This book is a heavyweight in all senses of the word. Professor Nutton examines the history of (mostly) Western medicine from the earliest surviving records found on papyri and stone, through the Greek scientists and philosophers (and their masters the Egyptians get a look in), through to Galen and his followers in the early Christian era. It is a scholarly work which presupposes some acquaintance with medical and physiological terminology, though fortunately all quoted passages are translated from the original Greek and Latin. He is interested not only in the practices, but in the theories behind them, setting them in the context of their times and cultures. This is not a "debunking" operation but a serious attempt to survey the intellectual and professional climate, whether we like it or not, dominated Western medicine for hundreds of years. And, sometimes when reading, one can see the survival of uncomprehended fragments in folk and "alternative" medicine today. 485pp. paperback; illus; maps; notes; comprehensive bibliography and index