Progress in Science in general – and for me it is about Medicine in particular – comes in two major ways: Revolution and Evolution. Indeed , many clearly revolutionary concepts have been denied, in some cases for unbelievably long times, because of the reactionary forces of those in control, and only after acceptance is the revolution recognized as ground breaking and spectacular. Some examples to help you reunderstand this concept:
Copernicus developed the heliocentric view of the solar system. That is to say that he was the first to realize and spread the word that the Earth is not the center of the Universe, but rather the Sun, and at the time of his concept of the Universe, he was correct. Now the Sun is just a small particle in the Universe as we "know" it today. Nevertheless, Copernicus' idea was revolutionary in its time, and still was not accepted as Truth. Indeed one of his greatest disciples – Gallileo – was condemned by the Pope – the Infallible Pope – who called it heresy,
Consider this: "All progress begins as Heresy."
In the Science of Medicine, there are many examples of the persecution of Pioneers. Semmelweis was the physician that recognized the transmission of infection from one maternity patient to another by the physicians who carried "something" from one delivery room to another. Despite his extraordinary success by simply cleaning his hands before going from one room to the next, he was met with such derision and ostracism that he died in an insane asylum, unable to handle the insanity of others.
British sailors survived long periods at sea, which decimated the crews of the ships of other countries, simply because a British Surgeon, James Lind, recognized that the daily ration of the juice of a single Lime prevented the characteristic Scurvy that ended in death. Despite publication of his findings, it took over 40 years before each English sailor was given his daily Lime juice earning them the derisive nickname "Limey." That tactic kept the Navy at peak performance, and Britain "ruled the waves" for another 30 years until the other navies caught on, with thousands of lives lost in the interim.
The first demonstration of the electrical waves produced by a Human Heart – now known as the electrocardiogram, and universally applied – met with derision and catcalls from the doctors in the amphitheatre and the discoverer was unceremoniously thrown out because of his "heresy." So too, the importance of the electrical and magnetic fields of the body is still in its infancy in this 21st century, because of the tremendous resistance to the notions implicit in such evaluation for diagnosis and treatment. Progress has been excruciatingly slow in this country, and many of the proponents of Energy Medicine are being persecuted and prosecuted as I write this on the 4th of July, 2007.
Duodenal Ulcers were "known" to be "psychosomatic" – revealing two kinds of people: "Them what gets ulcers, and them what gives them." Many radical surgeries were performed, with many complications. Yet when a physician from down under, Dr. Marshall, identified a bacteria in such ulcers he was sneered at and ignored, until, in the grand tradition of Medical history, he experimented on himself, by swallowing a large quantity of the bacteria that he had isolated, and almost died from the severe ulcerative disease that resulted. His recovery with antibiotics was previously unheard of, and that finally broke through the resistance so that good studies all over the world slowly came around to supporting this revolutionary concept. Today it is the "Standard of Care," by consensus.
Consider this: "Scientific Truth Is Not Decided by Majority vote."