Chapter VII 



THE FRONTIERS OF MEDICINE 

 by Morris Fishbein 



THE evolution of medicine since the time of the Edwin 

 Smith Papyrus (2400 b.c.) is a record of gradually 

 developing knowledge built from the contributions of 

 thousands of workers in every nation of the world. When- 

 ever a new discovery is made, the way is opened for in- 

 numerable contributions by men who have not, perhaps, 

 the ingenuity or originality to develop a new conception 

 for themselves but who may, in the laboratory or in the 

 clinic, follow a thought or a technic set forth by another 

 observer. Thus, the discovery of a new vaccine, serum, or 

 antitoxin for one condition may lead to the application of 

 similar technic for other diseases. The development of a 

 method of making visible an internal organ or cavity, as 

 is done with the special dye substance used in the case 

 of the gall bladder or with lipiodol in outlining the 

 bladder, the uterus, or the sinuses, leads the way to similar 

 investigations in other viscera and tissues. 



The invention of new devices, such as the microscope, 

 the stethoscope, or electrocardiograph, brings about the 

 application of the devices and technic to the study of 

 various conditions. The announcement of the isolation of a 

 chemotherapeutic preparation, such as salvarsan or ar- 

 sphenamine, leads the way to the development of combina- 

 tions of similar character applied to different diseases. 

 The isolation of a chemical principle, as from the thyroid 

 or the pancreas, stimulates similar work on other glands 



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