Laboratory medicine developed in the nineteenth century, principally in Germany, France, Britain, and the United States. While a number of scholars have studied various aspects of laboratory medicine in the nineteenth century, no attempts have hitherto been made to synthesise such work and to present a view of the whole subject. 

Publishes for the first time the surviving partial English text of Glisson's book on the liver, and of the work's postscript on the lymphatic system. Glisson wrote in English, but his text was translated into Latin for publication by George Ent, with the expectation that it would receive a wider international readership in Latin than in English. The editor added explanatory notes.

History of the practice and teaching of anatomy, and comparative anatomy, in the 18th century, mainly in Europe, but also touching on the introduction of Western methods of studying and teaching anatomy into Japan.

"This is the first volume to take a broad historical sweep of the close relation between medicines and poisons in the Western tradition, and their interconnectedness. They are like two ends of a spectrum, for the same natural material can be medicine or poison, depending on the dose, and poisons can be transformed into medicines, while medicines can turn out to be poisons. The book looks at important moments in the history of the relationship between poisons and medicines in European history, from Roman times, with the Greek physician Galen, through the Renaissance and the maverick physician Paracelsus, to the present, when poisons are actively being turned into beneficial medicines" (publisher).