From the history of medicine

A man who discovered chloroform

Many years ago nobody knew about chloroform. And when the doctor operated on a patient, the patient suffered great pain. A young doctor in Edinburgh could not see how patients suffered during operations and tried to find some medicine to help the patient to overcome the pain. The doctor’s name was James Simpson.

Once he came home from the hospital with two other doctors. When he was looking for some papers on his desk he saw a little bottle. He remembered that one of his friends sent him a bottle with chloroform.

James Simpson opened the bottle. Chloroform had a strong but not an unpleasant smell. He decided to breathe chloroform in and see a result. The two doctors who were in the room decided to do the same. And so they did. As they breathed in the chloroform they became sleepy and soon they fell into a deep sleep.

After the experiment Dr. Simpson began to use chloroform during his operations. It was a very important discovery. Doctors could operate on people without hurting them and it was easier for the surgeon to operate because the patients were calm and did not move during the operation.

Лексика к тексту:

to suffer – страдать

overcome – преодолеть

deep – глубокий

easier – легче

calm – спокойный

move – двигаться

At the dentist’s

Yesterday in the evening I had a bad toothache. I was at home when my mother came.

Mother: What’s the matter with you, dear?

Ann: I have a bad toothache, Mummy.

M.: But you must see a dentist.

A.: Oh, Mummy, I am afraid of going to him.

M.: But you must go to him or you will feel bad.

In the morning I went to the dentist. The dentist nurse let me in.

Ann: Good morning, doctor.

Dentist: Good morning. Sit down, please. What’s the matter with you?

A.: I have a bad toothache.

D.: Open your mouth, please.

The doctor took a probe and a dental mirror and examined my teeth.

D.: Have your any pain in this tooth?

A.: No, I haven’t.

D.: But it is a decayed tooth and I must fill it. Today I shall put only a temporary filling. But …Oh … does this tooth hurt you?

A.: Yes, it does.

D.: Your tooth is working loose, I must extract it. So today I shall extract this tooth and in two or three days I’ll put a filling in that one.

A.: Oh, doctor, I am afraid. Please, don’t extract the tooth.

D.: Well… well my dear. I’ll give you an injection and in ten minutes I’ll extract the tooth. You will not feel any pain. Rinse your mouth, please, and spit out.

Ten minutes passed.

D.: Open your mouth. I’ll take the dental forceps and in a minute everything will be all right. … Here is your tooth. Look at it. Are you afraid now?

A.: Oh, no, doctor, thank you.

D.: Come to me in three days and I’ll put you a filling. Good-bye.

A.: Thank you, doctor, good-bye.

Лексика к тексту:

let somebody in – впустить кого-либо

probe – зонд

dental mirror – зубное зеркало

decayed tooth – испорченный зуб

fill – пломбировать

temporary filling – временная пломба

working loose – зуб шатается

extract – удалять

well… well - успокойтесь

give an injection – делать инъекцию

rinse – полоскать

spit – сплюнуть

dental forceps – хирургические щипцы

The diet

The professor paid special attention to the diet in disease. As I shall be a nurse, it is especially interesting for me. This is what he said: “In a hospital the doctor usually prescribes the type of diet which each patient must have”.

Any patient with a high temperature has a very poor appetite and so a nurse must be very careful. The first few days the diet must be mainly fluid or semi-solid.

If a patient has a high temperature for a long time he becomes very weak and it is very important to give him high caloric diet (food).

A careful nurse can do a lot to help the patient to become healthy.

You can treat many diseases by diet.

Лексика к тексту:

to pay attention – обращать внимание

prescribe – прописывать

mainly – главным образом

fluid – жидкость

semi-solid – полутвердый

From the history of medicine

The search of health is as old as man’s history.

In Babylon it was a custom to show the sick in the street, that the passers-by could say how to treat the sick from their own experience. It was not allowed to pass the sick man in silence.

A papyrus was found dated from 1600 B.C. about surgery and the treatment of wounds. Then another papyrus was found about 900 prescriptions, some of these prescriptions doctors use today. People learnt much from Egyptian manuscripts and from embalmed bodies. Examinations of some of these bodies showed many interesting facts. For example people of those times knew such diseases as arthritis, tuberculosis and appendicitis.

Лексика к тексту:

search – поиск

Babylon – Вавилон

Custom – традиция, обычай

passers-by – прохожие

from their own experience – исходя из собственного опыта

in silence – молча

dated from 1600 B.C. – датированные 1600 годом до нашей эры

manuscript – рукопись

embalmed bodies – бальзамированные тела

National Health Service

The National Health Service was established throughout the United Kingdom on 5^th July 1948. Similar services operate in England and Wales, in Scotland and in Northern Ireland, but with administrative differences.

The introduction of the new health service did not mean a complete break with the past. On the contrary, all that was good in the existing services was absorbed into a new scheme. The National Health Service made it possible that the benefits once available only to insured persons or those who could afford to pay for them, or as a form of charity, became available to everyone. The Service consists of three main parts:

the general practitioner services,

the hospital and specialist services,

and a local service authority services (comprising a range of home and clinical services for prevention, treatment or care).

The public is free to use the Service, or any independent part of it, as it pleases. The patient is free to choose his doctor, and to change to another if he wishes to do so. The doctor may accept private patients while taking part in the Service.

About 97 per cent of the whole population of Great Britain is using the Service. The great majority of specialists and general practitioners are taking part in the Service.

Лексика к тексту:

National Health Service – Государственная служба здравоохранения.

on the contrary – наоборот

available – доступный

insured persons – застрахованные лица

the general practitioner services – служба врачей общей практики

the hospital and specialist services – больничная и специализированные службы

local health authority services – местные органы здравоохранения

home and clinical services – помощь на дому и в клинике

as it pleases – по своему усмотрению

Hippocrates – the father of medicine

460-377 B.C.

Hippocrates was born in Greece he was the son of a doctor. Hippocrates studied medicine and then went to town where he practiced the art of medicine. It is known that he drove out plague from Athens by lighting fires in the streets of the city. That is all we know of Hippocrates himself. But we have his writings which are called Hippocratic Collection. The collection consists of more than one hundred books. Some of Hippocratic thoughts are quite modern. The collection begins with the famous Oath.

Hippocrates was known as an excellent practitioner and a teacher of medicine. This great physician taught his pupils to examine patients very attentively and to give them quick help. He created medicine on the basis of experience.

Hippocrates freed medicine from superstition. He hated the idea that a disease was the punishments of gods.

Hippocrates paid much attention to diet, gymnastic, massage and sea bathing in treatment. He knew how to use many drugs and was also a good surgeon.

Hippocrates set fractures. Aristotle, the famous philosopher, called him “Hippocrates the Great”.

Лексика к тексту:

B.C. – до нашей эры

the art of medicine – искусство медицины

by lighting fires – разжигая костры

on the basis of experience – на основе опыта

superstition – предрассудки

to set fractures – лечить переломы

I want to be a doctor

There are many interesting and noble professions. I want to be a doctor. It is an interesting profession.

I understand that it is necessary to study a lot to become a doctor. I also understand that this profession requires great responsibility because it deals with the most precious thing that a person has – with his health.

My mother and my grandfather are doctors. My grandfather is working as a surgeon in a hospital. I have been several times at the hospital and spent some time watching him working.

His main task is to operate on the people. After each operation he takes care of patients until they are recovered.

He listens very attentively to what his patients tell him. He is always kind and attentive to his patients. They feel it and believe him, and it makes his work easier.

My grandfather can also help if somebody catches a cold or has a fever. My grandfather told me a lot of true stories about doctors and their professions.

I love and respect my grandfather and I want to become a doctor.

Лексика к тексту:

to study a lot – много учиться

require – требовать

takes care – заботиться

it makes his work easier – это облегчает его работу

catches a cold – простудиться

In the operating-room

I saw some operation during my practice in the operating-room. Yesterday an ambulance brought a man to our hospital. The patient felt a severe abdominal pain. The doctor diagnosed appendicitis. The patient was prepared for the operation and put on the operating-table. The doctor washed his arms and hands, dried them on a sterile towel, put on the gown and the gloves. The nurse gave the surgeon a scalpel and he began to make an operation. It lasted for about an hour and was successful.

Лексика к тексту:

ambulance – машина скорой помощи

abdominal – брюшной

gown – халат

gloves – перчатки

to last – продолжаться

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