Coagulation of the Blood. --according to Dr. Draper, of New York, 20,000,000 die at a single breath! Blood when exposed to the air coagulates, and the value of this peculiar yet intrinsic property cannot be overestimated. Win and archery is ruptured bleeding takes place, the blood coagulates and forms a plug, thus preventing further hemorrhage.thus we observe with what divine foresight and wisdom, not only the wants of the body are provided for, but also the incidents to which it is liable.

At the beginning of this topic I started to assume that the author was referring to the death of blood cells in the number of 20 million as opposed to people or something else. Even the book with a section heading it sounds a little sensational. The description of coagulation wasn't too bad and it made sense and then the author seemed to lose his scientific perspective again and started talking about the divine and basically spouting some relative nonsense which again makes me do believe that the author had reached the extent of his knowledge. I think he was just basically filling in the text with more words. If I didn't know better I would suspect the author was being paid by the word and basically was just paid three times over what that information was worth. Actually, come to think of it, I do not know better. I have done some external research to attempt to identify the bonafides of the author and the editors, but have so far come up short in that department. I couldn't verify their credentials as medical professionals any more than I could say that they were masons that specialized in the construction of outdoor fireplace settings.

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

• Insects As Common Carriers
  
  

  Insects As Common Carriers.- great strides have been made in recent years by scientists in regards to the further prevention of disease by studying the life habits of insects.  It has been clearly proven that the poison or germ of certain diseases are carried by them, such as tuberculosis, typhoid fever, bowel complaints of children, by the common housefly; malaria and yellow fever by the mosquito; the bubonic plague by the rat flea, of which there are several varieties, and the squirrel flea, of which there are also several.

  It is easily understood that to prevent the spread of a contagious disease from one individual to another, the precautions are not complete unless he or she be protected against either the bite of a mosquito or fleet which is received into its own blood the poison or the germ causing the disease, which conveys by biting another person.  Fly should be kept out as, by coming in contact with the spittle or discharges from a patient, they carry the germ of poison upon their feet, etc. to the food, milk, water and by direct contact to another person.

  As to aid in the prevention of disease, the numerous boards of health of city and state have issued regulations and instructions whereby these insects can be destroyed and then every person, sick or well, can be protected.  If well, the flight is a danger by bringing disease into her home, if ill, it can convey our disease to another screen is home and start an epidemic.

  There is distinctly different set of priorities that are being covered in this book than those we might consider today.  Typically malaria for example is only known in the tropics, but that definitive line on the globe might not have been known about back then.  Installing screens on Windows had a dual benefit of keeping out mosquitoes as well as flies.  Today we might worry about getting a discount on budget software or spending less time in traffic, but back then mosquitoes had much larger impact on the lives of people in the west much as the same insects have a great impact on people that live in Africa today.

• View of the Eye
  
  

  The next section covers The View of the Eye on page 36.

  The next section goes into a short description of the image of the eye as provider from a profile of a human skull which includes some of the muscles and nerves associated with the eyeball. It does not include a detailed description were drawing of the actual eyeball other than its contractual dry within that cross-section including the rest of the head.

  View of the Eye — We can likewise view the human eye as it lays in position in its bony socket, and wonder at our creators munificence and benevolence in providing us with such a delicate instrument of vision with which to light our way about in the world, and view the magnificent beauties of nature that surround us on every hand. Here, too, we observe the teeth, those essential prerequisites to personal beauty, and.able adjuncts to the powers of articulation and speech, protruding through the gums, their roots being visible above and below the gums; and the lower set we see the dental nerve distributing its nervous supply to their individual and collective roots.

  There are a couple things that stand out in this one simple paragraph.

  1. This book is written essentially by a collection of editors, that seemed to have taken information from many other oaks and sources over the years. As the book was written initially in the 1860s and updated throughout the next 50 odd years it’s possible that copyrights and copying or even citing sources were not as necessary at the time. So it’s difficult to tell who the original source of any of this information might have been other than the collective thank you at the beginning of the book. With all that said, it strikes me as odd that the editors would stray from the stated topic of “the eye” and move into a short discussion of the teeth within the same paragraph.
  2. Often the book has already mentioned references to God, as the book was written at the turn of the century closing out the Victorian era, I assume that they are referring to the Christian God. I actually have few doubts about that. However it is illustrative of the fact that this particular book was written in a way that was not secular in nature. I suspect we will see many additional references throughout the book as time goes on and I’m withholding further views on the subject until I have a more complete picture of what the true views of the “editors” might be as they manifest in the edited writing.
• A Picture of Good Health
  
  

  Note, This is the opening section of the first chapter of the first book.

  The following Opening lines precede the segment:

  A Description of the Colored Anatomical Charts Composing the Manikin Accompanying this Work.

  We now proceed with what the book refers to his chart 1, however this would normally reference a chapter 1 I believe today.

  A PICTURE OF GOOD HEALTH

  This exquisitely beautiful and artistic anatomical late presents the head and face of a young man in the enjoyment of perfect health. Apart from the subject it’s so accurately and faithfully represents, it is in itself a viable life-like portraiture of the human head and face, and shows to what perfection the art of anatomical plate printing has attained. Note the prominent perceptive faculties, the high four head, features characteristic of a large brain and a massive and unimpaired intellect. Mark the open expression of the eye! How true to nature and life — like. Observe the compressed lips, denoting firmness of character and determination of purpose. Look at tentatively at the bright, open, manly countenance; there are no signs of mental decrepitude, physical bodily infirmities, nervous fear, or exhaustion of brainpower or life — force in the expression of the noble, ruddy and healthy face. It is, as its name implies, typical of Perfect Health!

  Now you might ask, “What in the world is as book referring to at this point?”

  The answer is what I can only refer to as a pop out picture on page 37.