The Healing Hand By Guido Majno (review)

exactly how the immune reaction is disrupted, but only that this be achieved without killing all of the migratory cells. The emasculated but living cells that normally cause graft immunogenicity and rejection become instead the missionaries subserving chimerism, graft acceptance, and ultimately, tolerance. (From a article in press by Thomas E. Starzl and others.) I know of nothing in antecedent scientific or philosophic literature offering the faintest hint of this breakthrough discovery. "The Starzlian Effect" is surely its appropriate name. The Puzzle People is many things: a tender tribute to family, friends, and colleagues ; an unflinching self-portrait of someone who tested limits and pushed powerfully against barriers; a careful, detailed record of Dr. Starzl's lifework as it unfolded. Yet it is something more. It is a rich, beautiful, and often poetic narrative of a life lived heroically and with vital benefits for untold thousands of stricken human beings. John Kiley P.O. Box 10616-0616 Portland, Oregon 97210 The Healing Hand. By Guido Majno. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1992. Pp. 528. $19.95 (paper). I must confess that reviewing this book leaves me with extremely ambivalent feelings. I first read The Healing Handjust after I entered medical school (after obtaining a Ph.D. in history). I found the book stimulating; the author clearly treasured learning things himself as much as imparting them. It was not the work of a professional historian, but many enjoyable history books are not. When discussing Egyptian medicine the author taught his reader a little about hieroglyphics, something I surmised he learned in writing the book. The author 's enthusiasm was contagious. Majno's topic—the treatment of wounds in the ancient world—is relevant to any modern physician, since trauma has not changed all that much. The book merited the attention and praise it garnered. It was a well-written, extensively researched book on a subject of almost universal interest. It received numerous and well-earned positive reviews, and most of those I knew who read it, liked it. It avoided the "great man" school of medical history, which is so tedious for anyone trained as a historian. In summary, it was a unique and charming book. Unfortunately, my first acquaintance was sixteen years ago. In rereading the book, I was struck by the fact that nothing new had been added. The section on hieroglyphic Egyptian suggested no new developments in our understanding of that elegant language. No mention was made of potentially relevant findings from recent excavations, or even the publishing of X-Raying the Royal Mummies. Most of the other sections are beyond my area of expertise, except perhaps Roman medicine, but the same fact that this is a reprint of a now dated book intruded on my enjoyment. There is no deception here. The book is not published as a new edition. I was left with a very simple question: What justifies reprinting a book of this type? 154 Book Reviews Books may be reprinted because they are the definitive work in a given area. They may be reprinted as milestones in thought, or as the seeds of great intellectual debates. When a book appeals at a primarily emotional level, when the author's enthusiasm carries readers into territory they might not otherwise enter , as is the case here, reprinting seems to me to go against the original purpose and even more against the original appeal. The HealingHand is not the definitive work in any of the areas it covers. It is dated now in many areas, and for someone who has already read it and who has no other real sources of information on some of the topics covered, it gives a false impression of stasis in fields such as Egyptology, which has undergone significant change since the book was first published. I do not wish to create the impression that the book is now mainly outdated, for that is unfair as well. The author did a great deal of research to write the book. The average reader can still enjoy the book. The material that is outdated is not going to cause much harm; it is mainly peripheral. In the end, I found myself thinking of how...