In ancient Greece, the asclepion was a healing temple dedicated to Asclepius, the God of Medicine. Asclepius learned the art of surgery from the centaur Chiron and had the ability to raise the dead. The Rod of Asclepius is a roughhewn branch entwined with a single serpent.
Monday, March 26, 2007
The Alarming History of Medicine
I recently read The Alarming History of Medicine by Richard Gordon, a British doctor and writer. It's a collection of various amusing anecdotes about the history of medicine. A lot of the stories are quite fascinating, dealing with topics like anesthesia, infectious disease, and politics. However, the book is pretty poorly organized and difficult to follow. The writing style tries to be witty, but seldom succeeds (though it may be British humour, I don't know). More often though, the metaphors and rambling become a little grating and misleading. It's certainly not the best book I've read, but I suppose it's good for light reading for those interested in the history of medicine.
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