The cutting edge of medicine.(The Knife Man)(Book Review)

THE KNIFE MAN by Wendy Moore Bantam, 18.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 482, ISBN 0593052099 16.99 [pounds sterling] (plus 2.25 [pounds sterling] p&p) 0870 800 4848

In 1767, John Hunter, a 39-year-old surgeon, performed an experiment on venereal disease. In order to prove the hypothesis that gonorrhoea was the same disease as syphilis, he dipped a lancet into a festering venereal sore, and then injected it into a penis. He took careful notes, observing the classic symptoms of gonorrhoea, which then developed into the secondary stage of syphilis. Buboes, ulcers and copper-coloured blotches appeared, which he anointed with mercury. This seemingly proved that syphilis and …