They Risked Death for Others

Read the texts below and give the synonyms to the underlined words.

Recall how the vocabulary from ex.2-3 refers to the stories.

5) Search the net to know something about Russian scientists’ medical achievements and make a 5-7 min. report.

A part of science which people often fail to realize, is the courage of those scientists who willingly risk their own lives for the benefit of mankind.

There was an example of such courage in our country towards the end of last century. At that time cholera was a much feared disease, many deaths, and it was not known how the spread of the disease could be prevented.

During the 1890s a young doctor named Daniil Zabolotny was carrying out research with cholera germs at the University of Kiev. Zabolotny was trying to develop a vaccine that could be used to protect people from attack by the disease. But making a vaccine is one thing – proving that it will save human life is quite a different matter. Experiments on animals are useless to prove this; it must be used on a human being.

Trying it on themselves

Daniil Zabolotny’s vaccine, made from the actual germs which caused cholera, was an oral vaccine, that is, it had to be taken by swallowing. Faced with the problem of proving its value, the young doctor and one of his assistants – his name was I.G. Savchenko – decided they must test it upon themselves. First they swallowed the new vaccine. Then, the two men injected themselves with cholera germs.

Imagine their feelings, as they waited for the results. No one had ever taken an oral vaccine before. The two men knew well what happened to people who became infected with cholera – great pain in the stomach with constant vomiting, until the patient became too weak to live. If the vaccine was a failure, that was what would happen to them.

Hours passed, and no sign of the disease developed. The vaccine was a success, proved so by the courage of the men who had developed it. This brave experiment is still hailed today as a great event, for it was the first time in history that men had proved that protection from disease could be gained by swallowing a weak dose of the germs which caused it.

The German heart specialist W. Forssmann gave another example of risking his life for the sake of science. He inserted a thin flexible tube into a vein of his arm, and pushed it up so that it followed the vein into his heart.

Because of Forssmann’s daring, a new method of studying the human heart was developed. Before that time no one would have thought such a thing possible. Forssmann proved that it did not result in death, as was feared – but think of the courage he needed to make the experiment!

Any scientist can experiment with equipment. But to experiment upon oneself shows faith in himself and his work, great courage and true devotion to science.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-29