| 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] |
HEALTH AND HEALING
ESCAPE FROM PAIN: THE HISTORY OF
A DISCOVERY
Sir James Paget, M.D.
[Sir James Paget was one of the most eminent English surgeons of the last century: his writings on surgical themes are of the first authority. The essay, the chief portions of which follow, appeared in the Nineteenth Century Magazine, December, 1879. The editor's permission to reprint is thankfully acknowledged. The essay is contained in “Selected Essays and Addresses,” by Sir James Paget, published by Longmans, Green & Co., 1902. The same firm publishes “Memoirs and Letters of Sir James Paget,” edited by Stephen Paget, one of his sons.]
The history of the discovery of methods for the prevention of pain in surgical operations deserves to be considered by all who study either the means by which knowledge is advanced or the lives of those by whom beneficial discoveries are made. And this history may best be traced in the events which led to and followed the use of nitrous oxide gas, of sulphuric ether, and of chloroform as anæsthetics—that is, as means by which complete insensibility may be safely produced and so long maintained that a surgical operation, of whatever severity and however prolonged, may be absolutely painless.
In 1798, Mr. Humphry Davy, an apprentice to Mr. Borlase, a surgeon at Bodmin, had so distinguished himself by zeal and power in the study of chemistry and natural philosophy, that he was invited by Dr. Beddoes, of Bristol, to become the “superintendent of the Pneumatic Institution which had been established at Clifton for the purpose of trying the medicinal effects of different gases.” He obtained release from his apprenticeship, accepted the appointment, and devoted himself to the study of gases, not only in their medicinal effects, but much more in all their chemical and physical relations. After two years' work he published his Researches, Chemical and Philosophical, chiefly concerning Nitrous Oxide, an essay proving a truly marvelous ingenuity, patience, and courage in experiments, and such a power of observing and of thinking as has rarely if ever been surpassed by any scientific man of Davy's age; for he was then only twenty-two.