History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

94 History of Medical Practice in IllinoisThe above statements regarding Indian medical specialization are hereset forth with the idea that they may furnish a basic, even though crude andinadequate, introduction to the rise of our modern specialties. The underlyingprinciples of evolution and progress are identical in both.Modern SpecialismIn order to understand the early development of modern specialism in alimited region such as Illinois, it is necessary to refer to earlier times andto earlier countries for a historical approach to the subject. Such an approachfurnishes dependable guiding principles to follow.The beginnings of specialism in medicine among civilized peoples arosefar back in ancient times. Those who first limited their work to specialorgans, like the eye(code of Hammurabi) or the ear, seem to have been, inprinciple at least,the initiators. The recognition of surgical practice as afield to some degree different from general medicine is also ancient. Bothwere to a variable extent differentiated long before the days of Greece oreven of Egypt. Ethnology bears this out. The discovery of surgical instrumentsin the modern excavations of ancient civilizations also indicates thatsurgery is very old, perhaps the oldest of all medical procedures. This is onthe assumption that childbirth was considered, until relatively recent times,a physiologic process comparable in some respects to other normal evacuationprocesses of the body. It was therefore natural that medicine andsurgery—even the barber surgery—together with some of the organ specialtieshaving originated so long ago, continued down through the centuriesside by side, as it were, until the advent of the scientific specialism of today.Progress in medicine has been achieved by discoveries made at intervalsin the different countries of the world. Depending on the nature of thesediscoveries, a period of time ensues before the concrete discovery becomesavailable for practical purposes. This "lag" 3 period depends upon severalfactors, the two chief ones being: (1) transmission of information, usuallyby printing, and (2) training of competent persons to carry on the technologicprocedures. The length of this period varies from a relatively shorttime to many years, during which the technics are perfected and, as a rule,new and valuable observations are made leading to further advancement.As Bacon has written: "This Art of Discovery hath two parts, for either theIndication is made from Experiments to Experiments; or from Experimentsto Axioms, which may likewise design new Experiments." 4In a relatively primitive country such as Illinois was during the years1850 to 1900, one could hardly anticipate great discoveries of a fundamental8"Lag" has been denned as that unpredictable period between the discovery and thepay-off.4Francis Bacon: Advancement of Learning.