248 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIU. No. 1368 



of sypHlis in 1907 and Schaudinn's discovery 

 of the Treponema pallidum, two years earlier, 

 in 1905. 



Medical science is indebted to the patholo- 

 gists for many important and valuable con- 

 tributions during the past fifty years. As a 

 result of their investigations the pathology 

 of many of the diseases to which human flesh 

 is heir has come to be more or less understood. 

 The progress of physiology has kept pace with 

 pathology along allied lines, but its scope is 

 much more comprehensive than the latter, as 

 it invades the domain of chemistry to some 

 extent. This field of medical research has 

 contributed more of practical value than any 

 other, with the exception of bacteriology, with 

 which it is also closely linked. In this field 

 has been developed the knowledge of the 

 ductless glands which at the present time is 

 attracting so much attention. It was Brovm- 

 Sequard who, in 1891, called attention to this 

 domain of the body. 



Charcot laid the foundation for the later 

 developments in psychoanalysis by his studies 

 on hysteria a half a century ago. Freud in 

 the present generation has carried this branch 

 of medicine to the point of practical applica- 

 tion. To Golgi's method of staining, which 

 was given to the medical profession in 18Y3, 

 the knowledge of the histology of the nervous 

 system is attributable. 



The place which Lister occupies in relation 

 to the developments of surgery is recognized 

 by the entire scientific world. Not infre- 

 quently he is alluded to as the father of 

 modern surgery. As he antedates the period 

 covered by this paper I will not dwell further 

 upon his achievements, although to him may 

 be attributed the foundation of aseptic 

 surgery. 



The advancements in this branch of medi- 

 cine are so many and spectacular as to well 

 nigh overwhelm the chronicler of a brief his- 

 tory of medical progress. 



One of the earliest important steps in the 

 progress of surgery was the introduction of 

 steam sterilization of dressings and instru- 

 ments in 1886 by von Bergmann. This super- 



seded corrosive sublimate antisepsis then in 

 use. 



Esmarch, in the early seventies, called atten- 

 tion to his method of controlling hemorrhage 

 at operations by (bandaging the limb above the 

 site of operation, thereby giving the operator 

 an almost bloodless field and greater freedom 

 for exact work, and at the same time saving 

 the patient from unnecessary loss of blood. 

 I Sir Spencer Wells went a step farther and 

 devised the clip or hemostatic forcep to pick 

 ■up the individual bleeding points at the site 

 of operation, this doing away with Esmarch's 

 method. 



I Local anesthesia by ether spray was intro- 

 duced by Richardson in 1886 and cocaine by 

 Anrep and Kohler about the same time. Dr. 

 Coming, in 1885, described the results of his 

 experiments in spinal anesthesia, although the 

 claim for this new and important discovery 

 has been made in Germany on behalf of Bier 

 in the same year. Six years later Quincke 

 called attention to the importance of a study 

 of cerebro-spinal fluid in certain local and 

 system diseases. 



. As a result of the work of Corning, and 

 later Quincke, Orile developed his method of 

 anocia-association, which for a brief time was 

 widely used. 



, The strides in abdominal surgery during the 

 past twenty-five years have been so rapid, 

 varied and extensive as to make it impossible 

 ,to select any high points for mention, since 

 they all come well within that category. 

 , It may not be inappropriate to call attention 

 in passing to the fact that much of the recent 

 progress in field surgery has been due to the 

 great surgical clinics which have been de- 

 yeloped during the past twenty years, both 

 here and abroad. 



I The care of the mother at child-birth is the 

 oldest branch of the practise of medicine and, 

 without doubt, the most important to the fu- 

 ture of the world. Whereas, there have been 

 no startling developments in this branch of 

 medicine yet the obstetrician has kept pace 

 with the surgeon in modern methods and 

 asepsis. 



The progress in the field of diagnosis rests 



