- Email: [email protected]
THE DISCOVERY OF THE DISCOVERED.
1081 suffer for
beauty’s sake. The evil caused by thoughtless sufficiently restrain themselves in their use of unseemly language cannot be exactly estimated. It can only be guessed at, but the fact remains that it is quite impossible for women to pass along many of our streets without their ears being assailed by expressions In puerperal and which must insensibly affect them. of in other forms even insanity nothing astonishes the friends more than the indecent expressions and the oaths used by the patient. They cannot understand where and how these phrases have been acquired. There are, unfortunately, too many opportunities for the incorporation into the mental life of objectionable elements which, at first latent, declare themselves in all their objective repulsiveness when the patient becomes a reflex machine, as it were a phonograph reproducing the impressions of these street vulgarisms. men
who do not
-
THE DISCOVERY OF THE
DISCOVERED.
that contemporaries of Hippocrates were in the habit of dipping their instruments in boiling water. In the thirteenth century it was customary before operating to administer to patients by means of sponges placed in the nose the juices of sedative plants-e.g., stramonium, belladonna, and mandragora, consciousness being regained by the application of vinegar compresses. Among other methods of treatment now in vogue hydrotherapy, gymnastics, and the open-air treatment were practised by the Romans and the Greeks. Hypnotism was thought highly of by the priestly physicians in the temples of Isis in ancient Egypt. Perhaps one of the oldest forms of medication is organotherapy, which after a period of decline has again come into vogue. In medicine and surgery, as in all the arts and sciences, methods become general, then lapse into disuse, to be revived possibly at a later period and then to achieve a popularity which attaches to a supposed new thing.
by the fact
THE QUEEN’S
JUBILEE HOSPITAL.
THE simultaneous resignation of the majority of the M. 0. van Schoor in an essay in the Jo2crnal de members of the medical staff of a hospital always should Pharmaeie for March on the evolution of medicine material afford for inquiry, even though no difficulty should accentuates the truth of the adage, Nil novi s2eb sole. have been Some of his illustrations are worth giving. experienced in filling the vacancies thus created. Hippocrates that the Queen’s Jubilee Hospital has It will be remembered was aware of the patches in the intestines the discovery of of late been which is ascribed to Peyer (1680), and Caspar Aselli (1600) attracting attention and to those who are with its early history the marvel has been that is wrongly said to have discovered the chyliferous vessels to acquainted has not made an earlier appearance. The initiathe trouble which Herophilus and Erasistratus drew attention (250 B.C.). The pancreatic duct, the discovery of which is attributed to tion and the foundation were questioned from the first and Hoffman and Wirsung (1630), is mentioned by Eudemus, many protests were raised against calling a new hospital into a contemporary of Galen. Again, Alcaeon, who lived existence with a name which, though attractive, was in the fourth century before Christ, refers to the auditory scarcely warranted. The local need of the hospital was not duct which afterwards bore the name of Eustachian apparent, since within reasonable distance a larger and The same thing has occurred in therapeutics. better equipped hospital had been established for some years. tube. remedies that were employed in remote antiquity Through all the appeals it was evident that the conception Many fell into disuse and were again introduced into practice at a of the need of the hospital and of the suitability of its name later date. Thus, arsenic was used as a febrifuge by originated with a general practitioner who was ready to Lentilius and Hippocrates recommended it for cancerous contribute largely and to identify himself with the underIn the natural course of events a medical staff affections. The most recent researches have resulted in the taking. with him and a board of management was became associated for the same in of arsenic the form of purpose employment The work has not, however, progressed smoothly formed. the and arrhenal. cacodylates organic compounds-e.g., and on the 8th late medical staff, with the excepFeb. its the diuretic value of but squill Pythagoras recognised Mr. tion of Benham and the dental surgeon, resigned, R. F. has been found in the use lapsed for a long period. Opium the staff new over the work on or about March 8th.’ of the inhabitants lake Switzerof the of taking villages dwellings land as well. as in ancient Egyptian tombs, but afterwards On March 13th the chairman, Mr. G. R. Everitt, wrote it appears to have been forgotten during several centuries. to the authorities of King Edward’s Hospital Fund, asking Hippocrates employed this drug freely as a sedative and them to make inquiries "in connection with the recent afterwards it had a vogue in the Middle Ages. Even trouble at this hospital and if possible to make arrangeParacelsus did not scruple to use this vegetable drug in ments for such investigation." Eventually Mr. Frederick the case of one Kornel von Lichtenfels who had vainly M. Fry and Mr. J. Danvers Power were appointed to tried other practitioners without being cured. Paracelsus make an inquiry. Two visitors of the hospital-namely, speedily effected a cure but it is of interest to note that Sir Thomas Smith and Mr. H. C. Smith-were also invited to the patient refused to pay the fee which had been agreed serve on the inquiry but the former was unable to attend upon before the treatment was begun. The case was tried and the latter was out of England. Mr. Fry and Mr. Power before the court at Basle, with the result that the fee was held three sittings at the hospital, on April 6th, 7th, and 8th, reduced to a few florins. This so angered Paracelsus that and paid a visit of inspection on April 10th. The board ’of he reproached the judge and so brought about his banish- management was represented by Mr. Tom Green and Mr. ment and the loss of the chair which he occupied in the Bavin and the late medical staff by Mr. R. P. Brooks, university. A remedy known to Galen was the male fern from whom, fays the committee of inquiry, "we received which after the lapse of centuries was brought to the every assistance." The report of the committee contains 23 notice of Louis XIV. by a quack. In surgery it is no less clauses of which the last four are recommendations. The true that some of the methods employed by modern salient points of the report are as follows. As regards Mr. advanced surgeons were known to the ancients. Thus Benham it may be assumed that he continues to act on the staff for reasons personal to himself. " Unless these are mentioned the Coelius intubation of and Hippocrates larynx Aurelianus gave instances of the successful operation connected with his recognised professional eminence, as of tracheotomy. Praxagoras ventured to perform a laparo- distinct from academic qualifications, the only conclusion we tomy and employed intestinal sutures. Operations for hernia can draw is that he occupies his position as a member of the medical staff in virtue of his being the founder of the were performed 250 B.C. and Serapion removed diseased is a false one." the Puncture of thorax in was rediscovered hospital. Should this be the case his position kidneys. empyema " in 1650, after having been forgotten apparently for centuries. As regards thenew staff the report says : Individually and That the practice of asepsis is not entirely modern is shown collectively the new staff may have acted quite correctly for
beauty’s sake. The evil caused by thoughtless sufficiently restrain themselves in their use of unseemly language cannot be exactly estimated. It can only be guessed at, but the fact remains that it is quite impossible for women to pass along many of our streets without their ears being assailed by expressions In puerperal and which must insensibly affect them. of in other forms even insanity nothing astonishes the friends more than the indecent expressions and the oaths used by the patient. They cannot understand where and how these phrases have been acquired. There are, unfortunately, too many opportunities for the incorporation into the mental life of objectionable elements which, at first latent, declare themselves in all their objective repulsiveness when the patient becomes a reflex machine, as it were a phonograph reproducing the impressions of these street vulgarisms. men
who do not
-
THE DISCOVERY OF THE
DISCOVERED.
that contemporaries of Hippocrates were in the habit of dipping their instruments in boiling water. In the thirteenth century it was customary before operating to administer to patients by means of sponges placed in the nose the juices of sedative plants-e.g., stramonium, belladonna, and mandragora, consciousness being regained by the application of vinegar compresses. Among other methods of treatment now in vogue hydrotherapy, gymnastics, and the open-air treatment were practised by the Romans and the Greeks. Hypnotism was thought highly of by the priestly physicians in the temples of Isis in ancient Egypt. Perhaps one of the oldest forms of medication is organotherapy, which after a period of decline has again come into vogue. In medicine and surgery, as in all the arts and sciences, methods become general, then lapse into disuse, to be revived possibly at a later period and then to achieve a popularity which attaches to a supposed new thing.
by the fact
THE QUEEN’S
JUBILEE HOSPITAL.
THE simultaneous resignation of the majority of the M. 0. van Schoor in an essay in the Jo2crnal de members of the medical staff of a hospital always should Pharmaeie for March on the evolution of medicine material afford for inquiry, even though no difficulty should accentuates the truth of the adage, Nil novi s2eb sole. have been Some of his illustrations are worth giving. experienced in filling the vacancies thus created. Hippocrates that the Queen’s Jubilee Hospital has It will be remembered was aware of the patches in the intestines the discovery of of late been which is ascribed to Peyer (1680), and Caspar Aselli (1600) attracting attention and to those who are with its early history the marvel has been that is wrongly said to have discovered the chyliferous vessels to acquainted has not made an earlier appearance. The initiathe trouble which Herophilus and Erasistratus drew attention (250 B.C.). The pancreatic duct, the discovery of which is attributed to tion and the foundation were questioned from the first and Hoffman and Wirsung (1630), is mentioned by Eudemus, many protests were raised against calling a new hospital into a contemporary of Galen. Again, Alcaeon, who lived existence with a name which, though attractive, was in the fourth century before Christ, refers to the auditory scarcely warranted. The local need of the hospital was not duct which afterwards bore the name of Eustachian apparent, since within reasonable distance a larger and The same thing has occurred in therapeutics. better equipped hospital had been established for some years. tube. remedies that were employed in remote antiquity Through all the appeals it was evident that the conception Many fell into disuse and were again introduced into practice at a of the need of the hospital and of the suitability of its name later date. Thus, arsenic was used as a febrifuge by originated with a general practitioner who was ready to Lentilius and Hippocrates recommended it for cancerous contribute largely and to identify himself with the underIn the natural course of events a medical staff affections. The most recent researches have resulted in the taking. with him and a board of management was became associated for the same in of arsenic the form of purpose employment The work has not, however, progressed smoothly formed. the and arrhenal. cacodylates organic compounds-e.g., and on the 8th late medical staff, with the excepFeb. its the diuretic value of but squill Pythagoras recognised Mr. tion of Benham and the dental surgeon, resigned, R. F. has been found in the use lapsed for a long period. Opium the staff new over the work on or about March 8th.’ of the inhabitants lake Switzerof the of taking villages dwellings land as well. as in ancient Egyptian tombs, but afterwards On March 13th the chairman, Mr. G. R. Everitt, wrote it appears to have been forgotten during several centuries. to the authorities of King Edward’s Hospital Fund, asking Hippocrates employed this drug freely as a sedative and them to make inquiries "in connection with the recent afterwards it had a vogue in the Middle Ages. Even trouble at this hospital and if possible to make arrangeParacelsus did not scruple to use this vegetable drug in ments for such investigation." Eventually Mr. Frederick the case of one Kornel von Lichtenfels who had vainly M. Fry and Mr. J. Danvers Power were appointed to tried other practitioners without being cured. Paracelsus make an inquiry. Two visitors of the hospital-namely, speedily effected a cure but it is of interest to note that Sir Thomas Smith and Mr. H. C. Smith-were also invited to the patient refused to pay the fee which had been agreed serve on the inquiry but the former was unable to attend upon before the treatment was begun. The case was tried and the latter was out of England. Mr. Fry and Mr. Power before the court at Basle, with the result that the fee was held three sittings at the hospital, on April 6th, 7th, and 8th, reduced to a few florins. This so angered Paracelsus that and paid a visit of inspection on April 10th. The board ’of he reproached the judge and so brought about his banish- management was represented by Mr. Tom Green and Mr. ment and the loss of the chair which he occupied in the Bavin and the late medical staff by Mr. R. P. Brooks, university. A remedy known to Galen was the male fern from whom, fays the committee of inquiry, "we received which after the lapse of centuries was brought to the every assistance." The report of the committee contains 23 notice of Louis XIV. by a quack. In surgery it is no less clauses of which the last four are recommendations. The true that some of the methods employed by modern salient points of the report are as follows. As regards Mr. advanced surgeons were known to the ancients. Thus Benham it may be assumed that he continues to act on the staff for reasons personal to himself. " Unless these are mentioned the Coelius intubation of and Hippocrates larynx Aurelianus gave instances of the successful operation connected with his recognised professional eminence, as of tracheotomy. Praxagoras ventured to perform a laparo- distinct from academic qualifications, the only conclusion we tomy and employed intestinal sutures. Operations for hernia can draw is that he occupies his position as a member of the medical staff in virtue of his being the founder of the were performed 250 B.C. and Serapion removed diseased is a false one." the Puncture of thorax in was rediscovered hospital. Should this be the case his position kidneys. empyema " in 1650, after having been forgotten apparently for centuries. As regards thenew staff the report says : Individually and That the practice of asepsis is not entirely modern is shown collectively the new staff may have acted quite correctly for