Scribonius Largus Research Articles

Kuracja bólu głowy, epilepsji, chorób oczu i uszu według Skryboniusza Largusa (I w.) "Compositiones medicamentorum" – przekład

Compositiones Medicamentorum by Scribonius Largus, dating from the 1st century, is one of the most important sources of the history of medicine. The recipes contained therein were used in European medicine until the end of the 17th century. The aim of this article is to present [translated from Latin] the methods of treating headache, epilepsy and diseases of the eyes and ears according to this ancient Roman physician.

Caveat Emptor: The Perils of Shopping for Medical Products in the Ancient Marketplace

Authors such as Scribonius Largus, Dioscorides, Pliny the Elder, and Galen were concerned with the materials used to treat illness and warned consumers against rampant fraud practiced in the ancient drug industry. Reading these texts alongside the archaeological evidence for ancient medicine, such as stamps for collyria (eye salves) and the containers and labels used to package the products, makes it possible to understand a commercial market fraught with possibilities for fraud and adulteration. It is worthwhile to explore how Roman consumers and even doctors could navigate such a marketplace so that they could locate bona fide products.

On Medicine, Physicians, and Healers in Ancient Rome

The paper discusses the issue of the attitude towards medicine, physicians, and healers in Ancient Rome (1st – 5th centuries) based on ancient texts (Juv. Sat., Plin. Nat. Hist., Mart. Ep., etc.). It is shown that the profession of physician in Rome did not immediately receive recognition. The reasons for this are revealed: first, Romans did not consider medicine an art (science), and second, those who were associated with medicine were not Romans by origin and did not initially have civil rights. The collective biography of the Roman physician is reconstructed; it is based on the surviving testimonies about Anthonius Musa, Sextius Niger, Scribonius Largus, Rufus of Ephesus, Galen, Serenius Sammonius, Theodorus Priscianus, Adamantius, Marcellus Empiricus, and others. Information about their origin, names and nicknames, positions, social status, duties and rights, features of professional activity, subject and content of their medical texts is taken into account. Some provisions of the collective biography are as follows: 1) Roman physicians and people associated with medicine initially had the status of a slave; 2) As a rule, they received education either in Alexandria, or in special medical schools and temples-hospitals, or from famous teachers; 3) Some physicians were at emperors’ courts, had high titles, positions and privileges; 4) For the most part, physicians authored works written mainly in Greek, but also in Arabic and Latin; 5) The interests of physicians were connected with natural philosophy, medicine itself (theoretical and practical) and its fields, for example, physiology and pharmacology, as well as biology (botany); 6) In addition to medical practice, physicians’ occupations included teaching, mentoring, and sharing experience; collecting prescriptions and antidotes, inventing medical drugs; 7) The career of a physician (especially at the court of an emperor) could not always be successful. He could be expelled, forced to flee to a foreign country, or murdered.

Nutraceuticals in the Work of Scribonius Largus, a Pioneer of Clinical Pharmacy in Ancient Rome

The therapeutic potential of nutraceuticals has been recognized by severalancient civilizations. The majority of physicians would use them in their practice and transmit their experience to their disciples. Nonetheless, few physicians have contributed to the dissemination of this knowledge further and its integration intothe standard of care of their era. Scribonius Largus, a renowned physician and pharmacist in ancient Rome has summarized the existing knowledge on nutraceuticals in his pharmacognosy and therapeutics textbook “Compositiones”. As a physician to the imperial court, he used his position and resources to advance the relevant knowledge, educate erudite and lay physicians across the Roman Empire,and establish ethical practices in the field. Revisiting his contributions provides valuable lessons for contemporary researchers and practitioners.©2022iGlobal Research and PublishingFoundation. All rights reserved.

In the Footsteps of Scribonius Largus, a Pioneer of Clinical Pharmacy in Ancient Rome

Clinical pharmacy involves pharmacists in direct patient care concerning optimizing medicines and promoting health awareness and disease prevention. The whereabouts of the field can be traced to Scribonius Largus, a renowned physician and pharmacist in ancient Rome. Although Largus served as an imperial physician, he has also been an exemplary pharmacist authoring a comprehensive pharmacognosy textbook and dedicated a big part of his life to improving pharmacotherapy and advancing ethics in the field. Revisiting his contributions provides valuable lessons for contemporary clinical pharmacists.

History of Peripheral Nerve Stimulation-Update for the 21st Century.

To present a history of the development of peripheral nerve stimulation. Narrative literature review. Peripheral nerve stimulation has a history stretching from Scribonius Largus and eels in Mesopotamia to Michael Farady's discovery in London, the German-English physician Julius Althaus's application of electricity to a peripheral nerve, the sensational "Electreat" in the United States, to the application by Wall and Sweet of the gate theory proposed by Melzack and Wall to specialized neurosurgeons. This is now a modern field in clinical neuroscience and medicine with improved technology, renewed interest by a diverse range of specialties, and accessibility with ultrasound.

Celtic Provenance in Traditional Herbal Medicine of Medieval Wales and Classical Antiquity.

The Celtic linguistic community dominated large spans of Central and Western Europe between 800 BC and 500 AD, but knowledge of their traditional medicine is very limited. Multiple progressive plant gains in Neolithic settlements along the Danube and up the Rhine valleys suggested that taxon diversity of gathered plants peaked at the Balkans and was subsequently reduced as crop and gathered plants packages were adopted and dispersed throughout Neolithic Europe. This process coincided with the Bronze Age migration of the R1b proto-Celtic tribes, and their herbal traditions were occasionally recorded in the classic Greco-Roman texts on herbal medicines. The provenance of Celtic (Gallic) healing methods and magical formulas as recorded by Pliny, Scribonius Largus, and Marcellus Empiricus can still be found in the first part of the medieval Welsh (Cymry) herbal manuscript Meddygon Myddfai (recipes 1–188). Although the majority of Myddfai I recipes were based on the Mediterranean herbal tradition of Dioscorides and Macer Floridus, they preserved the unique herbal preparation signatures distinct from continental and Anglo-Saxon counterparts in increased use of whey and ashes as vehicles for formulation of herbal remedies. Six plants could be hypothetically attributed to the Celtic (Welsh) herbal tradition including foxglove (Digitalis purpurea L.), corn bellflower (Legousia speculum-veneris L.), self-heal (Prunella vulgaris L.), sharp dock (Rumex conglomeratus Murray), water pimpernel (Samolus valerandi L.), and river startip (Scapania undulata L.) This review provides initial evidence for traces of Celtic framework in the Welsh herbal tradition and warrants further investigations of bioactivity and clinical applications of the described plant leads.

Tratamiento de las afecciones palpebrales en la obra de Escribonio Largo

Tratamiento de las afecciones palpebrales en la obra de Escribonio Largo

The Oxford Handbook of Science and Medicine in the Classical World ed. by Paul T. Keyser and John Scarborough

Reviewed by: The Oxford Handbook of Science and Medicine in the Classical World ed. by Paul T. Keyser and John Scarborough Kenneth F. Kitchell Jr. The Oxford Handbook of Science and Medicine in the Classical World. Edited by Paul T. Keyser and John Scarborough. New York, NY and Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2018. Pp. xv +1045. Hardback, $175.00. ISBN 978-0- 199-73414-6. Handbooks on classical subjects are now a fixture in our field and several recent ones have highlighted, and thus promoted, marginalized areas of study. The current volume aims at the same goal, offering a “synoptic synthesis of how scholars currently understand [ancient] sciences” (1) and it expands its scope to include ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China. The essays are divided into five sections as follows: A, ten essays, covers the ancient scientific traditions beyond Greece and Rome; B, Greek science, four essays; C, Hellenistic Science, sixteen essays; D, Greco-Roman Science, eleven essays; E, late antique and early Byzantine science. The individual essays cover such disciplines as mathematics, astronomy, medicine, geography, natural science, mechanics and pneumatics, astrology, alchemy, music and harmonic theory, pharmacology, dietetics, physiognomy and more. Thus, the scope of the book is vast, as to both subject matter and the thirteen centuries it covers. [End Page 508] A collection such as this raises some important questions about the recent trend to produce very expensive handbooks. The first is their goal. Are they written for those already expert in a given area or for those who wish to learn more about an area of study and its current scholarship in a limited number of pages? In this reviewer’s opinion, the work under review has a bit of both. Before going further, let me state that no one of whom I am aware is sufficiently competent in all these scientific and mathematical areas to pass judgement on the technical content of each essay. Rather, I approached this review by looking at essays on areas of which I know little and also at some about which I know more. In so doing I hoped to be able to determine how useful the book would be for non-experts and experts alike. Section A is especially challenging as it deals with technical topics from cultures with which the average classicist may not be familiar. Some chapters seem very aware that they are writing for non-specialists, but others employ technical terms and mathematical formulas that will baffle many. In the Greco-Roman chapters we are on more familiar ground. Nonetheless, technical terms abound for some fields (mathematics and astronomy, for example) and without foreknowledge the average reader may, as did I, occasionally lose the thread. Such examples do not taint the entire work. Many essays are clear to a non- specialist. In others, if one cannot follow the actual mathematics, at least one can understand the scope of, say, the uses of mathematics in ancient Egypt. If we do not really understand “concentric-deferent-with epicycle” (793-94) we can still marvel at Ptolemy’s astronomical instruments. We meet fascinating people like Scribonius Largus and Celsus, with whom we may not have been familiar. Perhaps the issues I have raised are inherent to a core question surrounding handbooks. Should they contain entry level essays that are readily intelligible by any reasonably educated reader, or are they essays for people already working in that field? My own preference is for the former, but I fully understand that the limits of space for each chapter and the vast expanse of centuries, cultures and disciplines this handbook attempts to cover may combine to leave little space for introductory material. There is much to be learned from this particular handbook. It is easier to learn it in some essays than in others, and all essays contain bibliographies for further reading. Line drawings and photographs are helpful. For some chapters, many readers will need frequent recourse to dictionaries and patient friends from other disciplines. Perhaps this book, especially given its cost, will be most useful for an [End Page 509] institutional library, allowing readers to pick and choose which chapters appeal to them. Kenneth F...

Whence ‘zoster’? The convoluted classical origins of a sometimes illogical term

The term ‘zoster’ is nowadays associated with ‘herpes zoster’, the condition resulting from reactivation of the latent varicella-zoster virus which causes shingles. But in antiquity the meaning of ‘zoster’, a...

Neuromodulation: a focus on dorsal root ganglion stimulation.

10.2217/pmt-2015-0013 © 2016 Future Medicine Ltd Neuromodulation is defined as a functional change in the CNS neuronal activity through electrical or pharmacological mediation. Applications of neuromodulation have been apparent for centuries, notably in ancient Rome when court physician Scribonius Largus utilized the electrical shock of a torpedo fish as a remedy for headaches and gouty arthritis [1]. The early 20th century made way for the ‘electreat’ device, a precursor to common day peripheral nerve stimulators, which made neuromodulation a widely available commercial therapy for the treatment of pain. Yet no scientific explanation could reliably explain the physiologic mechanisms behind electricity as a therapeutic modality for pain control. Gate control & pain processing Various theories attempting to explain pain perception circulated during the first part of the 20th century. In 1965, Melzack and Wall proposed their ‘gate control theory’, which provides a more complex and detailed explanation behind the mechanisms of pain transmission and processing. The fundamental concept to their theory suggests that transmission (T) cells within the spinal cord function as a ‘gate keeper’ in the perception of pain. These cells receive excitatory and inhibitory inputs from large and small peripheral fibers within the substatia gelatinosa, and downward projecting cerebral centers. Collectively, these pathways determine whether or not the painful stimuli pass the ‘gate’ to perception [2]. COMMENTARY

Vitruvius and the Limits of Proportion

Vitruvius and the Limits of Proportion1 Andrew Riggsby I come to the present topic with some trepidation. Unlike many of the contributors to this volume, I am not a Vitruvian scholar, nor does my main interest—even in this paper—lie with Vitruvius himself as such. Rather, I wish to consider the (exceptionally rich) evidence he provides for some more general questions of Roman metrology. This inquiry does not have to do with antiquarian questions of the “correct” modern equivalents for various Roman measurements; I suspect those questions are ultimately unanswerable and even incoherent for reasons beyond the scope of this paper. I ask, instead, what styles or modes of measurement were available to the Romans and what considerations dictated their use in particular contexts. This is a question I address more broadly elsewhere, but Vitruvius’s text proves so metrologically rich that it deserves to be treated on its own. De Architectura is, of course, one of the Roman texts densest in measurements, along with a number of medical and agricultural works and the writings of Frontinus and the Elder Pliny. Even among the works just mentioned, it stands out both for the way measurement is crucial to the tasks at hand (a Natural History could be written without measurements) and for how measurement is explicitly thematized (Scribonius Largus has only two sentences on the measures he uses in his drug recipes). Vitruvius is presumably a product of the metrological culture he is embedded in, just as any author is a product of his or her culture more broadly. At the same [End Page 281] time, he occupies a unique position and trajectory within that culture, again just like any other author. So what I want to consider here is precisely how he reflects and inflects the metrology of his day. The most obvious starting point for such an investigation is probably the Vitruvian feature best known outside professional classics: the role of proportion in de Architectura. Some of this contemporary reputation derives from the even greater fame of Leonardo’s later illustration of the so-called Vitruvian Man, based on 3.1.2: For the human body is so designed by nature that the face, from the chin to the top of the forehead and the lowest roots of the hair, is a tenth part of the whole height; the open hand from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger is just the same; the head from the chin to the crown is an eighth, and with the neck and shoulder from the top of the breast to the lowest roots of the hair is a sixth; from the middle of the breast to the summit of the crown is a fourth.2 But proportion is much more prevalent in Vitruvius than just this passage (though I will return to it a couple of times for further comment). He uses proportions for measurement in numerous places, many involving multiple instances each (3.2.5, 6; 3.2, 4, 6, 7, 10–11; 4.1, 3; 5.1–3, 5–7, 9–13. 4.1.1, 6–8, 11–12; 3.2–8; 4.1; 6.1–6; 7.1–5; 8.1–3. 5.1.2–5; 6.5–6; 9.2-4; 10.4–5; 11.2; 12.2–3. 6.3.3–8; 8.6–7. 7.1.3, 5. 8.6.14. 9 pref. 8; 7.1). Moreover, those proportions are used in a variety of contexts. Beyond the most famous cases of the human body and the various architectural orders, for instance, there are the proportional features of theaters, baths, and harbors; the designs of foundations and staircases; and the sundial. Perhaps most significant, however, is the thematization of proportion. Symmetria, the formal, mathematical correspondence of the various elements of the whole (1.2.4), is one of Vitruvius’s six basic design principles (1.2.1), and, in fact, the most commonly mentioned of the set (eighty-four times; Wilson Jones 2000.40). Mentions of proportio add almost half again as many mentions. And the [End Page 282] proportional account of the human body itself is not a random piece...

Management Science: Natural Gas and Electricity Industries Should Foster Innovation, Which Can Be Learned

Ever since the physician Scribonius Largus slapped an electric torpedo fish on the forehead of a headache sufferer in the early days of the Roman Empire, energy resources have been pursued by mankind to solve problems. Energy has always been the primary power to elevate societies, economies, and, in particular, the living standards of mankind. While the Industrial Revolution certainly marked a major turning point in history, it was the world's first public electricity supply powered by water wheels on the river Wey in Godalming, United Kingdom, in September 1881 that changed every aspect of mankind's daily life.

Electroanaesthesia – from torpedo fish to TENS

In 153 AD, the Roman physician Scribonius Largus identified that electric current had analgesic properties, instructing patients to stand on an electric ray for the treatment of gout. In 2014, transcranial magnetic stimulation was approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for the treatment of migraine. Although separated by nearly two millennia, these milestones represent the evolution of the utilisation of electric current in medical and anaesthetic practice. Significant advances have been made over the last century in particular, and during the 1960s and 1970s, tens of thousands of patients were reportedly anaesthetised for surgical interventions using electric current as the anaesthetic agent. Many medical interventions, including transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and deep brain stimulation, have evolved in the aftermath of investigations into electroanaesthesia; the potential for electric current to be an anaesthetic agent of the future still exists.

The "torpedo" effect in medicine.

The natural electrical phenomena fascinated humans since antiquity. The electrical discharges produced by the torpedo fish were highly appreciated among ancient physicians as Hippocrates, Scribonius Largus and Galen and were prescribed for headache, gout and prolapsed anus. In the medieval period, torpedo's electrical properties were attributed to occult powers, while Renaissance physicians' and scientists' studied the anatomy and mechanical nature of the provoked shock paving the way for the discovery of the electrical nature of torpedo's activity and the evolution of electrotherapy.

Emerging subspecialties in Neurology

Treating neurologic disorders with noninvasive brain stimulation techniques has always been one of the major goals of neurophysiology and to a broad extent, of modern neurology and psychiatry. The first attempts date back at least to 50 ad, when the Roman physician Scribonius Largus used electric currents from torpedo fishes to treat headaches.1 Unfortunately, these initial efforts sank into oblivion until the 18th century. In the last 2 decades, thanks to technological improvements, noninvasive transcranial stimulation is re-emerging as an appealing and promising approach to be used in different fields of neurology and neuroscience, with the number of related publications increasing exponentially in both clinical and basic science studies. This new age is particularly due to the broad-spectrum use of 2 techniques called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Despite the undoubted importance of conventional brain stimulation methods such as deep brain stimulation (DBS) or electroconvulsive therapy, TMS and tDCS present many favorable advantages both in terms of noninvasiveness and safety, with minimal or no side effects. The authors thank Jenna Nankin for editing assistance and Dr. Letizia Leocani, Dr. Gianvito Martino, and Prof. Giancarlo Comi for mentoring.

Transkranielle Hirnstimulation nach Schlaganfall

Stroke is the leading cause of disability in adults. In Germany an estimated 1.5 million stroke survivors have to cope with persisting sensorimotor or cognitive deficits and effective therapies are scarce. The idea of using non-invasive brain stimulation to treat neuropsychiatric diseases was already born more than 2,000 years ago (Scribonius largus, 43-48 AD). However, only the development of modern non-invasive brain stimulation methods, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has made it possible to evaluate these ideas. The therapeutic value of these non-invasive brain stimulation methods is currently under study for several neuropsychiatric diseases, mostly in a proof-of-principle fashion. In this article the focus will be on non-invasive brain stimulation to enhance functional regeneration after stroke.

Der Sanitatsdienst im Romischen Reich: Ein sozialgeschichte Studie zum romischen Militarsanitatswesen nebst einer Prosopographie des Sanitatspersonals (review)

Reviewed by: Der Sanitätsdienst im Römischen Reich: Ein sozialgeschichte Studie zum römischen Militärsanitätswesen nebst einer Prosopographie des Sanitätspersonals Vivian Nutton Juliane C. Wilmanns. Der Sanitätsdienst im Römischen Reich: Ein sozialgeschichte Studie zum römischen Militärsanitätswesen nebst einer Prosopographie des Sanitätspersonals. Medizin der Antike, no. 2. Hildesheim, Germany: Olms-Weidmann, 1995. x + 314 pp. Ill. DM 68.00. The publication of this Munich Habilitationschrift will be welcomed by students of ancient medicine and of military medicine for its careful exposition of the ancient evidence for the medical personnel and organization of the Roman army. Concentrating mainly on the period 31 B.C. to A.D. 284, Wilmanns first discusses questions of military and medical organization, before passing to a prosopography of the medical personnel active in the Roman legions, auxiliaries, [End Page 329] and fleets. There are also lists of medical men by regiment, and a map locating various hospitals. Wilmanns makes many cogent points: medici ordinarii were of centurion status; although many auxiliary forts had a small hospital, not all did, and in at least one instance a hospital building was replaced by something else; some physicians joined up for campaigns, and may well have returned to civilian life once the fighting died down. Particularly impressive is the range of her information and the way in which she integrates the very latest archaeological and epigraphical information. Her comments on the evidence for hospitals drastically revise earlier lists, and it is a pity that, despite several good indexes, these observations become almost lost among the footnotes. Above all, there is a solidity about the argumentation and conclusions of both parts of the book that will make this the first resort of anyone wishing to study the medicine of the Roman army. Factual errors are very few. I would have liked a more detailed discussion of the apparently near-total disappearance from use of the legionary hospitals after 284, as well as of the common assumption of a triage system, by which only the serious wounded were sent back from campaign to a base fort hospital—the latter notion seems implausible for Britain, but a German or Danubian perspective might be different. The new Vindolanda tablets show how much sickness and how many accident-injuries there might be in an apparently peaceful period to fill some of the beds of a legionary hospital (cf. recently the sick list of A.D. 253–59 in R. Marichal, Les ostraca de Bu Njem [1992], and Pap. Yadin 723). The idea that Dioscorides might have served as a sort of inspector general of hospitals seems a somewhat far-fetched interpretation of his “life as a soldier.” A few individuals seem to have slipped through the net. The physician and pharmacologist Scribonius Largus took part in the invasion of Britain in A.D. 43, although in what capacity is not entirely clear. A mysterious Archigenes, a “camp doctor,” is recorded in the Anecdota Parisina published by J. A. Cramer, vol. 4 (Oxford, 1841), p. 404. The decoration of military accoutrements on a tomb of a physician Asclepiades at Odessa ca. A.D. 175 (G. Mihailov, Inscr. graec. in Bulgaria repertae 150) suggests that their physician owner had seen military service. Somewhat more doubtful are Glaucias of Mesembria (ibid. 315), whose portrait was either inscribed on a shield or depicted him in military clothing, and Xenocrates of Heraclea in Pontus (Bulletin épigraphique 1938, n. 459), with veteran connections (but cf. Die Inschriften von Heraklea 7). R. P. Wright, in a letter to me, also suspected that the physician at Maryport (Roman inscriptions of Britain 808) was military, but proof is lacking. But these minor criticisms should not be allowed to mar one’s gratitude for what is an excellent survey of material that is both difficult to find and refractory to interpret. Future historians of ancient military medicine will have to begin here. Vivian Nutton Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London Copyright © 1997 The Johns Hopkins University Press

The retrospectroscope: medical electricity. I. Electrostatics

Eectricity has been used in medicine since the days of the Romans. In 46 c.e. Scribonius Largus recommended the discharge of the electric torpedo fish for relief of pain. This therapy is in use yet today, with a small TENS pulse generator taking the place of the fish. But the modern history of medical electricity begins with the electrostatic generator, invented by either Otto von Guericke (1663) or Francis Hauksbee the Elder (1796). Much depends upon your views of intent: Hauksbee specifically noted "Elistricity," while von Guericke never used the word. Rather, von Guericke discussed the nature of the Universe, using a sulfur sphere as a model. The sphere, rubbed by his hand, created effects one recognizes today as electrical. Von Guericke's sulfur globe died without issue. Modern electrical machines derive from a 1675 observation by the French astronomer, Jean Picard. While moving a mercury barometer in the dark, he noticed a glow in the evacuated tube above the mercury. News of this "mercurial phosphor" reached the Royal Society in London, where Hauksbee used a spinning, evacuated glass globe mounted on a lathe bed to study Picard's glow. He recreated the glow-and noted, when his hand rubbed the globe as it spun, strong electrical attraction of threads and other light bodies. Georg Matthias Bose began his electrical experiments in 1734, and in 1737 began using a spinning glass globe after the fashion of Hauksbee, In 1743 he used a tinplate telescope tube to store his electricity, thus inventing the "prime conductor" of most later electrostatic generators. Also in 1743, Johann Heinrich Winkler added a friction cushion to the spinning globe. This completed the invention of the frictional electrostatic generator. Later developments improved the form and configuration, but did not add to the substance.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Editors' Column

^Editors' Column For the first time since this journal began publication seven years ago, half of the authors represented in this volume on bioethics and literature hold M.D. degrees. Furthermore, four of the essays are coauthored , with the most frequent collaboration being between an M.D. and a literary scholar. We make these observations because Literature and Mediane is an interdisciplinary journal, but in the past the majority of essays published in our volumes have been written by literary, historical, or philosophical scholars. That the essays published in this volume now represent at least equal participation by the medical community indicates to the volume co-editors, one of whom is a Ph.D. and the other an M.D., that the topic for this particular volume and our efforts over the years to foster interdisciplinary scholarship have borne fruit. We hope that these and similar collaborative scholarly efforts will continue successfully in the future and lead to more informed insight for both the medical and nonmedical communities. The dozen essays in this volume may be viewed as organized into five thematic units. The first unit contains James Terry and Peter Williams's piece, a collaborative effort by a historian and a philosopher-lawyer, providing an overview of the subject of bioethics and literature and articulating the advantages and disadvantages of using literature to teach or raise bioethical issues. The second unit contains two essays about texts that raise bioethical issues. The first piece, by Edmund and Alice Pellegrino , offers a new translation of an ancient Roman text by Scribonius Largus and analyzes the humanistic and ethical implications of Scribonius 's commentary on medicine. In his essay, Chester Burns shows how an analysis of seven American novelists—Howells, Cable, Jewett, Eggleston , Herrick, Phelps, and Burnham—can illuminate our understanding of the social history of medical ethics in the United States in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. As a complement to these historical essays, we offer a set of historical illustrations reproduced from texts in the Special Collections of the University of Delaware Library. Kathryn Hunter's essay, which may be considered to constitute the third unit of the volume, analyzes the issues involved in the controversy published in Volume 5 between David Barnard and Eric Rabkin concerning the role of narrative in the communication of the individual medical case history. EDITORS' COLUMN The largest number of essays appears in the fourth unit. All of the essays in this unit deal with the role of the physician in works in which physicians or medicine are important subjects. The essay by Hans-Peter Breuer traces the roots of guilt and responsibility in a novel by a Japanese writer and deals in part with an actual event near the end of World War Πin which several American navy pilots who were captured by the Japanese were systematically vivisected and experimented upon in the medical school hospital of a Japanese university. Teo Forcht Dagi analyzes the ethical implications of the problem of role ambiguity for physicians portrayed in short stories by the Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov and Pearl S. Buck. Two physicians, Janice Willms and Henry Schneiderman, assess the medical implications of two famous impaired physicians in fiction— Wolfe's Dr. McGuire and Williams's Doc Rivers. Focusing on narratives by Lewis Thomas and Oliver Sacks, Alice Budge and Emil Dickstein consider the bioethical dilemmas reflected in narratives about doctors as patients. In her discussion of Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, Renate Justin assesses the conflict of interest between medicine as business and patient welfare. Edmund Erde's essay focuses not on written works but on four films that he uses to illuminate some bioethical issues, especially ones regarding the way in which physicians are portrayed as heroes. The fifth thematic unit in the volume presents two essays that discuss the bioethical implications of literary works not specifically concerned with medical subjects. Edward Waldron explains how to use Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men to teach the concept of duty to medical students. Ruth Netscher demonstrates how Jonson's The Alchemist deals in part with the ethical perplexities involved in the uses of persuasion and authority in ways analogous to those...