Innovation in Medicines

Microscope
 
The microscope is an important tool found in school laboratories. By placing a small object like a paper pin under its lens, you can magnify and view it clearly. Even tiny particles such as bacteria and microbes, which are not visible to the naked eye, can be seen through the microscope. By placing a drop of water under the lens, you can observe various microorganisms. Scientists, researchers and doctors use microscopes to closely examine different things, including blood, urine, sputum and stool samples, to look for disease-causing germs.

This helps them know the exact cause of a disease; this helps them treat a patient. Many of our scientific inventions have taken place by chance, the microscope is one of them. Once in Holland, an optician was working with his lenses. By chance, he put one lens behind the other. Suddenly, a fly flew behind these lenses. He was amazed to see that the fly could be seen many times bigger. He applied this idea to make a toy, called fleaglass. This toy grew popular with the children. Galileo, a great scientist about 400 years ago, happened to see the fleaglass. He was impressed by its technique.

He decided to use this technique to invent the microscope. Ever since, this device is in use in medical science. Today, different types of microscopes are used.

X-ray Machine
A doctor sometimes needs to look at the bones and organs within our body to find out an illness or deformity. An X-ray machine helps her do it. She examines an X-ray report to detect the deformities or cracks of bones and malfunctioning of other body parts within the body. This technique is widely used in modern medical science.

Like the stethoscope, the X-ray machine was also invented by chance. Wilhelm Roentgen, a professor, in 1896, was working in his laboratory. In an experiment, he passed electricity through a glass tube. Some chemicals were kept in bottles across the glass tube. He observed that some of those chemicals glowed when electricity was passed. This gave him an idea. He called these rays of electricity as X-rays. This gave him an idea to make an X-ray machine.

Other Instruments
All over the world, scientists are continuously working to invent newer appliances, methods and medicines. These discoveries and inventions have changed the world of medicine like never before. At present, a large variety of appliances are used in this field. They help in diagnosing diseases, monitoring and finding their cures. Some of them are: Ultrasound, CAT Scan, MRI, ECG, EEG, operating apparatus etc. Some of them have been made so simple to use that an ordinary person can use them at home; for example, a blood-pressure monitor, a blood-sugar machine (glucometer) etc.