Medicine and the Five Senses

From ancient Greece to the CAT scanner, these essays examine the 'education of the senses' in medical diagnosis and treatment.

From the early days of medical practice, through to the modern age of the CAT scanner, doctors have relied on their five senses to diagnose medical illness. This collection of essays examines the 'education of the senses' in medicine and all aspects of medical diagnosis.From the days of Hippocratic 'bedside medicine' to the advent of the CAT scanner, doctors have always relied on their senses in diagnosing and treating disease. Medical education, from the apprenticeship, to the rise of the laboratory, has sought to train the senses of students who must act like medical detectives. At the same time, debate since antiquity has pondered the hierarchy of the senses - from noble vision to baser touch and smell. From the rise of medical and, particularly, anatomical illustration in the Renaissance, doctors have been concerned about the relationship between image and reality. This richly-illustrated collection of essays explores many facets of these themes. They range widely over time and space and shed much new light on medical perceptions and the cultural dimensions of the healing arts.