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

History of the Book of Medicine

March 22nd, 2008 at 3:33 pm

The Knee-Pan

The Knee-Pan.-The patella toward me pan is seen held firmly in position, giving greater strength and security to this important joint.  Around the ankle is observe the annular ligament, finding the long silvery thongs or tendons of the muscles of the legs, thus preventing their displacement.  It also towards security and string to the ankle joint, but not interfering with its elasticity in motion.  The foot shows us the natural position in shape in which the toes should be when encased in a boot or shoe.

This section relatively speaking does a decent job of sticking to the facts and avoids excessive and irrelevant language like I avoid beer pong tables.

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

  • THE PUBLIC TOWEL.

    THE PUBLIC TOWEL.

    The towels in toilets, bedrooms of hotels and boarding houses can spread disease unless they are thoroughly boiled and laundered after use, Most hotels, railroad stations, Pullman cars, etc., have done away with the public towels in toilets and use a heavy tissue paper, either as a single towel or in rolls and torn off as needed, which is not expensive and is thrown away after use.

    In Pennsylvania the State Board of Health has urged saloonkeepers, etc., to do away with the forks and spoons which are placed in a tumbler of water and are used by all comers at the free lunch counter and then replaced in the tumbler of dirty water for the next victim to use.

    Disease can be controlled better when our proprietors of saloons, restaurants, hotels, soda fountains, etc., employ only healthy employees, free from disease and take pains to boil or scald every public glass and chinaware used by not only dirty, but disease-spreading persons. The barroom towel which hangs in front of the bar in the cheaper saloons for customers to wipe their mouth and hands upon, must not be permitted.

    Maybe in a few years, we will even have our own personal lighting systems or lasik eye procedures that install night vision and public outdoor lighting will become a thing of the past.

  • To Get Rid of Fleas

    To Get Rid of Fleas.—Remove and clean rugs, etc. Dust Pyrethrum powder into all cracks and crevices where dust or dirt may be lodged to destroy the larvæ. Scrub the floor and footboards with hot soap and water to kill the adult fleas. To eliminate fleas on cats or dogs, dust Pyrethrum powder into the hair. The fleas will fall off while stupefied and should be immediately swept up and burned. Sleeping places of dogs and cats should be cleaned and covered with a carpet or matting that can be shaken into an open fire and the eggs, larvæ and fleas with which it is generally covered, destroyed.

    fighting fleas
    A look at a common flea. Fleas have historically been much more problematic for humans. today they cause small problems with pets, but in years past they were more problematic with pests, or even livestock.

    Today, even our pets cozy in warm houses covered in vinyl siding bathed in flea dip popping flea pills once a month are more protected from fleas.

    During an epidemic of Bubonic Plague destroy all rats, mice, stray dogs and cats, etc., and protect your house by killing all fleas whether in the furnishings or on your family pets. Flea bites are painful and if scratched may cause an abscess, followed by blood poisoning. The pain and itching of a flea bite can be counter-acted by touching the wound with ammonia water. To prevent infection, bathe the wound with a 5 per cent. solution of carbolic acid in water and bandage until healed.

  • Breathing

    Breathing.–Respiration, or the act of breathing, consists of thealternate inspiration and expiration of air to and from the lungs; in the process of which the lungs themselves are almost passive managements, since their contraction expansion takes place by means of the muscles which surround the chest. The diaphragm or midriff, which, when at rest in the lungs empty, forms a beautiful dome to the abdominal cavity, becomes depressed during the inspiratory process, and presses the walls of the abdomen outward. At the same time the ribs become elevated, thus increasing the size of the chest. Thereupon the elastic lungs expand to occupy the entire space, whilst the current of air, in obedience to a well known physical law, rushes down the windpipe and enters the numerous air cells, the result of which is inspiration. In expiration the reverse of this takes place. We bend forward, draw the abdominal walls inward, press the diaphragm upward, whilst the ribs are pulled downward. All these acts simultaneously performed decrease the size of the chest, and force or expel the air from the lungs.

    _____________________

    This is another one of those segments where there are excessive number of comments, however the writing is actually fairly descriptive of the process. Today the commas are a distraction but the writing is pretty good here. It is not extremely technical nor does it get into many of the finer details of the inner workings of the lungs, but from the perspective of a person describing the breeding action of the lungs as observed from the movement of the chest this is pretty good.

    Make no mistake at this point in time scientists had often studied the lungs of animals and sometimes even people in action without the obstruction of a skin or the chest cavity. Scientists almost two hundred years earlier had performed what would be considered today fairly brutal experiments on animals and dogs in particular to gain a working knowledge of the organs. Battle field physicians also received a great deal of experience in war time and this book series actually was first published during the time of the American Civil War.

 

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