Medicine is a branch of health science concerned with restoring and maintaining health and wellness. Broadly, it is the practical science of preventing and curing diseases. However, medicine often refers more specifically to matters dealt with by physicians and surgeons.
Medicine is both an area of knowledge (a science), and the application of that knowledge (by the medical profession and other health professionals such as nurses). The various specialized branches of the science of medicine correspond to equally specialized medical professions dealing with particular organs or diseases. The science of medicine is the knowledge of body systems and diseases, while the profession of medicine refers to the social structure of the group of people formally trained to apply that knowledge to treat disease.
The
following are books published by Gryphon Editions in the Classics of
Medicine Library series. The Classics of Medicine Library (also referred
to as Medical Classics books) contains many titles of famous medical
classic books bound in full genuine leather.
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Note: Some titles may now be discontinued!
Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus by William Harvey - 1978
The Causes and Effects of the Variole Vaccine by Edward Jenner - 1978
Principles and Practice of Medicine by William Osler - 1978
Cellular Pathology by Rudolf Virchow - 1978
The Anatomy of the Brain & Nerves by Thomas Willis - 1978
The Pituitary Body by Harvey Cushing - 1979
Treatise on the Diseases of the Chest by R. T. H. Laennec - 1979
Collected Papers of Joseph Lister (2 volumes) - 1979
Medical Inquiries and Observations upon the Diseases of the Mind by Benjamin Rush - 1979
Works of Thomas Sydenham - 1979
An Account of The Foxglove and Some of its Medical Uses by William Withering - 1979
Disease of the Supra-Renal Capsules by Thomas Addison - 1980
Orthopaedia, or the art of correcting and preventing deformities in children by Nicolas Andry - 1980
Experiments and Observations on The Gastric Juices and the Physiology of Digestion by William Beaumont - 1980
An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine by Claude Bernard - 1980
Diseases of Infancy & Childhood by L. Emmett Holt - 1980
The Human Gravid Uterus by William Hunter - 1980
Treatise on Scurvy by James Lind - 1980
Practical Observations on the Diseases of the Eyes by Antonio Scarpa - 1980
Religio Medici by Thomas Browne - 1981
Restoring a Lost Nose from the Integuments of the Forehead by J. C. Carpue - 1981
A Manual of Diseases of the Nervous System by W. R. Gowers - 1981
Gray's Anatomy: Descriptive and General by Henry Gray - 1981
The Whole Course of Chirurgerie by Peter Lowe - 1981
On Malformations etc., of the Human Heart by Thomas B. Peacock - 1981
The Etiology, the Concept and the Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever / The "Open Letters" by Ignac Semmelweis - 1981
Engravings of the Brain and Nerves by Charles Bell - 1982
The Life of Sir William Osler (2 volumes) by Harvey Cushing - 1982
Commentaries on the History and Cure of Diseases by William Heberden - 1982
The Aphorisms of Hippocrates - 1982
Treatise on the Blood, Inflammation, and Gun-Shot Wounds by John Hunter - 1982
Notes on Nursing and Hospitals by Florence Nightengale - 1982
The Evolution of Modern Medicine by William Osler - 1982
The Work of The Digestive Glands by Ivan Petrovitch Pavlov - 1982
A Collection of the Published Writings of the Late Thomas Addison - 1983
Course of Lectures on the Physiology and Pathology of the Central Nervous System by C. E. Brown-sequard - 1983
Collected Writings Of Thomas Addison by Dr. Daldy and Dr. Wilks - 1983
The Seats and Causes of Diseases Investigated By Anatomy by John Baptist Morgagni - 3 volumes - 1983
The Origins of Anesthesia by Sherwin B. Nuland - 1983
A Treatise On Insanity by Philippe Pinel - 1983
Observations on the Diseases of the Army by Pringle - 1983
Diseases of Workers by Bernardino Ramazzini - 1983
Organic Diseases and Lesions of the Heart and Great Vessels / Percussion of the Chest by J. N. Corvisart and L. Avenbrugger - 1984
Essays on the Anatomy of Expression in Painting by Charles Bell - 1984
A Treatise on the Canon of Medicine of Avicenna by O. Cameron Gruner - 1984
A Clinical Memoir on Certain Diseases of the Eye and Ear, Consequent on Inherited Syphilis by Jonathan Hutchinson - 1984
The Apologie and Treatise of Ambroise Pare by Geoffrey Keynes - 1984
Tropical Diseases by Patrick Manson - 1984
The Diseases of Children and Their Remedies by Nicholas Rosen Von Rosenstein - 1984
The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus - 1984
Three Memoirs on Iridectomy in Certain Forms if Iritis, Choroiditis, and Glaucoma by A. Von Graefe - 1984
A Manual of Artistic Anatomy / The Hand by Robert Knox and Charles Bell - 1985
Physiological Researches Upon Life and Death by Xavier Bichat - 1985
The anatomy of the humane body by William Cheselden - 1985
The Genuine Works of Hippocrates - 1985
Pathology and Treatment of Diseases of the Skin for Practitioners and Students by Moriz Kaposi - 1985
Lectures on Clinical Psychiatry by Emil Kraepelin - 1985
Counsels and Ideals from the Writings of William Osler & Selected Aphorisms - 1985
The Collected Essays of Sir William Osler (3 volume set) - 1985
Medical Ethics by Thomas Percival - 1985
The Chirurgical Works of Percival Pott - 1985
The Morbid Anatomy of Some of the Most Important Parts of the Human Body by Matthew Baillie - 1986
Medicina Magica by Hans Biedermann - 1986
Boerhaave's Aphorisms: Concerning the Knowledge and Cure of Diseases by Delacoste Boerhaave - 1986
Outlines of the Principle Diseases of Females by Fleetwood Churchill - 1986
Researches on the Effects of Bloodletting in Some Inflammatory Diseases / Researches on Phthisis by Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis - 1986
History of Medicine by Cecilia Mettler - 1986
An Essay on the Shaking Palsy by James Parkinson - 1986
A Treatise on the Membranes by Xavier Bichat - 1987
General Surgical Pathology & Therapeutics by Theodor Billroth - 1987
The Young Stethoscopist by Henry Bowditch - 1987
On The Origin of The Species by Charles Darwin - 1987
Mental Maladies: Treatise on Insanity by Jean Esquirol - 1987
Medical Essays by Oliver Wendell Holmes - 1987
Memoirs of Military Surgery and Campaigns of the French Arms by Dominique Jean Larrey - 1987
Lectures on Subjects Connected with Clinical Medicine Comprising Diseases of the Heart by Peter Mere Latham - 1987
Aequanimitas With Other Addresses by William Osler - 1987
Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity by Isaac Ray - 1987
Treatise on the Small-Pox and Measles by Rhazes - 1987
Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton - 1988
A Treatise on Poisons by Robert Christison - 1988
The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud - 1988
The Fasciculus Medicinae of Johannes de Ketham alemanus - 1988
Diseases of The Heart by James Mackenzie - 1988
Four Treatises Together with Selected Writings by Paracelsus - 1988
A Practical Treatise on Venereal Diseases by Phillipe Ricord - 1988
The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine by Ilza Veith - 1988
The Roentgen Rays in Medicine and Surgery by Francis H. Williams - 1988
Pathological and Surgical Observations on Diseases of the Joints by B. C. Brodie - 1989
The Wisdom of The Body by Walter B. Cannon - 1989
De Medicina by Celsus - 1989
Observations on Aneurism by Sir John Erich Erichsen - 1989
The Life and Times of Gaspare Tagliacozzi, Surgeon of Bologna 1545 - 1599 by Martha Teach Gnudi and Jerome Pierce Webster - 1989
Dementia Praecox and Paraphrenia together with Manic-Depressive Insanity and Paranoia by Emil Kraepelin - 1989
Experiments on The Principle of Life by Julien Jean Cesar Legallois - 1989
A Treatise on the Heart by Richard Lower - 1989
Christianismi Restitutio and other writings by Michael Servetus - 1989
The Integrative Action of the Nervous System by Charles S. Sherrington - 1989
On Chloroform and Ether Anesthetics by John Snow - 1989
The Mechanics of the Digestive Tract by Walter C. Alvarez - 1990
The Extant Works of Aretaeus, the Cappadocian by Francis Adams - 1990
The History, Diagnosis, and Treatment of the Fevers of the United States by Elisha Bartlett - 1990
Mendelofs Principles of Heredity by William Bateson - 1990
The Principles of Gynaecology by W. Blair Bell - 1990
Memoirs for the Natural History of Humane Blood by Robert Boyle - 1990
From a Surgeon's Journal by Harvey Cushing - 1990
Principle diseases of the interior valley of North America by Daniel Drake - 1990
Medical Education in The United States and Canada by Abraham Flexner - 1990
The Natural History of Human Teeth and a Practical Treatise on Diseases of The Teeth by John Hunter - 1990
Epilepsy by J. Russell Reynolds - 1990
A Treatise on The Theory and Practice of Midwifery by William Smellie - 1990
The Anatomy of The Absorbing Vessels of Human Body by William Cruikshank - 1991
Harvey Cushing: a Biography by John Farquhar Fulton - 1991
Classic Papers on Coronary Thrombosis and Myocardial Infarction by W. Bruce Fye - 1991
Anatomical Exercitations Concerning the Generation of Living Creatures by William Harvey - 1991
Investigations into the Etiology of Traumatic Infective Diseases by Robert Koch - 1991
The Healing Hand Man and Wound in the Ancient World by Guido Majno - 1991
Lectures on the Comparative Pathology of Inflammation by Elias Metchnikoff - 1991
Duodenal Ulcer by B. G. H. Moynihan - 1991
Heart Disease by Paul Dudley White - 1991
On The Use of The Ophthalmoscope in Diseases of the Nervous System and of the Kidneys by Thomas Clifford Allbutt - 1992
The Red Cross by Clara Barton - 1992
A Study in Hospital Efficiency by E. A. Codman - 1992
Operative Gynecology by Howard A. Kelly - 2 volumes - 1992
The Blood Vessels of The Human Skin and Their Responses by Thomas Lewis - 1992
The Kidney by Homer W. Smith - 1992
The Diseases of The Ear by Joseph Toynbee - 1992
The Sinister Shepeard by William Van Wyck - 1992
The London Practice of Physick by Thomas Willis - 1992
Domestic Medicine; or The Family Physician by W. Buchan - 1993
Lectures on The Materia Medica by William Cullen - 1993
Culpeper's School of Physick or the Experimental Practice of the Whole Art by Nicholas Culpeper - 1993
The Intestinal Diseases of Infancy and Childhood by A. Jacobi - 1993
Neurological Fragments by J. Hughlings Jackson - 1993
Psychopathia Sexualis with Expecial Reference to Contrary Sexual Instinct: a Medic-Legal study by R. Von Krafft-ebing - 1993
The Illustrations from the works of Andreas Vesalius of Brussels by M. Saunders and Charles D. O'Malley - 1993
The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences by Frederick Treves - 1993
Lectures on the diseases of the nervous system by J. M. Charcot - 3 volumes - 1994
An Introduction to the Study of Physic by William Heberden - 1994
An Introductory Lecture to the Venereal Disease by John Hunter - 1994
Classic Descriptions of Disease by Ralph H. Major - 1994
Doctor and Patient by S. Weir Mitchell - 1994
How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter by Sherwin B. Nuland - 1994
Memoirs on Diphtheria: From the Writings of Bretonneau, Guersant, Trousseau, Bouchut, Empis and Daviot by Robert Hunter Semple - 1994
The Byrth of Mankynde, Otherwise Named the Woman's Booke by Eucharius Rosslin - 1994
A Practical Treatise on the Diagnosis, Pathology, and Treatment of Diseases of the Heart by Austin Flint - 1995
The Homeopathic Medical Doctrine by S. Hahnemann - 1995
Lectures on Conditioned Reflexes by Ivan Petrovitch Pavlov - 1995
The History of Miners' Diseases a Medical and Social Interpretation by George Rosen - 1995
A Mind That Found Itself by Clifford Whittingham Beers - 1996
On the Usefulness of the Parts of the Body. De Usu Partium by Galen - 2 volumes - 1996
The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides by Robert T. Gunther - 1996
Micrographia by Robert Hooke - 1996
The Structure and Functions of the Brain and Spinal Cord by Victor Horsley - 1996
Lectures on the Blood by François Magendie - 1996
The Founders of Modern Medicine: Pasteur, Koch, Lister by Elias Metchnikoff - 1996
De Curtorum Chirurgia Per Insitionem by Gaspare Tagliacozzi - 1996
The Collected Stories of William Carlos Williams by William Carlos Williams - 1996
The Vitamines by Casimir Funk - 1997
The Principles of Psychology by William James - 2 volumes - 1997
Psychology of the Unconscious by C. G. Jung - 1997
Medical Writings of Maimonides - 1997
The Expert Midwife, or An Excellent and Most Necessary Treatise on the Generation and Birth of Man by Jacob Rueff - 1997
An Account of the Bilious Remitting Yellow Fever by Benjamin Rush - 1997
Rats, Lice and History by Hans Zinsser - 1997
The Medical Sciences in The German Universities by Theodor Billroth - 1998
Addresses and Other Papers by William Williams Keen - 1998
A Dissertation on the Motion of the Blood, and on the Effects of Bleeding (parts 1 and 2) by Albrecht Von Haller - 1998
Clinical Lectures on Senile and Chronic Diseases by J. M. Charcot - 1999
Statical Essays : Containing Haemastaticks by Stephen Hales - 1999
The Gold Headed Cane by William Macmichael - 1999
Man on His Nature by Charles Sherrington - 1999
An Introduction to the Use of the Stethoscope by William Stokes - 1999
Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women by Elizabeth Blackwell - 2000
The School of Salernum by John Harington - 2000
Time to Heal American Medical Education from the Turn of the Century to the Era of Managed Care by Kenneth M. Ludmerer - 2000
Greek Medicine in Rome by Thomas Clifford Allbutt - 2001
Aristotle on the Parts of Animals - 2001
A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel DeFoe - 2001
De Aneurysmatibus by Giovanni Lancisi - 2001
Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis - 2001
Microscopical Researches Into the Accordance in the Structure and Growth of Animals and Plants by Theodore Schwann - 2001
Medico-Physical Works by John Mayow - 2002
Lectures on the diseases of Nervous System Especially in Women by S. Weir Mitchell - 2002
Hippocrates and His Successors in Relation to the Philosophy of Their Time by R. O. Moon - 2002
Experiments upon the circulation of the Blood by Lazzaro Spallanzani - 2002
The Art of Living Long by Luigi Cornaro - 2002
Folk-Medicine; A Chapter in the History of Culture by William George Black - 2003
Clinical Memoirs on Abdominal Tumors and Intumescence by Richard Bright - 2003
Arabian Medicine by Edward G. Browne - 2003
Theophrastus and The Greek Physiological Psychology Before Aristotle by George Malcolm Stratton - 2003
Essays on the Floating-Matter of the Air in Relation to Putrefaction and Infection by John Tyndall - 2003
Webster's Medical Desk Dictionary - 2003
Respiration by John Scott Haldane - 2004
Rheumatism: Its Nature, Its Pathology, and Its Successful Treatment by Thomas John Maclagan - 2004
On Bandaging, and Other Operations of Minor Surgery by F. W. Sargent - 2004
Insanity in Ancient and Modern Life, with Chapters on Preventions by Daniel Hack Tuke - 2004
The Practice and Theory of Individual Psychology by Alfred Adler - 2005
A Short Introduction to Anatomy by Jacopo Berengario daCarpi - 2005
Clio in the Clinic: History in Medical Practice by Jacalyn Duffin - 2005
Lord Lister by Rickman John Godlee - 2005
The Hidden Causes of Disease by Antonio Benivieni - 2006
Two Works: The Experimental Method / History of The College of Physicians and Surgeons New York by John Call Dalton - 2006
Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruif - 2006
Selected Readings in the History of Physiology by John Farquhar Fulton - 2006
Courts and Doctors by Lloyd Paul Stryker - 2007
Irritability a Physiological Analysis by Max Verworn - 2007
History of medicine
Medicine as it is practiced now is rooted in various traditions, but developed mainly in the late 18th and early 19th century in Germany (Rudolf Virchow) and France (Jean-Martin Charcot and others). The new, "scientific" medicine replaced more traditional views based on the "Four humours". The development of clinical medicine shifted to the United Kingdom and the USA during the early 1900s (Sir William Osler, Harvey Cushing).Evidence-based medicine is the recent movement to link the practice and the science of medicine more closely through the use of the scientific method and modern information science.
Genomics is already having a large influence on medical practice, as most monogenic genetic disorders have now been linked to causative genes, and molecular biological techniques are influencing medical decision-making.
The practice of medicine
The medical encounter or patient-doctor relationship is an important part of what medicine is about (there are other relationships between health professionals and patients that are equally important, e.g. nurse - patient). A person with a health problem or concern sees a doctor for help. The practice of medicine combines both science and art. Science and technology are the evidence base for many clinical problems for the general population at large. The art of medicine is the application of this medical knowledge in combination with intuition and clinical judgment to determine the proper diagnoses and treatment plan for this unique patient.The patient-doctor relationship is important to the doctor in order to obtain an accurate medical history and obtain compliance with the treatment plan; respect, understanding, and trust is important, although the emphasis on patient autonomy has become significantly greater since the 1970s. The doctor-patient relationship is important to the patient because the doctor has been given a monopoly on access to the prescription pad and various other treatments, and granted authority status by health insurance programs to act as gatekeeper to other medical procedures and services.
Medicine is a diverse field and the provision of medical care is therefore provided in a variety of locations.
Primary care medical services are provided by physicians or other health professionals who has first contact with a patient seeking medical treatment or care. These occur in physician's office, clinics, nursing homes, schools, home visits and other places close to patients. About 90% of medical visits can be treated by the primary care provider. These include treatment of acute and chronic illnesses, preventive care and health education for all ages and both sex.
Secondary care medical services are provided by medical specialists in their offices or clinics or at local community hospitals for a patient referred by a primary care provider who first diagnosed or treated the patient. Referrals are made for those patients who required the expertise or procedures performed by specialists. These include both ambulatory care and inpatient services, emergency rooms, intensive care medicine, surgery services, physical therapy, labor and delivery, endoscopy units, diagnostic laboratory and medical imaging services, hospice centers, etc. Some primary care providers may also take care of hospitalized patients and deliver babies in a secondary care setting.
Tertiary care medical services are provided by specialist hospitals or regional centers equipped with diagnostic and treatment facilities not generally available at local hospitals. These include trauma centers, burn treatment centers, advanced neonatology unit services, organ transplants, high-risk pregnancy, radiation oncology, etc.
Modern medical care also depends on information - still delivered in many health care settings on paper records, but increasingly nowadays by electronic means.
Medical systems
Medicine is practiced within the medical system of a particular culture or government. Leaving aside tribal cultures, the most significant divide in developed countries is that between socialized health care and the market based health care (such as practiced in the US).
Medical sciences and health professions
The delivery of modern health care depends, not just on medical practitioners, but on an expanding group of highly trained professionals coming together as an interdisciplinary team. A full list is given on the health profession page. Some examples include: nurses, laboratory scientists, pharmacists, physiotherapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, dietitians and bioengineers.
The scope and sciences underpinning human medicine overlap many other fields. Dentistry and psychology, while separate disciplines from medicine, are sometimes also considered medical fields. Physician assistants, nurse practitioners and midwives treat patients and prescribe medication in many legal jurisdictions. Veterinary medicine applies similar techniques to the care of animals.
Medical doctors have many specializations and subspecializations.
Medical education
Medical training involves several years of university study followed by several more years of residential practice at a hospital. Entry to a medical degree in some countries (such as the United States) requires the completion of another degree first, while in other countries (such as the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand) medical training can be commenced as an undergraduate degree immediately after secondary education.
The name of the medical degree gained at the end varies: some countries (e.g. the US) call it "Doctor of Medicine" (abbreviated 'M.D.'), while other countries (mostly following the British Oxbridge system) call it "Medicinæ Baccalaureus & Baccalaureus Chirurgiæ" (Latin for "Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery", Old English: "Chirurgie"); this is technically a double degree, frequently abbreviated 'MB BChir', 'MB ChB', 'MB BS' (or variations thereof), dependent on the medical school. In either case, graduates of a medical degree may call themselves physician. In the US and some other countries there is a parallel system of medicine called "osteopathy" which awards the degree D.O. (doctor of osteopathy). In many countries, a doctorate of medicine does not require original research as does, in distinction, a Ph.D..
Once graduated from medical school most physicians begin their residency/house post training, where skills in a specialty of medicine are learned, supervised by more experienced doctors. The first year of residency is known as the "intern" year (USA) or "junior/pre-registration house officer" year (UK). The duration of residency training depends on the specialty.
A medical graduate can then enter general practice and become a general practitioner (or primary care internist in the USA); training for these is generally shorter, while specialist training is typically longer.
Source and additional information: Medicine