Little Masterpieces of Science: Health and Healing

Part 1

LITTLE MASTERPIECES OF SCIENCE

Little Masterpieces of Science Edited by George Iles

HEALTH AND HEALING

Sir James Paget, M.D. Patrick Geddes and Sir J. R. Bennett, M.D. J. Arthur Thomson T. M. Prudden, M.D. B. W. Richardson, M.D. G. M. Sternberg, M.D. Buel P. Colton Robson Roose, M.D. J. S. Billings, M.D.

NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 1902

Copyright, 1902, by Doubleday, Page & Co. Copyright, 1894, by Harper & Brothers Copyright, 1901, by Popular Science Monthly Copyright, 1900, by D. C. Heath & Co. Copyright, 1901, by Evening Post Publishing Co. Copyright, 1901, by G. P. Putnam's Sons

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 gas and suggested its use in surgery. Horace Wells, a dentist of Hartford, Conn., uses the gas for the painless extraction of teeth. Sulphuric ether also observed to produce insensibility to pain. Dr. Crauford Long, of Jefferson, Ga., uses it in 1842 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 the pains of childbirth. Anæsthesia not only abolishes pain, it broadens the scope of surgery and makes operations safe which formerly were most perilous. 3

BENNETT, SIR J. R., M.D.

JENNER AND PASTEUR

Jenner's indebtedness to John Hunter. Jenner's early observations in natural history. He hears a countrywoman say, "I can't take small-pox for I have had cow-pox." This sets him thinking. He finds that of various forms of cow-pox but one gives protection against small-pox. In 1796 successfully vaccinates a patient. Holds that small-pox and cow-pox are modifications of the same disease and that if the system be impregnated with the milder disease, immunity from the severer is conferred. Immense saving of life by vaccination.

Pasteur, a chemist, studies fermentation, which is due to the rapid multiplication of organisms. Similar organisms he detects as the cause of the silkworm disease and of anthrax in cattle. He adopts the method of Jenner, prepares an attenuated virus and protects cattle from anthrax. 25

GEDDES, PATRICK, AND J. ARTHUR THOMSON

PASTEUR AND HIS WORK

Distinguishes minute facets, not before observed, in certain chemical compounds. Proves that the fermentation of tartrate of lime is due to a minute organism and that a similar agency underlies many other kinds of fermentation. Protects wine from fermentation by heating it for a minute to 50° C. Disproves the theory of spontaneous generation. Discovers an antitoxin for hydrophobia. 51

PRUDDEN, T. M., M.D.

TUBERCULOSIS AND ITS PREVENTION

In Nature an extremely important part is played by minute organisms. Some of them take up their abode in the human body and there set up diseases of which consumption is the chief. The tubercle bacillus is the sole cause of consumption: its entrance may be prevented, mainly by destroying the spittle of patients. Susceptibility to consumption may be inherited: the disease itself is not. Any cause which lowers vitality increases susceptibility. Dust is a source of danger both out-of-doors and in. Dust in houses should be removed, not simply stirred up. Encouragement for sufferers in early stages of disease. 63

STERNBERG, G. M., M.D.

MALARIA AND MOSQUITOES

Malaria, long believed to be due to bad air, is really chargeable to a mosquito discovered by Dr. Laveran, 1880, and first detected in America by Dr. Sternberg, 1886. Healthy individuals inoculated with blood containing the parasite develop malarial fever. The mosquito theory of infection was advanced by Dr. A. F. A. King, Washington, 1883. Dr. Manson and Dr. Ross confirmed the theory by observation and experiment. Five individuals exposed to the July air of the Roman Campagna escape malaria by using screens on doors and windows and nets over their beds. 89

Part 2

ROOSE, ROBSON, M.D.

THE ART OF PROLONGING LIFE

What is the natural term of life? One hundred years the extreme limit. Longevity runs in families. Clergymen are long-lived. Abstemiousness, sound digestion, capacity for sleep usually found in the long-lived. Work is healthy, especially intellectual work. Reasonable hobbies are good. Beyond middle life exercise should be judicious. Diet should be digestible and moderate. Clothing should be sensible and cleanliness habitual. 107

RICHARDSON, B. W., M.D.

NATURAL LIFE AND DEATH

Man should be as unconscious of death as of birth. To this end let him observe the rules of Health.

RULES OF HEALTH

The health of the unborn should be ensured. Many diseases usual in children may be avoided by isolation and disinfection. An equable temperature should be maintained. Regular and various mental labour is a benefit. Physical exercise should be moderate. The passions should obey the reason. Alcohol and tobacco are harmful. Opium, and other narcotics should be shunned. Not too much meat. Water the natural beverage. Air should be pure and not damp. Rest and recreation gainful. Idleness injurious. Sleep should be adequate. 137

COLTON, BUEL P.

CARE OF THE EYES

Light should fall from behind and above: it should be equal for both eyes. An Argand lamp is best. Reading out-of-doors is harmful. The range of the eye should not be too short. Frequent rests do good. Light should be strong enough. The easiest reading should be saved for the evening. Reading during convalescence is hurtful. How to remove foreign substances 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 the two thousand years preceding. The surgeon does more and better work than ever: he can locate a tumour of the brain. Deformities ameliorated. Perils of maternity reduced. Blindness in many cases prevented. Human life lengthening. The prevention of disease has made great strides. Pure water-supply, proper drainage and sewerage. Diphtheria, typhoid and consumption are 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.

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.

Continue reading Little Masterpieces of Science: Health and Healing free in the Wunder reader →