Reflections on Medicine

These seventy pithy essays were written by a former editor of the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences (1987–91) and are here reviewed by someone least likely to render an unfavorable verdict for reasons that will become clear. Although I never knew Robert Unruh Massey (1922–2008), indeed had barely heard of him, this impressive volume made him a kindred spirit, a counterpart for a medical version of Plutarch's Parallel Lives. Like me he was a practicing internist-turned-academician (he made dean; I peaked at department chair), an amateur medical historian, a member of the American Osler Society, and a bow tie wearer. More to the point, he was long-time editor of a state medical journal—Connecticut Medicine: The Journal of the Connecticut State Medical Society for twelve years (1986–98); for me, The Journal of the South Carolina Medical Association for thirty-four years and counting. How did he do it, and how did we differ?

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