appear quite as superstitious as the belief in astrology. Kircher, for
instance, accepted the idea of the possibility of the transmutation of
metals. It is to be said, though, that all mankind were convinced of
this possibility, and indeed not entirely without reason. All during
the nineteenth century scientists believed very firmly in the absolute
independence of chemical elements and their utter
non-interchangeability. As the result of recent discoveries, however,
in which one element has apparently been observed giving rise to
another, much of this doctrine has come to be considered as
improbable, and now the idea of possible transmutation of {127} metals
and other chemical elements into one another appears not so absurd as
it was half a century ago.
Any one who will take up a text-book of science of a century ago will
find in it many glaring absurdities. It will seem almost impossible
that a scientific thinker, in his right senses, could have accepted
some of the propositions that are calmly set down as absolute truths.
Every generation has made itself ridiculous by knowing many things
"that are not so," and even ours is no exception. Father Kircher was
not outside this rule, though he was ahead of his generation in the
critical faculty that enabled him to eliminate many falsities and to
illuminate half-truths in the science of his day.
Undoubtedly the most interesting of Father Kircher's scientific books
is his work On the Pest, with some considerations on its origin, mode
of distribution, and treatment, which about the middle of the
seventeenth century gathered together all the medical theories of the
times as to the causation of contagious disease, discussed them with
critical judgment and reached conclusions which anticipate much of
what is most modern in our present-day medicine. It is this work of
Father Kircher's that is now most often referred to, and very
deservedly so, because it is one of the classics which represents a
landmark in knowledge for all time. It merits a place beside such
books as Harvey on the Circulation of Blood, or even Vesalius on Human
{128} Anatomy. As we have seen, it is now quoted from by our best
recent authorities who attempt seriously to trace the history of the
microbic theory of disease, and its conclusions are the result of
logical processes and not the mere chance lighting upon truth of a
mind that had the theories of the time before it. In it Father
Kircher's genius is best exhibited. It has the faults of his too ready
credibility; and his desire to discuss all possible phases of the
question, even those which are now manifestly absurd, has led him into
what prove to be useless digressions. But on the whole it represents
very well the first great example of the application of the principle
of inductive science to modern medicine. All the known facts and
observations are collected and discussed, and then the conclusions are
suggested.
It is very interesting to trace the development of Father Kircher's
ideas with regard to the origin, causation, and communication of
disease, because in many points he so clearly anticipates medical
knowledge that has only come to be definitely accepted in very recent
times. It has often been pointed out that Sir Robert Boyle declared
that the processes of fermentation and those which brought about
infectious disease, were probably of similar nature, and that the
scientist who solved the problem of the cause of fermentation would
throw great light on the origin of these diseases. This prophetic
remark was absolutely verified when Pasteur, a chemist who had solved
the problem of fermentation, also solved {129} the weightier questions
connected with human diseases. Before even Boyle, however, Father
Kircher had expressed his opinion that disease processes were similar
to those of putrefaction. He considered that putrefaction was due to
the presence of certain _corpuscula_, as he called them, and these he
said were also probably active in the causation of infectious disease.
He was not sure whether or not these _corpuscula_ were living, in the
sense that they could multiply of themselves. He considered, however,
that this was very probable. As to their distribution, he is
especially happy in his anticipations of modern medical progress.
While he considered it very possible that they were carried through
the air, he gives it as his deliberate opinion that living things were
the most frequent agents for the distribution of the corpuscles of
disease. He is sure that they are carried by flies, for instance, and
that they may be inoculated by the stings of such insects as fleas or
mosquitoes. He even gives some examples that he knew of in which this
was demonstrated. Still more striking is his insistence on the fact
that such a contagious disease as pest may be carried by cats and dogs
and other domestic animals. The cat seemed to him to be associated
with special danger in this matter, and he gives an example of a
nunnery which had carefully protected itself against possible
infection, but had allowed a cat to come in, with the result that some
cases of the disease developed.
{130}
An interesting bit of discussion is to be found in the chapter in
which Father Kircher takes up the consideration of the problem whether
infectious disease can ever be produced by the imagination. He is
speaking particularly of the pest, but there is more than a suspicion
that under the name pest came at times of epidemics many of our modern
contagious diseases. Father Kircher says that there is no doubt that
worry plays an important role in predisposing persons to take the
disease. He does not consider, however, that it can originate of
itself, or be engendered in the person without contact with some
previous case of pest. With regard to the question of predisposition
he is very modern. He points out that many persons do not take the
disease, because evidently of some protective quality which they
possess. He is sure, too, that the best possible protection comes from
keeping in good, general health.
A curious suggestion is that with regard to the grave-diggers and
undertakers. It has often been noted in Italy, so Father Kircher
asserts, that these individuals as a rule did not succumb to the
disease, notwithstanding their extreme exposure, when the majority of
the population were suffering from it. Toward the end of the epidemic,
however, at the time when the townspeople were beginning to rejoice
over its practical disappearance, it was not unusual to have these
caretakers of the dead brought down with the disease--often, too, in
fatal form. Father {131} Kircher considers that only strong and
healthy individuals would take up such an occupation. That the
satisfaction of accomplishing a large amount of work and making money
kept them in good health. Later on, however, as the result of overwork
during the time of the epidemic and also of discouragement because
they saw the end of prosperous times for them, they became predisposed
to the disease and then fell victims.
With regard to the prevention of the pest in individual cases, Father
Kircher has some very sensible remarks. He says that physicians as a
rule depend on certain medicinal protectives or on amulets which they
carry. The amulets he considers to be merely superstitious. The
sweet-smelling substances that are sometimes employed are probably
without any preventive action. Certain physicians employed a
prophylactic remedy made up of very many substances. This is what in
modern days we would be apt to call a "gunshot prescription." It
contained so many ingredients that it was hoped that some one of them
would hit the right spot and prove effective. Father Kircher has
another name for it. We do not know whether it is original with him,
but in any case it is worth while remembering. He calls it a "calendar
prescription," because when written it resembled a list of the days of
the month.
His opinion of this "calendar prescription" is not very high. It seems
to him that if one ingredient did good, most of the others would be
{132} almost as sure to do harm. The main factor in prophylaxis to his
mind was to keep in normal health, and this seemed not quite
compatible with frequent recourse to a prescription containing so many
drugs that were almost sure to have no good effect and might have an
ill effect. It is all the more interesting to find these common-sense
views because ordinarily Father Kircher is set down as one who
accepted most of the traditions of his time without inquiring very
deeply into their origin or truth, simply reporting them out of the
fulness of his rather pedantic information. In most cases it will be
found, however, that, like Herodotus, reporting the curious things
that had been told him in his travels, he is very careful to state
what are his own opinions and what he owes to others and gives place
to, though without attaching much credence to them.
It must not be forgotten that his great contemporaries, Von Helmont
and Paracelsus, were not free from many of the curious scientific
superstitions of their time, though they had, like him, in many
respects the true scientific spirit. Von Helmont, for instance, was a
firm believer in the doctrine of spontaneous generation, and even went
so far as to consider that it had its application to animals of rather
high order. For instance, one of his works contains a rather famous
prescription to bring about the spontaneous generation of mice. What
was needed was a jar of meal kept in a dark corner covered by some
soiled linen. After three weeks these elements {133} would be found to
have bred mice. Too much must not be expected, then, of Kircher in the
matter of crediting supposedly scientific traditions.
It may seem surprising that Father Kircher's book did not produce a
greater impression upon the medical research work and teaching of the
day and lead to an earlier development of microbiology. Unfortunately,
however, the instruments of precision necessary for such a study were
not then at hand, and the gradual loss of prestige of the book is
therefore readily to be understood. The explanation of this delay in
the development of science is very well put by Crookshank, who is the
professor of comparative pathology and bacteriology at King's College,
London, and one of the acknowledged authorities on these subjects in
the medical world. Professor Crookshank says, at the beginning of the
first chapter of his text-book on bacteriology, in which he traces the
origin of the science, that the first attempt to demonstrate the
existence of the _contagium vivum_ dates back almost to the discovery
of the microscope:--[Footnote 11]
[Footnote 11: _A Text-Book of Bacteriology_. Including the
Etiology and Prevention of Infectious Diseases By Edgar M.
Crookshank. Fourth Edition London, 1896]
Athanasius Kircher nearly two and a half centuries ago expressed his
belief that there were definite micro-organisms to which diseases
were attributable. The microscope had revealed that all decomposing
{134} substances swarmed with countless micro-organisms which were
invisible to the naked eye, and Kircher sought for similar organisms
in disease, which he considered might be due to their agency. The
microscopes which he describes obviously could not admit of the
possibility of studying or even detecting the micro-organisms which
are now known to be associated with certain diseases; and it is not
surprising that his teaching did not at the time gain much
attention. They were destined, however, to receive a great impetus
from the discoveries which emanated not long after from the father
of microscopy, Leeuwenhoek.
This reference to Kircher's work, however, shows that more cordial
appreciation of his scientific genius has come in our day, and it
seems not unlikely that in the progress of more accurate and detailed
knowledge of scientific origins his reputation will grow as it
deserves. With that doubtless will come a better understanding of the
true attitude of the scholars of the time--so many of whom were
churchmen--to so-called physical science in contradistinction to
philosophy, in which of course they had always been profoundly
interested. The work done by Kircher could never have been
accomplished but for the sympathetic interest of those who are falsely
supposed to have been bitterly opposed to all progress in the natural
sciences, but whose opposition was really limited to theoretic phases
of scientific inquiry that threatened, as has scientific theory so
often since, to prove directly contradictory to revealed truth.
{135}
VI.
BISHOP STENSEN: ANATOMIST AND FATHER OF GEOLOGY.
{136}
God makes sages and saints that they may be fountain-heads of wisdom
and virtue for all who yearn and aspire: and whoever has superior
knowledge or ability is thereby committed to more effectual and
unselfish service of his fellow-men. If the love of fame be but an
infirmity of noble souls, the craving of professional reputation is
but conceit and vanity. To be of help, and to be of help not merely to
animals, but to immortal, pure, loving spirits this is the noblest
earthly fate.--BISHOP SPALDING: _The Physician's Calling and
Education_.
[Illustration: NICOLAUS STENONIS]
{137}
VI.
BISHOP STENSEN, ANATOMIST AND FATHER OF GEOLOGY.
In the sketch of the life of Father Athanasius Kircher, the
distinguished Jesuit scientist, mathematician, and Orientalist, I
called attention to the fact that, at the very time when Galileo was
tried and condemned at Rome, because of his abuse of Scripture for the
demonstration of scientific thesis, a condemnation which has been
often since proclaimed to be due to the Church's intolerant opposition
to science, the ecclesiastical authorities at Rome invited Father
Kircher, who was at that time teaching mathematics in Germany, to come
to Rome, and during the next half-century encouraged him in every way
in the cultivation of all the physical sciences of the times. It was
to popes and cardinals, as well as to influential members of his own
order of the Jesuits, that Father Kircher owed his opportunities for
the foundation of a complete and magnificent museum, illustrating many
phases of natural science--the first of its kind in the world, and
which yet continues to be one of the noteworthy collections.
During the decade in which the condemnation of Galileo and the
invitation of Father Kircher to Rome took place, there was born, at
{138} Copenhagen, a man whose career of distinction in science was to
prove even more effectively than that of Kircher, if possible, that
there was no opposition in ecclesiastical circles in Italy, during
this century, to the development of natural science even in
departments in respect to which the Church has, over and over again,
been said to be specially intolerant. This scientist was Nicholas
Stensen, the discoverer of the duct of the parotid gland, which
conducts saliva into the mouth, and the founder, in the truest sense
of the word, of the modern science of geology. Stensen's discovery of
the duct which has since borne his name was due to no mere accident;
for he was one of the really great anatomists of all time, and one
distinguished particularly for his powers of original observation and
investigation. To have the two distinctions, then, of a leader in
anatomy and a founder in geology, stamps him as one of the supreme
scientific geniuses of all time, a man not only of a fruitfully
inquiring disposition of mind, but also one who possessed a very
definite realization of how important for the cause of scientific
truth is the necessity of testing all ideas with regard to things
physical, by actual observations of nature and by drawing conclusions
not wider than the observed facts.
Notwithstanding this characteristically scientific temper of mind,
which, according to most modern ideas, at least, would seem to be sure
to lead him away from religious truth, Stensen at the {139} very
height of his career as a scientist, while studying anatomy and
geology in Italy, became a convert from Lutheranism, in which he had
been born, to Catholicity, and thereafter made it one of the prime
objects of his life to bring as many others as possible of the
separated brethren into the fold of the Church. When he accepted the
professorship of anatomy at the University of Copenhagen, it was with
the definite idea that he might be able to use the influence of his
position to make people realize how much of religious truth there was
in the old Church from which they had been separated in the preceding
century. After a time, however, his zeal led him to resign his
position, and ask to be made a priest, in order that he might be able
more effectively to fulfil what he now considered the main purpose of
his life, the winning of souls to the Church. As, since his
conversion, he had given every evidence of the most sincere piety and
humble simplicity, his desires were granted. His book on geology,
however, was partly written during the very time when he was preparing
for sacred orders, and was warmly welcomed by all his Catholic
friends. After spending some time as a missionary, and attracting a
great deal of attention by his devout life and by the many friends and
converts he succeeded in making, the recently converted Duke of
Hanover asked that the zealous Danish convert should be made bishop of
his capital city. This request was immediately granted, and Stensen
spent several years {140} in the hardest missionary labor in his new
field. As a matter of fact, his labors proved too much for his rather
delicate constitution, and he died at the comparatively early age of
forty-eight. The visitor to the University of Copenhagen marvels to
find among the portraits of her professors of anatomy one in the robes
of a Roman Catholic bishop. This is Stensen. In 1881, when the
International Geographical Congress met at Bologna, it adjourned at
the end of the session to Florence to unveil a bust of Stensen, over
his tomb there. Here evidently is a man whose life is well worth
studying, because of all that it means for the history of his time.
Nicholas Stensen--or, as he is often called, Steno, because this is
the Latin form of his name, and Latin was practically exclusively
used, during his age, in scientific circles all over Europe--was born
20 January, 1638, in Copenhagen. His father died while he was
comparatively young, and his mother married again, both her husbands
being goldsmiths in high repute for their skill, and both of them in
rather well-to-do circumstances. His early education was obtained at
Copenhagen, and the results displayed in his attainments show how well
it must have been conducted. Later in life he spoke and wrote Latin
very fluently and had, besides, a very thorough knowledge of Greek and
of Hebrew. Of the modern languages, German, French, Italian, and Low
Dutch he knew very well, mainly from residence in the various
countries in which they {141} are spoken. A more unusual attainment at
that time, and one showing the ardor of his thirst for knowledge, was
an acquaintance with English. In early life he was especially fond of
mathematics and, indeed, it was almost by accident that this did not
become his chosen field of educational development.
At eighteen he became a student of the University of Copenhagen, and
after some preliminary studies in philosophy and philology devoted
himself mainly to medicine. At this time the Danish University was
especially distinguished for its work in anatomy. The famous family of
Bartholini, who had for several generations been teaching there, had
proved a copious source of inspiration for the students in their
department, and as a consequence original investigation of a high
order, with enthusiasm for the development of anatomical science, had
become the rule. The external situation was not favorable to learning,
for Denmark was engaged in harassing and costly wars during a
considerable portion of the seventeenth century; yet the work
accomplished here was, undoubtedly, some of the best in Europe. Young
Stensen had the advantage of having Thomas Bartholini as his
preceptor, and soon, because of his enthusiasm for science, as friend
and father.
Stensen had been at the University scarcely two years when the city of
Copenhagen was besieged by the Swedes. Professor Lutz, of the
University of St. Louis, who has recently written {142} an article on
Stensen, which appeared in the _Medical Library and Historical
Journal_ for July, 1904, says of this period:
A regiment of students numbering two hundred and sixty-six, called
"the black coats" on account of their dark clothes, was formed for
the defence of the city; upon its roster we find the name of young
Steno. During the day they were at work mending the ramparts, and
the nights were spent in repelling the attacks of the enemy. In the
course of this long siege, the city was compelled to cope with a
more formidable enemy than the Swedes--famine with all its
horrors--before relief came in the shape of provisions and
reinforcements furnished by the Dutch fleet. Throughout these
turbulent days the student soldiers rendered valuable services to
their country, and though it be true that "inter arma silent
musae"--"the war gods do not favor the muses"--it appears
nevertheless that Steno attended the lectures and dissections which
were conducted by the teachers in the intervals when the student
were not on duty.
After some three years spent at the University of Copenhagen, Stensen,
as was the custom of the times, went to pursue his post-graduate
studies in a foreign university. Bartholini furnished him with a
letter of recommendation to Professor Blasius, who was teaching
anatomy at Amsterdam in Holland. Amsterdam had become famous during
the seventeenth century for the very practical character of its
anatomical teaching. As the result of the cordial commendation of
Bartholini, Stensen became an inmate of the house of Professor
Blasius, and was given {143} special opportunities to pursue his
anatomical studies for himself. He had been but a very short time at
Amsterdam, when he made the discovery to which his name has ever since
been attached, that of the duct of the parotid gland. Stensen's
discovery was made while he was dissecting the head of a sheep. He
found shortly afterwards, however, that the canal could be
demonstrated to exist in the dog, though it was not so large a
structure. Blasius seems to have been rather annoyed at the fact that
a student, just beginning work with him, should make so important a
discovery, and wished to claim the honor of it for himself. There is
no doubt, however, now, notwithstanding the discussion over the
priority of the discovery which took place at the time, that Stensen
was the first to make this important observation.
Not long before, Wharton, an English observer, had demonstrated the
existence of a canal leading from the submaxillary gland into the
mouth. This might have been expected to lead to the discovery of other
glandular ducts, but so far had not. As a matter of fact, the function
of the parotid gland was not well understood at this time. During the
discussion as to priority of discovery, Steno pointed out one fact
which he very properly considers as the most conclusive proof that
Blasius did not discover the duct of the gland. He says: "Blasius
shows plainly in his treatise 'De Medicina Generali' that he has never
sought for the duct, for he does not assign {144} to it either the
proper point of beginning or ending, and assigns to the parotid gland
itself so unworthy a function as that of furnishing warmth to the ear,
so that if I were not perfectly sure of having once shown him the duct
myself, I should be tempted to say that he had never seen it."
Bartholini settled the controversy, and at the same time removed any
discouragement that might have arisen in his young pupil's mind, by
writing to him:--