Book Description

Excerpt from A History of the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood A desire for information in regard to the history of a science, as naturally follows its study as does the wish to know something of the countries through which we travel, or of the biography of authors whose works have instructed or amused us. To medical men the satisfaction of this desire is attend ed with something more than the mere gratification of curiosity; lessons of great practical value are to be derived from the study of the history of med icine. As we observe the slow and uncertain man ner in which our present knowledge has been at tained, we shall feel that our progress is likely also to be gradual, and that the great discoveries of the future are to be made, like those of the past, by patient and long continued observation, judicious experiment and careful generalization. As we see the doctrines of great teachers, which were received by their followers as infallible, shown one after the other to be erroneous, we may learn caution in regard to resting our efforts with the present attain ments of science. For these and many other rea sons the study of the history of medicine is valua ble to the practitioner, and has always been re commended to the student, by those best qualified to judge, as an important part of his professional education. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.