Interaction between theory and practice in the surgical treatment of ulcer disease in the period of 1880–1920

✍ Scribed by Daniel Andersen

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 539 KB
• Volume: 89
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0039-7857
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00413799

✦ Synopsis

Newly developed techniques for anaesthesia and asepsis made it possible for surgeons to attempt operative attacks on diseases which had been previously incurable. The period around the turn of the century is sometimes portrayed as one of very active development of new surgical methods. This activity has been seen as a result of fertile scientific thinking. It is demonstrated in the paper that it was in fact a barren period with a prolonged adherence to an anatomical concept as the basis for problem solving. It is described in terms of Kuhnian periods of normal activity and crisis. It took about fifty years before theory and practice were harmonized under a physiological concept and real progress was made.