Book Description

The story of a renowned New York doctor, Robert T. Morris (1857-1945), who struggled with a reactionary profession to pioneer sterility, small incisions, and better wound-healing in surgery. Blessed with abundant energy, sagacity, and long life, he also achieved distinction as a naturalist, horticulturist, and explorer, celebrating nature with brilliant prose and poetry. For those days, Morris was a rare visionary, grounded in science and courageously fighting on the side of suffering humanity, though few remember him today. This is an updated edition of a 1935 classic, brimming with case histories starting from the late Victorian Age. The new book is annotated and illustrated, and includes previously unpublished chapters. "A man who had the courage to be an iconoclast for the purpose of safe-guarding humanity." New York Times (1935) "This is not a textbook but an arresting account of medicine and society in the not too distant past." Howard W. Jones, Jr., M.D., Johns Hopkins and Eastern Virginia Medical Schools (2013) "In 1935, Morris' book was a best-seller; this revision from Gosden and Walker (Morris' granddaughter) could easily do the same ... Far more of a human and social portrait than a medical text, this reissue fills the prescription for fascinating reading." Kirkus (September 16, 2014)