Bromfield High School - Beacon Yearbook (Harvard, MA)

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Br-om?iel.cl Beicon SALUTATORY On behalf of the graduating class of nineteen hundred and fifty, I welcome you to our commencement exercises. SF PK HK A GENERAL HISTORY OF MEDICINE Since life has existed on earth there has been disease. At first man had n-ot the intelligence to take much notice of where the pain and sickness occurred in the body or what symptoms were present. When notice of these things was first taken, the first practices of medicine began. Disease was looked upon as having a supernatural origin. Man thought that departed spirits had something to do with their illnesses, or the wrath of a tribal God, it was believed, might cause illness and plagues. Self-infiiction of bodily torture was believed to be a cure for ills. If one were ill, it may have been because he had sinned and the sickness was an atonement for the sins. Primitive people tried starvation as a way to get rid of any disease they had. It was thought that starving would make the body an undesirable place for the demons which caused the disease. Since the victim's skin turns yellow when he has yellow jaundice, it was held that the demon of this sickness could be lured into the body of a canary. Early people thought the color of the bird could attract the jaun- dice demon from the human body into that of the canary. All these beliefs were held by the peoples of the world until about 3500 B.C. In 3000 B.C., there lived in Egypt the first physician, a man named Sekhit'-enanch. About this time the first operation was performed. It was a skull operation which is still said to require great skill. This was performed to free from the head demons such as the one of a headache. About 1500 B.C. pills, potions, inhalations, and plasters were all used. One potion was made from beetles and was used thus: against all witch- craft, use a large beetle. Cut off his head and wings, put him in oil, and apply to part ailing. Then cook his head and Wings, put them in serpent's fat. Let patient drink the mixture. The earliest advancements in medicine were very slow. What records were kept are very short. Remarkable progress was made about 700 B.C. Skin grafting was first used in this period. New noses were created from cheek and fore- head flaps. Later, hospitals for the blind and lame were built. Greek temples were used for the unfortunate ones, and hygiene was rigidly enforced in old Greece and Rome. Hippocrates, wh-ose father and whose grandfather had been physi- cians, became prominent about 460 B.C. His diagnoses are very much the same as those of the physicians of today concerning the same diseases. He was the first to distinguish diseases by means of a study of symptoms. Hippocrates tried to rid the people of their silly superstitious and teach them that disease was the result of natural causes. Page Sixteen

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Brnmf-LQLA Be 8.i'C02l1 QQADUATIQN EXEIQCISES P r 0 g 1' n. in Invocation Song - Serenade Words by Frederic H. Martens Music by Enrico Paselli School Chorus Salutatory and Essay - A General History of Medicine Marie Eugenie St. John Class History Robert Kenneth Hall Essay - The Life of Jack London Barbara Carol Benjamin Essay -- An Historical Sketch of Massachusetts Francis Lennihan, Jr. Essay - The Shakers Song - The Bells of St. Mary's Essay - Forestry School Chorus Jane Ann Waters Words by Douglas Furbei' Music by A. Emmet Adams Paul Irving Thatcher Class Prophecy Lois Adiel Dickson Class Will Har-old Albert Tooker, Jr. Valedictory and Essay Well Drilling Wayne Waldo Blackwell Award of Woman's Club Scholarship Award of Good Citizenship Pin Award of The Arthur D. Hill Prize Award of Brom1ield Scholarship Prizes Presentation of Diplomas Class Song Words by Robert Kenneth Hall Music: Cruising Down the River By Eily Beadell and Tollerfon Sch-ool Chorus ak wk Sk CLASS OFFICERS President ........... ............................................. M arie Eugenie St. John Vice President ..... ........ F rancis Lennihan, Jr. Secretary ............................................................................ Lois Adiel Dickson Treasurer .................................................................... Wayne Waldo Blackwell Class Colors - Blue and White Class Motto- Bon Ame, Bon Vie Class Flower - Gardenia, Page Fifteen

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Bromileul Be alison Galen, of Greek parentage, practiced in Rome about 130 A.D. His fees were rather high, and he catered to the wealthier class. It is stated that for a fortnight's attendance upon a prominent Roman's wife Galen received twelve hundred dollars. His study and records of bones are nearly as accurate as those of t0day's physicians. His knowledge of the heart was very accurate, too. Through the Dark Ages no progress was made in medicine. The Arabs chiefly carried on medicine, but study was absent until 1542. Versalius, a Belgian, is called the founder of modern anatomy. Because he questioned Galen's writings people were against him and, discouraged, he threw many of his unpublished manuscripts into the fire. In 1796 the inoculation of cowpox virus in the treatment of smallpox was first used by Jenner. This was an important discovery for few people had heretofore reached adult life without having this disease. During the nineteenth century many important discoveries and inven- tions were made. In 1850 Louis Pasteur made great advancements against hydrophobia. ln 1865 Joseph Lister first used antiseptics -on wounds and in surgery, and in 1876 Robert Koch improved methods of treating tuberculosis. Recent progress in medicine has been very great. Tuberculosis sana- toriums have been built and favorable cases are cured in these hospitals. Asylums for the demented are in use now, and sanatoriums for yellow fever and malaria victims have been established. Much research in cancer, tu- berculosis, and heart disease has been carried on through the aid of annual drives such as the one for infantile paralysis. Poliomyelitis hospitals are numerous. A possible symptom of cancer has been found in that the red corpuscles of the blood of a cancer victim have a tendency to clot much faster than those of a person without the disease. From the fields of research have come many new drugs such as insulin, sulphur, and penicillin. Insulin is probably the most important of these new drugs. This drug is sometimes the sugar diabetic's only hope of life. Insulin was discovered in 1922 and nothing more effective has been found yet. The iron lung is indispensable for people such as infantile paralysis victims who need artificial respiration. Through the many years of research, study, and discovery from before 4000 B.C. to the present day thousands of advancements have been effected. The records of Galen, the contributions of Hippocrates, and the studies compiled by the men of yesterday all aid in the progress of medicine today. And now, through research, the field of medicine is progressing in great strides to rid the world of sickness and disease. Marie St. John Page Seventeen