UTAH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 183 
A few specific treatments were known, but many of these 
were founded on false principles. The work of Pasteur 
on the micro-organisms causing disease and the applica- 
tion by Lister of the knowledge of these organisms in an- 
tiseptic surgery have probably done more to overcome 
human suffering than all previous discoveries. 
The utter helplessness of man in blindly coping with 
disease is realized when it is known that in Naples 300,000 
people died in five months due to contagion, and in Con- 
stantinople 10,000 people died in a single day. As late as 
1867, 3.4 per cent of the women confined in hospitals died, 
while today the mortality is only .08 of one per cent. Be- 
fore the days of Pasteur and Lister about 41 per cent of 
those having a limb amputated died, while today the per- 
centage has been reduced to about 5. These are only a few of 
the many illustrations that could be cited to show how 
scientific discoveries have helped in the control of disease 
and in the reduction of the death rate. 
In manufacturing of every kind the discoveries of 
chemistry and physics have wrought such changes that 
scarcely any of the processes used by our grandparents 
are in use today. The new is being replaced by the newer. 
Electricity, taken from the waterfall and transmitted to 
where it can be best utilized, now turns the wheels of 
machinery once operated by hand. In the digging and 
smelting of ore, in the making of iron and steel, and in the 
converting of these into articles of commerce, all the pro- 
cesses have been improved by discoveries of science. Simi- 
lar improvements have been made in the textile industries; 
in fact, every branch of manufacturing is now using 
science as a basis in production. Through science many 
luxuries that could formerly be enjoyed only by the rich 
are now placed at the disposal of everyone. 
Such household conveniences as electric lights, steam 
heat, modern plumbing, and labor-saving machines have 
added much to the comforts of home and have given the 
housewife a greater opportunity to prepare herself for in- 
telligent motherhood. 
