I recently read a book about Ambroise Paré, a famous French surgeon who was alive in the sixteenth century.

Words that he wrote have stayed in my memory, ‘I dressed the wounds, but God healed them.’

O chionn ghoirid, leugh mi leabhar mu Ambroise Paré, lannsair ainmeil Frangach a bha beò anns an t-siathamh linn deug.

Sgrìobh e facail a ghlèidh mi nam chuimhne, ‘Cheangail mi suas na lotan, ach ’s e Dia a shlànaich iad.’

An t-seachdain seo, tha mi air a bhith a’ meòrachadh air a’ chuspair, teagamh. Bhiodh cuid a’ mìneachadh ‘teagamh’ mar ‘chreideamh eadar dà bheachd’ no ‘creideamh ri strì’.

Diluain, bha mi a’ cuimhneachadh gun do dh’fhiosraich Ìosa teagamh anns na deisciobail aige, gu sònraichte ann an Tòmas an t-Abstol.

This week, I have been thinking about the subject of doubt.

Some would define doubt as ‘faith in two minds’ or ‘faith struggling’.

On Monday, I was remembering how Jesus had encountered doubt in his disciples, particularly in Thomas.

An-dè, bha mi a’ meòrachadh air ciamar a fhuair lighichean seachad air an teagamh mu phenicillin.

San latha an-diugh, bidh cungaidhean-leighis ùra air a chur fo dheuchainn ann am pròiseas foirmeil a mhaireas, ’s dòcha, deich bliadhna agus a chosgas còrr is millean not.

Yesterday, I was thinking about how physicians overcame their doubts about penicillin.

Nowadays, a new medicine will be put to the test in a formal process that lasts, perhaps, ten years and costs millions of pounds.

Tha mi air a bhith a’ smaoineachadh air an dòigh anns a bheil teagamh a’ toirt buaidh oirnn. Chanadh cuid gur e bun-stèidh saidheans mheidigich a tha ann an teagamh. Ach tha e coltach gun do chuir teagamh dàil fad deich bliadhna air leasachadh penicillin nuair a bha feum aig mòran euslainteach air.

I have been thinking about the ways in which doubt affects us. Some would say that it is the foundation of modern medical science. But it appears that doubt caused a delay of ten years in the development of penicillin at a time when many patients needed it.

Bha mi a’ smaoineachadh an-dè air a’ chuspair, teagamh, an dà chuid nar beatha phearsanta agus ann an saidheans meidigeach.

Aig àm a’ Chogaidh Mhòir, chunnaic Alexander Fleming an t-uabhas de shaighdearan leònte a’ faighinn bàs le lotan breun. Dh’fhàg seo làrach mhòr air.

I was thinking about the subject of doubt, both in our personal lives and in medical science.

At the time of the Great War, Alexander Fleming saw a great many soldiers dying of infected wounds. This made a deep impression on him.

Ann an 1769, dh’fhoillsich an Dr Uilleam Buchan an leabhar Domestic Medicine, leabhar anns an robh e a’ moladh chungaidhean-leigheis dhaibhsan aig nach robh comhairle an lighiche. Shoirbhich leis an leabhar – chaidh ceithir fichead mìle lethbhreac a chur an clò anns a’ Bheurla.

In 1769, Dr William Buchan published the book Domestic Medicine, a book in which he recommended cures to people who didn’t have the advice of a physician. The book did well – 80,000 copies were printed in English.

Thathar a’ smaoineachadh gum b’ e an Naomh John Chrysostom, Easbaig Chonstaninople anns a’ cheathramh linn, a sgrìobh an t-altachadh seo.

It is thought that St John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople in the fourth century, wrote this grace before meals.

I have been thinking about the story of Hansen’s disease, or leprosy as the disease is better known.

Nowadays, you would seldom see leprosy in Britain, but it is still common in India, in Brazil and Indonesia. About 150,000 new cases are recorded each year, from 100 different countries.

Tha mi air a bhith a’ meòrachadh air sgeulachd tinneas Hansen, no an luibhre mar as fheàrr a dh’aithnichear e.

Anns an latha an-diugh, ’s ann ainneamh a chitheadh sibh an luibhre ann am Breatainn   ach tha i cumanta fhathast anns na h-Innseachan, ann am Brasil agus ann an Indonesia.

This week, I have been thinking about the story of Hansen’s disease, or leprosy. 

In the twentieth century, great changes came to the treatment of leprosy. In 1937, the drug Dapsone was introduced for the first time – and it was effective. In the 1980s Rifampicin and Clofazimine were added to the therapy.

An t-seachdain seo, tha mi a’ meòrachadh air eachdraidh tinneas Hansen, no an luibhre.

Anns an fhicheadamh linn, thàinig atharrachadh mòr air leigheas na luibhre. Ann an naoi ceud deug seachd-deug air fhichead, chaidh a’ chungaidh-leighis Dapsone a chur gu feum ’son a’ chiad uair – agus bha i buadhmhor.

In these thoughts, I have been pondering about Hansen’s disease, or leprosy.

But who was Hansen?

Gerhard Hansen was a Norwegian physician. In 1873 he found the organism Mycobacterium Leprae, the cause of leprosy, a bacterium of the same family as the one that causes TB.

Anns na smuaintean agam, tha mi a’ meòrachadh air tinneas Hansen, no an luibhre.

Ach, cò e Hansen?

’S e lighiche Nirribheach a bha ann an Gerhard Hansen. Ann an ochd ceud deug trì fichead ’s a trì-deug lorg e a’ mheanbhag, nobacterium, Mycobacterium Leprae, adhbhar na luibhre, meanbhag den aon teaghlach ’s a tha an tè a dh’adhbhraicheas a’ chaitheamh.

I was thinking yesterday about Hansen’s disease, or leprosy.

It’s likely that leprosy originated in Asia many hundreds of years before Christ. It is a disease of the skin, but it damages structures close to the skin, in particular the nerves of the arms and legs and the bones of the nose.