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How medicine moved out of the realms of gods and magic to be based on practical scientific observation is a fascinating story, especially if you read it in The Western Tradition 800 BC to 1800 AD by Lawrence Conrad (Wellcome Institute/Cambridge University Press, £24.95/$34.95, ISBN 0 521 47564 3). From the healers of ancient Greece to the first innoculations, this definitive books spans the history of treating ailments within the cultural, political and religious contexts of historical Western Europe. An essential book for those with a medical slant.