Shocking contemporaries. As the birthplace of the great discoveries in medicine?
Many medical discoveries were made thousands of years ago, but they still use modern doctors. Exciting discoveries in the history of medicine were many. And they are gradually allowed to unravel the real mystery called “the human body”.
The clue various States of the human body was looked up slowly and painfully. Not all attempts by doctors to get to the truth perceived by the society and enthusiastically welcome. Often because doctors had to go to things that seemed wild.
But without them it was impossible the further promotion of medical Affairs. Aephi has collected stories of the most brilliant medical discoveries, for which some of their authors have been almost persecuted.
Anatomical features
Structure of the human body as the basis of medical science has puzzled even the doctors of the ancient world. For example, in Ancient Greece, have already paid attention to the relationship of the various physiological States of a person and peculiarities of his physical structure. However, as experts note, the observation was more philosophical in nature: that is going on inside the body, no one suspected and surgical intervention was uncommon.
Anatomy as a science emerged only in the Renaissance. And for others it was a shock.
For example, a Belgian doctor Andreas Vesalius decided to practice autopsies in order to understand exactly how to construct the human body. Often to act, he had at night and not quite lawful methods. However, all doctors who dared to study such details, could not act openly, because this behavior was demonic.
happy birthday Andreas Vesalius! early anatomist https://t.co/X9Tmvcfw52 pic.twitter.com/OQFgU7FUFL
— happy bday authors♪♫ (@happybdauthors) 10 Jan 2017
Andreas Vesalius
Vesalius himself bought back the corpses of the master of the executions. Based on their conclusions and research, he established the scientific work “On the structure of the human body”, which was published in 1543. This book evaluates the medical community as one of the greatest works and most important discovery that provides the first complete view of the internal structure of the person.
Dangerous radiation
Today, the modern diagnosis is not to imagine without such technology as x-rays. However, at the end of the nineteenth century about the x-rays was not known absolutely nothing.
So useful radiation was discovered by Wilhelm Roentgen, a German scientist. Before its discovery doctors (especially surgeons) was at times difficult to work with. After all, they couldn’t just take it and see where there is a foreign body in humans. Had to rely only on your intuition, but also on the sensitivity of the hands.
The discovery occurred in 1895. Scientist conducted different experiments with electrons, he used for his work, a glass tube, with the discharged air. At the end of the experiments, he turned off the light and was about to leave the lab. But at this point he found the green glow in the Bank remaining on the table. It appeared due to the fact that the scientist did not turn off the device, standing in a completely different corner of the lab.
German/Dutch physicist Wilhelm Röntgen, accidentally discovered X-rays, was born in 1845 https://t.co/uw8v2j3vqr via @BiophysicalSoc pic.twitter.com/0BNL61YXe5
— neuro.social.self (@neurosocialself) 30 Mar 2017.
X-ray and x-ray
Further x-rays were only experimenting with the received data. He began to cover the glass tube cardboard, created darkness in the whole room. He also checked and the impact of light on different objects placed in front of him: paper, Board, book.
When the beam was hand of the scientist, he saw his bones.
Comparing the number of observations, he was able to understand that using these rays, we can consider what happens inside the human body without disturbing its integrity. In 1901 Roentgen received the Nobel prize in physics for his discovery. It has more than 100 years saves people’s lives, allowing you to define different pathologies at different stages of their development.
The power of microbes
Is open, to which scholars moved purposefully for decades. One of these was committed in 1846 microbiological discovery of Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis.
A monument to Semmelweis in Budapest
In that time the doctors very often faced with the death of women in childbirth. Ladies, new mothers died from the so-called child bed fever, ie infection of the uterus. And the reason for the problems the doctors could not determine. In the Department, where he worked as a doctor, had 2 rooms. In one of them the baby was delivered by doctors, other midwives. Despite the fact that medical training was significantly better women in their hands died more often than in the case of a birth with midwives. And the fact the medic is very interested.
Semmelweis began to carefully observe them work to understand the problem. And it turned out that the doctors except childbirth is still practiced the autopsy of the deceased women. And after anatomical experiments back again in Rozel without even washing hands.
This has prompted the scientist to think: not transferred if doctors at the hands of the invisible particles, which involve the death of patients?
To test his hypothesis, he decided empirically: medical students who participated in the process of childbirth, he was obliged to handle hands each time (for disinfection then used bleach). And the number of deaths of young mothers immediately fell from 7% to 1%. This allowed scientist to conclude that all maternity infection fever have one reason. The relationship between bacteria and infections is not yet in sight, and the ideas of Semmelweis was ridiculed.
Only after 10 years no less famous scientist Louis Pasteur proved experimentally the importance of the invisible microorganisms. He defined that pasteurization (i.e. heat) they can be destroyed. That is, Pasteur was able to prove the connection between bacteria and infection, conducted a series of experiments. Then left to develop antibiotics and life of patients previously considered hopeless, was saved.
Portrait of Louis Pasteur in the laboratory, the work of albert Edelfelt
Vitamin cocktail
Until the second half of the nineteenth century about the vitamins no one knew anything. And values of these small micro-nutrients and no one imagined. And now the vitamins, but not all are assessed on merit. This is despite the fact that without them you can lose not only health, but life. There are a number of specific diseases that are associated with defects of power. This statement is confirmed by centuries of experience.
For example, one of the clearest examples of failure of health from vitamin deficiency is scurvy. In one of the famous trips of Vasco da Gama, she died from the 100 members of the crew of 160.
The first who has achieved success in the field of searching for useful mineral substances, has become a Russian scientist Nikolai Lunin. He experimented on mice who consumed artificially prepared foods. Their diet consisted of the following supply system: purified casein, milk fat, milk sugar, salts, which was part of as milk and water. In fact it is all — necessary components of the milk. The mice something is clearly not enough. They did not grow, lost weight, ate your food and died.
The second batch of mice, named as control, received normal milk. All mice were developed as expected.
Lunin brought on the basis of their observations the following experience: “If, as the above experiments teach that it is impossible to provide a life-proteins, fats, sugar, salts and water, then it follows that in milk besides casein, fat, milk sugar, and salts, contains other substances indispensable for nutrition. It is of great interest to investigate these substances and to study their importance for food”.
In 1890, the experiments Lunin were confirmed by other scientists. Further monitoring of the animals and people in different circumstances have given doctors the ability to find these vital items and make another brilliant discovery, which has significantly improved the quality of human life.
Salvation in the Sahara
Today’s people with diabetes live quite normal lives with some adjustments. And not so long ago, all who suffered from such diseases was hopeless sick and died. So happened until the opened insulin.
In 1889 young scientists Oskar Minkowski and Joseph von Mering as a result of the experiences evoked in dogs diabetes artificially, removing her pancreas.
In 1901, the Russian doctor Leonid Sobolev proved that diabetes develops on the background of violations of a specific part of the pancreas and not the entire gland.
The problem was observed in those who have had failures in the glands in the area of the islets of Langerhans. There was an assumption that these Islands contain a substance that regulates carbohydrate metabolism. However, to allocate it at that time failed.
NewsAs added sugar quietly making the lives of the
The next attempt is dated to the year 1908. The German specialist Georg Ludwig Zuelzer was isolated from the pancreas extract, which even performed for some time the treatment of the patient dying from diabetes. Later outbreak of world war II postponed for a while research in this area.
The next who undertook the mystery, was Frederick Grant Banting, a doctor, a friend who died just the same because of diabetes. After the young man graduated from med school and had served during the First world war, he became an assistant Professor in one of the private med school. Reading in a 1920 article on the ligation of the ducts of the pancreas, he decided to experiment. The purpose of this experience he set to make a compound gland, which was supposed to lower the blood sugar. With an assistant, which he was given by his mentor in 1921, Banting finally able to obtain the necessary material. After the introduction of his experimental dog with diabetes die from consequences of the disease, the animal was much better. Next step was to develop the results.