The medical profession and modern chemistry : an oration delivered before the medical and chirurgical faculty of Maryland, at its annual convention, June 4, 1856 / by Lewis H. Steiner.

  • Steiner, Lewis H. (Lewis Henry), 1827-1892.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The medical profession and modern chemistry : an oration delivered before the medical and chirurgical faculty of Maryland, at its annual convention, June 4, 1856 / by Lewis H. Steiner. 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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    as an absolute necessity for his health and life. And experiment has not ceased here, it has seized the nutritive matter in meat, combined it with farinaceous material, and, in a dry and compact form, has furnished in most concentrated condition, the various kinds of food which the animal system demands. These contributions to medicine have given aid to an intelligent comprehension of disease. They show the material necessary for the support of the body, and we are able thus to account for the low condition of health in those whose food does not contain the proper amount of material to sustain the vital actions in their nor- mal condition, and also of those, whose food, without being scanty, has been subjected to such changes as have converted it into poison- ous rather than nutritious substances. But if we examine another of the great processes of the body, equal in importance with digestion, and conjointly with it constitu- ting the keystone of organic life on which depend all the other func- tions of secretion and excretion, of absorption and exhalation, and to which they owe even their necessity and existence,'—if we examine the process of respiration, as connected with the circulation, we shall be able to see that, here chemistry has also thrown in no small con- tribution to the aid of medicine. What has not been done, since the priceless value of oxygen gas to man's health and strength has been clearly understood, in the way of a general adoption of hygienic means to ensure a full and adequate supply of this agent ? Is not the whole system of proper ventilation due to the first discoveries of the pioneers in pneumatic chemistry ? The close and confined air of chambers had probably proved detrimental to the health of thousands, and yet the cause was left until the close of the last century, involved in darkness and obscurity. Now we know that as it is a man's birthright to enjoy the blessings of the pure air of Heaven, he is also by right of his birth necessitated to make use of this air in its purest condition without let or hindrance. And moreover, with each act of respiration, the exchange he has made for the aeriform contents of his lungs with the air around him, gives to the latter a principle which is of deadly potency, when present in large quantities, creating the necessity for the preservation of a free circulation of air, as well for bringing that which is pure as taking off that which is impure and poisonous. Who can tell how many stout, healthy men owe their lives to the discovery of these facts,