1.Artificial Blood:
In 1933, the American Clark and Gollan kept
some mice immersed in a liquid which flooded their lungs and should have killed
them. But they stayed alive. This fluid was an emulsion of a fluorocarbon in
water. These fluorocarbon molecules link up with significant quantities of
oxygen present in the water. This showed the beginnings of the invention of the
blood substitute. In 1967, the American, Henry A. Sloviter injected the
fluorocarbon emulsion into some rabbits along with the physiological liquid and
some albumen. He also found that if the injected liquid is above a third in
volume with respect to the blood, then the animal may die, because the
substitute liquid cannot efficiently transport oxygen and carbon dioxide. The
Japanese, Ryochi Naito carried out the first experiment on man by injecting
himself with 200 ml of Fluosol DA, a milky looking artificial blood.
2.Artificial Heart:
The Soviet researcher Vladimir P. Demikhov
implanted the first artificial heart into a dog. The American, Willem Kolff
made the next attempt. The calf which had the heart implant survived for about
90 minutes. In 1982, Kolff implanted an artificial heart into a man who
survived for 112 hours. The American Robert Jarvik developed an artificial
heart. This heart was made of aluminium and polyurethane, and was later named
Jarvik – 7. It consisted of two pumps which functioned as two natural
ventricles but had to a bulky piece of equipment. But the artificial heart had
too many shortcomings. Another apparatus was made, but with the risk of
thrombosis (clot formation), the formation of foreign connective tissues,
haemolysis (alteration of red blood cells) and malfunction due to the rupture
of diaphragms.
3.Autopsy:
The doctor who realized the importance of
autopsy was the famous Greek, Galen from Pergamon. He attained this knowledge
by observing the wounds of his patients and by dissecting monkeys and pigs. He
had studied the laryngeal nerve and came to a conclusion that the human body
had to be dissected to study its various parts. Around the 15th century,
autopsy was authorized more often in the case of suspicious deaths. When Pope
Alexander V died suddenly in 1410, an autopsy of his body was ordered. When the
famous Flemish doctor Andre Vesale became famous in 1537, he created a chair of
anatomy and surgery, thereby setting up autopsy as a fundamental medical
discipline. He obtained corpses from the burgomaster of the town and is
remembered as the founder of autopsy.
4.Artificial Kidney:
The American John J. Abel, L.G. Rowntree
and B.B Turner invented the first artificial kidney. It consisted of a set of
porous tubes submerged in a colloidal solution. This demonstrated the
detoxification effect of the kidney, and the blood toxins in canine blood were
removed when it passed through the filters. But a filter had to be made which
could filter human toxins and also an efficient anticoagulant which would
enable the blood to circulate outside the body without clotting. Cellophane was
found to be a reliable filter, and heparin a reliable anticoagulant. In 1945,
the Dutchman Willem Kolff made the first artificial kidney keeping all the
above facts in mind. Kolff’s kidney could be used for purifying the blood of a
human being suffering from renal failure. Over the years, the size of the
apparatus was reduced considerably and patients could use mobile units and
carry out dialysis at home.
5.Electrical Cardiac
Stimulation:
In the 20th century, the cardiac muscle was
stimulated using the pacemaker. In 1802, the Frenchman Pierre Henri Nysten
obtained freshly guillotined corpses and worked on restoring the dead heart. He
observed that the auricles could move even when other parts of the heart had
stopped moving. In 1774, an English doctor ‘resuscitated’ a child who, having
fallen from the second floor of a building was declared dead. He administered
electrical charged on his chest. In 1871, the German F. Steiner applied this
technique on his patient who had fainted and could not be revived by other
means. He implanted a needle in his heart and then transmitted a weak electric
current through it. He found that he could revive his patient. In 1889, the
American J. MacWilliam proposed rhythmical stimulation with an alternating
current. This current should be applied to a specific place in the heart. He
carried out his operation by applying electrodes to the thorax and succeeded in
restarting a heart that had stopped.
6.Contraceptives:
Contraception has been practiced by human
beings since early times. The ancient documents gave an idea of the use of
vaginal tampons which were soaked in substances like honey, olive oil, onion
juices etc. The condom made its appearance in the 16th century to prevent
veneral diseases. These were made from vulcanized rubber from 1840, and from
latex since 1930. In the 19th century, intra-uterine devices (IUD) appeared.
These were applied to the neck of the womb. It was simplified form of the
tampon. The German doctor R. Richter made the first scientific coil. In 1921,
the Austrian Ludwig Haberlandt took human anti-ovulatory secretions into
consideration and made the contraceptive pill. The Americans Allen and Corner
made the hormone progesterone in 1929. The American Gregor Pincus was the one
who gave the scientific approval for the use of progesterone as a
contraceptive, by specifying the exact amount to be used. Thus the ‘pill’ was
made.
7.Contact Lenses:
In 1887, the German ophthalmologist A.E.
Fick devised the first corneal lenses, now known as contact lenses. The German
firm I.G. Farben adopted the idea of Fick and made some lenses out of
plexiglass which were lighter, though their manufacture and use still use
problems. In 1956, the Englishman Norman Bier made lenses of smaller diameters
that did not cover the whole of the eyeball. These were made of methacrylate
and could be easily inserted and taken out. The American firm Softsite Contact
Lens Laboratory improved them and made soft contact lenses, acceptable to eyes.
8.Vaccination:
In the 18th century, the anti-smallpox
vaccine was rediscovered in the west. It had been invented in China by a Taoist
monk in the 10th century BC. The invention was probably based on philosophical
principles, i.e. treating an evil with an evil. The principle of attenuation of
the germs by a multiple transmissions was practiced some thirty centuries ago.
The process of vaccination started by the implantation of a pad carrying some
attenuated germs in one nostril. It is mentioned in some Chinese texts that
cultures of attenuated germs were kept in sealed flasks, so as to keep them
away from heat and light.
9.Stethoscope:
Listening to sounds of internal organs by
amplifying them with an instrument began in the 19th century. In 1816, the
Frenchman Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec invented a wooden tube which was
capable of isolating the organic noises from the surrounding environment and
making them louder. He heard these with only one ear. Later, two hollow tubes
were used so that the sounds could be heard with both ears. Laennec made two
kinds of stethoscope; one was a hollow tube to examine the thorax and the
other, a solid tube for examining the heart. The first type developed into two
models – one was cylindrical and was used to listen to changes in the voice,
the second was widened at the auricular end to listen to breathing and rattles
in the throat.
In 1946, Blaise Pascal made a syringe for
scientific use. With this syringe, purgative clysters were administered. The
French doctor Velpeau made some observations on aneurysms. He pricked a needle
into an aneurysm and noticed the formation of a clot. In 1835, the French
doctor Charles Gabriel Parvaz invented the hypodermic syringe for injecting
ferric chloride. The syringe was made up of a silver cylinder and the lid of
the pump body could be screwed down; the cylinder had a nozzle to which the
cannula could be fixed, which was itself extended by a steel trocar. Fournier
invented the glass syringe in 1895. To eject the liquid, a piston which could
be pushed down quite easily was used.
1 comments:
Write commentsFascinating article ! I had a great pleasure to read it. Thank you so much for it !
Replysmylessmyles