[The evolution of clinical medical books in the 19th century].

Abstract

Fifty clinical medical books written in the late 18th and the 19th centuries were categorized into four alternating types on the basis of the differences in composition and contents. The nosological type in the first period classified diseases into taxa, and dealt symptoms as diseases. The eclectic type in the second period contained both categories of nosological diseases and those of local diseases. The organ system type in the third period focused on the local diseases arranged in a systematic manner. The infection emphasis type put the infectious diseases at the beginning, followed by the local diseases in a systematic manner. The four types of clinical medical books evolved in accordance with the changes in clinical medicine in the 19th century, exemplified by the activities of the Parisian school, including those regarding pathological anatomy, laboratory medicine in the German universities, and discovery of pathogenic bacteria. When Western medicine was introduced in Japan, different stages of medicine, representing the four types, arrived at different times.