Semi-centennial address delivered before the Medical Society of the State of New York, and members of the legislature : in the Capitol at Albany, Feb. 4, 1857 / by Alden March.

  • March, Alden, 1795-1869.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Semi-centennial address delivered before the Medical Society of the State of New York, and members of the legislature : in the Capitol at Albany, Feb. 4, 1857 / by Alden March. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    have been made in this important branch of our science. Of late years the special senses have been educated and trained to detect the most minute distinctions in color, in form, and in density of morbid structures. By the eye, the ear and the fingers, often the signs of diseased parts, may be as clearly indicated as by the scalpel of the dissector after death. Fifty years ago, who ever heard of the physician or surgeon making use of the stethescope, or of his applying his ear to the chest of his patient to ascertain the physical condition of the lungs, or the heart's action] The terms auscultation and per- cussion, as applied to physical diagnosis) were altogether un- known. Similar means have been employed to detect the existence of diseases in other cavities and organs. If precision and accuracy in detecting the physical signs of disease, stamp the present as a new era in physical diagnosis, our means of successfully treat- ing diseases have been enlarged and improved in a corresponding degree. The exploring needle, which is a modern invention, is used by the surgeon to ascertain the character of the structure of a tu- mor, or the contents of a cyst or a sac. Quite recently there has been invented the instrument called Opthalmoscope, by which the diseases of the deep tissues of the eye may be examined with ease and accuracy. In June last, I found this instrument exten- sively used by the opthalmic surgeons of Vienna and Berlin; and at that time, I thought it was hardly known to the profession in America. But in the Boston medical and surgical journal of the 28th of June, I found the instrument described, and its use ex- plained, by our countryman, John H. Dix, M. D., of Boston. This will not only serve to show that we are constantly making new discoveries and improvements in our profession, but also the rapidity with which they are hurried across the Atlantic, or pass from continent to continent. In the domains of Materia Medica some most remarkable ad- vances have been made within the last few years. New medical agents have been added to our list of remedies : such as iodine, with its various compounds,—hydrocyanic acid, gallic acid, cod liver oil, &c; whilst by a chemical process many of the old veg- etable and bulky articles that were in use have been converted into alkaloids, or the alkalies extracted from them, in which all their medical potency resides. Obstetrics, and the diseases peculiar to females, are now far better understood and managed than formerly. Although sur.