This volume is a collection of fifty essays written by Dr. Mudry and printed in journals and books between 1977 and 2006. Jackie Pigeaud, in a preface, calls it "un beau livre, un vrai livre"—indeed, a book to make the reader rejoice (p. xix). She also believes it to be the best introduction in existence to the subject of Roman medicine. The articles are accompanied by a supplementary bibliography, several illustrations, and four indexes: of authors and passages cited in the essays, of notable figures in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, of writings by modern authors on these periods, and of Latin and Greek terms of particular lexical interest. [End Page 908]
The journal of a young Irish physician, this document was given to Millyard by the Canadian great-great-granddaughter of Lowry's brother. It was written in response to a request from this brother for a short history of Lowry's life, and encompasses the years between his departure from Ireland in 1797 and his return home in 1804. Lowry goes to sea and joins the Mediterranean fleet (1798), accompanies an expedition to Egypt and becomes a prisoner of war (1801), engages in peacetime pursuits around the Mediterranean (1802–3), returns to war (1803), and is shipwrecked off the coast of Spain and rescued (1804).
The editor describes the book as an "extended personal letter" (p. 7), which has been structured for this edition by the addition of a title and chapter headings. Nothing has been deleted, the editor says; however, occasional conjunctions and prepositions have been added for clarity, and the spelling and punctuation modernized.