ABSTRACT
Central to this volume on the history of medicine is the question of definition. Is the history of medicine a compendium of translated texts and treatises in medicine; the study of the extent to which current medical practices or previously unknown practices existed in the past; or of disease in former times? Does it inquire into the development of medicine from the perspective of how ideas transformed logically over time? Does it examine the effects of society on medicine or of medicine on society? Does it trace transformations in the medical and allied professions, or differentiate between the medical treatment of men and women over time?
