Who invented injections

However, these early injections were not successful and injections did not come into fashion again until the latter part of the s. The hollow metal needle was invented in by Irish physician Francis Rynd. The first devices recognizable as hypodermic syringes were independently invented virtually simultaneously in by Scottish physician Alexander Wood and French surgeon Charles Gabriel Pravaz.

The evolution of the syringe and its needle continues with the introduction of transdermal drug delivery by micron-scale needles and monitored drug delivery. Early versions were crude. Constructed of animal bladders and pipes or quills, they were largely used for irrigation - the practice of washing out or flushing a wound or body - or enemas.

In the 11th Century, an Egyptian ophthalmologist used the first known hypodermic-like tool to remove cataracts. But it wasn't until the midth Century that the earliest confirmed experiments in intravenous injection were undertaken.

In experiments with dogs in , Britain's Sir Christopher Wren - better known as an architect - administered drugs using an animal bladder attached to a hollow goose quill.

By the time Edward Jenner, who created the world's first vaccine, appeared on the scene nearly years later, there was still no sign of a sophisticated method of administering drugs into the human body. In , he successfully vaccinated an eight-year-old boy against smallpox. However, the vaccine was administered through a cut, and so was not technically an injection. By the midth Century, medical minds had begun to focus on a more efficient system of drug delivery. In , Irish surgeon Francis Rynd invented what was arguably the world's first hollow needle.

But it was a device which used gravity to make the liquid flow and involved breaching the skin with a tool known as a trocar. Within 10 years, however, the modern version of the hypodermic needle was born. In , Fife-born physician Alexander Wood added a plunger and developed the first all-glass syringe that allowed doctors to estimate dosage based on the amount of liquid observed through the glass.

His first patient was an year-old woman who suffered from a form of neuralgia. But did you know that this commonplace device has a rich and varied history dating back thousands of years? It had quite the journey to get to where it is today. A syringe is a simple pump consisting of a plunger that fits tightly into a cylindrical tube. The plunger can be pulled and pushed along inside the tube, allowing the syringe to pull in or push out a liquid or gas through the opening at the end of the tube.

That open end may also be fitted with a hypodermic needle , a nozzle, or tubing to help direct the flow into and out of the tube. The first syringes were used in Roman times during the 1st century AD. They are mentioned in a journal called De Medicina as being used to treat medical complications.

Then, in the 9th century AD, an Egyptian surgeon created a syringe using a hollow glass tube and suction. He used it in testing his theory that pressure exerted anywhere in a confined fluid is transmitted equally in all directions and that the pressure variations remain the same. An Irish physician named Francis Rynd invented the hollow needle and used it to make the first recorded subcutaneous injections in Then shortly thereafter in Charles Pravaz and Alexander Wood developed a medical hypodermic syringe with a needle fine enough to pierce the skin.