Science and the Practice of Medicine in the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge Studies in the History of Science) Illustrated Edition

The existence of scientific medicine as we would recognize it today has not been around as long as one would imagine. It was not until the second half of the 19th century that medical practice in a for that we would recognize began to be practiced. In this book Bynum examines this pairing of science and medicine and how it led to an increase in the acceptance and public authority of the medical profession. Science Bynum argues would give physicians and surgeons the specialized knowledge that would allow them to establish their respective proffesions not as simple trades but a colletion of highly specialized (and scientifically demonstrable) knowledge that had to be masterd. While this may seem like common sense it is the second half of Bynum's argument that is the most intresting and that is that while there was definatly an increase in the use of the scientific meathods and experiments in medicine, it led to relativly few actually advancements in the treatment of illness. While medicine looked like what we would recognize by the end of World War I it was still was not much more effective in the cure of disease that when bleeding was still considered a viable treatment.( With a few notable exceptions such as rabies) This is a very well written book that focuses on perception and how it has been crucial to modern medicine and its advancement. Whether one accepts the authors premis or not, this book encourges the reader to reconsider many fo the assumptions we have about medicine and medical treatment.

It was mildly interesting but covered no new ground. Disappointing in that it jumped from the end of the 18th centuryalmost entirely to the middle of the 19th, leaving the first quarter to half of that century still a mystery. It may be thatthere is not a great deal of information available for that period but in the belief that there is certainly more than wasincluded here it falls short of providing a reasonable overview of medicine in the 19th century.

I bought this for my University course and it is a good read and well written. Relatively short so it doesn't put you off, not too heavy in the vocabulary used and good for essays. I liked it.