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The wine-dark sea within : a turbulent history of blood / Dhun H. Sethna.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Basic Books, 2022Copyright date: ©2022Edition: First editionDescription: xx, 357 pages ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781541600669
  • 1541600665
Subject(s):
Contents:
The Oriental heritage -- The sea within us -- Seeing is believing -- The life it brings -- Body flame -- Through the blood darkly -- Knot of veins -- A different drumbeat -- Prince of physicians -- Coming to grips -- Brave new world -- The proper study of man -- A disinherited mind -- The medical merchants of Venice -- Hunted heretic -- A eureka moment -- Arabian knight -- Who's on first? -- Wild sea of troubles -- Prelude to glory -- The finest hour -- Closing the ring -- Ahead of the curve -- Pride and prejudice -- The French connection -- Bad blood -- A confederacy of circulateurs -- Once more into the breach -- The goodness of airs -- Oxford chemists -- Niter, niter, everywhere -- Phlogiston -- Concerto for airs -- Unto this last -- In our time.
Summary: "The Wine-Dark Sea Within offers a revisionist retelling of the history of Western medicine, centered on the quest to understand the nature of blood. Physician Dhun Sethna masterfully weaves together a global story, beginning 3,000 years ago in ancient China and India, continuing through ancient Greece and Rome, the Renaissance, and the Age of Enlightenment. Blood has always been central to our understanding of how the body sustains life. And without a doubt, the most influential description of blood came from Greek physician Galen, who saw health as a function of a person's virtue. In his system, blood ebbed and flowed in the body according to one's behavior. For 1,500 years, the Galenic model of medicine, favored by the Church, reigned supreme. Then, in 1628, an English physician named William Harvey proved that blood does not ebb and flow but rather circulates around the body in a single direction. This discovery is often overlooked, but Sethna argues that it completely changed the course of medicine. Suddenly it was possible to talk about the body in purely secular terms, mechanically, as a system of pumps and pipes. With this insight, Sethna shows that blood circulation paved the way for the foundation of immunology, cardiology, biochemistry, transplant science, and metabolic science. It even influenced the development of thermodynamics and plant respiration. The Wine-Dark Sea Within is above all a story of great ideas, a story of bitter feuds and historical collaborations, backstabbing, deadly heresies and perseverance, featuring some of the world's most famous thinkers in its cast of characters: Homer, Leonardo, Descartes, Lavoisier. It is a richly detailed and provocative history, told by a stunning new voice in popular science"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 612.13 S495 Available 33111010848717
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A revisionist history of medicine, in which blood plays the starring role



Inspired by Homer's description of the ebb and flow of the "wine dark sea," the ancient Greeks conceived a back-and-forth movement of blood. That false notion, perpetuated by the influential Roman physician Galen, prevailed for fifteen hundred years until William Harvey proved that blood circulates: the heart pumps blood in one direction through the arteries and it returns through the veins. Harvey's discovery revolutionized the life sciences by making possible an entirely new quantitative understanding of the cardiovascular system, a way of thinking on which many of our lifesaving medical interventions today depend.



In The Wine-Dark Sea Within , cardiologist Dhun Sethna argues that Harvey's revelation inaugurated modern medicine and paved the way for groundbreaking advances from intravenous therapy, cardiac imaging, and stent insertions to bypass surgery, dialysis, and heart-lung machines.



Weaving together three thousand years of global history, following bitter feuds and epic alliances, tragic failures and extraordinary advancements, this is a provocative history by a fresh voice in popular science.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 315-336) and index.

The Oriental heritage -- The sea within us -- Seeing is believing -- The life it brings -- Body flame -- Through the blood darkly -- Knot of veins -- A different drumbeat -- Prince of physicians -- Coming to grips -- Brave new world -- The proper study of man -- A disinherited mind -- The medical merchants of Venice -- Hunted heretic -- A eureka moment -- Arabian knight -- Who's on first? -- Wild sea of troubles -- Prelude to glory -- The finest hour -- Closing the ring -- Ahead of the curve -- Pride and prejudice -- The French connection -- Bad blood -- A confederacy of circulateurs -- Once more into the breach -- The goodness of airs -- Oxford chemists -- Niter, niter, everywhere -- Phlogiston -- Concerto for airs -- Unto this last -- In our time.

"The Wine-Dark Sea Within offers a revisionist retelling of the history of Western medicine, centered on the quest to understand the nature of blood. Physician Dhun Sethna masterfully weaves together a global story, beginning 3,000 years ago in ancient China and India, continuing through ancient Greece and Rome, the Renaissance, and the Age of Enlightenment. Blood has always been central to our understanding of how the body sustains life. And without a doubt, the most influential description of blood came from Greek physician Galen, who saw health as a function of a person's virtue. In his system, blood ebbed and flowed in the body according to one's behavior. For 1,500 years, the Galenic model of medicine, favored by the Church, reigned supreme. Then, in 1628, an English physician named William Harvey proved that blood does not ebb and flow but rather circulates around the body in a single direction. This discovery is often overlooked, but Sethna argues that it completely changed the course of medicine. Suddenly it was possible to talk about the body in purely secular terms, mechanically, as a system of pumps and pipes. With this insight, Sethna shows that blood circulation paved the way for the foundation of immunology, cardiology, biochemistry, transplant science, and metabolic science. It even influenced the development of thermodynamics and plant respiration. The Wine-Dark Sea Within is above all a story of great ideas, a story of bitter feuds and historical collaborations, backstabbing, deadly heresies and perseverance, featuring some of the world's most famous thinkers in its cast of characters: Homer, Leonardo, Descartes, Lavoisier. It is a richly detailed and provocative history, told by a stunning new voice in popular science"-- Provided by publisher.

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