history of medicine: References & Edit History

Additional Reading

Historical works

The literature on the history of medicine covers all topics and periods and includes biographies as well as descriptions of the development of hospitals, research institutes, health care, and medical education in different countries. Historical studies include George T. Bettany, Eminent Doctors: Their Lives and Their Work, 2 vol. (1885, reprinted 1972); Arturo Castiglioni, A History of Medicine, 2nd rev. ed. (1947; originally published in Italian, 1927), a classic work; Fielding H. Garrison, An Introduction to the History of Medicine, 4th rev. ed. (1929, reprinted 1967), a scholarly history; Douglas Guthrie, A History of Medicine, rev. ed. (1958); Howard W. Haggard, Devils, Drugs, and Doctors: The Story of the Science of Healing from Medicine-Man to Doctor (1929, reprinted 1980); Richard H. Meade, An Introduction to the History of General Surgery (1968), a well-documented work on developments in surgery on separate organs; Charles Singer and E. Ashworth Underwood, A Short History of Medicine, 2nd ed. (1962); and Philip Rhodes, An Outline History of Medicine (1985). The Oxford Companion to Medicine, 2 vol., ed. by John Walton, Paul B. Beeson, and Ronald Bodley Scott (1986), is a comprehensive text of 20th-century developments and persons.

Ancient traditions of non-Western medicine are presented in P. Kutumbiah, Ancient Indian Medicine (1962); Heinrich R. Zimmer, Hindu Medicine (1948, reprinted 1979); Edward H. Hume, The Chinese Way in Medicine (1940, reprinted 1975); Paul U. Unschuld, Medicine in China: A History of Ideas (1985; originally published in German, 1980); and Edward G. Browne, Arabian Medicine (1921, reprinted 1983).

The development of Western medicine from its origins to the end of the 18th century can be traced in William G. Black, Folk-Medicine: A Chapter in the History of Culture (1883, reprinted 1970); W.H.R. Rivers, Medicine, Magic, and Religion (1924, reprinted 1979), a comprehensive treatment of primitive medicine; John Scarborough, Roman Medicine (1969, reprinted 1976); Robert S. Gottfried, Doctors and Medicine in Medieval England, 1340–1530 (1986); A. Wear, R.K. French, and I.M. Lonie (eds.), The Medical Renaissance of the Sixteenth Century (1985); Katharine Park, Doctors and Medicine in Early Renaissance Florence (1985); and Guy Williams, The Age of Agony: The Art of Healing, c. 1700–1800 (1975, reprinted 1986).

Medicine and surgery during the 19th and 20th centuries are the subject of Carl J. Pfeiffer, The Art and Practice of Western Medicine in the Early Nineteenth Century (1985); Thomas E. Keys, The History of Surgical Anesthesia, rev. ed. (1963, reprinted 1978); M.H. Armstrong Davison, The Evolution of Anesthesia (1965); Robert G. Richardson, The Scalpel and the Heart (1970; U.K. title, The Surgeon’s Heart: A History of Cardiac Surgery, 1969); John S. Haller, Jr., American Medicine in Transition, 1840–1910 (1981); Ruth J. Abram (ed.), Send Us a Lady Physician: Women Doctors in America, 1835–1920 (1985); George Rosen, The Structure of American Medical Practice, 1875–1941 (1983); A. McGehee Harvey, Science at the Bedside: Clinical Research in American Medicine, 1905–1945 (1981), a discussion of the institutionalization of clinical research; and Lawrence Galton, Med Tech: The Layperson’s Guide to Today’s Medical Miracles (1985), a historical dictionary.

Contemporary surveys

Modern surveys of historical events in medicine generally and surgery specifically include Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity (1999); Richard Hollingham, Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery (2008); and Nicholas L. Tilney, Invasion of the Body: Revolutions in Surgery (2011). The history of cancer is discussed in Carsten Timmermann, A History of Lung Cancer: The Recalcitrant Disease (2014); and Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer (2010). Developments in organ transplantation are explored in David Hamilton, A History of Organ Transplantation: Ancient Legends to Modern Practice (2012); and Nadey S. Hakim and Vassilios E. Papalois, History of Organ and Cell Transplantation (2003).

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Modified link of Web site: History World - History of Medicine. Aug 21, 2024
Link added. May 06, 2024
Add new Web site: Internet Archive - "A History Of Medicine". Feb 16, 2024
Add new Web site: Institute of Historical Research - Making History - A brief history of medical history. Dec 05, 2023
Link added. Jul 18, 2023
Add new Web site: Historic UK - A Short History of Medicine. May 17, 2023
Video added. Apr 06, 2023
Add new Web site: National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - History of Medicine Timeline. Sep 05, 2022
Removed mention of Arabs having originated the process of distillation. Aug 27, 2020
Add new Web site: History World - History of Medicine. Jan 23, 2020
Add new Web site: History World - History of Medicine. Oct 25, 2017
Updated information on vaccines and developments in cancer research. Jun 14, 2017
Added information on the history of lung transplantation. Jun 14, 2017
Added an image of a patient undergoing surgery in 1898. Jun 14, 2017
Media added. Jun 14, 2017
Bibliography revised and updated. Jun 14, 2017
Cross-references added. Jun 09, 2017
Media added. Jun 09, 2017
Media added. May 17, 2016
Added video. Mar 13, 2015
Replaced photograph. Aug 19, 2014
Identified Huangdi neijing as the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic and Yuzhuan yizong jinjian as "Imperially Commissioned Golden Mirror of the Orthodox Lineage of Medicine." Dec 01, 2011
Article revised and romanization changed. Dec 01, 2011
Added information on Romanian physiologist Nicolas C. Paulescu and his discovery of pancrein (thought to have been insulin). Jul 26, 2011
Added image of Marie Curie driving a car converted into a mobile radiological unit. Apr 01, 2010
New illustration added. Jan 15, 2009
Added new Web site: Catholic Encyclopedia - History of Medicine. Feb 14, 2007
Article revised. May 29, 2002
Article revised. May 17, 2002
Article revised. Nov 10, 2000
Article revised. Sep 15, 2000
Article added to new online database. Jul 20, 1998
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