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Dictionary of Medical Eponyms, Second Edition, Paperback
Informa Healthcare, Dec 2001, Pages: 450
This is an attractively priced softcover edition of Firkin and Whitworth's internationally popular dictionary of medical eponyms used in internal medicine. Each entry tells the meaning of the eponym and provides bibliographic information about the person. The authors' considerable scholarship and the care they devote to their work is evident in their Introduction to this updated edition of the book: 'Over the years many people have condemned the use of eponyms in medical practice, but eponyms are with us to stay whether the more fastidious like it or not, and will remain as long as medicine is practiced in its present fashion. Some remain permanently while others vanish after a short moment of glory; their usage changes as much as fashion. Down syndrome for example was not used in the 1950s and only Mongolism was listed in the indices of textbooks at that time. Curious regional differences are noticeable within the same country [and] there is even greater variation from country to country. The Plummer-Vinson syndrome as it is known in the United States and Australia is referred to as the Patterson-Kelly syndrome in the United Kingdom and the Waldenstrom-Kjellberg syndrome in Scandinavia. This book is an endeavor to list eponyms used in the practice of internal medicine in most of the English-speaking countries in the world. It is hoped that it will help nurses and medical students as well as practitioners, not only to inform them as to the usage of these terms but wherever possible to indicate briefly a little of the person whose name is used eponymously.'
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