History of Clinical Medicine

DJ Weatherall, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford, UK

Published online: July 2008

DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0003087

The history of clinical medicine reflects the slow evolution of the application of the biological sciences to the control and management of human disease. However, despite the remarkable advances in these fields in the latter half of the twentieth century, because of the multilayered complexities of disease processes and the ever changing environments of sick people, clinical medicine still remains very much a mix of applied science and the art of healing.

Keywords: Greco-Roman medicine; Islamic medicine; Communicable disease; Public health; Epidemiology; Genomics and medicine

Figure 1. Vesalius (1514–1564) anonymous engraving c. 1600. Reproduced with the permission of the Wellcome Library, London.
Figure 2. William Harvey (1578–1657). Reproduced with the permission of the Wellcome Library, London.
Figure 3. Microscope and lighting apparatus. From Robert Hooke, Micrographia (London: J Martyn and J Allestry, 1665). Reproduced with the permission of the Wellcome Library, London.
Figure 4. Louis Pasteur (1822–1895). Reproduced with the permission of the Wellcome Library, London.
Figure 5. Robert Koch (1843–1910). Reproduced with the permission of the Wellcome Library, London.
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 Further Reading
    book Bynum WF, Hardy A, Jacyna S, Lawrence C and Tansey EM (2006) The Western Medical Tradition, 1800–2000. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
    book Conrad LI, Neve M, Nutton V, Porter R and Wear A (eds) (1995) The Western Medical Tradition 800 BC to AD1800. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
    book Cooter R and Pickstone J (eds) (2000) Medicine in the Twentieth Century. The Netherlands: Harwood Academic Publishers.
    book Grmek MD (ed.) (1998) Western Medical Thought from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
    book Porter R (1997) The Greatest Benefit to Mankind. A Medical History of Humanity from Antiquity to the Present. London, UK: Harper Collins Publishers.
    book Porter R (2002) Blood and Guts. A Short History of Medicine. London, UK: Penguin Books.
    book Weatherall DJ (1995) Science and the Quiet Art. Medical Research and Patient Care. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Related Sub-Topics:

Health Care | History
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Article Title: History of Clinical Medicine
 
How to Cite close
Weatherall, DJ(Jul 2008) History of Clinical Medicine. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0003087]