However much the three great traditions of medicine-- Galenic, Chinese and Ayurvedic--differed from each other, they had one thing in common: scholarship. The foundational knowledge of each could only be acquired by careful study under teachers relying on ancient texts. The ways in which practitioners used these texts varied among historical periods and cultures, providing a rich field for the study of different cultural practices in the legitimation of knowledge. The essays in this volume, contributed by specialists in the history and anthropology of these traditions, range from historical investigations to studies of present-day practices. "...the book encloses rich lodes of scholarship which the explorer can mine with profit, receiving not only new information but flashes of new insight, according to his or her own background." Lester S. King, Journal of the History of Medicine This collection of essays offers a historical and cross-cultural examination of medical knowledge. Used Book in Good Condition