SEVERAL different views on the function of the gall-bladder are now current, but the following are those which have been more or less generally accepted :— 1. The gall-bladder is the temporary container of bile coming from the liver. 2. T h e gall-bladder concentrates the bile received from the liver. 3. T h e […]
Category: Health
Discovery of the Formed and Fluid Parts of Human Blood
We are indeed grateful, M r. Provost, for the warm welcome that you have accorded the newly created University Laboratory of Physical Chemistry Related to Medicine and Public Health on the occasion of its first theoretical seminar in the Harvard Yard. Your suggestion that it would be most appropriate for these seminars to be held […]
Estimation of Urea and Glucose
Urea—The estimation of urea in cerebrospinal fluid may be carried out by either of the two methods described for blood urea, without modification. As urea is readily diffusable, the concentration in the spinal fluid closely approximates to that in the blood, and nothing is to be gained by withdrawing fluid only to determine its urea […]
Rheumatic Diseases
RHEUMATISM IN CHILDHOOD Aetiology.—Acute rheumatism is probably the reaction of the body to the presence of a haemolytic streptococcus of no particular strain, conveyed by droplet infection though being of but limited infectivity. A familial incidence is recognized. So far from an attack conferring immunity, children are liable to progressively severe recurrences. There is a […]
Schools and Infectious Diseases
Spread of Infection in Schools.—One of the chief duties of those doctors first appointed by education authorities was to take steps to arrest the spread of infections in schools. As a factor in the transmission of infectious diseases school attendance is not so important to-day as in the past when there was more crowding in […]
Environmental Hygiene: The Water
THE Royal Sanitary Commission, 1869, summarized the national sanitary minimum necessary for civilized social life as : A supply of wholesome and sufficient water for drinking and washing. The prevention of pollution of water. The provision of sewerage and the utilization of sewage. The regulation of streets, highways, and new buildings. Healthiness of dwellings. The […]
The Hospital and Auxiliaries
The Hospital The hospital system has grown from many roots and is therefore of a very diverse nature. The division between voluntary and public hospitals is largely a matter of their constitution. Voluntary hospitals are institu- tions responsible only to themselves, while public hospitals are under the control of local authorities who in turn are […]
The Medical Profession and Auxiliaries
The Doctor In the Middle Ages medicine, like all learning, was closely linked with the Church, though surgery developed separately. The physician influenced by Renais- sance learning and by Greek literature progressed. In 1518 by the efforts of Linacre the Royal College of Physicians of London was established. The Act of 1522 provided that no […]
The Growth of the Health Services Provided by Local Authorities
Environmental Services.—The closing of the monasteries by Henry VIII resulted at the time of Queen Elizabeth in there being no organization to provide for the relief of the poor, so the parish, which was the most active survival of the early English system, was adopted as the unit of administra- tion under the Poor Relief […]
The Defence Mechanisms Peculiar to the Alimentary Tube
THE defence mechanisms peculiar to the alimentary tube itself are very limited. For analytical purposes they may be considered under the already mentioned broad classification of mechanical and chemical types of assault. Mechanical Assault.—The most easily investigated response to a harmful stimulus is a modification of the muscular activity of the wall of the tube. […]