5 medical theories that have caused trouble for humanity
Scientists have always sought to provide fundamental explanations for medical problems. A number of theories formed the basis of modern methods of treating the most severe pathologies and helped to save thousands of lives. However, history also knows such theoretical constructions, the adherence to which has brought misfortune and torment to mankind, ruined the fate and health of many people.
We want to acquaint our readers with the most famous of these theories.
Scientific racism
Racial theories have arisen more than once in human history. Their creators tried to understand the nature of anthropometric and other external differences between representatives of different races and ethnic groups. Unfortunately, the authors often brought their biases into scientific research and tried to prove the natural superiority of some peoples over others.
Most of these theorists were "armchair" scientists and hardly guessed what monstrous results the attempts of their politicized followers to apply abstract constructions in practice could lead to.
Scientific racism grew out of the concept of the superiority of some races over others, which became the basis of the misanthropic racial policy, which the German National Socialists began to implement in the 30s of the 20th century. Their efforts to discriminate against the so-called inferior peoples resulted in the death of millions of innocent people.
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Eugenics
The idea of improving human nature is not new. Basically, there is nothing wrong with the dream of making all people beautiful, healthy and smart. Trouble begins in cases when the implementation of such plans is taken up by politicians who begin to reshape people's destinies forcibly, guided solely by their own ideas about the good.
This happened in Hitler's Germany, where the organization "Source of Life" ("Lebensborn") was created. Under her auspices, special homes for mothers and children were created, in which carefully selected women “producers” lived. Their task was to bear, give birth and feed children belonging to the highest, Aryan race. The fathers for these babies were chosen from among the members of the SS, who proved their impeccable origin and purity of blood. At the same time, those "Aryans" who, unfortunately, did not correspond to the racial ideals of the Nazis, first of all, the mentally ill, disabled, etc. were destroyed. The experiment was carried out on a grand scale and was stopped only as a result of Germany's defeat in World War II.
The leadership of the USSR tried to implement similar ideas at the dawn of the state's existence. In the 20s of the XX century, the pseudoscience of pedology gained great popularity, representing a kind of symbiosis of pedagogy, psychology and medicine, advanced for that time, and aimed at educating "new people", a kind of supermen of the communist future. True, it did not come to the forced crossing of specially selected producers. Pedologists removed the healthiest and most developed children from families and tried to educate them in boarding schools using special methods, under the supervision of the best specialists in the field of psychology and pedagogy. The experiment did not give positive results, on the contrary, it brought a lot of grief.
Telegony
The theory of telegony is based on the assertion that any sexual contact of a female (especially the first one) affects the hereditary characteristics of all the young she gives birth to during her life. This refers not only to animals, but also to people and their children. Needless to say, from the point of view of modern genetics, such ideas do not stand up to criticism.
Nevertheless, some men suffering from an inferiority complex are still supporters of telegony today, causing a lot of trouble for women who love them.
Focal sepsis theory
In the middle of the 19th century, a theory was widely spread that explains most diseases by the effect of toxins that are produced in any focus of inflammation in the body. According to the theory of focal sepsis, even pathologies such as malignant neoplasms or mental retardation develop due to inflammatory processes.
The conclusion suggested itself: it is urgently necessary to surgically relieve patients of any suspicious lesions. The result of this theory was such methods as the preventive removal of the appendix for all newborns, which was practiced for several decades in the United States, the treatment of colds in children by removing the tonsils and adenoids, which is very popular in the USSR.
There was also an assertion that the cause of most ailments is inflammatory processes in the oral cavity. On its basis, the removal of all carious teeth has become widespread in practice, as a result of which the quality of life has significantly deteriorated in many people.
The failure of the theory of focal sepsis was fully proven only in 1940.
Phrenology
The science that the level of abilities and personal qualities of a person are reflected in the structure of his skull was very popular in the first half of the 19th century. The founder of the theory, Franz Josef Gall, argued that by the configuration of the bulges and depressions on the head, one can determine such qualities of an individual as cheerfulness, quick wit, a tendency to violence … Phrenology had a serious impact on the development of scientific methods for the study of human behavior. It is considered the forerunner of such sciences as evolutionary psychology, sociobiology, and some areas of forensic science.
The followers of Gall tried, based on phrenology, to defend the validity of racial theories. The fascination with phrenology has spread widely in the United States. It is known that among the slave owners were its adherents, who used their slaves to prove the validity of their favorite theory - they conducted inhuman experiments.
The development of scientific neurophysiology led to the debunking of most of the provisions of phrenology. In particular, it has been proven that the shape of the skull does not correlate in any way with the features of the cerebral cortex.
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The pseudoscientific ideas that we talked about have long been refuted. Oddly enough, the echoes of these theories still exist today. People who share them and even try to apply them in life are often unsuccessful on a personal level or do not have social and professional realization, which leads to the development of complexes and psychological instability. Others should treat such people with understanding and try to help in solving problems, not taking exotic ideas on faith.
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Maria Kulkes Medical journalist About the author
Education: First Moscow State Medical University named after I. M. Sechenov, specialty "General Medicine".
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