The Greatest Benefit to Mankind
Summary
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The Greatest Benefit to Mankind by Roy Porter
Medicine advances ever faster, and with it not just a capacity to overcome sickness, but to transform the very nature of life. Starting in ancient antiquity, this text charts how this health revolution came about and how life for human beings in the West has ceased, in Hobbes' memorable phrase, to be "nasty, brutish and short." Porter plots the growth of medical specialisms - pharmacology, physiology, anatomy, neurology, bacteriology - and the institutions of medicine - the hospital and asylum - to show how medical advances have often created as many problems as they have solved. The book also shows how the ancient Egyptians treated incipient baldness with a mixture of hippopotamus, lion, crocodile, goose, snake and ibex fat; how a mystery epidemic devastated ancient Athens and brought to an end the domination of that great city; and how lemons did as much as Nelson to defeat Napolean.| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780002151733 |
| ISBN 10 | 0002151731 |
| Title | The Greatest Benefit to Mankind |
| Author | Roy Porter |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding type | Hardback |
| Publisher | HarperCollins Publishers |
| Year published | 1997-11-17 |
| Number of pages | 700 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |