Contents
Chapter 1. The World’s First Physician: Hippocrates and the Discovery of Medicine
The making of the man: 19 generations of healers and 3 first-rate legends
Milestone #1 Getting real: diseases have natural causes
Milestone #2 It’s the patient, stupid: the creation of clinical medicine
Milestone #3 A code of ethics that stands the test of time
Milestone #4 Acting the part: professionalizing the practice of medicine
Milestone #5 The enigmatic Corpus: 60 books and a wealth of medical firsts
Milestone #6 Where the two worlds meet: a holistic approach to medicine
Hippocrates for yesterday, today...and tomorrow
Chapter 2. How Cholera Saved Civilization: The Discovery of Sanitation
The Industrial Revolution: a new world of jobs, innovation—and spectacular filth
Milestone #1 The first epidemic: a lesson from the depths of a coal mine
Milestone #2 Casting aside miasma to envision a new kind of killer
Milestone #3 The invention of epidemiology and the disabling of a deadly pump
Milestone #4 A new “Poor Law” raises hackles—and awareness
Milestone #5 A grand report creates a wealth of ideas and a will to act
Milestone #6 The long, slow birth of a public health revolution
Cholera and the failure of sanitation: alive and well in the twenty-first century
Chapter 3. Invisible Invaders: The Discovery of Germs and How They Cause Disease
The invisible “curiosity” that—finally—changed the world of medicine
Milestone #1 The tragic loss of a friend (and a brilliant gain of insight)
Milestone #2 A simple solution: wash your hands and save a life
Milestone #3 From fermentation to pasteurization: the germination of germ theory
Milestone #4 The “spontaneous generation of life” finally meets its death
Milestone #5 The critical link: germs in the world of insects, animals, and people
Milestone #6 Antiseptics to the rescue: Joseph Lister and the modern age of surgery
Milestone #7 One step closer: Robert Koch and the secret life of anthrax
Milestone #8 Sealing the deal: discovery of the cause of tuberculosis
Milestone #9 Guidelines for convicting a germ: Koch’s four famous postulates
Chapter 4. For the Relief of Unbearable Pain: The Discovery of Anesthesia
A painfully long wait: why it took 50 years for anesthesia to finally arrive
Milestone #1 From philanthropy to frivolity: the discovery (and dismissal) of nitrous oxide
Milestone #2 25 years of “jags” and “frolics” culminate in public humiliation—and hope
Milestone #3 Anesthesia at last: the discovery of Letheon (er, make that “ether”)
Milestone #4 Coming of age: a new anesthetic and a controversial new use
Milestone #5 From lint and gloves to modern pharmacology: the birth of a science
Chapter 5. I’m Looking Through You: The Discovery of X-Rays
Mysteries, secrets, and revelations: four true stories...
Eerie and invasive: an invisible form of light that shocked and changed the world
Milestone #1 How one man working alone at night discovered a remarkable “new kind of ray”
Milestone #2 A one-year firestorm and those “naughty, naughty” rays
Milestone #3 Mapping the unknown country: X-rays revolutionize diagnostic medicine
Milestone #4 From hairy birthmarks to deadly cancer: a new form of treatment
Milestone #5 A darker side is exposed: the deadly dangers of X-rays
Milestone #6 A leap into the modern age: Coolidge’s hot tube
Milestone #7 A final secret revealed: the true nature of X-rays
The twentieth century and beyond: the milestones keep on coming
A remarkable range of uses—but always medicine’s trustworthy guide
Chapter 6. The Scratch that Saved a Million Lives: The Discovery of Vaccines
May 14, 1796: An historic turn of events
Vaccines’ clever secret: not fighting, but teaching the body to fight disease
Milestone #1 What the milkmaid knew: a daring experiment in a cow pasture
Milestone #2 From folklore to modern medicine: Jenner discovers the science of vaccination
Milestone #3 A long holiday and a neglected experiment lead to a new concept in vaccines
Milestone #4 A new “killed” vaccine for the birds (not to mention cholera, typhoid, and plague)
Milestone #5 The power of passivity: new vaccines to fight diphtheria and tetanus
Milestone #6 An emergence of understanding—and the birth of immunology
Vaccines of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries: the golden age and beyond
The view from today: concerns, transformations, and hope
Africa: 16,000 years ago...and today
Chapter 7. From Ancient Molds to Modern Miracles: The Discovery of Antibiotics
Take two figs and call me in the morning?
Setting the stage: from ancient healers to a war among the microbes
Milestone #1 “That’s funny”: the strange and serendipitous discovery of penicillin
Milestone #2 Like nobody’s business: the first successful (but forgotten) cures
Milestone #3 Prontosil: a forgotten drug inspires a world-changing breakthrough
Milestone #4 From bedpans to industrial vats: the revolution finally arrives
Milestone #5 “Black magic”: the first patient to be saved by penicillin
Antibiotics today: new confidence, new drugs, new concerns
Mis-use and neglect: an age-old problem causes a brand-new danger
Overcoming resistance: a way out through the past?
Chapter 8. Breaking God’s Code: The Discovery of Heredity, Genetics, and DNA
From guessing games to a genetic revolution
Shattering the myths of heredity: the curious lack of headless babies
The first stirrings of insight: microscopes help locate the stage
Milestone #1 From peas to principles: Gregor Mendel discovers the rules of heredity
Eureka: 20,000 traits add up to a simple ratio and two major laws
A familiar theme: confident and unappreciated to his death
Milestone #2 Setting the stage: a deep dive into the secrets of the cell
Milestone #3 The discovery—and dismissal—of DNA
Milestone #4 Born again: resurrection of a monastery priest and his science of heredity
Milestone #5 The first genetic disease: kissin’ cousins, black pee, and a familiar ratio
Milestone #6 Like beads on a necklace: the link between genes and chromosomes
Milestone #7 A transformational truth: the rediscovery of DNA and its peculiar properties
Milestone #8 Like a child’s toy: the secrets of DNA and heredity finally revealed
Milestone #9 The great recount: human beings have how many chromosomes?
Milestone #10 Breaking the code: from letters and words to a literature of life
Fifty years later: more milestones and more mysteries
The secret life of snips and the promise of genetic testing
“We’ll figure this out”: the promise of gene therapy
Chapter 9. Medicines for the Mind: The Discovery of Drugs for Madness, Sadness, and Fear
Mental illness today: the most disorderly of disorders
The many faces of madness: early attempts to understand mental illness
Bloodletting, purges, and beatings: early attempts to “master” madness
Milestone #1 Sickness, seizure, surgery, and shock: the first medical treatments for mental illness
Milestone #2 Mastering mania: lithium takes on the “worst patient on the ward”
Milestone #3 Silencing psychosis: chlorpromazine transforms patients and psychiatry
Milestone #4 Recovering the ability to laugh: the discovery of antidepressants
Milestone #5 More than “mother’s little helper”: a safer and better way to treat anxiety
How four new treatments added up to one major breakthrough
The failures of success: a key lesson in the treatment of mental disorders
Chapter 10. A Return to Tradition: The Rediscovery of Alternative Medicine
Case 1: A bad day for Western medicine
Case 2: A bad day for Eastern medicine
Lessons from the past: East meets West (again)
Milestone #1 The birth of traditional medicine: when caring was curing
Milestone #2 Enlightenment: 1,200 years of tradition overturned and a new course for medicine
Milestone #3 The birth of scientific medicine: when curing began to overshadow caring
Milestone #4 The birth of alternative medicine: a healing touch and a disdain for “heroic” medicine
Milestone #5 Battle for the body: scientific medicine’s blinding quest to conquer “quackery”
Milestone #6 Prescription for an epidemic (of frustration): the rediscovery of alternative medicine
Listening: the unexpected phenomenon that triggered a transformation
Greater than the sum of its parts: a new integrative medicine
A better day for Eastern medicine: balance regained
Lesson 1: Pay attention to the peculiar—and the obvious
Lesson 2: Stick to your convictions despite doubt and ridicule
Lesson 3: Have the good sense to embrace your good luck
Lesson 4: Be willing to face down blind authority and tradition
The H1N1 outbreak: lessons learned?
Appendix A. The Milestones, by Discovery