Medicaltreat.com :- Medicine is a paradox

	MEDICINE is a paradox: it is ancient; yet ever new. Its practice is an art; yet that art must be grounded on solid foundations of science, of practicality, and of the needs of the patient. It is one of the most important fields of scientific discipline; yet in practice it must employ and apply essential knowledge gleaned from many other fields of science. Medicine's practitioners have at their command the epitomization of knowledge and discovery gained over fifty centuries; yet, they face a great wall of unknown factors as formidable as any faced by their predecessors - challenging, baffling, yet urgently demanding solution because of needs of a humanity faced with speeded-up living processes that outdistance man's ability to adjust.
In his primitive state, man tried to explain the rigors and uncertainties of his surroundings by imagining himself a toy of the gods. He sought relief by attempts to propitiate the unknown. Today, with tools of many sciences at hand, man seeks to grasp reality and to surround himself with the comforts and conveniences that he and his fellows have wrought, and to push on to new horizons. His knowledge and his skills give him visions of goals undreamed a few decades ago; and confidence to move boldly toward these objectives. This confidence bolsters him and carries him forward - until illness and distress strike him. Then, modern man reacts much in the same manner as did his ancestors: he seeks help, turning to man of religion and of medicine, reaching out for someone in whom he can have faith and who may be able to help restore his health and his confidence in himself. Never before in the world's history have its people had the advantage of medicines and medical services equal to those available today. The knowledge gained by countless generations of dedicated medical men is at the command of today's physician, and through him, is brought to focus upon the needs of the individual patient at the bedside, in the laboratory, in the consultation room, and in the hospital.
	During no period in history has man experienced such rapid and revolutionary advances in medicine and in opportunity for improved health as during the twentieth century; and the accelerated pace of scientific research holds promise of still greater advances in the years ahead. As the twentieth century opened, the great gains of the nineteenth century were being consolidated and perfected: anesthesia and asepsis were becoming better understood, as were the medical potentials of x-rays. Together they combined to make possible tremendous advances in surgery. The field of biological medicines - vaccines to prevent diseases and antitoxins to combat them - was expanding rapidly. Chemotherapy, which had already developed basic analgesics such as aspirin and phenacetin, was on the verge of blossoming to full potential.
Early in the century, dependence on drugs or vegetable origin - largest source of medicines then available to practicing physicians - began to wane as scientific advances improved the whole field of drug therapy. While many valuable drugs still in use were originally derived from vegetable sources (ephedrine, reserpine), disappearance of many medicines of doubtful value was hastened by the contributions of chemotherapy. Given impetus by Ehrlich's creation of the arsphenamines as specifics for syphilis, chemists brought forth a number of new classes of medicines - anesthetics, barbiturates, and antimalarials. However, research in chemotherapy did not hit its full stride until, about 1937, sulfanilamide and its chemical relatives entered the physician's armamentarium. Following upon the sulfas came the antibiotics - an entirely new concept in development of drugs. Demonstration that hitherto deadly diseases could be treated successfully. With these new medicines reestablished confidence in chemotherapy and initiated a tremendous advance in industrial medicinal and chemical research. Laboratories increased their scientific manpower by a hundredfold. There resulted a tremendous speedup of discovery and development of new compounds useful to medicine.
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