AMEEICAE INYENTIOXS AND IHSCOVERIES IN MEDICINE, 

 SUEGERY, AND PRACTICAL SANITATION.* 



By John S, Billings, M. D. 



In connection with this celebration of a century's work of the Amer- 

 can x)ateut system, I have been requested by the advisory committee 

 to prepare a brief paper uijon inventions and discoveries in medicine, 

 surgery, and practical sanitation, with si)ecial reference to the progress 

 that has beeu made in this country in tliese branches of science and art. 



It«won]d be imi)ossible to present on this occasion such a summary 

 as would be of any si)ecial interest or use, of the progress which has 

 been made in medicine and sanitation during the century, either by 

 the world at large or by American physicians and sanitarians in par- 

 ticular: and T shall therefore confine my remarks inainlyto the progress 

 which has been made in these branches in connection with mechanical 

 inventions and new chemical cond)inations devised l)y American 

 inventors — whicli will re(|uire much less time. 



The application of the ])atent system to medicine in this country has 

 had its advantages for certain ])eople, has given employment to a con- 

 siderable amount of capital in ])roduction (and to a nuicli larger amount 

 in advertising), has contributed materially to tlu^ revenues of the Gov- 

 ernment, and has made a great deal of work for the medical profession. 



So far as J know, but one complete system of medi(;ine has been pat- 

 ented in this country, and that was the steam, (Cayenne i)e])per, aiul 

 lobelia system — commonly known as.Thomsonianisni — lo which a patent 

 was granted in ] 83(1. The right to ])ractice this system, with a book 

 describing the methods, was sold by the i)atcntee for *20, and perhaps 

 some of you may have some reminiscences of it connected with your boy- 

 ish days. I am certnin I shall ncAcr forget the effects of "composition 

 powder," or of "number six," which was essentially a. concentrated 

 tinctnr<' of Cayenne ])epper, and one dose of whicli w;is ciMMigli to make 

 a boy Avilling to go to school for a month. 



From a rei)ortmadeby the Commissioner of J'atents in ISl'.t, it ai)])ears 

 that 86 patents for medicines had been granted up to that date; but 



*An acldrcsa on llic occasion of the centennial celebration of the organization of 

 the U. S. Patent Oflice* delivered in Washington. FyoceccVinga and Addresses, 1891. 

 pp. 413-422. 



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