Chronologia

The Chronology

Eighteen epochs, set down in order, from Hippocratic Greece to the borrowed heart.

Epoch I
400 B.C.Cos · Aegyptus
Hippocratic Greece
Disease unyoked from the will of the gods.
Plate I · Doctrina
On the Sacred Disease
The falling sickness declared a malady of the brain, not a visitation of the divine.
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Plate II · Doctrina
The Four Humours
Blood, phlegm, black and yellow bile — the body read as a balance of fluids.
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Epoch II
A.D. 160Pergamon · Roma
Imperial Rome
Galen anatomises the ape, and rules for ages.
Plate III · Ars Anatomica
On the Usefulness of the Parts
Animal anatomy and beautiful purpose harden into law for fourteen centuries.
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Plate IV · Ars Anatomica
Physician to the Gladiators
Wounds of the arena become a window into the living body.
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Epoch III
A.D. 1025Bukhara · Baghdad
The Golden Age of Islam
Avicenna codifies the whole of medicine.
Plate V · Canon
The Canon of Medicine
Ibn Sīnā's five books set the entire healing art in order.
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Plate VI · Canon
Contagion & Quarantine
An early intuition that some sicknesses pass from hand to hand.
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Epoch IV
A.D. 1543Patavium · Bruxellæ
The Anatomical Renaissance
Vesalius corrects the ancients from the corpse itself.
Plate VII · Ars Anatomica
De Humani Corporis Fabrica
The body drawn from the body — and Galen, at last, found wanting.
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Plate VIII · Ars Anatomica
The Theatre of Anatomy
Padua's tiered hall makes a public spectacle of dissection.
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Epoch V
A.D. 1628Londinium
The Age of Circulation
Harvey sets the blood upon its circle.
Plate IX · Physiologia
De Motu Cordis
The heart a pump, the blood a ring — measured, not merely imagined.
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Plate X · Physiologia
Of Valves and Vessels
Ligature proves the one-way road travelled by the veins.
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Epoch VI
A.D. 1796Berkeley, Glos.
The First Inoculation
Jenner borrows a shield from the cowpox.
Plate XI · Immunitas
An Inquiry into the Cow-Pox
A dairymaid's blemish becomes armour against the speckled monster.
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Plate XII · Immunitas
The Boy James Phipps
A single inoculation that would one day empty the pest-houses.
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Epoch VII
A.D. 1816Lutetia · Paris
The Listening Physician
Laennec rolls the first stethoscope of paper.
Plate XIII · Diagnosis
A Cylinder of Paper
A rolled tube lets the ear descend, unhindered, into the chest.
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Plate XIV · Diagnosis
The Sounds of the Lung
Râles, crackles and murmurs given their names for the first time.
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Epoch VIII
A.D. 1846Boston, Mass.
The Conquest of Pain
Ether silences the surgeon's knife.
Plate XV · Ars Chirurgica
A Day at the Ether Dome
“Gentlemen, this is no humbug” — the operation without the scream.
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Plate XVI · Ars Chirurgica
Chloroform & the Queen
The royal childbed lends respectability to the sweeter, more dangerous vapour.
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Plate XVII · Ars Chirurgica
The End of Heroic Speed
Anaesthesia ends the race against pain, and opens the dangerous interval before antisepsis.
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Epoch IX
A.D. 1854Soho · Scutari
The Mapping of Contagion
Snow lifts the handle from the pump.
Plate XVIII · Epidemia
The Broad Street Pump
A map of the dead traces the cholera back to a single well.
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Plate XIX · Epidemia
The Lady with the Lamp
Nightingale turns cleanliness on the ward into plain arithmetic.
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Plate XX · Epidemia
The Rose Diagram
Death counted, coloured, and made impossible to ignore.
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Epoch X
A.D. 1861Lutetia · Paris
The Germ Theory
Pasteur banishes life born of nothing.
Plate XXI · Microbia
The Swan-Neck Flask
Broth left open to the air, yet sealed against the living dust.
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Plate XXII · Microbia
Of Ferments and Disease
The notion that unseen creatures sour the milk — and the man.
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Epoch XI
A.D. 1867Glasgow
The Reign of Antisepsis
Lister wages open war on putrefaction.
Plate XXIII · Ars Chirurgica
On the Antiseptic Principle
Carbolic acid turns the gangrenous ward into a house of healing.
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Plate XXIV · Ars Chirurgica
The Carbolic Spray
A carbolic fog pumped at the air over the wound; the spray Lister made famous, then disowned.
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Epoch XII
A.D. 1882Berolinum · Berlin
The Hunters of Microbes
Koch gives the consumption a face.
Plate XXV · Bacteriologia
The Tubercle Bacillus
The white plague brought at last beneath the lens.
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Plate XXVI · Bacteriologia
Koch's Postulates
Four rules to bind a single microbe to the malady it makes.
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Epoch XIII
A.D. 1895Würzburg
The Invisible Light
Röntgen photographs the living bone.
Plate XXVII · Radiologia
A New Kind of Ray
A ghostly hand of bone — the skeleton seen straight through the flesh.
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Plate XXVIII · Radiologia
The Shadow of the Ring
The ray that saw through the body learns to burn it, and medicine learns to weigh the shadow.
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Epoch XIV
A.D. 1921Toronto
The Sweetness Restored
Banting tames the sugar sickness.
Plate XXIX · Endocrinia
The Discovery of Insulin
A pancreatic extract calls the dying diabetic back from the coma.
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Plate XXX · Endocrinia
The Boy in the Public Ward
A starving public-ward boy receives the second injection that turns the fatal chemistry back.
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Epoch XV
A.D. 1928Londinium
The Mould that Saved Millions
Fleming sees the clear ring; Oxford makes it a medicine.
Plate XXXI · Antibiosis
A Curious Contamination
A clear ring of dead bacteria about a stray blue-green spore.
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Plate XXXII · Antibiosis
The Oxford Concentrate
Florey and Chain turn a curiosity into a cure for a world at war.
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Epoch XVI
A.D. 1952Hafnia
The Breathing Machine
Fifteen hundred hands breathe for a city.
Plate XXXVII · Ars Anaesthetica
Fifteen Hundred Hands
Intensive care is born in a polio ward, before the machines could take over.
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Epoch XVII
A.D. 1953Cantabrigia
The Double Helix
The cipher of heredity is unwound.
Plate XXXIII · Genetica
Structure of Nucleic Acids
The shape of heredity, drawn before it was proved.
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Plate XXXIV · Genetica
Photograph 51
Franklin's cross of shadows holds the secret in plain sight.
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Epoch XVIII
A.D. 1967Cape Town
The Borrowed Heart
Barnard dares the impossible.
Plate XXXV · Ars Chirurgica
The First Transplant
A dead woman's heart beats on within the chest of a living man.
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Plate XXXVI · Ars Chirurgica
Eighteen Days
The borrowed heart holds; the man is lost to the very cure that guards it.
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The Chronology

Hippocratic Greece

On the Sacred Disease

The Four Humours

Imperial Rome

On the Usefulness of the Parts

Physician to the Gladiators

The Golden Age of Islam

The Canon of Medicine

Contagion & Quarantine

The Anatomical Renaissance

De Humani Corporis Fabrica

The Theatre of Anatomy

The Age of Circulation

De Motu Cordis

Of Valves and Vessels

The First Inoculation

An Inquiry into the Cow-Pox

The Boy James Phipps

The Listening Physician

A Cylinder of Paper

The Sounds of the Lung

The Conquest of Pain

A Day at the Ether Dome

Chloroform & the Queen

The End of Heroic Speed

The Mapping of Contagion

The Broad Street Pump

The Lady with the Lamp

The Rose Diagram

The Germ Theory

The Swan-Neck Flask

Of Ferments and Disease

The Reign of Antisepsis

On the Antiseptic Principle

The Carbolic Spray

The Hunters of Microbes

The Tubercle Bacillus

Koch's Postulates

The Invisible Light

A New Kind of Ray

The Shadow of the Ring

The Sweetness Restored

The Discovery of Insulin

The Boy in the Public Ward

The Mould that Saved Millions

A Curious Contamination

The Oxford Concentrate

The Breathing Machine

Fifteen Hundred Hands

The Double Helix

Structure of Nucleic Acids

Photograph 51

The Borrowed Heart

The First Transplant

Eighteen Days