Medical science encompasses some of the greatest of all human endeavors and achievements over the past few hundred years. Its story spans ancient times to the present day, covers both Western and Eastern approaches to treatment, and forms a sweeping narrative of humanity's quest to combat disease and death. In
The Story of Medicine,
medical historian Mary Dobson charts ways in which we have tried to understand the causes of diseases and prevent their toll. Pivotal moments in medical history are told with insight and understanding -- from the "humours" of  Hippocrates to the identification of "germs" by Pasteur and Koch; Jenner's first vaccine to the eventual eradication of smallpox; Florence Nightingale's nursing reforms; and Crick and Watson's molecular structure  of DNA.  Richly illustrated with paintings, engravings and photographs, this volume is filled with the trauma as well as the triumphs of medical advancement, from the agony of the surgeon's knife in the centuries before anaesthetics, to the very latest medical inventions, drugs and vaccines in the modern era. Moving and revealing, here is a fascinating study of the glorious -- and sometimes dangerous -- pursuit of medical science.