The Rebirth of Science

The eighteenth century was a period during which steady progress was made in the health-related sciences. New discoveries were made in

36 ♦ Reviewing Some Basic Facts about the English Language

physics, chemistry, anatomy, biology, physiology, bacteriology and other sciences.

The beginning of new theories of disease was stimulated by the first great pathologist Giovanni Battista Morgagni who explained the connection of the symptoms of disease in the living body with anatomical findings at autopsy. The English naval surgeon James Lind discovered the ways to treat scurvy (цинга). The great anatomist John Hunter became known as the founder of scientific surgery. The French physician Rene Laennec, with his invention of the stethoscope, extended the development of physical diagnosis, begun by Leopold Auenbrugger.

At the end of the century immunology was introduced in the field of health conservation (сохранение здоровья).

In 1776 the vaccination for smallpox (оспа) was discovered in England by Edward Jenner. With slight modification the same method is still used to provide smallpox immunity today.

In 1799 Sir Humphry Davy discovered that nitrous oxide, or «laugh­ing gas», helped to relieve pain when breathed into the lungs and could make people temporarily (временно) unconscious. Forty years later Michael Faraday found that ether (эфир) had the same effect, and in 1846 a famous American surgeon of the time, John Warren, carried out a successive operation on a patient's throat using ether as an anaesthetic. In the following year it was found that chloroform could relieve pain during childbirth (роды).