(Wellcome Institute Series in the History of Medicine.) Edited by Christopher Lawrence. 331 pp. New York, Routledge, 1992. $92.50. ISBN 0-415-00046-7.
The aim of Medical Theory, Surgical Practice is to relate anumber of pivotal advances in surgical practice to theoriescurrent in medicine and in society in the era in which the advancewas made. Thus, the book deals, to no small extent, with theage-old question of whether an advance in practice is to becredited to the individual doctor or, rather, to earlier personson whose shoulders he or she stood. More important, it posesthe question of whether social trends, attitudes, and expectationsled to the discovery or strongly influenced its adoption. Inthe first chapter Christopher . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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