1920s Medicine Essay

Advancements of Medicine in the 1920’s
Medicine had a huge advancement in the 1920s. Many scientists had discovered medicines, but it was hard for them to purify them and give them to people. Because of the discovery of penicillin, insulin, Band-Aids, and vitamins, the lives of the American people were greatly changed.
Band-Aids were invented in 1920. An employee at Johnson and Johnson, Earle Dickson, made a way to help his wife with the various cuts that she would get throughout the day. He made the Band-Aid. He put square cotton gauze on strips of tape of fabric called crinoline. People finally realized that there was a safe and effective way to heal cuts or scrapes. They were self- applied and sanitary. Band-Aids became very popular and
very successful (Brown).
Vitamins are very important for the human body. They replace deficiencies that the body doesn’t get from food. Thiamin (B1) was one of the first to be discovered (Pharmaceutical). In 1912, Casmir Funk coined the term “vitamin” by using Latin roots. He did this while curing beriberi (Markham 33). There was a rickets epidemic among children. Rickets is a bone disease that is practically fatal (Chara). Bones in the human body become soft and misshaped (Markham 33). People, who experience less sunlight, had the rickets disease progress more quickly (Chara). Gowland Hopkins thought that three diseases, scurvy, beriberi, and rickets, were caused by some type of deficiency (Markham 33). Thiamin deficiency symptoms included spasms, possible paralysis, and depression. Christiaan Eijkman discovered that if someone were to eat unpolished rice, then it would fix the thiamin deficiency (Pharmaceutical). In 1922, Elmer McCollun heated cod liver oil, and there was something left, after the Vitamin A was removed, that cured the rickets. He called it Vitamin D. Vitamin D deals with
bone growth and health (Chara). Using it as a vitamin, cured many bone diseases. Elmer McCollum and Marguerite Davis discovered a substance that prevented night blindness, which was named Vitamin A. they also discovered Vitamin B, which cured beriberi (Markham 33). In 1924, Harry Steenbock showed that if you exposed the food of rats to ultraviolet radiation, they grew. This became a nationwide discovery. Soon everyone spent more time outside in the sunlight, and food was made with Vitamin D. There was a huge decline in the rickets cases in the 1920s once people caught on the Harry Steenbock’s discovery (Chara). “The knowledge of vitamins changed the way people cooked and ate their food. Vitamins made people healthier and increased their life expectancy.” (Markham 33). Before the 1920’s, people would die from diabetes and no one would know why. If someone has diabetes, then their body has trouble processing sugars. People with this disease could have symptoms like damage to the eyes and nerves. They could also experience weight loss. There is a gland in the body called the pancreas that produces substances that aid in digesting proteins. In 1869, Paul Langerhans found a group of cells in the pancreas. He called them the Islets of Langerhans after his name. There were scientist that thought the islets created insulin, which helped with the breakdown of carbohydrates and sugars. The next step was to figure out a way to isolate the insulin so that it could be given to diabetic patients. This process was easier said than done. Many attempts failed. In 1920, Fredrick Banting tried to find a way to remove the Islets of Langerhans from the pancreas (Markham 34). There was a way that he could succeed. Banting made the pancreatic glands die by tying them off. Afterwards, the islets would be left. Insulin could then be removed and used to treat diabetes in humans (Markham 35). “They tied off the pancreatic ducts through which acinar cells release the digestive enzymes. This insult caused the acinar cells to die. Subsequently, the remainder of the pancreas was homogenized and extracted the ethyl alcohol and acid. The extract thus obtained decreased blood glucose levels in dogs with a form diabetes.” (Pharmaceutical) This successful attempt was done by Nicolas C. Paulescu in 1921 (Pharmaceutical). Leonard Thompson was the first the first human that Banting tested the insulin on January of 1922. The young boy had an improvement in his diabetes (Markham 35). He was then able to live a fairly normal life. The next step was figuring out how to produce large amounts of insulin that was purified enough for the public. The insulin, that was used, was from porcine and bovine sources because there wasn’t a big chemical make-up difference between those and human insulin (Pharmaceutical). The insulin got rid of most the symptoms, but there were some toxic effects because of the impurities (Robinson). James Collip first noticed insulin shock (Markham 35). He figured out how much should be administered to a human. In November of 1922, dosages were made, but they weren’t precise. An overdose could cause a hypoglycemic coma. In 1926, John Jacob Abel crystalized insulin. Insulin dosages were now precise (Robinson). Insulin changed the lives of diabetics. All forms of diabetes could be treated (Pharmaceutical). In the early 1920s, infectious diseases had a high death rate (Adler). Bacteria were the main reason for many illnesses. Over a billion bacteria could fit in a teaspoon. There are good and bad bacteria (Bankston). In 1871, Joseph Lister discovered a mold and called it penicillium (Markham 36). The actual drug, penicillin, was created because Alexander Fleming didn’t clean up his lab before a two week break in the summer of 1928 (Bankston). Before 1928, Alexander had sneezed on a petri dish by accident in the fall of 1921. He found that the sneeze had killed the bacteria on the plate. The substance found in tears, mucus, and other body fluids was named lysozyme (Bankston). Fleming said “I realized that every living thing, in all its parts, must have an effective defense mechanism, otherwise no living organism could continue to exist. The bacteria would invade and destroy it.” (Banston). In 1928, Fleming had a petri dish with a specimen of staphylococcus bacteria on it. When he left, he left a window open, and the rare strain of mold, penicillium, landed in the dish. Because he had left the window open, the summer weather caused the penicillium to grow. The staphylococcus bacteria stopped growing in the spot where the penicillium has touched (Bankston). When Fleming returned, he saw what had happened. Instead of getting rid of the dish, he studied it. Under the microscope, he saw the penicillium. A halo had formed around the spore, and all the bacteria were dead beneath it. Alex started to grow the mold. He tried it on various types of bacteria to see the affect. He had found the same result; the mold killed all of the bacteria. Duchesne did an experiment with mice after the mold was discovered. He gave all of the mice a deadly bacterium. Then he gave half of those the penicillium mold. Those that lived had received the mold (Markham 36). Research continued in the lab until a medicine was made. Penicillin finally became an antibiotic, but it wasn’t perfect (Bankston). It was also hard to grow lots of penicillin, but eventually a strain of penicillin chrysogenum was discovered in an overripe cantaloupe. It grew very well, and this strain became the key to producing large amounts (Pharmaceutical). Penicillin was the first of the antimicrobials to treat bacteria diseases. It became possible to treat most infections (Adler). This became very important on the battle field. Before this new antibiotic, soldiers would die because of an infection due to gunshots or amputations.
The only way to save the life of a soldier, if they were shot in a limb, would be amputation. In most cases, this would cause an even bigger infection (Bankston). Penicillin became the miracle drug on the battlefield (Markham 36). Penicillin is “known to destroy 89 different disease-causing bacteria… [its] one of the most widely used anti-bacterial drugs.” (Markham 37). It cures abscossas, pneumonia, bronchitis, pneumatic fever, burns, scarlet fever, syphilis, influenza, diphtheria, and many others (Markham 37). Thank goodness Alexander Fleming was persistent and messy. Billions of lives have been saved. He discovered the miracle drug and saved the world (Bankston). Many lives were changed and saved because of the great discoveries of penicillin, insulin, vitamins, and Band-Aids. These weren’t the end of the medicine advancements. They were only the beginning. Work Cited
Adler, Richard. "Medicine." The 1920s in America Hackensack, NJ: Salem Press, 2012. n. pag. Salem Online. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. http://online.salempress.com
Bankston, John. “Alexander Fleming and the Story of Penicillin.” Alexander Fleming & the Story of Penicillin (2002): 4. Science Reference Center. Web 19 Feb. 2015.
Brown, David M. "Band-Aids." The 1920s in America Hackensack, NJ: Salem Press, 2012. n. pag. Salem Online. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. http://online.salempress.com
Chara, Paul J. "Vitamin D discovery." The 1920s in America Hackensack,
NJ: Salem Press, 2012. n. pag. Salem Online. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. http://online.salempress.com
Markham, Lois. Discoveries That Changed Science. Austin: Steckvaughn Company, 1995. Print.
“Pharmaceutical Industry.” Britannica School. Encyclopedia Britannica, INC., 2015. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/108560.
Robinson, James L. "Insulin." The 1920s in America Hackensack, NJ: Salem Press, 2012. n. pag. Salem Online. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. http://online.salempress.com