THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN MEDICINE 



BY FRANK BILLINGS 



[Frank Billings, Professor of Medicine, University of Chicago, and Professor of 

 Medicine and Dean of Faculty, Rush Medical College, b. April 2, 1854, High- 

 land, Wisconsin. M.D. Northwestern University Medical School, 1881; M.S. 

 ibid. 1890; Demonstrator of Anatomy, ibid. 1882-85; Lecturer on Physical Dia- 

 gnosis, ibid. 1883-87; Professor of Physical Diagnosis, ibid. 1887-91; Professor 

 of Medicine, ibid. 1891-98; Professor of Medicine, Rush Medical College, 1898; 

 Dean of Faculty, ibid. 1900. Member of Association of American Physicians; 

 Association of American Pathologists; American Medical Association; Illinois 

 State Medical Society; Chicago Medical Society; Chicago Pathological Society; 

 Chicago Academy of Science; Chicago Neurological Society; Chicago Literary 

 Club. Editor of Year-Book of Medicine.} 



MODERN medicine is a composite of the knowledge of many sci- 

 ences. The last twenty-five years mark the period of the greatest 

 evolution of medicine in its history. The foundation of modern medi- 

 cine was laid by the labors of hundreds of earnest workers in the 

 field of science during the last three centuries. As a rule the value 

 to modern medicine of these pioneer investigators was in an in- 

 verse ratio to the length of the period which separated them from 

 modern times. Exceptions to this rule are found, however, even 

 in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Indeed, at that period 

 when one considers the superstition, prejudice, mystic belief, magic, 

 astrology, dogma after dogma, and system after system which pre- 

 vailed, the inheritance of the dark ages, our admiration is excited 

 by the really great results of the work of some of the scientists. 

 Until the seventeenth century, Hippocrates, Galen, and Aristotle 

 were the authorities in medicine. There was practically no ad- 

 vancement in medicine in that period of time. Anatomy and patho- 

 logy were not understood; dissection was forbidden by the clergy 

 of the Middle Ages, because it was considered impious to muti- 

 late a form made in the image of God. Dissections of the human 

 body were practiced to a limited degree during the fourteenth and 

 fifteenth centuries, but the sixteenth century was marked by the 

 birth of Vesalius, a naturalist, whose investigations in human ana- 

 tomy marked the beginning of scientific medicine. 



The seventeenth century marked the birth of realism. Galileo 

 was a reformer in physics, and other scientific men broke away 

 from the superstitions and dogmas .of the day and searched for 

 light along self-chosen paths. During the century, Harvey dis- 

 covered the circulation of the blood. Zoology and botany were 

 cultivated. Romer calculated the velocity of light. Lord Bacon's 

 brilliant mind shone resplendent. Sir Isaac Newton discovered 

 the law of gravity. Malpighi, Steno, Bartholin, De Graf, Wharton, 



