Discovering the principles of chemistry in the 18th century made it possible to?
A. Better Understand human anatomy
B. Learn how body functions, such as digestion, occur
C. Manufacture disinfectants
D. Develop surgical techniques
I’m stuck!
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A. Better Understand human anatomy
B. Learn how body functions, such as digestion, occur
C. Manufacture disinfectants
D. Develop surgical techniques
18th century. That’s the 1700’s. That’s when Lavoisier was just getting cranked up discovering oxygen. The atomic theory hadn’t been invented yet, nor had the periodic table come on the scene. In the 17th century chemistry was in its infancy, and so was medicine for that matter. The answer to your question, though has to do with the chemistry of acids and digestion. Consider this:
"In review: Paracelsus in the 16th century paved the
way for the discovery in the 17th century of acid
digestion in the stomach by Helmont. In the 18th
century, Reaumur reported gastric juice was acid to
taste; John Hunter (1728-1793), England’s eminent
surgeon and scientist, believed acid appeared only after
death, and when present in life was due to sugar
decomposition’4; Bassiano Carminati found (1785)
gastric juice acid in an animal when fed, but not when
starved; and John Richardson Young (1782-1804),
at the University of Pennsylvania, reported in his
graduation thesis that he had found gastric juice acid,
which he thought was phosphoric acid, and that gastric
digestion occurred only in the presence of acid.’
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2625608/pdf/jnma00926-0133.pdf