- The History of Gastroenterology: Essays on Its Development and Accomplishments
This attractively published book is divided into four sections. The first three contain some excellent historical observations on selected topics in the history of gastroenterology, reprinted from various journals and books. The subjects range from physiology (e.g., “The Discovery of Gastric Acid,” by J. H. Baron, and “Walter B. Cannon’s Contribution to Gastroenterology,” by Horace Davenport) and diseases (e.g., “The History of Crohn’s Disease,” by A. K. Banerjee and T. J. Peters), to technology (e.g., “The Development and Application of Fiberoptic Endoscopy,” by B. I. Hirschowitz) and clinical perspectives (e.g., “What Has Technology Done to Gastroenterology?” by C. C. Booth). These observations are well written by scholarly authors, but would perhaps better be described as “selected essays” rather than “the history of gastroenterology.”
The fourth section of the book, entitled “Landmarks in Gastroenterology,” does not provide the historical perspectives found in the reprinted essays. There are five and one-half lines on the revolutionary helicobacter story (p. 282), nearly half a page on antacid therapy in the nineteenth century (p. 266), and almost two whole lines on a first-century Roman law “prohibiting farting in public” (p. 261).
The book can be recommended for its eclectic collection of historical essays.