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Previous Volume 346:949-951 March 21, 2002 Number 12

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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By Javed Siddiqi. 217 pp., illustrated. New York, Thieme, 2002. $49. ISBN 1-58890-083-5.

For millions of years, the hand has helped define Homo sapiens. With its prehensile thumb, the hand first enabled humans to make and use tools. Our brains envisioned civilizations; our hands made them. So crucial are hands that they permeate language and culture. A prominent example is the ceiling of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, on which God's hand touches Adam's.

Hands have intervened to heal since neolithic times, as demonstrated by the fossil record. Our very word for such practice, "surgery," derives from the classical Greek words for hand (cheir) and work (ergein). Handwork has reached . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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