American Red cross textbook on elementary hygiene and home care of the sick / by Jane A. Delano and Isabel McIsaac.

  • Delano, Jane A., 1862-1919.
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: American Red cross textbook on elementary hygiene and home care of the sick / by Jane A. Delano and Isabel McIsaac. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    INTRODUCTION Of all the factors which affect the welfare and happiness of the human race probably none is so important as good health; without a vigorous body, man’s efficiency, comfort and happiness are dis- turbed or destroyed altogether. The earliest re- corded history, notably the Old Testament, con- tains references to the diseases which afflicted men, theories as to their causes and suggestions for their prevention and relief; and from those days until ours, thoughtful men have devoted their lives to the same subjects. In the Biblical time a patient was described as being “possessed of the devil” when his poor body suffered from those unseen forces, some of which even to this day defy the greatest scientists to reveal. Theories of the most absurd and grotesque character prevailed and still find lodgment in un- intelligent minds as to the causes of disease, and it has only been slowly step by step that the mysteri- ous causes have been brought to light by the studi- ous men who have never failed in any generation to carry on the researches begun by their predeces- sors, nor to add something to the sum of scientific knowledge.