Surgery An Unfamiliar History Nigel Keith Maybury by Nigel Keith Maybury 9781398411494, 1398411493 instant download after payment.

It is difficult to pick up a newspaper without reading about the latest “breakthrough” or even “revolution” in the practice of medicine. However, there is nothing new under the sun and this erudite book illustrates it comprehensively. Starting in 10,000 BC the author not only describes each important advance but sets it into the historical, academic and political context which made it possible, or sometimes impossible. Five ages of surgical progress are defined and it is fascinating to see how surgical ingenuity and the courage to innovate are not confined to our post-enlightenment times. Pioneering surgeons were often ignored or obstructed, but sometimes new techniques spread rapidly, this depending as much on the historical background as on the significance of the advance. External factors such as the religious obstructionism arising from the Papal Edict of Tours of 1163 to the political interference of the European Working Time Directive of early this century are salutary examples.