Medicine has offered the promise of ‘the greatest benefit to mankind’, but not always on terms palatable to and compatible with cherished ideals.

surgery was also regarded as an inferior trade, the work of the hand rather than the head

Thus to many, from classical poets up to the prophets of modernity, disease has seemed the dark side of development, its Jekyll-and-Hyde double: progress brings pestilences, society sickness.

were more successful in assisting people to cope with chronic conditions and soothing lesser ailments than in conquering life-threatening infections which became endemic and epidemic in the civilized world:

Health depended upon temperance and wisdom, or proper self-control. Achieved through moderation in eating, drinking, sex and exercise, bodily health became the template for healthy thinking

The centrality of anatomy to medicine’s project was proclaimed in the Renaissance

‘If a physician has performed a major operation on a lord with a bronze lancet and has saved the lord’s life . . . he shall receive ten shekels of silver’ (more than a craftsman’s annual pay); but if he caused the death of such a notable, his hand would be chopped off.

‘such as are craftsmen therein’; and, as a last resort in case of gangrene, amputation might be performed

Aristotle was the first who systematically used dissection findings (animal not human) as a grounding for his biomedical theories.