How was insulin discovered?
To make use of the starch and sugar
our body needs a substance called insulin which is produced by the pancreas
gland in the body. Insulin controls sugar metabolism so that the blood sugar level remains within a certain range no matter what the intake or
output is.
In some cases, the pancreas is not
able to produce enough insulin to handle the intake of sugar in the body.
The sugar then passes through the
organism unused, resulting in a condition known as hyperglycemia, and is
secreted in abnormal amounts in the urine, a condition known as glycosuria.
Such people are called diabetics. If the
disease is not treated the patient suffers from extreme thirst, and loss of
strength, he may become unconscious and even die.
The correlation between the pancreas and
diabetes was known as early as 1889, but it was not until 1922 that insulin was
discovered by F. G. Banting and C. H. Best as a life-saving drug for diabetic
patients.
Working tirelessly for several weeks
they obtained the first insulin from the pancreas of a dog. After many tests, they were able to give insulin to a young boy who almost died due to diabetes. His
condition immediately improved.
Now diabetes can be controlled and a
patient can take insulin by daily injection according to the seriousness of the
case.
How was penicillin discovered?
In 1928, an English scientist,
Alexander Fleming was studying a culture of bacteria in his laboratory. One day
a kind of mold (penicillium) accidentally infected the culture.
Fleming noticed that the new mould was killing
the bacteria around it. Excited, he did more studies on it and experiments
confirmed that these molds produced a substance which could kill many other
common harmful bacteria. Fleming named the new substance “penicillin”.
Penicillin remains one of the most
important medical discoveries of our time. Because of this infections and
illnesses can be treated easily. Earlier these infections could kill many
people because doctors did not know how to kill the bacteria which caused
infection.
Many more scientists started working
on penicillin, and soon they could find a way to purify and strengthen it and
it was made available to all.
When were antiseptics discovered?
Louis Pasteur, a French Scientist,
discovered and proved that micro-organisms cause fermentation and disease. A
surgeon, Joseph Lister, who was working in a hospital in Glasgow, Scotland,
read an article written by Louis Pasteur which said that these organisms,
called bacteria or germs, were responsible for the spoiling of meat and milk.
Pasteur also said that these germs float in the air.
Dr. Lister was worried about the
patients who used to undergo surgery at his hospital because many of them
later developed infections and died. No one knew how to stop such infections.
When he read Louis Pasteur’s paper, he wondered if the same organisms were
responsible for the infections of people.
He used a chemical called ‘Carbolic
acid’ as an antiseptic to fight infection. He also made sure that all surgeons
cleaned their instruments in this substance before they performed the
operations.
Today, no doctor would ever operate
on a patient without first washing his hands and instruments with an antiseptic.
Who discovered the circulation of blood?
The English doctor William Harvey
(1578-1657) was the first to realize how blood passes around the body.
William Harvey spent much time doing
research on the heart and blood vessels. Eventually, he came to the conclusion
that Galen was wrong.
Blood did not ebb and flow. It flowed
through the heart, veins and arteries in one direction only. One-way valves in
the heart and veins prevented it from flowing in the opposite direction.
Harvey’s theory relied on the fact
that there had to be a connection between the arteries and veins. Harvey
decided that, as both veins and arteries divided into smaller and smaller
branches, the connecting vessels must be too small for the eye to see. Italian
physiologist Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694) later proved this with the aid of a
microscope.
Harvey published his ideas in 1628.
At first, they were ridiculed, but before he died they had become accepted.