The Famous London Pump. -- at any rate, the Broad Street pump had in London the reputation of furnishing, and it's cold sparkling waters, a better medium for "the cup which cheers but does not inebriate," then was elsewhere to be found. When the cholera invaded this neighborhood the wealthy residents retired to the fashionable suburbs which were still uninfected; but, to the surprise of many, the cholera broke out among them with terrible severity. The health officers soon discovered, however, that those who were attacked had sent and every day to their favorite Broad Street pump for their water supply, and, by removing the pump handle, they quickly put an end to the epidemic.

It's interesting to note that this particular paragraph describes a rather famous historical incident that did occur in London and marked the discovery of cholera by John Snow, who was responsible for removing that pump handle, as well as plotting the progression of the disease as it broke out throughout London.

The discussion and precautions offered throughout this section would have been as practical as a person offering advice today providing tips to buy car insurance online. In the west we do not hear about this disease as often as they did 100 years ago in America or Europe for that matter, but in the east and developing areas of the world that have not upgraded their water plants (or installed water plants and sewage treatment at all) this is still a very real issue.

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

• Purity of Rain Water
  
  

  There is magic in a rain drop.  A rain drop does not wonder how, when where or why, it does not keep track of time nor wonder about how to lose weight, it just is. ~ unknown

  Purity of Rain-Water.—The water, which rises in vapor into the atmosphere from all the oceans, seas, lakes and rivers of the globe is condensed after a longer or shorter time, and falls to the earth again as rain. Rain-water, being in reality a distilled fluid, is the nearest approach to a pure water which we find in nature, and when caught in clean vessels placed upon elevated objects is almost free from contamination.

• Difficulty of Obviating Lead Poisoning
  
  

  Difficulty of Obviating Lead Poisoning. — attempts have been made to obviate the danger of water contamination from lead pipes in various ways, but not as yet with complete success. In some instances the pipes have been lined with other metals, such as tin or zinc; but, at least in some instances, a galvanic action has thus been set up, which corroded the conduits with great rapidity, and probably lead, therefore, still more dangerous pollution of the water supply. Coating the pipes on the inside with coal tar, bituminous varnish, solution of gutta-percha and the India rubber, have also been experimented with, as yet with but partial success.

  Well those prescriptions sound about as useful as most prescriptions for acne treatments today.  Again, I would remind everyone that the quote above is from a 100 year old medical book and the preventative steps offered really only offer historical perspective. 

• Bony Frame of the Hand – Palm of the Hand
  
  

  Bony Frame of the Hand. – on turning over this flap we behold the bony framework of this wonderful organ. This seemed to consist of a number of bones, so exquisitely arranged as to combine the greatest possible degree of flexibility and strength.

  Palm of the Hand. – below this is given an elegant, and the same time a true and correct view of the muscular arrangement of the palm of the hand and fingers. Over the wrist to see me annular ligament, that then, tough, strong sheet, which binds the muscular courts and holds them firmly in place us in these anatomical charts have we depicted the perfection of the human hand.

  Sometimes you definitely do get the impression that the author is talking much more about the book they are writing, the pictures in the book and absolutely nothing at all related to the topic.  The author could be talking about acne treatment and it would be more relevant than talking about these charts and the ‘perfection of the human hand’.

  del.icio.us tags: history of medicine, medicinal teaching, hand frame, hand palm, palm of hand, bony hand