The Greatest Benefit To Mankind: A Medical History Of Humanity From Antiquity To The Present by Roy Porter

Medicine advances ever faster, and with it not just a capacity to overcome sickness, but to transform the very nature of life. Starting in ancient times, this text charts how this health revolution came about and how life for human beings in the West has ceased, in Hobbes' memorable phrase, to be nasty, brutish and short. Porter plots the growth of medical specialisms - pharmacology, physiology, anatomy, neurology, bacteriology - and the institutions of medicine - the hospital and asylum - to show how medical advances have often created as many problems as they have solved. The book also shows how the ancient Egyptians treated incipient baldness with a mixture of hippopotamus, lion, crocodile, goose, snake and ibex fat; how a mystery epidemic devastated ancient Athens and brought to an end the domination of that great city; and how lemons did as much as Nelson to defeat Napolean. This 1999 Fontana Press Paperback is in fair condition. Heavy. Cover dog-eared; tanning; old sticker mark on cover.

ISBN: 9780006374541 SKU: 1575718 This image is of the actual book.

Location: History