Clinical Chemistry 47: 611-b-612-b, 2001;
(Clinical Chemistry. 2001;47:611-612.)
© 2001 American Association for Clinical Chemistry, Inc.
A Dictionary of the History of Medicine. Anton Sebastian. Pearl River, NY: Parthenon Publishing Group Inc., 1999, 784 pp., $98.00. ISBN 1-85070-021-4.
George N. Bowers Jr
Clinical Chemistry Laboratory, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT 06102
The first book, Dates in Medicine: A Chronological Record
of Medical Progress over Three Millennia, is a collection of
"important milestones in the development—since antiquity—of
modern medicine". It is a massive listing of approximately 6000
dates for persons and events from 8000 BC to 1999. I was somewhat
confused by the frequent use of birth dates rather than the date of the
medical progress event, and it would have helped to have had an index.
But of greater concern was the absence of dates of important medical
progress events over the last 50 years. For example, there are no dates
for the introduction of enzyme markers in serum that signal acute
myocardial infarction [1954 for serum glutamic oxaloacetic
transaminase (SGOT), 1956 for lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) isoenzymes,
1965 for creatine kinase (CK) MB, and 1989 for troponins] and liver
damage [1956 for serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT)]. In
addition, no dates are recorded for the change from colorimetric, flame
photometric, and atomic absorption methods to electrochemical methods
using ion-selective electrodes for the simultaneous determination of
Na+, K+,
Ca2+, Cl-,
PCO2,
PO2, pH, and glucose
to provide rapid results for critical care areas (i.e., operating
rooms, adult and neonatal intensive care units, and emergency rooms).
Furthermore, the profound impact that automated instrumentation (e.g.,
introduction of the Auto Analyzer by Skeggs in 1957) and computers have
made in clinical chemistry has no date. How do I answer the editor’s
question about this book’s "value for the discipline of clinical
chemistry"?
During a brief literature search in our hospital library I found
another book by the same author that covered just about the same
historical material. This second book is entitled A Dictionary of
the History of Medicine. Its alphabetical dictionary format makes
it easy to use, and one is able to quickly glean the wealth of
information it contains ("over 10,000 key entries").
Parenthetically, this dictionary serves as an excellent, albeit
expensive, index for the first book. No entry for clinical chemistry
was found, but the author, being English, gave the equivalent British
name, chemical pathology. Under this entry the book noted that Rouelle
found NaCl and KCl in blood (1773), cited Folin’s colorimetric
micromethods (1919–1934), and mentioned Berson and Yalow’s
radioimmunoassay for blood insulin (1956). There were cross-references
to chromatography and diagnostic enzymology, and other entries for
blood analysis, blood glucose, blood gases, and pH were readily found.
Individual physicians and scientists are listed, especially if they
were Noble Prize recipients; however, the laboratories or other
organizations supporting the efforts of these individuals were rarely
mentioned. This lack of acknowledgement is shown by the entry for
Harold Varmus (born in 1939), who shared the Noble Prize for oncogenes
in 1989; the entry gives no hint of his outstanding leadership in
biomedical research as the director of the National Institutes of
Health (NIH). The huge amounts of government and private support of
medical research, education, and care provided by organizations such as
NIH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and many other
groups throughout the world patently warrant reference to them in the
dates and dictionaries of medical history.
Clearly, my choice for a reference text on the history of medicine is
the dictionary format over the chronological record of dates format. In
spite of my comments, I can recommend to you the information-laden
Dictionary of the History of Medicine by A. Sebastian.
