9/11/14
Many very important discoveries in many medical fields were
made by people who held a Christian commitment and there is not room to mention
them all here: William Harvey (circulation), Jan Swammerdam (lymph vessels and
red cells) and Niels Stensen (fibrils in muscle contraction) were all people of
faith, while Albrecht von Haller, widely regarded as the founder of modern
physiology and author of the first physiology textbook, was a devout believer;
Abbe Spallanzani (digestion, reproductive physiology), Stephen Hales
(hemostatic, urinary calculi and artificial ventilation), Marshall Hall (reflex
nerve action) and Michael Foster (heart muscle contraction and founder of
Journal of Physiology) were just some among many others.
The same can be said of the advance of surgical techniques
and practice. Ambroise Pare abandoned the horrific use of the cautery to treat
wounds and made many significant surgical discoveries and improvements. The
Catholic Louis Pasteur's discovery of germs was a turning point in the
understanding of infection. Lister (a Quaker) was the first to apply his
discoveries to surgery, changing surgical practice forever. Davy and Faraday,
who discovered and pioneered the use of anesthesia in surgery, were well known
for their Christian faith, and the obstetrician James Simpson, a very humble
believer, was the first to use ether and chloroform in midwifery. James Syme,
an excellent pioneer Episcopalian surgeon, was among the first to use
anesthesia and aseptic techniques together. William Halsted of Johns Hopkins
pioneered many new operations and introduced many more aseptic practices (eg
rubber gloves), while William Keen, a Baptist, was the first to successfully
operate on a brain tumor.
Rom 11:34 "For
who has known the mind of the Lord….”
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