Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/219

This page needs to be proofread.
LEFT
177
RIGHT

MEDICINE HAT 177 MEDITERRANEAN SEA edge of medicine from Egypt to Greece. His pupil was ^sculapius, said to have lived previously to the Trojan war [about 1500 B. c. (?)]. He was so eminent a physician that he was, on his death, dei- fied, and became the Greek god of medi- cine, under whose auspices all further researches were made. Pythagoras, about 529 B. c, studied the human frame ; but the "father" of Greek medicine was Hippocrates, 460-357 B. c. He is by some considered the founder of the dogmatic school. About 332 B. c. the Alexandrian school arose, under Eratosthenes and Hierophilus. The latter was opposed by Chrysippus, and the empiric school arose. The Romans were long in entering the field. The greatest Roman physician was Galen, A. D. 165. The Methodics had arisen shortly before, and the Eclectics were ramifications of the former. From the 7th to the 12th century the Arabs cultivated medicine; their greatest name was Avicenna, about A. D. 1020. The Ital- ians next assumed the lead. The dog- matic school of medicine was assailed by Paracelsus (1493-1541) and Vesalius (1514-1564), The discovery by Harvey, in 1628, of the circulation of the blood, gave a great impulse to medical science. Modern medicine owes its greatest debt to Virchow, Pasteur, and Lister. They first determined that tissues were composed of various cells and that types of diseased structure of tissues could be identified by the predominating cell form in each. Pasteur founded the science of bacteriology, and Lister, who died in 1912, was the apostle of antiseptics, revo- lutionizing surgery. By insisting that wounds should be kept clean, and the operator and instruments, as well, the use of carbolic to purify the air, and antiseptic dressings, surgeons carried out successfully operations never at- tempted before. Transfusion of blood, which saved many lives, marked another triumph against disease. Tuberculosis is yielding to medical science. The dis- covery of X or Roentgen Rays for pho- tographing invisible organs has been_ a great aid in disease. The bacterial origin of typhus, transmitted by body lice and insects, was made known in 1915. In the World War only 4 per cent, died of disease. MEDICINE HAT, capital of the elec- toral division of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan river, Canadian Pacific railway, 165 miles S. E. of Calgary. Seat of Domin- ion Land Office. Has coal mines, gas wells, railway machine shop, grain ele- vator, and planing mills. Pop. about 7,500. MEDICINE MAN, an important per- sonage among the Indian tribes who com- bines the powers of a wizard, necro- mancer, seer and prophet. MEDINA, a village of Orleans co., N. Y., 41 miles W. of Rochester, on Oak Orchard creek, Erie canal, and New York Central and Hudson River railroad. Center of rich agricultural district and has manufactures of iron, furniture, pumps, pipes, and cigars. Picturesque Medina Falls are near by. Pop. (1910) 5,683; (1920) 6,287. MEDINA (me-de'na), or MEDINET- EL-NABI (me-de'net-el-na'be) , "the town of the prophet," one of the sacred cities of Arabia. It is, next to Mecca, the great center of attraction to Moham- medan pilgrims, from its connection with the founder of the Mohammedan faith. This celebrated city stands in a plain, close to a chain of hills which bounds the great desert W. It is of an irregular oval form, vnthin a walled inclosure of 35 or 40 feet high, flanked by 30 towers, which render Medina the chief strong- hold of Hedjaz. Its most prominent building is the great mosque, Al-Harem, supposed to be erected on the spot where Mohammed died. MEDINA SIDONIA (ma-tAe-na se- do'ne-a), a city of Spain, 25 miles S. S. E. of Cadiz; on an isolated hill overlooking a wide plain; has the ruins of a castle, the ancestral seat of the dukes of Medina Sidonia, descendants of Guzman the Good, conqueror of Tarifa (1292), a member of which house commanded the "invincible Armada." Pop. about 12,000. MEDITERRANEAN SEA, a large and important inland sea, bounded on the N. by Europe, on the E. by Asia, on the S. by Africa, and communicating at its W. extremity by the Straits of Gibraltar with the N. Atlantic Ocean, and at its N. E. extremity, by the Dardanelles and Bosporus, with the Black or Euxine Sea; extending from lat. 30° to nearly 46" N., and from Ion. 5° 54' W. to 36° 8' E.; greatest length, 2,300 miles; greatest breadth, from Venice to the Bay of Sidra, 1,200 miles; area, est. 690,000 square miles. It is of an oblong, but irregular shape, especially on the N., where the large peninsulas of Italy and Greece pro- ject S. The coast of the Mediterranean is as remarkable for the difference of altitude as for variety of outline. In the N., with the exception of Italy, it is bold and rugged. On the E. and S. the coun- try presents a low uninteresting flat, with rocky reefs and shoals projecting 5 to 7 miles from the shore, and which render the navigation near these shores