Ancient surgery
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Ancient times
Trepanation Guide
www.trepanationguide.com/index.htm
Just about everything you might want to know about trepanation. The ‘Trepanation in ancient times’ section is extremely thorough, if quite difficult to read. The site promotes the idea that trepanation remains beneficial to cerebral circulation.
Egypt
Ancient Egyptian Medicine
http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/timelines/topics/medicine.htm
Well-written and well-referenced account of medicine in early Egypt. Check out the site’s treatment of the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus.
Neurosurgical Classic-XVII: Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus
www.neurosurgery.org/cybermuseum/pre20th/
epapyrus.html
Reprint of an article by Dr Robert H Wilkins in the Journal of Neurosurgery. It describes the papyrus in detail, gives a brief description of its origins and examines 13 of the case studies contained in it.
Alexander the Great and Alexandria
Wars of Alexander the Great: Battle of the Hydaspes River
www.historynet.com/mh/bl_alexander_the_great
An article from Military History Magazine by Peter G Tsouras. A detailed account of Alexander’s return from India, including his wounding by the Mallians.
Alexandrian Medicine
www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/library/historical/artifacts/antiqua/alexandrian.cfm
Short article on the Medical School of Virginia website, giving a concise rundown of the glory that was Alexandrian medicine.
Library of Alexandria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria
Very good Wikipedia article, with an extensive discussion on the destruction of the library (and the possible culprits) and a list of other libraries in the ancient world.
Rome
Roman Medicine
www.dl.ket.org/latin1/mores/medicine/index.htm
Fairly basic account of Roman medicine, on a distance learning website. There is one section on Roman surgery.
The Surgery of Ancient Rome: A display of surgical instruments from antiquity
www.med.virginia.edu/hs-library/historical/antiqua/instru.html
Reproductions of instruments discovered at the House of the Surgeon at Pompeii.
De Medicina (On Medicine) by A Cornelius Celsus
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/
Celsus/3*.html
Book III of Celsus’s massive eight-volume encyclopaedia on Roman medicine. You can click on icons throughout this to open the Latin version in a new window.
Celsus’s Decircumcision Operation
www.cirp.org/library/restoration/rubin/
An article from the journal Urology on how Celsus described the reversal of circumcision. Includes diagrams.
Galen
Galen: A biographical sketch
www.medicinaantiqua.org.uk/bio_gal.html
Good, concise biography, which is perhaps a bit too kind in its analysis of his personality. It does tell us that his mother was always arguing with his father ...
Further Galen History
www.home.gil.com.au/~bpittman/galen/materia.html
Although this page says ‘Further Galen History’, it contains the bulk of things Galenic on this website. Directed at doctors and pharmacists, the text is nevertheless quite accessible, and covers most aspects of the great egotist’s medical discoveries.
The Anatomists
www.channel4.com/science/microsites/A/
anatomists/index.html
Intriguing site that marries the serious history of anatomy – and the ethics that surround it – with the showmanship of Professor Gunther von Hagens. Go to Anatomy and art: Early days for a discussion of Hippocrates and Galen. Check out The Medical Anatomists for the progress in anatomy during the Enlightenment.
How Islam Kept Us Out of the ‘Dark Ages’
www.channel4.com/science/microsites/S/science/
society/islamicscience.html
According to this excellent article on the Channel 4 Science website, it's time for the West to recognise its debt to the Islamic scientists and doctors of the past who forged ahead while Europe stagnated.
History of Plastic Surgery
www.emedicine.com/plastic/topic433.htm
Long article that, while covering plastic surgery in ancient times, devotes most of its words to the progress of plastic surgery from the Renaissance to the modern era.
