Book Notes

Axel Hinrich Murken and Bernhard Bösing. Medicina in nummis: Die Heilkunde im Spiegel der Medallion. Studien zur Medizin-, Kunst- und Literaturgeschichte, no. 35. Herzogenrath, Germany: Verlag Murken-Altrogge, 1996. 189 pp. Ill. DM 36.00 (paperbound).

This small book catalogs more than 300 coins and medallions displaying medical themes; the subjects span the centuries from Huang-ti (2,600 b.c.e) to Hugo Erich Maurer (1912-1994). The medals are categorized by topic (e.g., "Physicians and Healers", "Depictions of Illness and Representations of Struggle against Disease"). Each catalog listing identifies the subject (e.g., "Clement Arkadievich Timir Yazev, 1843-1920, Russian biologist, discoverer of photosynthesis") and the medal ("coin, Russia, 1 ruble, silver, 30 mm, 1993"), and describes the scene on each side. The book also includes an introductory essay by Murken, and chapters by Bösing ("Der Medailleur Peter-Götz Güttler und seine Aachener Medaille") and Peter Rong ("Medaillen und Plaketten der Rheinisch-Westfälischen Technischen Hochschule Aachen. Eine Übersicht über die akademischen Medaillen Aachens von 1870 bis 1995"). A bibliography concludes the book.

John G. Raffensperger, ed. The Old Lady on Harrison Street: Cook County Hospital, 1833-1995. International Healthcare Ethics, no. 3. New York: Peter Lang, 1997. x + 455 pp. Ill. $65.95.

This history of Cook County Hospital is "a record of politics, great physicians, a dedicated house staff, nurses, and the many others who work to care for the never-ending parade of sick, and injured. It is all set against the unfolding history of medical achievements in the City of Chicago...." (p. ix)

Memoirs and personal communications from hospital physicians and staff members have provided the author with lively anecdotes, and photographs of the hospital and its notables round out this celebratory volume.

Robert E. Kravetz and Alex Jay Kimmelman. Healthseekers in Arizona. Phoenix, Ariz.: Maricopa Medical Society, 1998. v + 89 pp. Ill. $15.95 (paperbound).

This lavishly illustrated book--sponsored by grants from the Arizona Historical Society, the state medical association, and seven hospitals, among others--concerns those "healthseekers" who came to Arizona for the purportedly salubrious climate. The book emphasizes the last quarter of the nineteenth century, but short chapters take the reader from 1848 (the arrival of the first Anglo-American doctors in Arizona with the Mormon Battalion) to the present. Chapter titles are: "The Dilemma of Nineteenth Century Medicine," "The Early Years of American Medicine in Arizona," "A Hostile Health Environment," "Tuberculosis," "Frontiers of Perfect Health," "Marketing Arizona," "Clinics, Sanitaria and Hospitals," "Tent Cities," "Mountain Retreats, Mineral Baths, and Spas," "Prominent Arizona Healthseekers," "Death of a Legend," "And Still They Came," and "Arizona Today." A timeline ends the book.

Marco Beretta, Claudio Pogliano, and Pietro Redondi, eds. Journals and History of Science. Biblioteca Nuncius, Studi e Testi, no. 32. Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 1998. vii + 268 pp. Ill. L 54,000.00 (paperbound).

This volume is a collection of papers from the conference, "Journals and History of Science" held on 5-6 June 1997, organized by the Florentine Instituto e Museo di storia della scienza in honor of the tenth anniversary of its periodical Nuncius. The conference addressed the role of journals in the transformation of the history of science from one branch of the natural sciences into an independent historical discipline. The essays in this volume are described as the first attempt to perform a systematic historical analysis on this literature. As an initial survey, the papers in this volume concentrate on journals in the history of science, medicine or technology published in Europe, North and South America. Contributions which discuss the journals within disciplines are: Joseph Dauben on the history of mathematics; Karl-Heinz Leven on the history of medicine; Marco Berreta on the history of chemistry; and Vittorio Marchis on the history of technology. Studies of national traditions include: Christoph Meinel on German history of science journals; Claudio Pogliano on the misfortunes of history of science in Italy; Owen Hannaway on annual journals in the United States; Paul Weindling on history of...