The Evil Eye Thanatology and Other Essays.

Abstract

It is a moderately gloomy fact that most collections of miscellaneous essays, addresses, and whatnot have only ephemeral value and are soon forgotten. Often there is little to recommend them in the way of style for they are likely to reflect an author's pride and prejudice and rarely are much tribute to his intelligence. There are, of course, notable exceptions. A friend sent me this collection of Roswell Park's, and I began reading it mindful that I should be wary of gift-bearing Greeks. To my surprise I found the collection of thirteen essays extraordinarily interesting. They reflected a degree of careful historic inquiry unusual in the nonprofessional historian, particularly if he be a medical man. The topics range from the evil eye to the history of anesthesia, from the discovery of the circulation to the phenomenology of death, from a sympathetic character sketch of Giordano Bruno to snake worship. There