1. J Read the text and answer the questions.

1. What were the Chinese rules for healthy living?

2. Who was the first to use scientific methods in the study of the

disease?

3. Where was the first great university established?

4. What was Galen’s sphere of activity?

The Beginning of Anatomy

Many centuries ago there were forerunners of today’s doctors and

scientists — the healers and the experimentalists. Dealing with the

body in disrepair, physicians of old time drew innumerable conclu­sions about the body in health. Their judgments were often shallow or in error, yet sometimes astonishingly accurate. The Chinese created the rules for healthful living, such as regular exercise, avoidance of improperly cooked foods, and the use of mouthwash. Confucius said: “Diseases enter the mouth”. The Hebrews laid down a doctrine of sanitation in food, water and bodily care that has persisted to this day. The most informed about the body among ancient peoples were the Egyptians. They knew the relationship between the heart and blood vessels some 3,300 years before great William Harvey published his epochal verdict on the circulatory system.

The golden age of Greece in the fifth century B.C. gave the Hip­pocratic Corpus: “The physician should consult his colleagues when in doubt; he had a duty to record with honesty his failures as well as successes in treatment; above all without love for mankind, he could have no love for the act of healing”. The Hippocratic code of ethic is still taken as a solemn oath at medical schools today.

The most honored name in medicine is that of Hippocrates, who is sometimes called the father of medicine. It was he who first used scientific methods in the study of the disease. He and his disciples patiently observed facts and patiently recorded their observations.

They tried to determine the cause, they did not believe in magic, or in the influence of the stars; they believed in the constant sequence of the cause and effect.

Hippocrates and his disciples introduced scientific methods into the medical school and into the whole of the Greek world.

When the first great university of the world, the Museum of Alex­andria, was established, medical science became an important study. There were two chief branches of this study, anatomy and physiology. It is interesting to remember that the practice of dissecting the human body for the study of its structure, still a common part of medical teaching, was started in Alexandria more than two thousand years ago. Herophylus compared man’s anatomy to that of animals’, paying at­tention to the brain; he recognized that it was not only the center of the nervous system but also the seat of intelligence. This was a remark­able discovery; most people of that time thought that the heart was the seat of intelligence, and they continued to think so for a long time afterwards.

The influence of the next prominent figure in the history of medi­cine, Galen, lasted for some 1,400 years. Galen wrote more than 125 volumes, of which 83 still exist. They include books on the movement of muscles and on the work of nerves, and 17 books on the functions of the various parts of the body.

In the 16^th century the microscope was invented. From that time the study of anatomy became twofold. Gross anatomy dealt with what could be seen of the body with the unaided eye. Microscopic anatomy — now called histology — dealt with what was invisible. Men could, at last, get to the heart of the matter: the cellular nature of all living things.

[2^Read the text, answer the questions, and title the text.

1. Why was the patient’s recovery a matter of good luck?

2. What did Joseph Lister decide about germs?

3. What did he set about?

4. When were rubber gloves invented?

5. What way was opened for surgeons?

Although some doctors still clung to bleeding as a remedy for nu­merous illnesses, many new drugs and techniques had been developed by the end of the 19^lh century. The surgeons still mainly relied on a matter of good luck. However, another great advance was made when a famous surgeon of that time, Joseph Lister, heard about the work of Louis Pasteur and his experiments showing that germs are present on and around everything. Lister decided that germs must be the cause of

wound infections and of the failure of many operations. He set about cleaning and sterilizing everything that had anything to do with an operation: the patient’s skin, the surgeons’ hands, instruments, sewing thread and swabs. Later on, instead of operating in their ordinary clothes, surgeons were required to wear special gowns and masks. Rubber gloves were invented in 1890. All these precautions made a tremendous difference and the hospital death-rate fell rapidly.

The way was now opened for surgeons to perform more difficult internal operations, including even those on the brain. The develop­ment of blood transfusion added still further to the range of surgical possibilities. It has since saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

Unit 6 HUMAN BODY

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