Abstract

ABSTRACT: One of the problems in attempting to chronicle briefly the great moments in the history of medicine is that, like the healing process itself, turning points are difficult to pinpoint. There have been surprisingly few “eurekas.” In addition, unlike the history of corporate bodies or institutions (such as the church and the nation state) there is no continuous record, no deliberate account. However, the lack of such systematic recording has had its advantage in excluding the element of mythology and myopic partisanship. Since we must choose some kind of framework, we have (in addition to the arbitrary division into Ancient, Medieval, Modern Renaissance, and Enlightenment periods) taken a page from the works of August Comte, the eminent 19th Century philosopher, who divided all of history into three states: theologic (fictional), metaphysical (abstract), and scientific (positivistic). The division is convenient because it not only demonstrates the timelessness and transcendence of medicine, but it also makes it obvious that the cyclic nature of medical interests continues, even today, to offer a theologic, metaphysical, and scientific approach to the problems of health care.