The physical phenomena of the earth's atmosphere are studied under the science of meteorology.
The art of weather forecasting is as old almost as mankind, but only in recent years has it been placed upon a sound basis.
Torricelli, in 1643, invented the barometer; Boyle, in 1685, developed it and applied it to measuring gas pressures. The chemists of the eighteenth century, Boyle, Black, Rutherford, Priestley, Scheele, Lavoisier, and Cavendish, all studied the chemistry of the atmosphere. Franklin, in 1749, raised thermometers by kites to measure temperatures. Balloon ascents were made by Jefferies and Blanchard, in 1784, for atmospheric observations. Soundings of the upper air by balloons, kites, and other apparatus have been conducted since the closing years of the nineteenth century.
CHAPTER XV
MEDICINE AND PHARMACY
Medicine was in a state of transition at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The great scientific discoveries of the eighteenth century had carried people away to such an extent that they showed a tendency to exaggerate their bearings upon medicine. The result was a wild diffusion of extravagant speculation and unsubstantial hypotheses.
One of the leading physicians of the eighteenth century, who wielded broad influence throughout Europe, was Herman Boerhaave (1668-1738). His work, entitled "Aphorismi," published in Leyden, 1709, was immensely popular. It was translated into all the European and several Asiatic languages. His reputation now depends upon his chemical discoveries and his medical teachings.
One of the most brilliant students of Boerhaave's medical school was Albrecht von Haller (1708-77). Haller published many medical works and monographs. His "Elements of Human Physiology," (1759-66) is the best known. The function of bile in the digestion of fats, the demonstration of Glisson's hypothesis that irritability in an excised muscle is a specific property of all living tissues, and several theories explaining the heart's activities, were among his best contributions to medical science.