Why is There a History of Medicine?

If the human body has remained the same in the past few thousand years, why have our approaches to its treatment varied so much? How can an ailment exist in only one part of the world, and not another? Why do so many treatments in the history of Western medicine seem bizarre to us now? This episode with Professor Shigehisa Kuriyama is about many interesting questions in the history of medicine.

Audio credits: Thanks as always to The Overseas Ensemble, a collaboration between composer Paed Conca and Sarigama, for use of their music

Image credit: Surgeon and student performing Bloodletting on a man's arm from Rolandus Parmensis, Chirurgia, c.1300, Rome, Bibl. Casanatense MS 1382 fol. 20r., Wellcome Collection