History of the professionalization of medicine: Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on the Comparative History of Medicine—East and West

TEIZO OGAWA (editor), History of the professionalization ofmedicine: Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on the Comparative History ofMedicine-East and West, Osaka, The Taniguchi Foundation, 1987, 8vo, pp. x, 187, [no price stated], (paperback). Although this is the third in a series of volumes based on the annual Taniguchi International Symposia, its successors, volumes four through nine, have already appeared. The meeting from which this collection of essays is drawn took place in 1978. The foreword provides no explanation for this unusually long delay in publication; possibly the death of the principal organizer Professor Ogawa was a contributory factor. Is the collection still to be welcomed after such a passage of time? Despite the fact that no attempt has been made to update the essays-their bibliographies contain no references to works published after 1978-the response of this reader is guardedly in the affirmative. The broad comparative perspective that the volume embodies is valuable in itself and some of the essays contain material not as readily accessible elsewhere. One of the most interesting and informative essays is by F. P. Liwoski on the emergence of the 'barefoot doctor' in China. One might quibble that this topic sits rather uneasily within the theme of the conference, for it is at least arguable that the rise of the barefoot doctor represents a de-professionalization of medicine, rather than the opposite. Nevertheless, Liwoski's survey provides a useful introduction to this intriguing development in the social history of health care. One of the essays of greatest interest to teachers of medical history will be John Pickstone's on 'The professionalization of medicine in England'. The author sets out, in quite a concise form, what is in effect the framework of the investigations which he and his associates in Manchester have successfully undertaken in the intervening decade. Not all the contributions to this volume are of a uniformly high standard but I also enjoyed David McQueen on chiropractic in America, Francis Zimmerman on classical medicine in India, and Paul Unschuld on medical ethics in Imperial China.