The Encyclopaedic Method
On the other hand, no professional man restricts himself a day longer than he must to the bare modicum of medical literature with which he may have been forced, at first, to do his best; and when he can addanythingto it, there is nothing he will use so often, or find so helpful, as the Britannica. It may be well to define in general, its professional uses, before dealing in detail with the articles included in this course of reading.
(1) The system of technical collaboration is, in the Britannica, organized and coördinated with a completeness which gives the medical articles an authority and impartiality often lacking in isolated treatises. The contributors were selected with a view to their recognized ability only, whereas the publication of medical works is too often an outcome of the writer’s ambitions, which, however legitimate they may be, are no proof of his capacity.
(2) The Britannica articles were written for the sole purpose of being used in their present form. A great part of current medical literature originates in lectures to students, and retains too much of its first form to be satisfactory to the professional man.
(3) The articles are all based upon an original and recent survey of knowledge, and thus contain information which cannot be found in reprints of standard medical works insufficiently brought up to date by additions to earlier editions.
(4) In relation to statistics, to administrative and legislative provisions regarding public health, to hospitals and other public institutions, the broadly international character of the Britannica, with its contributions from twenty different countries, gives a scope which the private writer cannot attain.
(5) The great number of biographies of physicians, surgeons and men who devote themselves exclusively to research, gives professional men access to information which they cannot elsewhere obtain.
(6) Chemistry, bacteriology, general biology, botany, psychology and other sciences allied to the more immediate field of medicine are fully treated by specialists of the highest authority.
(7) Apart from the definite occupational diseases (fully discussed in the Britannica), there is often a relation between the pathological results of overwork and the routine of the patient’s business life. Every branch of industry and commerce is treated in detail in the Britannica, and the insight which the physician may thus gain will often be of service to him.
(8) The Britannica not only enlarges the medical library of the practitioner, but gives him, and the members of his family, the use ofthe only complete library of general information.
Scope of the Medical Section
Specifically, the medical and surgical section of the Britannica comprises 3 general articles, constituting broad systematic surveys of the various provinces of the subject: 103 articles on anatomy and physiology, which are partly surgical; 265 articles on pathology; 75 on pharmacology; 21 on public health, in addition to the articles on dentistry and on veterinary science, and 170 biographies. But this comprehensive scheme does not by any means include all the material of value to the medical man. The sister sciences of chemistry, physics, biology, botany, zoology and psychology, have much to offer him. A consultation of the list appendedto this section will show how the needs of the physician and surgeon are served by the Encyclopaedia. It must suffice here to call attention briefly to some of the more important contributions.
Taking up, first, the more general articles, there isMedicine(Vol. 18, p. 41) containing about 35,000 words. This deals with the history and development of the science. Dr. J. F. Payne of the Royal College of Physicians, London, traces its history from the earliest known times to the middle of the 19th century; and Sir T. C. Allbutt, professor of physic in Cambridge University, completes this review with a section onModern Progress(p. 55). Of high practical value isMedical JurisprudenceorForensic Medicine(Vol. 16, p. 25), by H. H. Littlejohn, professor of forensic medicine, University of Edinburgh, and T. A. Ingram. This deals solely with that branch of the science which has to do with the application of medical knowledge to certain questions of civil and criminal law. There are discussions of questions affecting the civil or social rights of individuals, and injuries to the person, the function of the physician in questions of mutilation, homicide, infanticide, poisoning, etc.Medical Education(Vol. 18, p. 23) is a useful reference article by Sir John Batty Tuke, Dr. W. H. Howell, dean of the medical faculty, Johns Hopkins University, and Dr. H. L. Hennessy, furnishing data on the educational qualifications necessary to the practice of medicine in Europe and America.
Anatomy, Embryology, and Physiology
Dr. Frederick G. Parsons, vice-president of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, lecturer on Anatomy at St. Thomas’s Hospital, London, contributes the general articleAnatomy(Vol. 1, p. 920) which goes deeply into its history, and has further sections onModern Human Anatomy(Anthropotomy) andAnatomy, SuperficialandArtistic. This noted authority also writes detailed and fully illustrated articles on the anatomy and embryology of theBrain(Vol. 4, p. 392);Heart(Vol. 13, p. 129);Eye(Vol. 10, p. 91);Ear(Vol. 8, 791);Olfactory System(Vol. 20, p. 77);Lymphatic System(Vol. 17, p. 166);Vascular System(Vol. 27, p. 926);Nervous System(Vol. 19, p. 400);Muscular System(Vol. 19, p. 51);Reproductive System(Vol. 23, p. 129); andRespiratory System(Vol. 23, p. 184) and on theSkeleton(Vol. 25, p. 169);Skin and Exoskeleton(Vol. 25, p. 188);Skull(Vol. 25, p. 196);Joints(Vol. 15, p. 483); andNerve(Vol. 19, p. 394). Another valuable anatomical article isConnective Tissues(Vol. 6, p. 958), by Dr. T. G. Brodie of the University of Toronto. Prof. Adam Sedgwick writes a most excellent general and historical account ofEmbryology(Vol. 9, p. 314); and Dr. Hans A. E. Driesch of Heidelberg University adds to it a sectionPhysiology of Development(p. 329), treating of the laws that govern the development of the organism. The general articlePhysiology(Vol. 21, p. 554) is from the pen of the celebrated Prof. Max Verworn of the University of Bonn, and to this there are closely linked, according to the new plan of the Britannica, extensive and detailed accounts of the physiology of theBrain(Vol. 4, p. 403);Sympathetic System(Vol. 26, p. 287);Spinal Cord(Vol. 25, p. 672);Muscle and Nerve(Vol. 19, p. 44);Respiratory System(Vol. 23, p. 187);Vascular System(Vol. 27, p. 929);Alimentary Canal(Vol. 1, p. 663);Blood(Vol. 4, p. 77), etc., by noted specialists, including Dr. Charles S. Sherrington, professor of physiology in the University of Liverpool, Dr. J. S. Haldane of Oxford University, Dr. L. E. Hill, lecturer on physiology at the London Hospital, Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, and Dr. T. G. Brodie of the University of Toronto.
Articles on Pathology
Drs. D. J. Hamilton and Richard Muirare the authors of a brilliant summary of the whole subject ofPathology(Vol. 20, p. 913) with over 50 illustrations, including coloured plates. The whole story of the elevation of the science dealing with the theory and causation of disease from a mere philosophical abstraction to one of the natural sciences is admirably told. For the pathological details of various diseases and groups of diseases the reader is referred toParasitic Diseases(Vol. 20, p. 770), fully illustrated, by Dr. G. Sims Woodhead, professor of pathology, Cambridge University, one of the notable contributions to the Britannica;Metabolic Diseases(Vol. 18, p. 195), by Prof. D. N. Paton of Edinburgh University;Digestive Organs,Pathology(Vol. 8, p. 262) by Dr. A. L. Gillespie of Edinburgh and M. Fisher;Kidney Diseases(Vol. 15, p. 784), by Dr. J. R. Bradford of University College Hospital, London, and Dr. Edmund Owen, the famous English surgeon;Bladder and Prostate Diseases(Vol. 4, p. 27);Venereal Diseases(Vol. 27, p. 983)—these two also by Dr. Owen;Skin Diseases(Vol. 25, p. 190);Insanity(Vol. 14, p. 597), by Sir John Batty Tuke, president of the Neurological Society of the United Kingdom, and medical director of the New Staughton Hall Asylum, Edinburgh, Dr. J. Macpherson, and Dr. L. C. Bruce, author ofStudies in Clinical Psychiatry,—for this article the noted American specialist Dr. Frederick Peterson has written a section onHospital Treatmentof the insane;Neuropathology(Vol. 19, p. 429), fully illustrated, by Dr. F. W. Mott, the distinguished pathologist to the London County Asylums, and editor of theArchives of Neurology;Respiratory System,Pathology(Vol. 23, p. 195), by Dr. Thomas Harris, author of numerous articles on this subject, and Dr. H. L. Hennessy;Blood,Pathology(Vol. 4, p. 82), by Dr. G. L. Gulland of Edinburgh;Heart, Disease(Vol. 13, p. 132), by Sir J. F. H. Broadbent, author ofHeart Disease and Aneurysm, etc.;Eye,Diseases(Vol. 10, p. 94), by Dr. George A. Berry, hon. surgeon oculist to his Majesty George V;Vision,Errors of Refraction and Accommodation(Vol. 28, p. 142), by Dr. Ernest Clark of the Central London Ophthalmic Hospital;Ear,Diseases of(Vol. 8, p. 794), by Dr. E. C. Baber, late senior surgeon, Brighton and Sussex Throat and Ear Hospital.
Dr. Harriet L. Hennessy is the author ofGynaecology(Vol. 12, p. 764).
For more specific details there is the complete list of articles on different diseases and ailments under their common names. This includes veterinary diseases, to which branch of medicine an admirable introduction is furnished byVeterinary Science(Vol. 28, p. 2), by Drs. George Fleming and James MacQueen. In the articles on diseases there will be found accounts of the latest methods of diagnosis and treatment, as, for example, the Calmette eye-test in tubercular diseases, serum treatment and its latest developments, vaccine therapy, etc.
Therapeutics
The general articleTherapeutics(Vol. 26, p. 793), by Dr. Sir Lauder Brunton, consulting physician to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, author ofModern Therapeutics, etc., not only discusses both rational and empirical therapeutics, but, taking up the different parts of the body considers in detail the therapeutic measures most commonly employed in the treatment of disease. The subjects ofElectrotherapeutics(Vol. 9, p. 249);Baths(Vol. 3, p. 514);Balneotherapeutics(Vol. 3, p. 284);Hydropathy(Vol. 14, p. 165);Aerotherapeutics(Vol. 1, p. 270);Massage(Vol. 17, p. 863) andX-Ray Treatment(Vol. 28, p. 887) have separate articles devoted to them. The last is by Dr. H. L. Jones, clinical lecturer on medical electricityat St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London.
In connection with the subject of therapeutics, mention must be made ofPharmacology(Vol. 21, p. 347), by Professor Stockman of the University of Glasgow, in which will be found an interesting history of drugs, and a classification into 28 groups with a description of the effect of each remedy. To this valuable material Dr. H. L. Hennessy has added a section,Terminology in Therapeutics(p. 352)—a general explanation of the common names used in the classification of drugs. The list at the end of this chapter indicates the separate articles on drugs and on materials from which the principal drugs are obtained.
Surgery
Dr. Charles Creighton of King’s College, Cambridge, writes on the history ofSurgery(Vol. 26, p. 125) and the famous English Surgeon, Dr. Edmund Owen the sectionModern Practice of Surgery(p. 129) in which are discussed antiseptic and aseptic surgery, drainage tubes, bloodless operations, Röntgen rays, use of radium, etc. The articleSurgical Instruments and Appliances(Vol. 26, p. 132) is fully illustrated. Dr. Owen also contributes articles on the surgery of the different organs, the articleBone,Diseases and Injuries(Vol. 4, p. 200) and many accounts of diseases and disorders that come within the province of the surgeon, such asAppendicitis(Vol. 2, p. 217);Peritonitis(Vol. 21, p. 171);Hernia(Vol. 13, p. 372);Fistula(Vol. 10, p. 438);Varicose Veins(Vol. 27, p. 920), andHaemorrhoids(Vol. 12, p. 805). Sir Alexander R. Simpson, emeritus professor of midwifery and the diseases of women and children, University of Edinburgh, writes onObstetrics(Vol. 19, p. 962); Dr. Louis Courtauld, formerly research scholar, Middlesex Hospital Cancer Laboratories, onTumour(Vol. 27, p. 370); Dr. Arthur Shadwell, of the Epidemiological Society, onCancer, with a special account of cancer research; and H. C. Crouch, teacher of anaesthetics at St. Thomas’s Hospital, London, onAnaesthesia and Anaesthetics(Vol. 1, p. 907).
Medical Biographies
A most interesting, unusual and instructive course of reading on the history and development of medicine may be based on the biographical articles alone. InAesculapius(Vol. 1, p. 276) we learn how the gods of Greece effected cures. The life story ofHippocrates(Vol. 13, p. 518) is worthy of note, for the “medical art as we now practice it, the character of the physician as we now understand it,” both date from him. For information about the theory that disease originated from an irregular or inharmonious motion of the body corpuscles we turn toAsclepiades(Vol. 2, p. 722). An account of the man “out of whom the greater part of medicine has flowed” is found inGalen(Vol. 11, p. 398). The biography of the great Arab physician and philosopherAvicenna(Vol. 3, p. 62) should not be overlooked, nor the story of the revolt ofParacelsus(Vol. 20, p. 749). Important and interesting, too, are the biographies ofHarvey, William(Vol. 13, p. 42);Sydenham, Thomas(Vol. 26, p. 277), the father of English medicine, andHaller, A. von(Vol. 12, p. 855), whose work marks the beginning of modern physiology. The work ofMorgagni(Vol. 18, p. 831) in pathological anatomy marks an epoch in medicine, and the description inCullen, William(Vol. 7, p. 616) of his new doctrine of “irritability” possesses a distinct interest. The accounts ofJenner, Edward(Vol. 15, p. 319),Hunter, John(Vol. 13, p. 939) andHahnemann, S.C.F.(Vol. 12, p. 819) describe momentous events in the history of medicine at the close of the 18th century, while among the great names of the 19th will be found thechemistPasteur(Vol. 20, p. 892),Koch, Robert(Vol. 15, p. 885),Lister(Vol. 16, p. 777) andVirchow, Rudolf(Vol. 28, p. 110).
The Allied Sciences
It has already been noted that the Britannica will prove an invaluable help to medical specialists in fields of knowledge other than their own. The regret is often expressed by physicians that it is not easy for them to study subjects outside their profession, even when these are closely connected with their work. It is, unfortunately, only too true, that material for such study is not readily available. But with so complete a work of reference at his disposal, and with its highly authentic information skillfully compressed into reasonable space, the medical man now enjoys a magnificent opportunity to obtain a full acquaintance with many subjects that he knows will assist him in the work.
It would be impossible to name all the articles here, but the alphabetical list at the end of this chapter includes them, and the attention of the physician and surgeon is directed toBacteriology(Vol. 3, p. 156), by the late Prof. H. M. Ward of Cambridge and Prof. V. H. Blackman of the University of Leeds, and especially the sectionPathological Importance(p. 171), which Prof. Robert Muir of Glasgow University has written;Biology(Vol. 3, p. 954), a classic article by the late Professor Huxley, revised and brought up-to-date by Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell;Heredity(Vol. 13, p. 350), also by Dr. Mitchell;Mendelism(Vol. 18, p. 115), a brilliant study of the foundations of an exact knowledge of the physiological process of heredity, by Prof. R. C. Punnett of Cambridge;Evolution(Vol. 10, p. 22) andLongevity(Vol. 16, p. 974), both by Dr. Mitchell;Nutrition(Vol. 19, p. 921), by Prof. D. N. Paton and Dr. E. P. Cathcart of Glasgow University;Dietetics(Vol. 8, p. 214), by the world-famous authority on this subject, the late Prof. W. O. Atwater, and R. D. Milner, formerly of the U. S. Dept, of Agriculture;Vegetarianism(Vol. 27, p. 967), by Dr. Josiah Oldfield, senior physician to the Lady Margaret Fruitarian Hospital, Bromley;Climatein the Treatment of Disease(Vol. 6, p. 526);Acclimatization(Vol. 1, p. 114), by the renowned scientist, Dr. A. Russel Wallace; a very complete and up-to-date article onVivisection(Vol. 28, p. 153), by Dr. Stephen Paget;Psychology(Vol. 22, p. 547), by Prof. James Ward of Cambridge;Psychical Research(Vol. 22, p. 544), by Andrew Lang, which is the key to a series of 25 remarkably interesting articles covering the entire subject;Hypnotism(Vol. 14, p. 201);Faith Healing(Vol. 10, p. 135);Suggestion(Vol. 26, p. 48);Phrenology(Vol. 21, p. 534), by Professor Macalister of Cambridge;Temperance(Vol. 26, p. 578), by Dr. Arthur Shadwell;Microscope(Vol. 18, p. 392);Blindness,Causes and Prevention(Vol. 4, p. 60), by Sir Francis J. Cambell, principal Royal Normal College for the Blind, London;Deaf and Dumb(Vol. 7, p. 880), by Rev. A. H. Payne, formerly of the National Deaf Mute College, Washington.
The subject ofDentistry(Vol. 8, p. 50) is covered by the highest American authority, Dr. Edward C. Kirk, of the University of Pennsylvania, and a full account of the anatomy of the teeth will be found underTeeth(Vol. 26, p. 499), by Dr. F. G. Parsons. It is, however, in connection with bacteriology, chemistry, metallurgy, mechanics and other subjects with which the dentist is concerned, rather than in connection with the technics of his profession, that he will desire to make use of the Britannica.
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ARTICLES IN THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA OF SPECIAL INTEREST AND IMPORTANCE TO MEMBERS OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION
In the days when Marshall and Story, on the bench of the Supreme Court at Washington, were listening to Webster’s thunder; when Chancellor Kent was scrutinizing precedents in New York, and Rufus Choate quoting Justinian at Salem, success at the bar depended upon elaborate rhetoric and a close study of the Reports. To-day, sound advice is in greater demand than brilliant oratory, and questions of fact are, as a rule, more important and more perplexing than questions of law.
The Britannica is the one great Digest of Facts. Its articles cover all scientific, industrial, commercial and financial subjects. Fifteen hundred of the world’s foremost specialists, chosen from twenty different countries, deal not only with all knowledge, but with the practical application of knowledge in the laboratory, the machine shop, in the mine, on the ship’s deck and in the ship’s engine-room, in the railroad office and on the railroad line. Bankers and engineers, builders and contractors, physicians and surgeons and manufacturers of every kind describe the work which they have themselves successfully done. They explain to the lawyer the details of his client’s own business, which the client is almost always incapable of explaining. They enable the lawyer to test his client’s knowledge and his client’s good faith. They show the lawyer what he has to hope or to dread from expert evidence.