Physicians who tested vaccines on themselves

Today we perceive a lot of medical knowledge as a matter of course: the postulates about the diversity of the diet, the consequences of the use of direct poisons, ways of spreading infections. But the lion's share of this information cost the lives of doctors who made a new discovery and decided to prove its truth at any cost.

Infectious mosquito

At the very beginning of the 20th century, thousands of people in South America and Africa died from yellow fever. It was believed that this disease is caused by vapors coming from the soil. Physician Carlos Finlay in 1881 put forward the hypothesis that the carriers of malaria and yellow fever are mosquitoes of the genus Aedes, but it was not taken seriously.

Jess Lacear - a merciful doctor who could not look at people who were dying of fever, allowed himself to be bitten by a mosquito biting a fever patient. Jess Lacear died, confirming the Finlay hypothesis, and a year later the death rate of people was reduced by 10%.In the years that followed, new and improved vaccines against these infections were invented. Today, the number of people dying from malaria and fever is counted in units. Thank you, Dr. Lacear!

When poison is not poison

American physician Roger Smith in 1944 injected himself with a poison curare, after which he began to paralysis of the muscles of the body. The muscles of the throat were paralyzed, breathing became difficult, the limbs lost their mobility. Emergency resuscitation, conducted by colleagues saved him from death. The risk of the doctor was not in vain, later he calculated small doses of curare poison, which allows to relax the muscles of the abdominal cavity for surgical operations.

Invented and selflessly tested the serum against the viper poison Jacques Ponto. In 1933 he allowed himself to be bitten by three adult vipers. Death after bites could have occurred less than 10 minutes later, but he survived as the creator of an effective antidote!

Pain, how do you want to not test it!

Pharmacist Friedrich Sertürner in the early 19th century conducted a series of experiments with opium powder, trying to establish the optimal dosage for anesthesia.

In the middle of the 19th century, Paolo Mantegazza used leaves and infusions of coca leaves in different doses, fixing their sensations in detail after their use. It was not a high, but loss of consciousness, nausea, vomiting, the inability to sleep for several days.

Thanks to the experiments of these scientists, surgeon August Bier developed epidural anesthesia - an analgesic method in which an analgesic is injected into the spinal canal. To have a complete idea of ​​the operation of the method, he conducted many experiments, on himself, of course.

The food is different

A doctor from London William Stark considered it. He conditionally divided food into "harmful" and "harmless" and for weeks he ate only one type of food, trying to prove his theory.

Then he began to eat food sets:

• meat, bread and water
• fat, bread and tea
• melted butter, bread, water and salt

After knocking down his health, he died at age 29, eating for the sake of experiment only "innocuous" cheese chester.

Eat differently, take care and appreciate the knowledge, accumulated by mankind, because they are so expensive!

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