Medicine Quotes
This quotation is an excellent example of the attitude of many upper class Englishmen towards the United States in the early part of the 19th century. With the notable exception of Ben Franklin, American Science was undeveloped, and the arts were equally unrefined. However, in assessing the United States, nothing was more derogatory than American Slavery which was totally primitive and barbaric by sophisticated European standards. What is amazing about this quotation was its truth and accuracy which shows us the amazing American development that the United States underwent in the next hundred years when it would be equal to any nation on earth. The American freedom, the abolition of slavery and the brilliance of welcoming immigrants from the world to help develop the free nation produced the greatest country on Earth.
The album was sponsored by the American Medical Association which then claimed that Medicare would be "socialized medicine.” They feared that there would be interference with the way they practice medicine and undermine the relationship between doctors and their patients.
This quotation is important because it illustrates a problem in medical education and science in general that inhibits development and advancement in the field. The existing belief of most people in the field may not only be wrong, but as in this case, it had to be wrong as both of the statements could not be true at the same time as they contradicted each other. Most researchers were stuck with the “killed virus” development. Salk just assumed that what he was being taught was wrong, and proceeded with his research ignoring the best thinking on the subject and finally developing a “live virus” that worked when others claimed it was impossible and some refused to believe it even after it was demonstrated to be working well. Scientists, like everyone else, must be careful not to have their thinking limited by what the experts of the time think that they know.
This is an amazing quotation and shows that the Ancient Romans who had a very sophisticated medical technology had a notion of germs and microbes. Ancient Rome was the first organized nation for which health, medicine, public health, and medical research were governmental functions unlike Greece and other civilizations where health was a personal function. Roman policy emphasized prevention unlike the Greeks. Sanitation and water supply and quality were government responsibilities and the Roman standard was not reached in the rest of the world until the 18th century. Heath and medicine was also a major military responsibility. The Roman Empire depended on its army, and trained professional soldiers. Disease was a greater risk to the soldiers than were battlefield casualties, and the Romans had a strong vested interest in keeping these highly trained men alive and healthy—not just the wealthy Roman citizens. The Romans were open to techniques that were developed throughout the Empire and beyond and tended to adopt all good ideas and a few bad ones as well While they had advanced surgery, the public health was the strongest aspect of Roman medicine and health and this notion of germs and disease. Remember that the writer was not a medical or scientific man, but was just indicating what was general wisdom of the Roman elite.
