ABSTRACT
From the point of view of a student or practitioner of medicine, increased knowledge of anatomy, physiology and morbid anatomy are naturally regarded as important professional advances, as indeed they are. At first sight a list of developments in medicine during the eighteenth century seems impressive. It includes expansion of hospital, dispensary and midwifery services; notable changes in medical education; advances in understanding of physiology and morbid anatomy; and introduction of the first example of effective protective therapy. There is little difficulty in coming to a conclusion about the value of eighteenth-century surgery. Before the introduction of anaesthesia, operations were almost restricted to the following: amputation, lithotomy, trephining of the skull, incision of abscess and operation for cataract. To assess the influence of midwifery on mortality we must consider two important changes in obstetric practice during the eighteenth century. Among the large number used in ancient medicine were a good many which are included in modern pharmacopeias.
