Soranus’ Gynecology

Soranus was one of the most learned and lucid medical qriters of antiquity. Among his admirers was St. Augustine, who called him ＂pre-eminent author of medicine.＂ He was a leading medical figure of the early second century A.D., and of his writings preserved in Greek the Gynecology is the most important and most revealing of his thought. Including a section on infant care, Soranus’ Gynecology represents ancient gynecological and obstetrical practice at its height. Many of its teachings were to remain part of medical practive as late as the sixteenth century.

Soranus is regarded as the outstanding representative of a school of ancient medicine knoen as the ＂methodist＂ sect, which rivaled the more ancient ＂dogmatic＂ and ＂empirical＂ sects. The methodists rejected both etiological research and mere experience, concentrating instead on a study of the phenomena of diseases themselves. Long out of print, this first English translation of the authoritative Greek text of the Gynecology is now available in a paperback edition. An introduction and notes provide insight into the work’s historical and scientific background.

Owsei Temkin, M.D., who recieved him medical degree from the University of Leipzig, is William H. Welch Professor Emeritus of the History of Medicine and former director of the Johns Hopkins Instititue of the History of Medicine. His books include Hippocrates in a World of Pagans and Christians and The Double Face of Janus and Other Essays in the History of Medicine. Nicholson J. Eastman, Ludwig Edelstein, and Alan F. Guttmacher, from whome Dr. Temkin recieved individual help, were his colleagues at the Johns Hopkins Medical institutions.