A Dictionary of the History of Medicine (review)

Anton Sebastian. A Dictionary of the History of Medicine. Lancaster, England, Parthenon Publishing Group, 1999. vi, 781 pp., illus. $98.

Reliable history of medicine reference works are invaluable resources for medical historians. Whether searching for a date, some biographical information on an obscure figure, or facts on a specific subject, these volumes are indispensable tools as long as they provide accurate, complete information on the topics covered. Regrettably, this new, expensive medical history dictionary fails to meet these criteria. The compiler, Anton Sebastian, a senior British physician and major rare-book collector, states in the preface that he had found existing history of medicine reference texts too time consuming and confusing to use effectively. To rectify this situation, Sebastian spent 10 years creating this dictionary containing over 10,000 entries to meet "the need for a single book that could give specific information on any topic in history of medicine, as the Oxford Dictionary is to the English language" (p. v).

This massive volume fails to meet the compiler’s stated goal and contains numerous factual errors and omissions. Some of the entries are too general to be adequately covered in a dictionary-type format. It is impossible to present sufficient information in less than a page on topics as broad as American medical books, jurisprudence, population, and nursing. A number of citations, although presenting accurate material, leave out important facts. The Black Death is described simply as a terrible epidemic that struck England in 1348; no mention is made of Dorothea Dix’s role as head of the Union Army Nursing Corp in the Civil War; and Daniel Drake’s work at Transylvania University is ignored. Only two of the four researchers involved in the discovery of insulin are mentioned. Coverage of broad subjects is heavily slanted toward Great Britain. In discussing abortion, Sebastian mentions the British Abortion Act of 1967 while ignoring the landmark 1973 United States Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision. Although it is not feasible to provide coverage of all names and events in the history of medicine, this volume omits a number of significant American figures and events. Among the most important names missing are Zabdiel Boylston, Thomas Bond, Nathan Davis, Marie Zakrewska, Wilson Jewell, and Charles Elliott. Key institutions and laws are ignored, including the Pure Food and Drug Laws, the National Institutes of Health, the Hill-Burton Act, and the National Board of Health.

As troubling as these omissions are, this book’s main weakness is its factual inaccuracies. A number of names are misspelled: Heidenhein not Heidenheim, Kaempfer not Kampfer, and Moriz Kaposi not Moritz Kaposi. Sebastian, using dated resources, lists Galen of Pergamon’s death as 200 rather than 215 A.D. The compiler mistakenly identifies the College of Pennsylvania as America’s first medical school. Sir William Osler’s birthplace is incorrectly given as Devon, Canada, and Cushing’s biography of Osler is dated 1940 rather than 1925. Jonas Salk conducted his pioneering polio research at the University of Pittsburgh not New York University. Because of the fundamental problems of overly broad coverage, omissions of significant persons and events, and numerous factual errors, readers seeking a reliable history of medicine reference works should avoid this volume.

Reviewed by Jonathon Erlen, Ph.D., School of Medicine,
200 Scaife Hall, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261.

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