It is difficult for us at the present time to understand why the circulation of the blood was not discovered prior to this period, but to the ancients it was incomprehensible. They believed the arteries contained air, because after death they were found empty. William Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood, did not publish the results of his investigations until 1628, first submitting them to fifteen years of proof. This naturally revolutionized physiology. The capillary circulation, or that intermediate between the arteries and veins, was described by Malpighi in 1628. Of course this was possible only through the means of a microscope. No less remarkable was the discovery of the lymphatic vessels. Peruvian bark (the alkaloid quinine being more commonly employed) so universally employed as a specific for malaria, was first used in the early part of this epoch.
During this period ophthalmology (which treats of the diseases of the eye) was cultivated in France, cataract was first recognized, and the diseases of the ear first systematically described. Altogether the century showed marked progression, closing with the teachings of Sydenham, “the English Hippocrates.”
The eighteenth century was one of continued progress. The eminent observers devoted more time to microscopical work, studying the minute structure of the tissues and cells. One of the most prominent is Lieberkühn, who invented the solar microscope, with which he was enabled to exhibit the circulation of the blood. The systematic practice of the preventive inoculation against small-pox by vaccination originated in this decade. The first inoculation with cow-pox was in 1774. Edward Jenner, the English surgeon, was “the father of vaccination,” which he first did in 1796. About 1800, Dr. Waterhouse, then professor of medicine in Harvard College, performed the first vaccination in America, the patients being his four children.
The treatment of the insane was changed from one of torture and barbarous methods to a more scientific one, conducive to the comfort and return to health of the patient.
This period marks the earliest example of medical teaching in this country, consisting of the demonstrations of anatomy in Philadelphia by Dr. Thomas Cadwalader, upon his return from Europe. This was previous to 1750, about which time a body was dissected in New York. In 1754–56 Dr. William Hunter of Scotland delivered a series of lectures on anatomy, accompanied by dissections, at Newport, R. I.
In 1762 Dr. Shippen laid the foundation of a medical school in Philadelphia, which finally developed into the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania. This was the first medical school established in this country. In 1768 a school of medicine was organized in New York, and the next in succession was the Medical Department of Harvard College in 1782. The fourth was established at Hanover, 1797, being connected with Dartmouth College. These were the only medical colleges instituted prior to the present century. The first book on American surgery was written in 1775 by Dr. John Jones, the title being “Wounds and Fractures.”
“The tendency of the nineteenth century seems to be a continuation, and, perhaps, in some respects an exaggeration of the condition that obtained in France during the previous century; in other words, the world has become practically an enormous school of pathological anatomy and diagnosis—a school inaugurated by Bichat, as representing so-called scientific or exact medicine.”
DR. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
Darwin has promulgated “the most influential philosophic doctrine of this or any other century.” Our materia medica and the laws of physics have been enriched by botanical discoveries, aiding greatly the experimental researches of to-day. Helmholz has given us an instrument called the ophthalmoscope, containing a series of numbered magnifying lenses, with which the interior of the eye can be explored by looking directly through the pupil of the eye, similar to looking through a door into a room. Through his knowledge of physics, Seebach was able to make fame through his discovery of thermal electricity. Daguerre, who invented photography, must not be overlooked, as by means of this process, many conditions are directly appreciated by the eye which could not be told in words and still convey an idea of the tumor, etc., being described. It may not be amiss to mention here that the biograph will in a few years prove an important factor in teaching the various operations. One surgeon in France is now employing it. We must not overlook Edison and his electrical achievements which directly and indirectly affect medicine; nor Bell’s telephone, which is sometimes used to locate a bullet. By placing the receiver to the ear and probing for the bullet with electric conductors, the making and breaking of the circuit upon contact with the missile is transmitted to the receiver and distinctly heard. This procedure, however, has been discarded since the introduction by Röntgen of the X-ray.