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

History of the Book of Medicine

July 14th, 2007 at 3:31 am

The Pyloric Gate and The Liver

The Pyloric Gate.  -- At the smaller end the muscular fibers contract and form a gateway -- the pylorus, as it is called -- which carefully guards the exit from the stomach, and allows no food to escape until properly prepared.  The gastric blood vessels are seeing distributing themselves over the outer surface of the organ, thus ensuring its nutrition and repair.

The Liver.  -- The liver is the secreting organ by which the bile is formed.  It is situated on the right side below the diaphragm, and is of a reddish-brown color.  It is a regular in form, being convex on the upper surface, irregularly concave behind, very thin in front, and weighs about 4 pounds.  It is, therefore, seen to be the largest organ or gland in the body.  It is divided into two lobes, the right and the left, the former being by far the larger.  I'm turning the flap over, we see how intricately is arranged internally.

________

It's strange but there are only a few sections like this one where there are no bizarre items to report or identify.  It's kind of a nice change of pace when the medical textbook reverts back to being a medical textbook. :-)

I'm sure some strange topic will come up to catch my attention soon and it's not like topics today in real life don't sometimes appear a little out of the ordinary.  I recently covered a reference to something known as tranquility diapers, which I believe is some reference to the peace of mind that a person suffering from incontinence, or IBD might experience after they utilize this particular product and start to live a more normalized life again. 

In many ways it's all a matter of perspective, my perspective of this old textbook is skewed significantly from the perspective of the initial writers and editors.  Like calculus problem I'm studying the derivative.  In this case the derivative can be measured by the span of time and change in knowledge .

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

  • THE VERMIFORM APPENDIX

    The section of the book is supports chart number two is about to come to a close

    .  The next few sections are short simple and mostly to the point.  The author doesn’t seem to dwell on the topics with excessive words.  In general many of these areas discuss a number of organs are actually fairly important and it’s rather odd that the author gave them so little attention compared to the drivel that the author used for complete nonsense.  So here we go…

    The chart brings into view the location and form of that wonderful little organ known as the Vermiform (wormlike) Appendix (appendage).  It is an appendage of the Caecum, or lower bowel.  Its uses as a bowel appendage have never been established.  It occurs in other animals besides man.  Notwithstanding its diminutive size and uselessness as an organ is the seat of that most painful and dangerous disease called Appendicitis, which was formerly attributed to the presence of some foreign body, is a grape-seed, lodged within.  But it has been found inflammation of the Appendage may arise from numerous other causes.  Many doctors insist that a surgical operation — that is, the entire removal of it with knife — is the proper curative agent, especially in acute cases.  But others insist that the knife is too frequently used, and that the disease, if taken in time, is quite surely curable by other means.

     

    Will a hundred years from the date of this book, we still don’t know too much about appendix.  However removal by surgery does say to be the most common form of curing this problem.  A hundred years ago before antibiotics have been discovered, surgeries were much more dangerous and it is readily apparent why scientists and doctors would have considered alternate methods of curing appendicitis.

    If you’re looking for something funny, do a quick Google search on cures for appendicitis and you’ll still find some peculiar notions of how to cure the problem.

  • How to Destroy the Breeding places of Mosquitoes-part 2

    How to Destroy the breeding places of Mosquitoes-(cont).-every individual should do everything possible to get rid of all breeding places.  Examine your premises and be sure that they are free from any vessels, etc., which will receive and contain still water for one week or longer, that will afford a breeding place for mosquitoes.  A loose brick causing a depression in the pavement, defective plumbing, cups, buckets, barrels, water pans and chicken yards, etc., a horse trough, a gutter on the ease of a row for house, models, barrels, tin cans, water spouts out of repair or clogged up and so do not drain properly.  These collectors of water should be removed and all plumbing, drains, roofs etc., repaired.

    It strikes me that these two paragraphs are back to back and seem to contain the same unending list of places that mosquitoes might breed even though the paragraphs are right next to each other it seems a little ridiculous especially when I have to write all of us,.  Hopefully you’re enjoying the concepts and we will hopefully actually hear some remedies on how to actually destroy breeding place as opposed to repetitive paragraphs describing where those breeding places are.  Then again, sometimes even in modern life you will hear rambling and more often that copy writing text that about irrelevant topics from progesterone to kids toys to scooter safety ad nauseam.

  • 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.

 

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