Contents

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Introduction

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

Clara and Edgar, Part I

Clara and Edgar: Part II

Clara and Edgar: Conclusion

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

Milestone #6 The battle in the soil: discovery of the second antibiotic (and third and fourth and...)

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

Epilogue

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

Appendix B. References and Additional Reading

Index

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