How to Use the Popular Science Library; History of Science; General IndexServiss, Garrett Putman
History
How to Use the Popular Science Library; History of Science; General Index
Serviss, Garrett Putman
Popular science library; Science -- History
Theodor Billroth was one of Lister's greatest disciples. He introduced
Lister's methods into continental surgery and through their use
improved the treatment of wounds and opened up new fields in the
surgery of the alimentary tract. He was the first to make a resection
of the esophagus and pylorus and to excise the larynx.
Mikulicz-Rodecki, a Pole, was Billroth's chief assistant. He was also
a pioneer in Lister's practice. Specializing on the surgery of the
alimentary organs, he promoted antiseptic methods and introduced the
modern modes of exploring the esophagus and stomach. He was also a
master in the treatment of diseases of the mouth.
Felix Guyon applied Lister's system to surgical treatment of the
genitourinary ailments, and became a leader in this class of surgery.
Bernard Naunyn, a well-known German writer on surgery, became a leading
authority on diabetes and diseases of the liver and pancreas. Jean
Martin Charcot made the Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, the greatest
of the world's neurological clinics. He was also a great authority
on diseases of the biliary passages and kidneys. Sir James Paget,
Sir Jonathan Hutchinson, Sir William Gull, Jenner, Wilks, Spencer
Wells, and Clifford Allbutt, besides doing much by their writings
to advance the practice of medicine, all closely allied themselves
with large hospitals, giving as much attention to the hospitals as to
the treatment of disease. Modern hospitals are largely due to their
pioneering work.
Louis Pasteur's studies in fermentation led to the discovery of
lactic-acid bacteria and this was the starting point for a number of
revolutionary discoveries in bacterial diseases. Infectious diseases
were placed in new categories by his work.
The etiology of traumatic infectious diseases was advanced by the
researches of Robert Koch (1843-1910). His work in discovering the
cholera vibrio, the microorganisms of Oriental ophthalmia and his
researches on the nature and treatment of tuberculosis, made his name
known everywhere. His isolation of the tuberculosis germ in 1882,
and that of Asiatic cholera in 1884, were leading steps toward the
discovery of a great number of disease germs.
Fevers, like typhus, typhoid, yellow fever, and malaria, a few
generations ago, took a great annual toll of lives. The work of
the men mentioned above, Lister, Pasteur, Koch, and the French
physiologist, Claude Bernard, gave medical men the means of curbing the
ravages of these diseases so that to-day they are incidental annoyances
rather than human scourges.
The germ of typhoid fever was discovered in 1880 by Eberth. The cocci
of pneumonia were isolated by Frankel in 1886.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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