The Medical Book: From Witch Doctors to Robot Surgeons, 250 Milestones in the History of Medicine

567 Pages·2012·27.25 MB·English

by  Clifford A. Pickover

Books by Clifford A. Pickover The Alien IQ Test
Archimedes to Hawking
A Beginner’s Guide to Immortality Black Holes: A Traveler’s Guide Calculus and Pizza
Chaos and Fractals
Chaos in Wonderland
Computers, Pattern, Chaos, and Beauty Computers and the Imagination Cryptorunes: Codes and Secret
Writing Dreaming the Future
Egg Drop Soup
Fractal Horizons: The Future Use of Fractals Frontiers of Scientific Visualization Future Health
The Girl Who Gave Birth to Rabbits The Heaven Virus
Jews in Hyperspace
Keys to Infinity
Liquid Earth
The Lobotomy Club
The Loom of God
The Math Book
The Mathematics of Oz
Mazes for the Mind: Computers and the Unexpected
Mind-Bending Visual Puzzles (calendars and card sets) The Möbius Strip
The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience
A Passion for Mathematics The Pattern Book: Fractals, Art, and Nature The Physics Book
The Science of Aliens
Sex, Drugs, Einstein, and Elves Spider Legs (with Piers Anthony) Spiral Symmetry (with Istvan Hargittai)
The Stars of Heaven
Strange Brains and Genius Sushi Never Sleeps
Surfing through Hyperspace Time: A Traveler’s Guide Visions of the Future
Visualizing Biological Information Wonders of Numbers
The Zen of Magic Squares, Circles, and Stars
THE
MEDICAL
BOOK
FROM WITCH DOCTORS TO ROBOT SURGEONS, 250
MILESTONES IN THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE
Clifford A. Pickover
Author of The Math Book and The Physics Book
STERLING and the distinctive Sterling logo are registered trademarks of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
© 2012 by Clifford A. Pickover
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without prior written permission from the publisher.
ISBN 978-1-4027-8585-6 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4027-9233-5 (ebook) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pickover,
Clifford A.
The medical book : from witch doctors to robot surgeons : 250 milestones in the
history of medicine / Clifford A. Pickover.
p. ; cm.
From witch doctors to robot surgeons : 250 milestones in the history of medicine
ISBN 978-1-4027-8585-6 (hardcover) — ISBN 978-1-4027-9233-5 (ebook)
I. Title. II. Title: From witch doctors to robot surgeons : 250 milestones in the
history of medicine.
[DNLM: 1. History of Medicine—Chronology. WZ 30]
610.9—dc23
2011050376
For information about custom editions, special sales, and premium and corporate
purchases, please contact Sterling Special Sales at 800-805-5489 or
“Truly the gods have not from the beginning revealed all things to
mortals, but by long seeking, mortals make progress in discovery.”
—Xenophanes of Colophon, c. 500 B.C.
“Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there also is love of
humanity.”
—Hippocrates, c. 400 B.C.
Contents
Introduction
10,000 B.C. Witch Doctor
6500 B.C. Trepanation
4000 B.C. Urinalysis
3000 B.C. Sutures
2800 B.C. Glass Eye
2400 B.C. Circumcision
2000 B.C. Ayurvedic Medicine
1600 B.C. Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus
1500 B.C. Bloodletting
1000 B.C. Greville Chester Great Toe
600 B.C. Eye Surgery
600 B.C. Sewage Systems
400 B.C. Hippocratic Oath
300 B.C. Huangdi Neijing
100 B.C. Mithridatium and Theriac
70 Abortion
70 Dioscorides’s De Materia Medica
190 Galenic Writings
900 Al-Razi’s Comprehensive Book
1025 Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine
1161 Persecution of Jewish Physicians
1210 Barber Pole
1242 Al-Nafis’s Pulmonary Circulation
1284 Eyeglasses
1346 Biological Weapons
1510 Leonardo’s Anatomical Drawings
1522 Burning of Dr. Wertt
1527 Paracelsus Burns Medical Books
1543 De Humani Corporis Fabrica
1545 Paré’s “Rational Surgery”
1552 Eustachi’s Rescued Masterpieces
1563 De Praestigiis Daemonum
1564 Condom
1580 Obstetrical Forceps
1597 Tissue Grafting
1601 Acupuncture Compendium
1618 Drawings of Pietro da Cortona
1628 Circulatory System
1642 Murder and Wirsung’s Duct
1652 Lymphatic System
1664 Cranial Nerves Classified
1665 Micrographia
1678 Discovery of Sperm
1679 Brunner’s Glands
1683 Zoo Within Us
1687 Discovery of Sarcoptes Scabiei
1689 Separation of Conjoined Twins
1707 Pulse Watch
1726 Mary Toft’s Rabbits
1733 Cheselden’s Osteographia
1747 Albinus’s Tables of the Human Body
1753 A Treatise on Scurvy
1761 Autopsy
1761 Causes of Cancer
1761 Morgagni’s “Cries of Suffering Organs”
1764 Cerebrospinal Fluid
1772 Exploring the Labyrinth
1774 Hunter’s Gravid Uterus
1784 Hospitals
1784 Lavoisier’s Respiration
1785 Digitalis
1792 Ambulance
1793 Unchaining the Lunatics
1796 Alternative Medicine
1796 Phrenology
1798 Smallpox Vaccination
1809 Cerebellum Function
1811 Bell-Magendie Law
1812 Snow Anesthesia
1812 Women Medical Students
1813 Hysterectomy
1816 Stethoscope
1817 Ligation of the Abdominal Aorta
1825 Leech Therapy
1829 Blood Transfusion
1830 Medical Specialization
1832 Anatomy Act of 1832
1832 Intravenous Saline Solutions
1833 Observations of St. Martin’s Stomach
1842 General Anesthesia
1842 The Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain
1846 Panum’s “Measles on the Faroe Islands”
1846 Spirometry
1847 American Medical Association
1847 Semmelweis’s Hand Washing
1848 Appendectomy
1850 Ophthalmoscope
1851 Plaster of Paris Casts
1853 Hypodermic Syringe
1854 Broad Street Pump Handle
1854 Nursing
1855 Cell Division
1857 Treatment of Epilepsy
1858 Gray’s Anatomy
1861 Cerebral Localization
1862 Germ Theory of Disease
1863 Red Cross
1864 Dental Drill
1865 Antiseptics
1865 Mendel’s Genetics
1866 Medical Thermometer
1872 Thyroid Surgery
1873 Cause of Leprosy
1879 Modern Brain Surgery
1881 Sphygmomanometer
1882 Cesarean Section
1882 Koch’s Tuberculosis Lecture
1882 Phagocytosis Theory
1883 Health Insurance
1883 Salpingectomy
1884 Cocaine as Local Anesthetic
1890 Antitoxins
1890 Latex Surgical Gloves
1891 Neuron Doctrine
1892 Discovery of Viruses