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Background: Historians of thrombosis usually cover a period from mid-19th to late 20th century, thus highlighting the era of scientific progress. The present study, however, follows history farther back to its earlier stages which harbour crucial elements for understanding later epochs and the present-day state of the art., Methods: Relevant primary sources and secondary material as well as selected illustrations were identified and interpreted in their historical context., Results: Early concepts drew upon the doctrine passed on by the Greeks that thrombosis originated form "metastases" formed by phlegm and black bile. Whereas scholars of the Middle Ages concerned themselves with haematoscopy as a "prototype" of diagnostic investigation, those of early modern times focused on mechanistic and morphological factors when formulating aetiological concepts of thrombosis and embolism. With Rudolf Virchow and his consolidated findings the modern age of positivist research began. During the following era of technological progress, new and scientifically tested treatments as well as prophylactic interventions replaced empirically based cures., Conclusions: The history of thrombosis is characterized by a multitude of different paradigms. Time will tell if innovative therapeutic strategies developed during the last two decades will lead to the next important paradigm change., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)

Historians of early modern medicine have frequently portrayed Paracelsians and Antiparacelsians around 1600 as two largely separate, hostile factions locked in a fierce battle. As I will argue in my paper, this account attributes too much weight to the public self-fashioning of both groups: From the mid-16th century onwards, some physicians chose the deceased Theophrastus of Hohenheim, or Paracelsus, as their new medical hero and tried to attract affluent patients with new, supposedly more powerful "spagyric" medicaments. Other physicians showed intense interest without thereby accepting Paracelsus as the "Luther of medicine". Based on my analysis of large collections of early modern physicians' letters, I argue for a more nuanced and cautious account of this conflict. Well-known physicians like Konrad Gesner, Johann Crato von Krafftheim, or Joachim Camerarius did indeed condemn the arrogance and rudeness of Paracelsus and his belittling of the ancient medical authors. Yet, at the same time, they also showed a keen interest in the new chemical drugs which the "Paracelsians" promoted. None of these supposed "Antiparacelsians" supported or welcomed the vehement attacks by Thomas Erastus in his Disputationum de Medicina nova Paracelsi without reservations--although Erastus suggested this for tactical reasons.

Medieval medicine is not much interested in natural philosophy. Nevertheless, it is based upon clear methodological and epistemological principles, where the word 'nature' is used in several ways. The natural 'virtues' of things--including magical ones--are most important for therapy. Human health is influenced by stars (planets, zodiac) and seasons, and the physician has to take into account such cosmic effects. The chances of healing depend on the patients' 'nature' in relation to the power of illness. A strong nature makes medicine superfluous, an overwhelming disease cannot be beaten. Thus, medicine is limited to 'neutral' situations when supporting the patient makes his 'nature' win.

The book named Da Chaoxianyi Wen (Answer to the Questions of a Korean Physician), written in 1624, recorded the written answers of Wang Yinglin, a Chinese official in the Ming dynasty, to the questions of Yin Zhiwei, a Korean official physician. The 24 A&Qs concerned about the therapy of ordinary diseases, channels and the theories of TCM, etc. The study of this book could not only clarify various questions on the exchanges between Wang and Yin, but also learn more information on the development of Korean medicine at that time.

Giorgio Baglivi's name is usually connected to the Iatromechanic approach but the medical theory outlined in his major work, De Praxi Medica, denounces how deeply he was influenced by hippocratic tradition and mainly by the holistic approach to therapeutics centered on the idea of an inborn healing power of the body. It is proposed that the contradiction was avoided by Baglivi simply assuming the preminence and autonomy of the clinical point of view in front of the biological reseach to which he attached great theoretical interest but little therapeutical relevance.

An important element in recent science studies has been the analysis of the social rhetoric involved in the construction of disciplines and knowledge. An explicit use of rhetorical and semiotic frames of reference would illuminate many aspects of the history of medicine and could provide a unifying framework for the field. Medical theories were always intended for use and therefore had to be plausible in the eyes of patients. The interpretation of signs and the construction of explanations lie at the heart of diagnosis, therapy and prognosis. These are usually interactive processes and the efficacy of medical interventions therefore depends upon meaning, narrative and persuasion. Since mental processes are not rigidly separated from bodily functions, trust and expectation have physiological effects that are required for successful healing in all cultures at all times. The conduct of patients and practitioners always turns on the expectation of cure and the establishment of confidence. The efficacy of rhetoric was more readily recognized by practitioners in the past than it has been by social historians of medicine. Once mind-body dualism has been discarded, it can be seen that historians are not studying the context of healing but its very heart.

The systems of diagnosis and treatment of exopathogenic diseases has a long history. The six channel pattern identification and the defense - qi- construction - blood and triple - jiao pattern identifications are the most famous but not complete. The exterior, interior, excess and heat pattern identification and the six channel qi transformation pattern identification, founded by Liu Hejian, Yang Lishan, Yu Shiyu and Yu Genchu et al. during the Jin and Qing dynasties, should be considered the other two important systems, which can be used as supplements to schools of Shanghan (cold damage) and Wenbing (warm disease). Moreover, it should be pointed out that treatment according to the pattern identification is not the only way to treat exopathogenic disease. Rather, treatment according to the disease, which chiefly are the experience of folk doctors recorded in formulary books during the Jin and Tang dynasties, supplied many effective formulas for various systems of the treatment according to the pattern identification in later ages. One of them lays emphasis on the technics of thinking, the other on the accumulation of personal experience. The combination of the two is the right way to promote the therapeutic effect of exopathogenic disease.

Yugimahamuni was one among the greatest siddhars and has matchless contribution towards enrichment of Siddha system. In his Vaidya Chinthamani-800, he has written clearly about 4448 names of the diseases, its signs, symptoms and prognosis. Under the heading - "Meganoikal," he has elaborated twenty varieties of the urinary disorders based on the physical characters of urine. But the general signs and symptoms of 'Meganoikal' described by Yugi clearly indicate that many of these characteristics are of diabetic in nature. Under the sub-heading 'avasthaikal', Yugi accurately described certain sufferings experienced by the patients of 'Meganoikal'. It is quite interesting to note that those ten types of sufferings he has listed out, starting from obesity ending in Tuberculosis are comparable with the acute and long term complications of diabetics, and hence this analogue.

We use texts by preeminent figures in Victorian surgery at the end of the nineteenth century and information about their role in disseminating the germ theory to analyse the impact of this new etiologic element in the genesis of cancer. We trace the career of William Watson Cheyne (1852-1932), a disciple of Lister, and of many other surgeons of his generation, to outline the changes in the approach to treatment for cancer, the theoretical basis for these changes, and the role of a new conceptualization of cancer in the light of the microbial theory. This theory, among many other better-known factors, helped establish the foundation for radical surgery which became widespread in oncological treatment during the final decade of the nineteenth century.

The study presents the contemporary state of research in the historiography of medicine, with regard to the main currents in the theoretical justification of treatment in German medicine of the first half of the 19th century. Researchers distinguish three main currents: vitalist-eclectic, dynamic, and the current based on the precepts of German philosophy of nature (Naturphilosophie), especially the approach of F. Schelling. The article presents the underlying assumptions of each of the three currents; it presents their main representatives as well. The authors also analyses the background for the reception in Germany of medical theories and doctrines of a non-materialist character, making reference to factors of a socio-cultural nature.

This paper introduces the notion of plausibility as a decisive condition for the acceptance by groups in society of fundamental ideas concerning the nature of illness. Plausibility, it is argued, helps to explain both transition from one system of fundamental ideas to another in history, and coexistence of different such systems in a single civilization. Hence this paper challenges an interpretation of medicine prevalent, especially in medical anthropology, since the 1940s, when Erwin Ackerknecht introduced the idea of medicine as an integrated aspect of a society's or community's culture. Because early research focused on small-scale communities where a majority, if not all, of the members adhered to one world view and experienced one and the same existential environment, medicine came to be identified as a cultural system representative of entire communities and, later, societies. Hence we speak of Chinese medicine as if there were one system of therapeutic ideas and practices representative of China as a whole. The fact is that even though medicine is indeed a cultural system, it is representative only of the culture developed by people sharing identical environments and experiences. That is, if within one civilization different groups coexist in different existential realities entailing different notions of what causes crisis and how to maintain harmony, then these groups will believe in different systems of ideas concerning the generation, treatment, and prevention of illness. Such systems of ideas are therefore always metaphorical reflections of a real social environment or of one aspired to. It is not truth (Wahrheit) that leads to an acceptance of basic therapeutic ideas but plausibility (Wahrschein).

Careful investigation on three different ancient editions of On Five Viscera reveals that all the following editions, viz. the latter parts of A and C edition of Zhang Zhongjing's On Five Viscera, Treating humankind of classified collectics of recipes, are ancient editions of Zhang Zhongjing's On Five Viscera which are derived from a common source edition. Since the contents of Zhang Zhongjing's and Jiva's On Five Viscera are basically the same; they are all apocryphal books. This paper also summarizes the achievements of these three books, including macrocosm-microcosm unison, anatomy, three-segment theory of human body, acupoints, and herbology.

Paracelsus was a topic of intense discussion during the eighteenth century in the encyclopedias, works of philosophy, natural science and medicine of this time. His contributions to chemistry and the chemical foundation of medicine were acknowledge as well as his fight against the ancient humoral pathology and specific achievements in surgery and drug therapy. In contrast, his concept of science and use of language were rejected. The gap between his expressed moral standards and his own behavior was criticized. The contemporary circumstances must be taken into consideration.

Our view of Cato's (234-149 B.C.) attitude towards Greek medicine and Greek doctors has been influenced by the elder Pliny (23-79 A.D.). Evidence is shown which suggests that Cato's rejection of Greek medicine did not prevent him from using the help of Greek physicians.

It has been a long tradition to quote from Joseph Dietl's 'manifesto' of therapeutic nihilism from 1845 to illustrate the perils of medical extremism. But Dietl's claim for medicine as a natural science cannot fully be understood without considering the social and political circumstances the developing New Vienna School had to face. The professionalization of Viennese academic medicine was opposed by the forces of restaurative absolutism and, in particular, the traditional preponderance of medical practitioners who played a major role in the medical faculty.

Around 1800 the relationship between doctors and patients was determined by two opposing therapeutic principles, both of which were able to look back on a long tradition. On the one hand, the Enlightenment period lent prominence to the principle of correction, as can be traced paradigmatically in the field of orthopaedics. In this case medical treatment was closely linked to the conception of education. This approach emerged around 1800, particularly in the form of Brownianismus - in the field of psychiatry among others. At the same time the therapeutic principle of sympathy, which has its roots in magic healing, gained fresh impetus in the "electric age" of the Enlightenment, particularly through mesmerism (animal magnetism). Here it is a question of the hidden interdependence in nature, which gained considerable importance especially in the field of psychology on the early nineteenth century (in the context of the so-called Romantic Medicine). It is this area of tension, the combination of external correction and internal sympathy, which makes the period between Enlightenment and Romantic such a fascinating subject in the history of medicine.