ABSTRACT
Thus far we have been examining medical systems developed in the context of a particular cultural grouping: ancient Greek, ancient Chinese and so on. From another perspective, it can be said that each of these medical systems was created by men who believed that the disease situations they themselves confronted were characteristic of their own particular society. Conversely, they believed that neighboring societies, living in a different type of setting, might have their own special diseases. These ideas about the cultural specificity of disease types (who was susceptible to which disease) unfortunately survived long after the breakdown of the physical barriers to permanent, sustained contact between peoples of widely different cultural backgrounds. This breakdown occurred soon after 1450 CE.
