TOC--Plague Legends by Socrates Litsios, D.Sc. A readable history of medicine and the triumph of science over superstition

Prologue 1
Introduction 3
PART I - PRE 18th CENTURY HISTORY 7
Ancient roots of 18th century medicine 7
The Hippocratic Legacy 7
The Galenic Legacy 11
Ancient Medicine Shaped by Christianity 17
Decline of Galenism and the Rise of New Schools of Medicine 21
The Revolt of Paracelsus 23
Galen's Anatomy Revisited by Vesalius 29
Harvey's Explorations of the Heart and Blood 32
Paracelsians and the Iatrochemical School of Medicine 36
Boyle's Corpuscles and the Iatrophysical School of Medicine 42
Return to the Hippocratic Bedside 46
On the Origin of Epidemics 49
Neo-Platonic, Religious and Other 'Occult' Influences 49
Germs of Contagion - The Path Least Taken 63
On the Epidemic Constitution of the Atmosphere 69
PART II - DISEASE PROFILES 75
Disease Profiles 75
Plague 76
Smallpox 78
Tuberculosis 80
Diphtheria 82
Scarlet Fever 85
Malaria 86
Influenza 88
Typhus 91
Yellow Fever 93
Cholera 94
Typhoid 96
Epidemic Puerperal Fever 97
Part III - 18th and 19th CENTURY HISTORY 99
18th Century - A Kind of Status Quo Reigns 99
Plague in Marseilles: 1720-22 99
England Awaits the Plague 103
Tuberculosis - The Ignored Ideas of Benjamin Marten 112
Cotton Mather Battles Smallpox 116
Diphtheria in the American Colonies: 1736-40 120
Malaria in the Roman Campagna 123
Typhus in England 126
Influenza - The Views of Arbuthnot and Webster 130
Yellow Fever in Philadelphia: 1793 134
Rush's Doctrine of the Unity of Fevers 140
Webster's Views on the Origin of Yellow Fever 145
19th Century - Recognition of Disease Specificity 151
Broussais Uses Pathological Anatomy to Show All Fevers to Be the Same 152
Distinguishing Typhus from Typhoid Fever 158
Bretonneau Establishes the Specificity of Diphtheria 164
Yellow Fever in Europe- To Quarantine or Not? 168
Cholera Reaches the New World 173
Apparent Water, Soil and Air Sources of the Malarial Fever 189
Epidemic Puerperal Fever - A Hand or An Air Borne Disease? 196
Pasteur Takes on Spontaneous Generation 203
The Disease Causation Postulates of Koch 209
Microbial Approach to Public Health 214
Epilogue 227
Acknowledgements 233
Illustration Credits 234
Further Reading 235
Index 245

List of Illustrations

The Four Humors 6
Hippocrates 7
Galen 11
The inluence of the zodiac signs on the human body 18
Protective Amulet 20
Paracelsus 23
Vesalius performing dissection 28
Circulation of the blood 35
Jean Baptiste van Helmont 38
The Spirit of Sulphur 40
Ficino Translation of page from Hermes Trismegistus 48
Preparation and administration of Guaiac wood 53
Enemies Invading the Fortress of Health by Robert Fludd 57
Hieronimus Fracastorius 64
Plague doctor. The "beak" contained fragrant substances 72
The Quarantine Question 74
The Royal Touch 81
La Peste dans la ville de Marseille 102
Plague in 1665 104
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek 113
La Vaccine en Voyage 120
An allegory of malaria 125
Fan on top of Newgate prison 130
Benjamin Rush on blood-letting 144
At The Gates 150
Leech gatherers 157
Le Docteur Bretonneau 164
Yellow fever in Barcelona 169
Cholera in Paris 177
Drake's Poster for the Cure of Cholera 178
Snow's map of Soho 182
Drake's Systematic Treatise 190
Puerpural septicemia: Semmelweis' statistics 198
Pasteur 202
Robert Koch 209
Preparation of rat poison during plague campaign 224

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History / Medicine

ISBN: 1-888725-33-8 Plague Legends - From the Miasmas of Hippocrates to the Microbes of Pasteur. $24.95

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