Medicine and the Reign of Technology

Based chiefly on material from primary sources, this book describes some technological advances made in the art and practice of medicine during the past three centuries and shows how these advances have altered the methods of diagnosing illness.

List of illustrations; Preface; 1. Examination of the patient in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; 2. The stethoscope and the detection of pathology by sound; 3. Visual technology and the anatomization of the living; 4. The microscope and the revelation of a cellular universe; 5. The translation of physiological actions into the languages of machines; 6. Chemical signposts of disease and the birth of the diagnostic laboratory; 7. Medical specialism and the centralization of medical care; 8. The shortcomings of technology in medical decision making; 9. Selection and evaluation of evidence in medicine; 10. Telecommunication, automation, and medical practice; 11. Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.