Medical History IV: Medicine in Antiquity: Mesopotamia and Egypt 0 ▲ Richard Smith's non-medical blogs 55 days ago · Writing · hide · Fediverse post “The Greatest Benefit to Mankind – A Medical History of Humanity from Antiquity to the Present” by Roy Porter was published in 1999. It’s a magnificent 848-page book that I’ve now read. Many people, I’ve discovered, own a copy but have dipped into it rather than read it through. I hope that I might do medical history, the world at large, students of medicine (surely all of us), and Roy, whom I knew and who died suddenly aged 55 in 2002, in a service by posting extracts of his book on my website. The extracts might persuade you to read the book. With the Bronze Age (from about 4000 BC), metal-working was improved, the wheel exploited, the reckoning of time and space rationalized and the calendar invented. Learning was encouraged, cities administered, tributes extracted, treasure hoarded, laws promulgated, empires enlarged. All such developments – the ABC of civilization – brought new approaches to healing and, for the first time, the writing down of medical practice. Medicine entered… Commenting on Bubbles has been removed. Why? If you want to talk about this post, write to the author, use the comments on their blog if it has them, or reply with a "RE:" post on your own blog. Suggestions? feedback@bubbles.town
