W D Foster

A very nice succinct British history of clinical pathology (but including what the Brits call "morbid anatomy"). Some copies available around the internet used. Has interesting discussions of the development of the concept of anemia (for many years it was thought that anemia was due to decreased blood volume, not decreased erythrocytes), the absence of venipuncture until the 20th century and the proliferation of various micro techniques for the use of finger-stick specimens, the development of the concept of leukocytosis and its use in differential diagnosis (e.g., Is the patient septic or not?), and that Robert Koch, one of the great figures of Medicine, got most of his postulates from his teacher Jakob Henle. Highly recommended.… (más)