Description
Triumphs of Medicine
Edited by Harry Keen MD FRCP, Professor of Human
Metabolism, Guy’s Hospital, London
and John Jarrett MD MFCM, Senior Lecturer, Department
of Community Medicine, Guy’s Hospital, London
US Advisory Editor: Arthur M Levy MD, Professor of
Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Vermont College of
Medicine, Burlington, Vermont, USA
introduction by Sir Derrick Dunlop MD FRCP, Professor
Emeritus of Therapeutics and Clinical Medicine, University of
Edinburgh; Extra Physician to The Queen in Scotland; former
Chairman, Committee on Safety of Drugs and Medicines
Commission
Medicine is an exciting frontierland of science and it
concerns us all. Yet the mystique surrounding the doctor’s
art, and perhaps too our fear of illness and its associations,
have meant that we often know nothing about it until we
need its services. In TRIUMPHS OF MEDICINE seventeen
internationally eminent specialists explain medicine and its
achievements, aided by a wealth of vivid documentary
illustration.
The keynote of the book, as of its title, is one of optimism.
Medicine’s greatest and most astounding triumphs are
indisputable: the conquest of the major infections that once
afflicted the world, most recently tuberculosis, poliomyelitis
and malaria; the accomplishment by artificial means of the
functions of the kidney and transplantation with a tolerable
success rate; the total hip replacement which can transform
the quality of life for the elderly and arthritic; the miracles
of intensive care for babies born early or underweight; open
heart surgery-valve replacement, the insertion of electronic
pacemakers, heart transplants–as a normal surgical procedure.
Elsewhere, triumphs of understanding–like our fundamental
knowledge of some deficiencies in the body’s absorption of
nutrients and essential chemical substances-have not
necessarily led to triumphs in treatment, but are triumphs
nevertheless. In many fields of course medicine faces barriers
which it has not yet been able to breach–most often, it
seems, where the ills it seeks to mitigate are in part
inflicted by Society: lung cancer, coronary artery disease and
the toll of death and disablement resulting from accidents on
the road. It has to be recognized, too, that some
achievements have themselves opened up new problems: the
extension of the lifespan of the average person, in good
health and in command of all his faculties, has its counterpart
in the increasing burden on society of caring for the old.
But if we count our blessings as well as our curses-and this
book faces both squarely and maturely–few will attempt
to decry the prevailing theme of gratification and
congratulation.
The story of the TRIUMPHS OF MEDICINE is fascinating in
itself for anyone interested in knowledge about the natural
world and as part of our perspective on the progress of man
and society and the world we live in. In an age of
controversy about the allocation of society’s resources,
familiarity with one of the chief contenders becomes more
important than ever to all of us as voters and taxpayers. And
inasmuch as we are all likely to become patients at some time
it can only reassure–and indeed assist treatment–for us to
know something about what is happening to us when the
time comes. Perhaps, too, for those who are at the
crossroads of choosing a career, this book may offer a
suggestion and an inspiration.
TRIUMPHS OF MEDICINE offers an unrivalled comprehensive
illustrated account of medicine–what it is, how it arrived at lts
present state, and what directions it might take in the future.
193 pages
Hardcover
In good to very good preloved condition with the exception of a torn paper dust cover (upper right corner).