Medical Manuscripts Research Articles

Phytotherapy in medieval Serbian medicine according to the pharmacological manuscripts of the Chilandar Medical Codex (15–16th centuries)

The Chilandar Medical Codex is the most significant and best preserved medieval Serbian manuscript and collects together documents on European medical science from the 12th to 15th centuries. It represents the best-known and most complete example of a large collection of medical manuscripts from the Salerno-Montpellier school, written in the vernacular - something which does not exist among the majority of European nations. This paper presents the section of the Codex that deals with phytotherapy, which is contained within the pharmacological manuscripts. An analysis of their contents shows that out of a total of 167 recorded substances, 135 are of plant origin (81%), 13 animal origin (7.7%) and 19 inorganic (11.3%). The recorded plant species are categorised into 63 families, of which the most frequent are: Apiaceae (8.1%), Lamiaceae (8.1%), Asteraceae (5.9%), Rosaceae (5.9%) and Fabaceae (4.4%). All possible plant parts were used in treatments: the whole plant (6%), underground parts (13.7% - root, rhizome, bulb) and aerial parts (80.3% - stem, leaf, flower, buds, fruit, seeds). Of the plants quoted, the following are mentioned most frequently: Vitis sp. (120), Rosa canina (55), Olea europaea (45), Pistacia lentiscus (25), Saccharum officinarum (23), Artemisia absinthium (16) and Foeniculum vulgare (15). The contents of the pharmacological manuscripts of the Chilandar Medical Codex point to the sound contemporary knowledge of the diversity of plant species, their origins, habitat types, the levels of their healing powers, and when and how to gather them and prepare them, as well as the recommended dose for the treatment of specific illnesses. As these manuscripts contain not only common, lay terms for the plants, but also scientific, botanical ones, we can consider them the precursor to Serbian botany. Based on its contents and the way in which they are presented, it can be viewed not only as the first Serbian pharmacopeia, but first Slavic pharmacopeia, too, because similar manuscripts written in the vernacular did not exist during that period among the other Slavic nations, or even most European nations.

MO-F-301-01: Writing and Reviewing Papers for Medical Physics

Writing and Reviewing Papers for Medical Physics There is an art to writing a scientific paper so that it communicates accurately, succinctly, and comprehensively. Developing this art comes with experience, and sharing that experience with younger physicists is an obligation of senior scientists, especially those with editorial responsibilities for the journal. In this workshop, the preparation of a scientific manuscript will be dissected so participants can appreciate how each part is developed and then assembled into a complete paper. Then the review process for the paper will be discussed, including how to examine a paper and write an insightful and constructive review. Finally, we will consider the challenge of accommodating the concerns and recommendations of a reviewer in preparing a revision of the paper. A second feature of the workshop will be a discussion of the process of electronic submission of a paper for consideration by Medical Physics. The web‐based PeerX‐Press engine for manuscript submission and management will be examined, with attention to special features such as epaps and line‐referencing. Finally, new features of Medical Physics will be explained, such as Vision 20/20 manuscripts, Physics Letters and the standardized formatting of book reviews. Learning Objectives: 1. Improve the participants' abilities to write a scientific manuscript. 2. Understand the review process for Medical Physics manuscripts and how to participate in and benefit from it. 3. Appreciate the many features of the PeerX‐Press electronic management process for Medical Physics manuscripts. 4. Develop a knowledge of new features of Medical Physics.

Editing Middle English Medical Manuscripts : The Case of Glasgow University Library MS Hunter 509

It has been pointed out that the editing of a scientific treatise should be “an extended and challenging exercise in judgment, requiring an earnest commitment to scholarship” (Keiser 1998: 110). In the present article, the challenges and steps involved in the process of editing a specific Middle English medical text, G.U.L. MS Hunter 509, are dealt with. After a brief introduction to the manuscript, the stages previous to editing are discussed. These include transcription, of which the main difficulties are addressed and possible ways to overcome them put forward, lemmatisation and morphological tagging. Then, the two types of edition that have been carried out, printed and electronic, are presented. A comment on the glossary and list of lemmas closes the article.

Annie Attia and Giles Buisson (eds), with the collaboration of Markham J. Geller, Advances in Mesopotamian Medicine from Hammurabi to Hippocrates: Proceedings of the International Conference ‘Oeil malade et mauvais oeil’, Collège de France, Paris, 23rd June 2006, Cuneiform Monographs, Vol. 37 (Leiden: Brill, 2009), pp. iv + 161, €83.00/$123.00, hardback, ISBN: 978-90-04-17876-2.

The medicine of ancient Mesopotamia (Assyria and Babylonia: roughly modern Iraq, very roughly 2000–200 bc) may be very old, but its study is still in its infancy. Many thousands of therapeutic procedures, diagnostic omens, lists of ingredients and learned commentaries are attested on clay tablets written in the Akkadian and Sumerian languages using the cuneiform script. The first were discovered and deciphered in the mid- to late nineteenth century, while throughout the twentieth century, archaeological investigations continued to reveal many more, often in primary use contexts. However, the complexities of the script and fragmentary state of the manuscripts, combined with the deeply unfamiliar nature of much of the material and the scarcity of Assyriologists to study it, has meant that it is only in the past decade or so that the subject has started to move beyond the impressionistic and descriptive. The seven papers collected together in this small volume (150 pages plus front matter and indices) do not, despite the book’s title, specifically address advances in Mesopotamian medicine, either in the sense of developments in Antiquity, or, in general, as changing historiographies. Rather, they present a snapshot of a field in flux, in which synthetic, descriptive, presentist approaches co-exist with more interpretative, anthropological and source-critical methodologies. Mark Geller’s wide-ranging and thoughtful Introduction (pp. 1–12) surveys the current state of the field in relation to the study of ancient Greek and Egyptian medicine. He often contextualises and draws out the significance of the various chapters better than the authors themselves. Of a similarly high standard is Nils Heesel’s pioneering and fascinating study of ‘The Babylonian Physician Rabâ-sa-Marduk’ (pp. 13–28). From epistolary, administrative and scholarly sources he pieces together the career of a royal healer from the city of Nippur who was posted to the Hittite court in Anatolia in the thirteenth century bc, seemingly as part of a diplomatic exchange. Heesel also shows that a medical manuscript of his was later looted from Babylonia for an Assyrian royal collection. In a close philological study, Marten Stol (pp. 29–48) examines the Akkadian verb salā’u ‘to be ill’, equating it with the verb salāhu ‘to sprinkle’ (The ’ [aleph] is a sort of glottal stop). As Geller notes (p. 9), salā’u seems to have a much narrower semantic range than its commoner synonym marāsu. A direct comparison of the two verbs would be a helpful next step. Next, Martin Worthington presents ‘Some Notes on Medical Information outside the Medical Corpora’ (pp. 47–78) culled especially from letters and literary works. The extracts he presents – on location, availability and affordability, practitioners’ non-medical activities, divination – offer tantalising glimpses into the practicalities of Mesopotamian healing. However, the chapter’s thematic rather than chronological, geographical or generic organisation perhaps presents an overly homogeneous picture. In ‘Cuneiform Tablets on Eye Diseases’ (pp. 79–104) Jeanette Fincke catalogues the known Assyrian and Babylonian manuscripts of a standard collection of treatments for various ocular problems, and presents editions of two short related works. Despite Geller’s advice that ‘there is little point in... attempting to identify Akkadian words with modern medical terminology’ (p. 12), Fincke routinely equates ancient symptom descriptions with Latinate, bio-medical terms. Similarly, Barbara Bock’s ‘On Medical Technology in Ancient Mesopotamia’ (pp. 105–128) groups (translated) snippets of ancient instructions on preparing medical treatments under headings such as ‘maceration’ and ‘decoction’ as if the latter were ahistorical phenomena. In the final chapter, Paul Demont debates ‘L’Anciennete de la Medicine Hippocratique: Un Essai de Bilan’ (pp. 129–149). This has relevance insofar as possible Babylonian influence on some strands of the Hippocratic corpus have recently been debated, as Geller explains (p. 6), but the author himself does not address Mesopotamian medicine at all. In short, this work is a mixed bag. But it demonstrates that Assyriology is finally becoming increasingly receptive to, and willing to engage with, the mainstream of medical history.

Determination of the exact scientific name of medicinal plants used in Iranian traditional medicine

With the development of the use of complementary medicine in the world and especially in Iran, more attention is increasingly being given to different schools of natural medicine. One of the schools in which hygiene and treatment is the centre of attention is that of the Iranian Traditional Medicine. Fortunately, this is being given considerable attention by Iranian authorities. One of the difficulties in exploiting Iranian traditional medicinal plants is the obsoleteness of the names of the plants. In a study supported by the newly-established “Institute for the History of Medicine and Complementary Medicine”, the botanico-medical information contained in very famous ancient medical manuscripts such as Seydaneh, The Canon, Aljameh, Tohfattolmomenin and Makhzannoladvieh and that contained in monographs published during the past three centuries by famous western botanists and physicians have been collated, resulting in determining the scientific (Latin) name of the Iranian traditional medicinal plants.

Factors Associated With Successful Matching to Dermatology Residency Programs by Reapplicants and Other Applicants Who Previously Graduated From Medical School

To identify factors associated with and not associated with successful matching and matriculation (hereinafter "matching") to dermatology residency programs for applicants who previously graduated from medical school and to distinguish which factors are within applicants' control. Observational cohort study. Six accredited academic dermatology residency training programs in the United States. A total of 221 residency applicants who previously graduated from medical school and who applied through standardized electronic application to 1 or more of the participating residency training programs. Matriculation to a dermatology residency program by August 2008 following the 2006 residency application period. Forty-six of 221 former medical school graduates included in this study matched to a dermatology residency program. Factors strongly associated with matching included United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 3 score; submission of letters written by dermatologists from institutions that train dermatology residents; completion of preliminary medicine internships rather than transitional or other internship types; listing of research experience; publishing of medical manuscripts; and completion of non-Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Examination dermatology fellowships. Factors not associated with increased matching included volunteer work; PhD status; sex; number of posters or presentations at dermatology conferences; quality of journal publications; and first authorship. Most successful applicants limited personal statements to 1 page and did not mention previously failing to match. The study sample represented at least 86% of such nontraditional applicants who matched in 2006. For candidates seeking to match into dermatology residency programs after graduating from medical school, there are factors within their control that are associated with higher rates of match success. This study provides evidence to assist mentors who counsel such candidates.

Early Chinese Medical Literature. The Mawangdui Medical Manuscript

Early Chinese Medical Literature. The Mawangdui Medical Manuscript

WE-C-202-01: Medical Physics Publishing

There is an art to writing a scientific paper so that it communicates accurately, succinctly, and comprehensively. Developing this art comes with experience, and sharing that experience with younger physicists is an obligation of senior scientists, especially those with editorial responsibilities for the journal. In this workshop, the preparation of a scientific manuscript will be dissected so participants can appreciate how each part is developed and then assembled into a complete paper. Then the review process for the paper will be discussed, including how to examine a paper and write an insightful and constructive review. Finally, we will consider the challenge of accommodating the concerns and recommendations of a reviewer in preparing a revision of the paper. A second feature of the workshop will be a discussion of the process of electronic submission of a paper for consideration by Medical Physics. The web‐based PeerX‐Press engine for manuscript submission and management will be examined, with attention to special features such as epaps and line‐referencing. Finally, new features of Medical Physics will be explained, such as Vision 20/20 manuscripts, Physics Letters and the standardized formatting of book reviews. Learning Objectives: 1. Improve the participants' abilities to write a scientific manuscript. 2. Understand the review process for Medical Physics manuscripts and how to participate in and benefit from it. 3. Appreciate the many features of the PeerX‐Press electronic management process for Medical Physics manuscripts. 4. Develop a knowledge of new features of Medical Physics.

Efraim Lev and Zohar Amar, Practical materia medica of the medieval eastern Mediterranean according to the Cairo Genizah, Sir Henry Wellcome Asian Series, vol. 7, Leiden and Boston, Brill, 2008, pp. x, 619, €169.00, $237.00 (hardback 978-90-04-16120-7).

Efraim Lev and Zohar Amar, Practical materia medica of the medieval eastern Mediterranean according to the Cairo Genizah, Sir Henry Wellcome Asian Series, vol. 7, Leiden and Boston, Brill, 2008, pp. x, 619, €169.00, $237.00 (hardback 978-90-04-16120-7).

Post-Byzantine Medical Manuscripts: New Insights into the Greek Medical Tradition, its Intellectual and Practical Interconnections, and our Understanding of Greek Culture

Greek medical texts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries known as ιατροσόφια form a significant corpus of manuscripts employed as vernacular manuals of medical instructions. In modern times, their image has been generally unfavorable and their systematic study relatively ignored. A re-examination of diverse manuscripts offers fresh insights into contemporary notions on medicine, aspects of assimilation of Hellenic, Byzantine and Western medical customs, the language of disease, the interplay between learned and magico-religious medicine, and broader cultural notions and interactions between Orthodoxy, science, and tradition. As a result, our appreciation of Greek therapeutics, and place in the wider European medical practice are all enhanced and, from the point of view of a social history of medicine, new light is shed on cultural aspects of contemporary Greek Orthodox society.

Journal Watch From ACE (Alliance For Clinical Education): Annual Review of Medical Education Articles in Internal Medicine Journals 2006–2007

This journal watch is sponsored by the Alliance for Clinical Education (ACE). The purpose of this article is to summarize medical education manuscripts from specialty journals that are important and relevant to educators across specialties. Specialties included in our review were cardiology, gastroenterology, general internal medicine, pulmonology, nephrology, hematology and oncology, endocrinology, rheumatology, infectious disease, and neurology. We are grateful to Teaching and Learning in Medicine and ACE for giving us the opportunity to publish this review. The Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine Research Committee conducted this review. Included are English articles published from September 2006 through September 2007. PubMed was searched for peer-reviewed research publications reporting primary data on medical education. Medical subject heading terms included combinations of medical education, medical student, residency training, practice, undergraduate medical education, graduate medical education, internship and residency, and continuing medical education. We also reviewed the bibliographies of all articles found though our PubMed search to identify additional articles that may not have been included in PubMed's search engine. Furthermore, we discussed identified articles with content experts in each specialty to ensure that appropriate journals and articles were included from each subspecialty. The journals that we selected for review are not often read by the typical medical educator. We included articles from general and subspecialty journals of internal medicine excluding the following, which have a focus on medical education or cross-specialties: Academic Medicine, Advances in Health Science Education, Medical Education, Medical Teacher, Teaching and Learning in Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, and New England Journal of Medicine. Specialties included in our review were cardiology, gastroenterology, general internal medicine, pulmonology, nephrology, hematology and oncology, endocrinology, rheumatology, infectious disease, and neurology. We also reviewed the bibliographies of all articles found though our PubMed search to identify additional articles. Furthermore, we discussed identified articles with content experts in each specialty to ensure that appropriate journals and articles were included from each subspecialty. Authors rated each article based on relevance, rigor, importance, and generalizibility of findings. We also sought to include articles from each phase in the continuum of medical education: undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education as well as qualitative and quantitative studies. Articles were ranked by each author. We then held conference calls and had e-mail discussions to establish consensus on the articles included in this review. The following is a summary of each selected article grouped by theme.

Den Grundlagen auf der Spur. Die Erforschung der mittelalterlichen medizinischen Handschriften in Leipzig durch Karl Sudhoff und Henry Ernest Sigerist

At the beginning of the 20th century, two known medical historians, Karl Sudhoff and Henry Ernst Sigerist, were among the first persons, who took up thorough investigations of medical manuscripts in Leipzig. Above all, it was Mr. Sudhoff, who developed his own procedure, in order to exploit the unknown stocks. Apart from the only means available to him, the so-called Leyser-papers, written by the Leipzig librarian Hermann Leyser, at least once Sudhoff made a complete check-up of all manuscripts over the period of 22 years. On 315 sheets he took down various more or less extensive notes regarding these Codices, which are kept today as manuscript collection (Ms 01269) in the library of the university of Leipzig. Many publications were written on the basis of these readings. Sigerist was only looking through a small number of Leipzig manuscripts, as could be seen from his remarks written onto the users' cards. However, he could rely on Sudhoff's notes and look for specific manuscripts that he was interested in and review them. This was a first and very important step for the investigation of Leipzig medical manuscripts.

Outward Form (xing形) and Inward Qi 氣: The “Sentimental Body” in Early Chinese Medicine

What did the early Chinese medical body look like before it was inhabited by the five viscera and before canonical medical rationale was framed in terms of the five agents (wuxing五行)? This article makes the case for a body with an outwardly visible ‘form’ (xing形) that housed invisibleqi氣 internally. Theqi contained in this body was not the universal qi and all-pervasive stuff that we encounter in later medical texts. Nor can it be limited to the ‘breath’ referred to in the context of meditation techniques, since the term referred also to a moral dimension, thoughts and feelings. In the body's upper spheres,qitook on yang 陽 qualities and was associated with feelings of grief or joy; in its lower ones, it took on yin 陰 qualities and was associated with anger. Since this body was primarily a function of emotional and moral aetiologies, it is in what follows called a ‘sentimental body’, and is contrasted with the canonical ‘body ecologic’ which was most importantly a function of the seasons.The textual material presented in this article suggests that the ‘sentimental body’ with its two yinyang spheres was an early Chinese medical body conception. From an extensive computer search that systematically compared passages onxingand qi in theYellow Emperor's Inner Canonwith texts in the early medical manuscripts from Mawangdui and Zhangjiashan, it emerged as a distinctive body. While the canonical ‘body ecologic’, framed in a pentic numerology, became prominent in medical reasoning during to the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.), the ‘sentimental body’, which alludes to yinyang cosmologies, dates to the Warring States period (475–221 B.C.E.).

DELETED TEXT IN A MANUSCRIPT. GALEN ON THE EYE AND THE MARC. GR. 276.

DELETED TEXT IN A MANUSCRIPT. GALEN ON THE EYE AND THE MARC. GR. 276.

Arabo-Farsi anatomy figures.

LettersArabo-Farsi anatomy figures Farid Sami Haddad, MD Farid Sami Haddad, MD Custodian of the Sami I Haddad Memorial Library, Rancho Palos Verdes, California, USA Search for more papers by this author Email the corresponding author at [email protected] Published Online:5 Feb 2009https://doi.org/10.4103/0256-4947.51809SectionsPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload citationTrack citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail AboutIntroductionWe conclude our series of articles on the “Anatomy Charts”1–4 with the following note from Dr. Haddad. The images and accompanying description may now be found on Wikipedia: ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomy_Charts_of_the_Arabs)To the Editor: The table and references below summarize available information on 17 sets of very similar anatomy figures that I have been able to glean from the current published literature and put at the disposal of the readers. It is fair to assume that there are a few more similar figures, the locations of which are not yet known. I urge the reader and expressly enlist his kind cooperation in the task of completing this collection, which, at present, stands at exactly 100 colored hand-painted anatomy figures.There are several disputed points and questions about these figures. Here are some of them:Why did a few historians assume that these figures might be of Scythian or Tibetan origin?Which set is the original and which are copies?Who is the author of these figures?Why is the head always represented in a Mongolian perspective and why was the squatting position chosen?Why do these figures usually (with the exception of three sets) appear in mas ‘wd's text on anatomy?Why aren't these figures always mentioned or referred to in the text in which they are found?Why do they, sometimes, seem to have been just bound within the volume containing them and do not seem to form an integral part of it?Are they all from the same hand or drawn by different scribes?What is their relation to the similar Latin figures?Table 1 Seventeen sets of anatomy figuresNoDateAuthorPlaceNumberReferences01<1400 ADmanSwrParis15555, 13, 1402<1400 ADmanSwrLondon235565031400 ADmanSwrOxford15765, 604C 1400 ADIndia Office22965, 605C 1450 ADmanSwrBethesda9, 1006C 1450 ADmanSwrBethesda9, 1007manSwrNew Haven1008manSwrNew Haven1009New Haven1010Ibn sÿnALondon1711Ibn sÿnALondon121537 ADmahAbAdÿCalifornia908, 11, 15, 1613C 1650 ADmanSwrDurham12, 1814C 1650 ADmanSwrKansas1015C 1650 ADmanSwrMontreal7785, 757, 1016C 1750 ADmanSwrKansas1017C 1850 ADmanSwrMontreal7785, 767, 10All manuscripts have six figures except number 12, which has only four.Once we have the answers to these questions, one can hope to study the available data with a comparative and critical analysis so that some of the existing mysteries can be resolved.ARTICLE REFERENCES:1. Haddad FS. "“Anatomy Charts” from the collection of Dr. Sami Ibrahim Haddad" . Ann Saudi Med. 200805-06 28(3):220. Google Scholar2. Haddad FS. "“Anatomy Charts” from the collection of Dr. Sami Ibrahim Haddad" . Ann Saudi Med. 200807-08 28(4):309. Google Scholar3. Haddad FS. "“Anatomy Charts” from the collection of Dr. Sami Ibrahim Haddad" . Ann Saudi Med. 200809-10 28(5):394. Google Scholar4. Haddad FS. "“Anatomy Charts” from the collection of Dr. Sami Ibrahim Haddad" . Ann Saudi Med. 200811-12 28(6):475. Google Scholar5. Choulant JL. Geschichte und Bibliographie der anatomischen Abbildung. 1852Leipzig: R Weigel. Google Scholar6. Sudhoff K. Geschichte der Anatomie im Mittelalter. 1909. Google Scholar7. Beattie J, MacDermot HE. Exhibition of the history of anatomical illustration. 1930Montreal: McGill University. Google Scholar8. Haddad Sami I. "The historical exhibit" . Ann Rep Orient Hosp. 1949; 2:8-12and 1972;25:45. Google Scholar9. Schulian DM, Sommer FE. A catalogue of incunabula and manuscripts in the Army Medical Library. 1951New York. Google Scholar10. McKinney L, Herndon TH. "American manuscript collections of medieval medical miniatures and texts" . J Hist Med and Allied Sc. 1962; 17:286-307. Google Scholar11. Haddad Sami I. History of Arab Medicine. 1975Beirut: Buhayri Press. Google Scholar12. O'Neill YV. "An anatomical mystery with global dimensions" . Proc XXV Congress Internat Soc Hist Med (Quebec). 1976; III:1031-44. Google Scholar13. Lyons A, Petrucelli RJ. Medicine: an illustrated history. 1978New York: Abrams300. Google Scholar14. The Arts and Sciences of Islam. 1982;17. Google Scholar15. Haddad Farid S. Biesterfeldt: [Catalogue of the Arabic medical manuscripts of the Sami Ibrahim Haddad Memorial Library]. 1984Aleppo: IHAS. Google Scholar16. Haddad Farid S. "Arab andrology and sexology" . Proceed XXX Congr Internat Soc Hist Medicine (Dusseldörf). 1988;1253-64. Google Scholar17. Iskandar AZ. "Arab-Islamic medicine and its influence on the Latin West" . The Islamic World Med J. 198605/06 2(2):58-63. Google Scholar18. Cavanah GST. Personal correspondence. 19870311. Google Scholar Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 29, Issue 1Jan–Feb 2009 Metrics History Published online5 February 2009 InformationCopyright © 2009, Annals of Saudi MedicineThis is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.PDF download

The missing link in the history of urology: A call for more efforts to bridge the gap

With few exceptions, most of the current publications on history of urology still ignore the scientific and technological events of the more than a thousand years between the Greco-Roman times and the modern era. This has broken an important link in the globally continuous line of progress and evolution of world civilizations. Another aggravation of that missing-link problem in the history of urology, and history of medicine, in general, is the large number of articles based, only, on copying from secondary sources without checking the primary sources (the edited and published original manuscripts). Such articles easily propagate omissions, deficiencies, misunderstandings, distortions, and unfounded claims. On the other hand, in the Arabic and Islamic world, though many original authentic medical manuscripts written by famous scholars of the Islamic era were authoritatively edited and published during the twentieth century, the number of primary source studies based on them by historians or medical researchers remained few and were limited to individual efforts. Therefore, we focused on this missing-link era and performed several primary source studies of the published medical works of ten scholars who lived and practiced between the ninth and the thirteenth centuries and whose Latinized books were available in Europe as early as the twelfth century with their influence lasting until the eighteenth century. Our results confirm that those scholars of the Islamic era were not mere compilers or sheer transmitters of Greco-Roman medical literature. On the contrary, they critically reviewed the translated heritage of previous civilizations rejecting what is superfluous and accepting only what proves to be true. They added original contributions to the progress of urology and pioneered new fields of medical knowledge and practice such as medical ethics, medical education, medical certification, health education, preventive medicine, hospitals and hospital training, medical-practice quality control, clinical medicine, differential diagnosis, experimental medicine, experimental surgery, beginnings of specialization, pharmacology, use of anesthetics, and many other new discoveries in anatomy, physiology, pathology, therapeutics, surgical instruments, and surgical techniques.

How to write titles and abstracts for readers

How to write titles and abstracts for readers

Words, stones, &amp; herbs: the healing word in medieval and early modern England

Inspired by the profound literary history of healing, this compelling book explores the cognitive and physical effects of words in relation to the healing process. Drawing on research in cognitive linguistics applied to medieval linguistic and cognitive philosophy, Louise M. Bishop presents a highly original and theoretically challenging examination of the intersection between medical manuscript and literary texts, such as the Canterbury Tales and Piers Plowman. The art of healing is treated in light of words and context, social needs, cognitive presence, material reality, and political necessity. Carefully researched and powerfully argued, Words, Stones, and Herbs convincingly establishes the healing power of words in late medieval and Tudor England.

Hugh Trevor-Roper, Europe's physician: the various life of Sir Theodore Turquet de Mayerne, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2006, pp. xii, 438, illus., £25.00, US$35.00 (hardback 0-300-11263-7).

Hugh Trevor-Roper, Europe's physician: the various life of Sir Theodore Turquet de Mayerne, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2006, pp. xii, 438, illus., £25.00, US$35.00 (hardback 0-300-11263-7). - Volume 52 Issue 3

Byzantine medical manuscripts: Toward a new catalogue

Byzantine medical manuscripts: Toward a new catalogue