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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 1900)
January 128. 1000. iVTVfATTA irIITSrlvR.ArlvraT > Century's Progress in The Art of Healing ( Copyright , 1900 , by Cyrus Edson. ) In all the history of mankind there has boon no movement at onoo so wldespiead , so single hearted , so fraught with Impor tance to humanity , as the advance In scien tific discovery made by the doctors of medi cine during the last quarter of the present century. At all times slnco medicine became an nrt there have been men of unselfish pur pose ready to devote their energy , their vhctUh nnd even their lives to the advance ment of their profession , but where one such existed In older days there are now a thousand. The whole nlano of nrofosslon.il . thought has been ele vated. The vast mass of the regular practi tioners no longer look upon their calling as a > more method of liveli hood , but rather as a means by which they mny aid In the divine task of bettering the human race. To this end every one , In a greater or ICES degree , has become a discoverer or at least an explorer In search of discoveries. The merest student , like one of Napoleon's soldiers , realizes that the baton of fame lies to his hand , and longs for the day when he may aJd something of value to the store of I'tiowledgo which has been heaped up around him. This lust for discovery Increases in the individual from year to year and , while many failures "are recorded , the num ber of successes has gone far during the past twenty-five years to raise medicine to the piano of an exact Drainage Is better , the water supply Is Improved , plumbing Is more perfect , the pan cli set has aknost disappeared and cesspools no longer exist. Personal cleanliness Is growing more common and these changes are even more evident In the tenements than In the private houses which are not under public supervision. There nro today no such slums as those which disgraced New York In the ' 70s. Suburban trains nnd the Brooklyn bridge have thinned the population nnd Manhattan Is no longer crowded as In former days. The vast friilt-rnlsing Industries of the south , CYHUS EDSON , M. D. , FROM HIS LATEST PHOTOGRAPH. science. Physicians who practiced at an earlier v period look back to It ns men remember their childhood , In wonderment at their former Ignorance , and the men nnd women who submitted to the treatment of these days are sometimes lost in amazement at the feats accomplished by modern practi tioners. Advance In Surgery. There is nothing perhaps that appeals to * the loy nilnd BO strongly as the advance In surgery. This has largely resulted from the discoveries of Lister , who was the first to realize fully the danger of germ poisonIng - Ing In wounds , and the principles of whoso antiseptic treatment govern surgery to this day. The absence of such treatment was one of the causes of the tremendous mor tality of the civil war and of former wars , and its absence rendered fatal a largo class of operations which are now regarded aa safe. Among thcso the most important are these affecting the abdominal cavity. In the older times only 1 or 2 per cent of such operations were successful , but today " 4ess tl-an 1 per cent nro fatal. The re moval of n tumor or a cancer has become a matter of comparatively trifling moment , while the excision of part or all the stomach , of part of the Intestines , or of part of the liver , or a kidney Is no longer regarded as .occasion for astonishment. It Is possible , however , that the most beneficent result of modern surgery Is ficen In cases of appendi citis , a disease which , whllo still unrecog nized , carried off Us tens of thousands and hundred of thousands , whoso death was charged to inflammation of the bowels. The percentage of dfaths from appendicitis Is nov/ figured at 4 to C per cent. This may almost bo regarded ns a reduction of from 80 to 00per cent , for when the dlsrnso Is once developed It becomes practically In curable In the absence of surgical treat ment. Other important factors In the advance of surgery have been the Improved methods of anaesthesia made possible by the discovery of cocaine and the moro Intelligent use of chloroform , ether nnd nitrons oxldo gas. Thcso methods , by rendering the subject motionless , have made the work of the surgeon comparative easy , whllo they have > saved an Infinity of pain to the afflicted which can only bo appreciated by persons who suffered under methods now happily dis continued. Another discivery , which , while facilitating Jiin work of the surgeon , has also lessoned the suffering of the subject , Is that of the Roentgen ray. This , taken with the Edison fluoroscope , enables the surgeon to make n quick and thorough examination of any InJury - Jury to the bones or of gunshot wounds , nnd afterward to avoid an amount of manipulat ing or of cutting which would materially Increase the patient's affliction. Wonderful ( 'ImiiKfH In Ilvlilf. But whllo the feats of surgery are more spectacular , so to speak , than these ac companied by the physicians , the feats of the latter are moro far-reaching In the good they have done. It Is possible that the best results have arisen from Improved methods of living , and these Improvements are no- j > \hero so plainly to bo peen ns In Now York. Twenty years have wrought wonderful changes In the city at the Hudson's mouth the increased grain output of the west , the meat packers of Chicago and the truck taf m- ors of New England have created a food supply such as our fathers never dreamed of. The people know better what to oat and how to cook and eat it. They wear better clothes. Their whole plane of living has been raised , and In the great work of education and enllghtmont which has made this possible the magazines and the dally " press have had nn honorable share. At- tentlon to the facts nnd opinions given out by the physicians and carried broadcast by the newspapers , as well as the moro material changes , have done much to make New York one of the healthiest great cities in the world. Under the benign Influence of enlightenment and cleanliness rt considerable class of dis orders known as zymotic , or filth disease , have been almost \\lped out of existence. Typhus fever , for Instance , la as extinct as the great Auk , nnd there nro few physicians In practlco today who have over seen n CIIBO of It. Many years have passed since there has been n serious outbreak of cerobro- splnal meningitis. La grlppi > still exists , us most of us have reason to know , but only In n very modified form. It no longer de vastates whole cities us In the days before King Filth was dethroned , nnd only occasionally and gently reminds us of the ravages of which it was once capable. 'l'lu > .Mlero.MOdiiL- Knot or. The advance of the medical art proper , although so rapid In Itself , has been slow compared with that of other sciences , but this Is owing , not to any lack of en thusiasm In Us devotees , but to the mysteries of the processes of life which nro 8' > dllllcull of solution , and nlso to the fact that medicine necessarily develops In the wnko of the allied sclwices , being de pendent upon Miem for Us eyes , Its hands ami Us ears. Perhaps the most potent factor In the advancement of medicine has boon the microscope. Prior to Us perfection wo only guessed In a general way at the causes of disease. The geitn theory was n mere speculation , ac cepted by a few and scouted by many. The world of Infinite littleness was as dllllcult of mental grasp as that of Infinite greatness. Little by little , step by step , the patient leiiHinaker , calculating his angles , working on bits of glass smaller than wheat berries , evolved an Instrument that pierced the darkness and re\enlcd to thousands of eager eyes the long-loukod-for secrets of the germ world. Today the perfected microscope magnifies moro than 75,000 limes , but these figures do not convey any realization of the vast multiplication of areas that are actually compassed. Some Idea mny bo given , how ever , by saying that a common fly an eighth of an Inch tall and n quarter of an Inch long would bo magnified Into a nnonster thirty- six feet In height and seventy-six feet In length. A lens which would magnify like this could show only a portion of the fly's body at one time , however , and to explore the whole surface n skilled microscoplst would bo obliged to work for three days , of ten hours each. TJio wonders which now unfolded them selves to the eyes of science seemed almost beyond belief. Bacteria were found every where in the earth , the air , the water. They wore seen abounding In all putrlent and fermenting substances In which organic matter existed , nnd wore soon recognized as the prime cause of putrefaction. In proof of this It was learned that organic matter when exposed only to sterilized air never putrefies , nnd that if bacteria could bo excluded from wounds the latter would heal without sup puration. Study of Iliiolerlii. From the mrre discovery of bacteria to their Identification and classification was "comparatively but a step. It was found that they could bo cultivated artificially. It wan only necessary to Immerse a needle In any substance containing bacteria and thru thrust It Into some culture media such a ? soup , Jelly , cornstarch or coagulated blood. In snch a base the bacteria would be de posited In the moro congenial soil , nnd mul tiply so rapidly as eoon to provide the In- BEATRICE CHAUTAUQUA AROUND THE PAVILION BEATRICE CHAUTAUQUA AMONG TUB COTTAGES. vestlgator with ample material for his ex periments. It was to Prof. Koch's book on "Tho Etiology of Anthrax , " published In 1S7S , that the world was Indebted for the placing of bacteriology upon n solid sclenttllc baslo. This frightful disease caused the death of sheep worth $1,500,000 annually In France' alone. It was so malignant that animals feeding nbovo the graves of former vlctlnu were Infected and died. 1'coplr who handled the hldoH and wool of diseased nhi'op acquired the Infection and oven bono dust used nn manure communicated the poison to human beings and to the animals which partook ot the ensuing vegetation. The resistance of Anthrax bacilli to destructive agents seemed beyond the power of science to overcome. After eleven years of life they were found still active nnd live months' Immersion In alcohol neemed rather to stimulate their activity than to lessen It. When Introduced Into the body they multiplied with extra ordinary rapidity , consuming the oxygen In the blood faster than the lungs could supply It. After death the capillaries were found absolutely stuffed with compact masses of bacilli In numbers beyond the possibility ot computation. The study of this disease and of others which were traced to bacterial sources led to the discovery that germ diseases In gon- cial were self-limiting that they ran a specific course which In the majority of cases ended In recovery. This led to the Inference that gonna form nnd excrete some poison which Is fatal to themselves , and this was proved to bo the case by the fact that when the germs of certain diseases were placed In suitable culture media they de veloped for only a limited period and then died ; at the same tlmo it was noticed that the action of the germs upon the culture media transformed the latter Into now sub stances. The yeast germ , for.Instance , net- Ing upon cornstnrch , produced alcohol and carbonic acid , whllo certain disease germs produced the substances now widely known ns toxins. Scrum null InooiilutIon. The germs themselves In some cases wore vsed to Inoculate healthy animals , and the germs taken from them were used upon other animals. After passing through a certain number of beasts the germs weio found to have become so weakened that when Inoculated In healthy Individuals they would cause an attack of the dlsea.se , harmless In Itself , but su'llclent to prevent n recurrence of the trouble. It was In 1880 that Pasteur announced his ability to prevent chicken cholera by this means , nnd the announce ment of n virus for the euro of Anthrax soon followed. Two years Inter Koch announced the discovery of the bacillus of tuberculosis , now known as the hyphen bacillus , nnd later the Identification of the comma bacillus , as the cause of Asiatic cholera. It mny bo well to explain at this Juncture how the presence of thcso germs can bo detected. In suspected cases of cholera , for In stance , a needle Is dipped In the excreta of the patient and then thrust Into n test tube containing n storllzcd culture medicine. Almost Immediately the bacteria attack : and destroy this medium along the sides and i at the bottom of the needle thrust , until at ' last the excavation which they make ro- somblcs n turnip In outline , The comma shape of these germs together with their peculiar form of attack tender their Identification sure. With the germ of tuberculosis the method Is different. In this enso a drop of sputum Is drlivl upon n glass slldo and then treated with n solution of mothylono blue. Then , when the blue has boon roughly washed off , the tubercle bnellll nro found to have boon stained with It , whllo nil other bacilli are left stainless It Is true that the plnsmodla or genii of malaria and other gonna also take a blue stain , but as they nro never present In sputum , and , moreover , are differently shaped , there Is no danger of confusion. These two Instances will nulllco to Indicate , In a general way , the methods of Idontlllca- tlon In use. In IS IK ) Koch announced the discovery of a lymph for the euro of consumption , but did not succeed In demonstrating Its usefulness. This wan followed two years later by the production by Uoux nnd llohrlng of an anti toxin for the euro of diphtheria. Thi-so gontlumon ascertained that when curtain anlmnltt , preferably hursos , were Inoculated with gradually Increased doses of toxins made from thu Klobs-Lolllor bacilli , they bocnmo Immune to diphtheria , and thu serum of their blood was converted Into u Bpeolllo which proved to bo an almost certain euro for that formldnhlo disease. At llrot the cost of this scrum was very great , but of late years the municipality of Now York has placed It within the reach of the pom out person - son and the results of Its uiui have been in the highest degree satisfactory. I refrain from going Into the complete statistics at hand which would prove this statement , lint merely call attention to the fact that for ten years preceding the UNO of anti-toxins the death from croup and diph theria averaged In Paris 1,103 and In Merlin 1,110 annually , whereas during the anti toxin period , 1805 to ISflO , they averaged 3SS and GSG respectively , or less than one-half In Now York the deaths formerly nvuragi'd S.Gfil a year , whllo slnco the Introduction of nntl-toxln they have averaged only 1,503 and In 1808 they numbered only 023. I may add that during the yonr 1808-0 the percentage - ago of deaths In parsons who received the nnll-toxln treatment was no moro than 7.7. This record in the euro of a dlwanu formerly regarded as dangerous In the extreme and the mortality which was from 25 per cent to10 per cent Is certainly remarkable. CYIIUS EPSON , M. I ) . A Political Episode Atlanta Constitution : A Blllvlllo cnndl- dale who had but a slim cltnnco of election received this note from ono of his faithful nllliw : "John , I fully oxpoctcd to bo nblo to whirl In an' help you win your tight for coroner , but I'm laid up with the rheumatism , nn' can't move hand or foot. But I'vo done give Silas ( you know Silas , don't you ? ) ' 10 cents and a plug of tobacco to disable your oppo nent an * keep him from stump speaking , nn' ho has just told mo that ho has shot him In the loft leg by accident , as you might say an' ho ban called In his dates an' two doc- tors. So go ahead now , an' make hay whilst the Kim shines , nn' you kin pay mo back the 40 cents an' the ping of tobacco when you'ro In olllco snfo an' sound. Though I'm nn my back , Jolin , you will sco by this that I'm still your friend nn' well wisher. Go In an * win1" Er , T SfaRU ' ' " * * * " 'j , * < " -i * n * * . x-- . - "vi BEATRICE CHAt'TAljQUA KKKUKHIIINU SHADE TREKS , BEATRICE CHAUTAUQUA TENTING IN THE GROUNDS.