MEDICINE  IN  XVIII.  CENTURY

 

During the 18^th century Georg Ernst Stahl, professor of medicine at Halle and the developer of the phlogiston theory in chemistry, postulated that movement in all living systems resulted from the presence of what he called anima, or the soul. This theory was refined by a French physician, Paul- Joseph Barthez (1734-1806), who suggested that all living forms possessed a nonmaterial élan vitale, or "life force." The concept was not completely rejected as a scientific theory until Eduard Buchner and his brother showed that yeast fermentation of sugar could occur using only the filtered juice of ground-up yeast. It was then conceded that the process exhibited a function of living systems but did not involve life.

 

 Registered FDC from 02.06.1939 with Linne and Berzelius stamps.

 

Jöns Jakob Berzelius  1779 – 1848

Swedish chemist, considered one of the founders of modern chemistry. Berzelius was born near Linköping. While studying medicine at the University of Uppsala, he became interested in chemistry. After practicing medicine and lecturing, he became a professor of botany and pharmacy at Stockholm in 1807. From 1815 to 1832 he was Professor of Chemistry at the Caroline Medico-Chirurgical Institute in Stockholm. He became a member of the Stockholm Academy of Sciences in 1808, and in 1818 became its permanent secretary. For his contributions to science, Berzelius was made a baron in 1835 by Charles XIV John, King of Sweden and Norway.

Berzelius's research extended into every branch of chemistry and was extraordinary for its scope and accuracy. He discovered three chemical elements—cerium, selenium, and thorium—and was the first to isolate silicon, zirconium, and titanium. He introduced the term catalyst into chemistry and was the first to elaborate on the nature and importance of catalysis. He introduced the present system of chemical notation, in which each element is represented by one or two letters of the alphabet. In addition, Berzelius was primarily responsible for the theory of radicals, which states that a group of atoms, such as the sulphate group, can act as a single unit through a series of chemical reactions. He developed an elaborate electrochemical theory that correctly states that chemical compounds are made up of negatively and positively charged components. All of his theoretical work was supported by elaborate experimental measurement. His greatest achievement was the measurement of atomic weights.

 

Theories of Treatment

Various humbug systems of the preceding century became more polished and subtle in the 18^th century. For example, following the "life force" school of thought, John Brown (1735-85) of Edinburgh concluded that all disease was due to excessive stimulation or lack of stimulation. He developed the Brunonian system of treating disease, administering either sedatives or stimulants in massive doses. Because the basis of the method of treatment was wrong, much harm was done to patients. Battles over the Brunonian system were bitter, even resulting in riots.

 

An equally all-inclusive system, but one opposite to that of Brown, was developed by Samuel Hahnemann 1755 – 1843. He advocated treating the patient with a drug that produces the same symptoms as the disease from which he or she is suffering. This practice might have had disastrous consequences had it not been for his second principle, which stated that the smaller the dose, the more effective the drug. As a result his patients were prescribed harmless medicines. Hahnemann also insisted that drugs be given separately rather than in dangerous mixtures that were in vogue for centuries. His system, called homeopathy, led to the establishment of homeopathic medical schools, hospitals, and societies worldwide, a movement that virtually disappeared in the 20^th century.

 

Medical Advances

Hermann Boerhaave, a Dutch physician, by means of his practice, teaching, and writings, influenced the development of Leiden into the world center for medicine. James Lind, a British naval surgeon, cured scurvy, caused by a deficiency of vitamin C, by requiring sailors to drink lime and lemon juice. Edward Jenner demonstrated that vaccination with cowpox, a mild disease, would prevent smallpox. Smallpox has been eradicated as a result. English physician William Withering (1741-99) discovered the use of digitalis, perhaps the most useful drug in the treatment of heart disease. Austrian physician Leopold Auenbrugger 1722 – 1809  found that by tapping gently on the chest, fluid in the chest cavity as well as other signs of disease could be detected. Percussion and auscultation with a stethoscope became part of clinical diagnosis in 1761 and 1816 respectively following their introduction by Auenbrugger and Laënnec 1781 – 1826. Stethoscope, an instrument used for auscultation—that is, to detect and study sounds arising within organs such as the heart, lung, and stomach prior to treatment. The stethoscope consists of a bell and diaphragm, or receiving head, connected by a Y-joint and rubber tubing to two earpieces. The sounds may also be amplified electronically. The stethoscope was invented by the French doctor René Théophile Hyacinthe Laënnec, in about 1819. The modern stethoscope was invented by the American doctor George Philip Cammann.

English surgeon John Hunter (1728- 93) is notable for his emphasis on precise anatomical knowledge and his insistence on experimentation. Italian anatomist Giovanni B. Morgagni (1682-1771) founded pathologic anatomy.

 

Marie Francois Bichat 1771 – 1802

French anatomist and physiologist, born in Thoirette and educated in Lyons and Paris. He was the first investigator to discern textural differences in the various parts of the body and to use the term “tissue”. Bichat isolated 21 kinds of tissue in the human body, and his work became the basis of modern histology and pathological anatomy. He wrote several books on membranes and tissues.

 

 

Edward Jenner  1749 – 1823

British doctor, who discovered the vaccine that is used against smallpox and who laid the groundwork for the science of immunology. Born on May 17, 1749, in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, in a rural vicarage, Jenner became a keen observer of nature at an early age. After nine years as a surgeon's apprentice, he went to London to study anatomy and surgery under the prominent surgeon John Hunter, then returned to Berkeley to start a country practice that lasted the rest of his life.

Smallpox, a major cause of death in the 18th century, was treated in Jenner's time by the often-fatal procedure of inoculating healthy persons with pustule substances from those who had mild cases of the disease. Jenner observed, among his patients, that those who had been exposed to the much milder disease cowpox were completely resistant to these inoculations. In 1796 he inoculated an eight-year-old boy with cowpox virus; six weeks after the boy's reaction Jenner reinoculated him with smallpox virus, finding the result negative. By 1798, having added similarly successful cases, Jenner wrote An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccine, a Disease Known by the Name of Cow Pox, a tract in which he also introduced the term virus.

Jenner encountered some public resistance and professional chicanery in publicizing his findings, and he experienced difficulties in obtaining and preserving cowpox vaccine. Nevertheless, his procedure was soon accepted, and mortality due to smallpox plunged. The procedure quickly spread through Europe and to North America. Three-quarters of a century later, the French chemist Louis Pasteur, drawing on Jenner's work, set a course for the science of immunology and the discovery of modern preventive vaccines. Jenner died in Berkeley on January 26, 1823.