. Clothing should be sensibleand cleanliness habitual. | [107] |
| RICHARDSON, B. W., M.D. | |
| [Natural Life and Death] | |
| Man should be as unconscious of death as of birth. To thisend let him observe the rules of Health. | |
| [Rules of Health] | |
| The health of the unborn should be ensured. Many diseasesusual in children may be avoided by isolation and disinfection.An equable temperature should be maintained. Regular andvarious mental labour is a benefit. Physical exerciseshould be moderate. The passions should obey the reason.Alcohol and tobacco are harmful. Opium, and other narcoticsshould be shunned. Not too much meat. Water the naturalbeverage. Air should be pure and not damp. Rest and recreationgainful. Idleness injurious. Sleep should be adequate. | [137] |
| COLTON, BUEL P. | |
| [Care of the Eyes] | |
| Light should fall from behind and above: it should be equalfor both eyes. An Argand lamp is best. Reading out-of-doorsis harmful. The range of the eye should not be too short.Frequent rests do good. Light should be strong enough. Theeasiest reading should be saved for the evening. Readingduring convalescence is hurtful. How to remove foreignsubstances from the eye. Cleanliness essential. | [155] |
| BILLINGS, J. S., M.D. | |
| [Progress of Medicine in the Nineteenth Century] | |
| More medical progress in the nineteenth century than in thetwo thousand years preceding. The surgeon does more andbetter work than ever: he can locate a tumour of the brain.Deformities ameliorated. Perils of maternity reduced. Blindnessin many cases prevented. Human life lengthening. The preventionof disease has made great strides. Pure water-supply, properdrainage and sewerage. Diphtheria, typhoid and consumptionare largely preventable. Scientific nursing introduced.Improvements in hospital construction and management. | [161] |