History of medicine

Roy Porter's History of Medicine is an extraordinary work that summarizes and evaluates the entire development of practical medicine and medical science to date. The author attempts to capture the increasingly rapid and dynamic progress of medicine, but he is also aware of its current limits and emerging problems - for example, the changing shape of the doctor-patient relationship, the threat of new diseases, and the so far very limited success in the fight against cancer. It presents the development of medicine and medical science against a broader religious, scientific, economic, social and political background - the history of human culture in general. Throughout the history of medicine, as recounted in the book, there is a desire to know the real causes of various diseases, and the possibilities of curing and preventing them, which Porter sees as the main driving force behind the progress of medical science. The book focuses mainly on Western medicine from antiquity to the present, but offers a brief insight into the traditions of Eastern medicine (Arabic, Chinese and Indian) for comparison; also briefly recalls the main currents and representatives of modern alternative medicine. The need to understand why and how diseases arise, how to protect ourselves from them, and exactly how the human body works has revolutionized the status and possibilities of medicine and has fundamentally changed our lives from centuries past. On this basis, Porter describes the entire development of medical science - from the first discoveries in anatomy and physiology to the emergence of specialties such as psychiatry, neurology, endocrinology, bacteriology and genetics. In addition to scientific discoveries, it traces the improvement of medical practice - both ambulatory and clinical, the development of public health from the first hospitals and the first efforts to prevent the spread of epidemics to the emergence of sophisticated health systems and their financing in the early 20th century. In the final chapters of the book, Roy Porter opens up the ethical issues of contemporary medicine: the reduction of man to a mere collection of organs, the futile effort to preserve "eternal youth" and escape death, the painful reality of dying alone in hospitals, and the problem of euthanasia. Porter also reflects on the future of medicine in the light of its current limits. New insights and surprises await even those who consider themselves experts in the history of medicine. They can learn the ancient Egyptian recipe for a salve against baldness or how an unknown epidemic struck Athens; how ordinary lemons contributed to Napoleon's defeat, or what role infectious diseases introduced from Europe to the New World and other colonized territories played. The author does not gloss over the black pages of medical history - the horrific career of Nazi doctor Josef Mengele and his Japanese counterpart Shiro Ishii. A wealth of interconnected information and stimuli, that Porter collected in his work, is meant to be thought of as a doctor, medics, historians of science and culture, for the patient-medics, who can confront the described facts with personal experiences and observations.