RT Journal
A1 Bean WB
T1 Centaur: Essays on the history of medical ideas.
JF A.M.A. Archives of Internal Medicine
JO A.M.A. Archives of Internal Medicine
YR 1959
FD November 1
VO 104
IS 5
SP 839
OP 840
DO 10.1001/archinte.1959.00270110159022
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archinte.1959.00270110159022
AB It may be safely said, I think that in the whole vast compass of medical literature, there cannot be found an equal number of pages, containing a greater amount and variety of utter nonsense and unqualified absurdity,—a more heterogenous and ill-adjusted an assemblage, not merely of unsupported, but of unintelligible and preposterous assertions, than are embodied in his exposition of this theory. The theory is not made up of any coherent and consistent materials, and it would be impossible to analyze and examine it in less space than itself occupies.The philosophy of Medical ScienceThis quotation from Bartlett's critique of Benjamin Rush can serve as a theme to describe my comments about a strange book and a strange phenomenon.This book, with a not unattractive meconium-colored paper jacket and the half-man-half-beast figure of a centaur, has in store for the lover of fluff perhaps the most concentrated verbal flotsam