The Early History of Medicine

Early medical practice was intimately allied to philosophy and religion, and only in modern times has it become basically a mechanical and chemical practice based on physical processes. Wilder is most widely known today for his Platonic and philosophic writings as well as having been a prominent figure in medicine of his time, so he is ideally suited as a historian of the early paradigms of medicine. Areas covered are early medical practice in Egypt, Assyria, Persia, India and early Hinduism, China, Greece, the lack of serious schools in Rome, Europe in the Dark Ages, the preservation and revival of philosophy and medicine in the Moslem world, and the bright light of Paracelsus and others in the eventual Renaissance of learning in Europe. The Early History of Medicine is the excerpted first third of Wilder's 900 page The History of Medicine, which Wilder was requested to write in 1890 by the National Eclectic Medical Association, and took 10 years researching.