Reviewing the Medical Books and Journals that constituted Medical understanding a century back.

History of the Book of Medicine

May 8th, 2007 at 11:56 pm

Muscular Arrangement and Blood Supply

Muscles of the Trunk of the Human Body. Muscular Arrangement and Blood Supply.  -- In this exquisite and magnificent colored engraving we had a grand view of the wonderful arrangement of the muscles of the trunk of the human body, together with the muscular arrangement of the arms and likewise their blood supply.  The trunk of the body is divided into two compartments -- the thorax and the abdomen.
I believe this opening segment is referring to the first image and charred two.  (see chart 2 first picture  ) Now I am not a doctor nor I are very good artist, but as I look at this drawing or engraving as it's referred to it seemed a little basic to me.  Sure I'm used to souped-up graphics and a number of other things that it developed in the last 90 years.  That difference I suppose is one of the remarkable things about the book.  I often point out the difference and grammar and punctuation and perspective to need a little bit and knowledge. This is another example of cultural differences spanning 90 years of time.  90 years ago this might have been a very accurate and high-tech picture, well today and 2007 it looks extremely basic almost like something that a grade school student might color with a crayon. It may be a little trite but like to point out also a diagram of the belly button, which strikes me as rather ludicrous looking even though it's not all that bad.  Maybe it's the two-dimensional rendering of the belly button that strikes me, or maybe it's the juxtaposition of a section of skin on top of a section of the torso that has no skin.  I'm not really sure but it seems little funny to me.

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

  • The Opening of a Volume of Medical History – Library of Health

    This is the opening pages, an introduction to the Library of Health. The book was originally edited by Benjamin Frank Scholl,Ph.G., M.D. and Anne McFarland Sharp B.A., M.D. and Frank E. Miller, A.M., M.D.

    The opening sequence reads as follows:

    Wide Thanks to those that Have Gone Before

    the use of home medical books has now become general and they are recognized as being just as essential to the protection of the family, the care of health, the prevention of disease, the care beyond; and giving assistance in the absence of the doctor, and in preventing unnecessary sickness and suffering in the starving of life itself, as the scientific textbooks are essential to the position.

    This knowledge is not intended to make doctors out of Lehman or to encourage self-medication except in emergency.it aims to teach prevention rather than cure.it is a well known fact that over 50%. Of the sickness that comes to the home is unnecessary and preventable if the people have the proper knowledge. The right kind of information in the hands of the mother will prevent unnecessary sickness, take care of accidents in emergencies, and save thousands of lives, when the doctor cannot be reached in time; it also teaches the care and nursing of the sick and the rearing of the children and thousands of homes that cannot afford a professional nurse.

    It may be said that during the past five years the treatment and cure of many diseases has entirely change; but more important discoveries and new and successful methods for the curing of disease have been proven and adopted during this time than in any similar. During the past century. The old method of treating fever was by shutting the patient a tight room, smothering him with Bud clothing, allowing no ice water, and dosing with medicine. The latest treatment whether the favor as typhoid and its character, pneumonia or malaria fever, is to have the patient covered lightly with a sheet, the room perfectly ventilated and the temperature largely controlled by a external applications.

    Measles is not treated by simple methods. The treatment for scarlet fever is materially changed and fatalities greatly reduced. So we might mention many others. It is not too much to say that the mortality of all diseases has been diminished greatly by the new treatments and nursing adopted within the last five years. The tendency of modern treatment is tor preventive medicine and careful nursing.

    Of every 1000 babies born in this century, 124 die before they are a year old. An average of 300,000 babies under-year-old died yearly in the United States the past few years. Half of this number could have been saved of every mother and every home knew how to take proper precaution, and give proper care nursing.

    The child should be exposed to any disease — for instance, the measles — the “Library” tells you just how many days before the rash appears and how it can affect others exposed to it. By having this information the mother can call the doctor and Time Inc. and more intelligently assessed and cooperate with him.

    Then just think of the accidents that are happening every day in the doctor may be miles away. We given the “Library” the quickest, best in the most efficient treatments and accidents in emergencies, in the absence of a doctor, and it is the duty of everyone to know what to do for the first aid to the sick and injured. Someone should take poison — for instance, “carbolic acid” or “Lye,” which are very common in the home — perhaps your child takes a drink of one of them by mistake. You call the doctor and by the time he gets there it may be too late, but by turning to “POISONS,” you find, “For Caroblic Acid take Epsom Salts,” and “for Lye take Oil.” this information may save a life.

    And so on with every kind of emergency. They happen every day, especially with children. There’s never a wash day that passes of the land but what there are numbers of cases of children getting hold of ammonia. If you’re the one took a swallow from the ammonia bottle, you couldn’t grab it in your arms the moment it screamed and ran two blocks to the doctor in time to do any good, but you could grab the vinegar bottle — but those handy — and give a good swallow vinegar, which will immediately counteract the ammonia. No home should be without such information.

    What would you do in the absence of the doctor? Ask yourself a question about health or life and turn to the “Library” for your answer.

    did you ever stop to think that one could bleed to death in three to seven minutes, before you could get medical help? Here’s given the simplest and best information on just where to press, to stop the flow of blood from any part of the body; and if you know just how, you can stuff it with your own thumb or finger or by using a simple turn it until you can procure assistance; then you can wait for the doctor — powers, if necessary.

    It is only too true the large majority of our women are raised in an atmosphere of false modesty that prevents them from having the necessary knowledge to take proper care of themselves and avoid various diseases and disorders. Thousands of women have questions they would like answered that they will not ask a local physician on account of embarrassment, also expense, and this information is absolutely essential to their personal health. These minor troubles through neglect of 10 times become chronic and incurable, while, if taken at the start, they are easy to remedy.

    Watch carefully every little headache, cough, choke, pain or fever — they may lead to something serious. Prevention is better than cure and prevention begins at home. the index under the HEADINGS will direct you to the proper place, where you can obtain the information you need to guide you.

    The mother is the one who looks after the health of the family. The mother is with the children 24 hours in the day and feels most responsible case of sickness. That is why the “Library” is placed in the homes — IT IS FOR THE WIFE and FOR THE MOTHER.

    If the husband comes home sick, or a child is ill, the wife is expected to the nursing. How is she going to do this if she never had any experience with sickness? The nursing department will tell her. It teaches how to make poultices, ointments, blasters, Serbs, etc.; how to change the sheets, making the patient comfortable, and how to be the sick. Of the most folly to the sick room is the nurse; she should understand how to prepare food and diet for the particular ailment of the patient, and to assist the doctor and battling with disease and restoring health. “Slobbery of Health”gives you all this information in a plane, practical way that anyone can understand.

    Knowing from our experience that the medical specialists and teachers who stand at the head of their profession right and language of technical expression, it has been necessary for the publishers to seek the services of a competent editorial staff, who put the technical and scientific knowledge and a plain practical form, so that anyone can understand.

    we wish to extend wide thanks to the contributors to this work into the professors, positions, specialists and lecturers of universities and colleges throughout the world, so of whom have gone before, and the recognized standard home medical works published in England, Germany, France, Spain, in America, from whom our editors have gleaned as follows:

    Book Targets Audience of Mothers and House Wives slated to be Defacto Nurses

    I will pause as the book then proceeds to list approximately 30 some doctors physicians and specialists in many other areas I will come back and fill in these names a later date. So that’s the opening of the book, and right away I is find it rather interesting the assumptions that the book makes right off the bat. The book assumes that women and in particular wives are housewives are destined for the role of nursemaid. And that they should read this book to be prepared for the medical situation that will arise in the family based on the presumption that next presumption that a doctor or hospital will not be close at hand or readily available. Obviously the book was written at a time of emergency services had neither been conceived yet.

    Changes in Perils to the Family in the United States

    In addition it’s interesting for the perspective that many of the assumptions of the problems that can impact children are families have changed somewhat. Washes and done on a wash day using ammonia anymore. And measles isn’t as prevalent as it used to be throughout the world. Possibly more striking is the number of infant deaths mentioned hundred and 124 deaths out of a 1,000 seems like a very high number at a comparison to today’s numbers.

    Today we complain that infant death rates are not going down fast enough. Our infant death rates for infants that were successfully born through a live birth is 6.8 incidents per 1000 in 2003. it is not surprising that we’ve come a long way in almost 100 years. However consider the impact on families and people and individuals close to a hundred years ago when awas so much more likely to die shortly after birth or during its first year of life.

  • How Mosquitoes Develop

    How mosquitoes develop.-A Female mosquito lays from 200 to 300 eggs at a time and always in standing water, as the eggs must have still water and no matter how filthy the water, it will not destroy the eggs or prevent their development.

    This is such a basic description that it is almost not worth the ink it is printed with.  But if you take a look at Wikipedia, you might get just a simple sense of how much our knowledge has grown.  Below is what constitutes a basic reference on the biology of Mosquito from Wikipedia.  Where are previous knowledge of a mosquito could be measured in a couple dozen bits, it might now take a few megs of ram to contain our knowledge.

    Anatomy

    The mosquito is composed of a head, thorax, and abdomen. The head contains two compound eyes and proboscis. The proboscis is a piercing mouthpart used to suck blood from its prey. The mosquito’s head is mostly eye. Each eye is made up of many tiny lenses forming a compound eye. This type of eye allows a very big field of vision that easily detects movement. Next is the thorax. The thorax has one pair of wings and one pair of halteres. The thorax also has markings that are used in the identification of the mosquito. The abdomen, or gut, expands as it ingests its prey’s blood. The abdomen also has many markings that are used to identify the mosquito species.


    [edit] Life cycle and feeding habits

    Culex mosquito larvae

    Culex mosquito larvae

    In its life cycle the mosquito undergoes complete metamorphosis, going through four distinct stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult, first described by the Greek philosopher Aristotle.[28]


    [edit] Egg

    Female mosquitoes lay their eggs one at a time or together in rafts of fifty or more eggs on the surface in fresh or any stagnant water. Anopheles and Aedes mosquitoes do not make egg rafts but lay their eggs separately. Culex, Culiseta, and Anopheles lay their eggs on water while Aedes lay their eggs on damp soil that is periodically flooded by water. Most eggs hatch into larvae in about 48 hours. A female mosquito may lay a raft of eggs every third night during its life span if it can find enough blood to develop the eggs.


    [edit] Larval stage

    The hatching eggs turn into larvae that live in the water, coming to the surface to breathe. The first larval stage is known as the first instar. As they grow, they shed or moult their skin about four times, growing larger after each moulting. After the first molt they are second instars, then third, then fourth. Most larvae use siphon tubes going to the water surface for breathing and hang on or near the water surface. Anopheles larvae do not have a siphon and typically lie parallel to the water surface. The larvae eat micro-organisms and organic matter in the water for food. Mosquito larvae, commonly called “wigglers” or “wrigglers”, must live in water from 7 to 14 days depending on the water’s temperature. At their last moult they may be up to 1 cm or 1/2 inch long. In each stage they may be eaten by other insects or fish. Mosquito larvae in the genus Toxorhynchites eat other mosquito larvae.

    The length of the first three stages (or instars) is dependent on the species and temperature, with lower temperatures increasing the length of the development stage.[29] Culex tarsalis may complete its life cycle in 14 days at 20 C (68 F) and only ten days at 25 C (77 F). Some species have a life cycle of as little as four days, whereas in other species some adult females can live through the winter, laying their eggs in the spring. Many species of mosquito live their adult stage in roughly two weeks to two months. The larvae are the “wrigglers” found in puddles or water-filled containers. These breathe air through a siphon at the tail end. The pupae, or “tumblers”, are nearly as active as the larvae, but breathe through thoracic “horns” attached to the thoracic spiracles. Most larvae feed on micro-organisms, but a few are predatory on other mosquito larvae. Some mosquito larvae, such as those of Wyeomyia live in unusual situations. These mosquito wigglers live either in the water collected in epiphytic bromeliads or inside water stored in carnivorous pitcher plants. Larvae of the genus Deinocerites live in crab holes along the edge of the ocean. On the fourth molt the larva changes into a pupa.


    [edit] Pupa

    The pupae are lighter than water and float on the surface as the mosquito larva metamorphoses (changes) into an adult mosquito in about two days. Pupae do not have mouths and therefore do not feed. This is important to know from a larviciding point of view because most larvicide has to be ingested by the mosquito. A surface oil or mmf (monomolecular film) should be applied to the breeding site as a means of suffocating the pupa.


    [edit] Adult

    The newly emerged adult must rest on the surface of the water for a short time to allow itself to dry and all its parts to harden before it can fly. This requires still water: mosquitoes do not breed in fast-moving water.

    The total time to go through all four stages depends on the temperature and the type of mosquito, but typically takes 14 days or less in warmer weather. In various species the time varies from 4 to 30 days.

    Most mosquito species outside of the tropics overwinter as eggs, but many overwinter as larvae or adults. Mosquitoes of the genus Culex (a vector for St. Louis encephalitis) overwinter as mated adult females.

    Most mosquitoes stay fairly close to the ground and do not range too far from where they were born, but may be dispersed long distances by wind. Mosquitoes are not strong flyers, making only 1-2 km/h (1-1.5 mph); therefore, an electric fan may suffice as an effective mosquito screen. They feed mostly in the mornings and evenings and occasionally at night, avoiding the heat of the day. During the day they usually find somewhere cool to rest. Mosquitoes can tend to live over puddled water or grassy areas.

    Mosquito biting finger

    Mosquito biting finger

    Only female mosquitoes bite animals to get blood needed to produce eggs. Male mosquitoes do not bite, but both the male and female feed on the nectar of flowers for food. In most female mosquitoes, the mouth parts form a long proboscis for piercing the skin of mammals (or in some cases birds or even reptiles and amphibians) to suck their blood. As opposed to a syringe’s typically smooth needle, the mosquito proboscis is highly serrated, which leaves a minimal number of points of contact with the skin being pierced — this reduces nerve stimulation to the point where the “bite” is typically not felt at all. (See the Mosquitoes and health section below for an explanation on the swelling). The females require protein for egg development and laying, and since the normal mosquito diet consists of nectar and fruit juice, which has no protein, most females must drink blood to lay eggs. Males differ from females, with mouth parts not suitable for blood-sucking.

    The female mosquitoes locate their next blood donor victims primarily through scent. They are extremely sensitive to the carbon dioxide in exhaled breath, as well as to substances found in sweat and various body odours such as 1-octen-3-ol. They are believed to be able to track potential prey for tens of meters. Some people attract more mosquitoes than others, apparently based on how they “smell” to a mosquito. Mosquitoes can also detect heat, so they can find warm-blooded mammals and birds very easily once they get close enough. Repellents like DEET work by disorienting the mosquito as it gets close to its potential next meal but do not kill mosquitoes. Surprisingly this works about 95% of the time.[citation needed]

    Male mosquitoes may tend to be smaller than females, with features such as feathered antennae and conspicuous external genitalia.

  • Spring- and Well-Waters

    Spring- and Well-Waters.– Spring- and well-waters are almost always more or less impregnated with the soluble ingredients of the earth and rocks through which they pass, and are therefore sometimes very unsuitable for the ordinary ones of life. As a general rule, they are colder than other waters, although hot springs are found in various parts of the world, some with a temperature as high as the boiling point.

     

    Now unlike the last section, the section actually seems to describe one of the categories that has fallen into the varieties of water section. That said, the author does seem to mix and match two different categories together by combining springs with Wells. The obvious difference here is that a spring is natural and a well as to be done by a person. The author also doesn’t seem to take any consideration as to what might heat a spring, and from that perspective you once again have two doubts the scientific inquiry that has taken place within this section, like you might doubt a doctor prescribing legal steroids to a person is uninjured and planning on competing in the Olympics.

 

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