Empiricism versus rationalism in American medicine 1650-1950.

TO MOST WRITING on the history of science is the content of the subj ect ; that is, the advancement of man's knowledge of himself and ofthe world about him. Accounts of methods employed in science are included as explaining the substantive achievements. No doubt this is the most natural way to deal with the subject. Yet at times one may shift his interest from the ends of science to the means employed, from an emphasis on facts to one on method—the latter term connoting not merely techniques but also such a general procedure as quantification. Indeed, the whole way in which scientists 'approached' their fields can be considered a central theme, within which discoveries are mentioned simply as case studies or illustrations.^ Basic in this context is the philosophic and logical bent of scientific thought, whether of an individual or of an era. As an example ofthe méthodologie focus, however, I would select a topic more tangible than philosophy at large but one which