Designed for survey courses in the field A History of Medicine presents a wide-ranging overview for those seeking a solid grounding in the medical history of Western and non-Western cultures. Invaluable to instructors promoting the history of medicine in pre-professional training, and stressing major themes in the history of medicine, this third edition continues to stimulate further exploration of the events, methodologies, and theories that have shaped medical practices in decades past and continue to do so today.

Essential, required reading for doctors and patients alike: A Pulitzer Prize-winning author and one of the world’s premiere cancer researchers reveals an urgent philosophy on the little-known principles that govern medicine—and how understanding these principles can empower us all. Over a decade ago, when Siddhartha Mukherjee was a young, exhausted, and isolated medical resident, he discovered a book that would forever change the way he understood the medical profession. The book, The Youngest Science, forced Dr. Mukherjee to ask himself an urgent, fundamental question: Is medicine a “science”? Sciences must have laws—statements of truth based on repeated experiments that describe some universal attribute of nature. But does medicine have laws like other sciences? Dr. Mukherjee has spent his career pondering this question—a question that would ultimately produce some of most serious thinking he would do around the tenets of his discipline—culminating in The Laws of Medicine. In this important treatise, he investigates the most perplexing and illuminating cases of his career that ultimately led him to identify the three key principles that govern medicine. Brimming with fascinating historical details and modern medical wonders, this important book is a fascinating glimpse into the struggles and Eureka! moments that people outside of the medical profession rarely see. Written with Dr. Mukherjee’s signature eloquence and passionate prose, The Laws of Medicine is a critical read, not just for those in the medical profession, but for everyone who is moved to better understand how their health and well-being is being treated. Ultimately, this book lays the groundwork for a new way of understanding medicine, now and into the future.

Excerpt from Outlines of the History of Medicine and the Medical Profession To attain both the objects thus indicated, by bringing to the notice of his colleagues, the practitioners of medicine, the history of their depart ment and their profession, was the original design of the author in the publication of the present work. For those who are interested solely in literary aims his book was not written, and accordingly he has omitted extended bibliographical notices, preferring to refer the reader for these to the larger manuals on this subject.' His plan has been to consider first the genetic side of the subject, introducing for this purpose a sketch of even prehistoric medicine, and next to set forth the history of the medical pro fession in considerable detail. In both departments he has striven to present the subject in such a manner as should awaken and maintain the interest of the reader. Whether he has failed in his purpose or fallen behind the aims which he had set before him it is not for him to decide. No man is perfect; neither is any book. But in so weighty an undertaking as the publication of a work on general history the author hopes for that indulgence which may be claimed, indeed, by every man who has done his work honestly. According to the measure of his strength, and who seeks to appear no greater than he really is. Of course. For most of the facts recorded in the present work the author is indebted to others. Still he has everywhere preserved the right of inde pendent examination and judgment as to who, among the often conflicting authorities, seems, on the whole, the most reliable. Many things, however, he has proved by reference to the original authorities, and thus made them, as it were, his own. The conception of the history of medicine as a branch of the general history of civilization, a large portion of the history of the profession and his account of the most ancient and most recent develop ments of medical art, he believes he may also justly claim as original. That the book has found so conscientious a collaborator, to whom it is indebted for considerable amplification particularly in the sections on English and American medicine, with which he was, of course, better acquainted than the author - and numerous corrections, is an advantage which no one can better appreciate than the author himself. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

From surgery to vaccines, man has made great strides in the field of medicine. Quality of life has improved dramatically in the last few decades alone, and the future is bright. But students must not forget that God provided humans with minds and resources to bring about these advances. A biblical perspective of healing and the use of medicine provides the best foundation for treating diseases and injury. In Exploring the World of Medicine, author John Hudson Tiner reveals the spectacular discoveries that started with men and women who used their abilities to better mankind and give glory to God. The fascinating history of medicine comes alive in this book, providing students with a healthy dose of facts, mini-biographies, and vintage illustrations. Includes chapter tests and index.

Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize "A panoramic and perfectly magnificent intellectual history of medicine…This is the book that delivers it all." —Sherwin Nuland, author of How We Die Hailed as "a remarkable achievement" (Boston Globe) and as "a triumph: simultaneously entertaining and instructive, witty and thought-provoking…a splendid and thoroughly engrossing book" (Los Angeles Times), Roy Porter's charting of the history of medicine affords us an opportunity as never before to assess its culture and science and its costs and benefits to mankind. Porter explores medicine's evolution against the backdrop of the wider religious, scientific, philosophical, and political beliefs of the culture in which it develops, covering ground from the diseases of the hunter-gatherers to the more recent threats of AIDS and Ebola, from the clearly defined conviction of the Hippocratic oath to the muddy ethical dilemmas of modern-day medicine. Offering up a treasure trove of historical surprises along the way, this book "has instantly become the standard single-volume work in its field" (The Lancet).