A study of the growth and development of medical thought and practice, together with consideration of its interaction with science and social forces and institutions. The course aims at an appreciation of the socio-historical construction of Western medicine, from prehistory to the twentieth century. The course begins with paleomedical reconstructions, and moves to Babylonian, Egyptian and Greek [not only Hippocratic] medicine, Greek and Roman anatomy and physiology, Arabic medical thought, Renaissance medicine, and the gradual professionalization and specialization of medicine from the sixteenth century. Attention is paid to theories of health and disease, ideas about anatomy and physiology, in addition to achievements such as anesthesia and internal surgery, and advances in instruments such as obstetrical forceps and the stethoscope. Format: seminar. Requirements: six short papers (3 pages), midterm and final. No prerequisites. Open to first-year students. Satisfies one semester of the Division II requirement.