The healing arts - R. S Downie

This anthology celebrates the many different ways in which medicine and the arts interact. The stories, poems, drama, paintings, and cartoons have been selected both to entertain and to enrich the perceptions of doctors, nurses, and anyone else interested in the arts. The aim is to give pleasure, but at the same time to stretch the imagination and deepen the sympathies of all those who care for patients. Since we are all likely to be patients at some time, it will help us to be more understanding both of ourselves and of those who care for us when we are ill. The work of creative artists can help us attain this kind of understanding. It has been said that `the humanities are the hormones' - they energize our thoughts and feelings. The pieces in this fascinating anthology have been selected to illustrate that this process provides enduring interest and pleasure.;16 October: `But Lord, how empty the [city] streets are, and melancholy, so many poor sick people in the streets, full of sores, and so many sad stories overheard as I walk, everybody talking of this dead, and that man sick, and so many in this place, and so many in that. And they tell me that in Westminster there is never a physitian, and but one apothecary left, all being dead - but there are great hopes of a great decrease this week: God send it.' From the Diary of Samuel Pepys (1633-1703);This book is intended for doctors, nurses, and medical students; the general reader.