THE AMERICAN-SCANDINA VIAN RE VIE W 
619 
ing' and confirming one another’s work for the patient. This progres¬ 
sive specialization in the medical profession is the natural result of 
the evolution of medicine and is largely due to the steady accumula¬ 
tion of new material under the advancing tide of medical knowledge. 
A single individual’s brain is unable to grasp in all its detail the 
entire domain of medicine with its constantly growing and changing 
range of scientific attainment, and the result has been the arrival of 
the specialist who restricts his work essentially to that part of the 
body with which his studies have made him most familiar. Of late, 
specialization has been supplemented by professional co-operation, 
to the great advantage of those in need of relief from their sufferings. 
The largest American cities now have special institutes of diagnosis 
to which the general practitioner is invited to refer patients whose 
true condition he is anxious to ascertain as promptly and positively 
as can be done only by means of the expert assistance and adequate 
diagnostic equipment at his disposal in the institute. Modern medi¬ 
cine, although it has not yet succeeded in the making of man, is pre¬ 
pared to re-make him through the joined forces of various specialists, 
each keeping faithfully at work until order has been restored in that 
part of the human machine in which he is specially interested and 
efficient. 
For some time past there has been an increasing tendency to 
treat so-called medical or internal disease by surgical procedures, 
offset by a counter-tendency to attack surgicai conditions by medical 
means. Many powerful remedies are now injected directly into the 
veins without risk to the patient and with increased reliability of 
action. Blood transfusion from one human being to another has 
become an event of almost daily occurrence in hospital practice. 
Puncture of the spine, withdrawal of cerebro-spinal fluid with or 
without injection of medicinal agents directly into the canal, is another 
instance of operative technique in the treatment of non-surgical dis¬ 
eases. Increased skill and dexterity in reaching diseased conditions 
by way of natural passages now permit the extraction of foreign 
bodies lodged deeply in the bronchial tubes, under the direct control 
of the eye. When indicated, powerful antiseptic agents are now 
injected deeply into the bronchial tubes for the cure of broncho¬ 
pulmonary disease. On the other hand, major surgical operations 
are successfully performed on certain patients suffering from pul¬ 
monary tuberculosis, besides the simple procedure of puncturing the 
side and allowing the diseased lung to collapse in order to secure for 
it the necessary rest and freedom from irritation through respiratory 
movements. A beneficial tendency is progressively manifesting itself 
among obstetricians toward the elimination of the pains of childbirth, 
and nothing seems to be more desirable in this respect than the admin¬ 
istration of very small, physiological doses of pituitary extract in com- 
