The Making of Modern Medicine - The anatomical renaissance

A major narrative history series exploring over 2,000 years of western medicine, written and presented by medical historian Andrew Cunningham. Noses, ears and lips were often lost during swordfights in defence of honour. Yet thanks to a renaissance in anatomy during the 16th century, the art of surgery had been perfected in Bologna to the extent that artificial but living noses, ears and lips could be supplied in their place. The rediscovery of Galen's ancient book The Method of Healing, and a new generation of emerging anatomists in the mid 1500s, such as the young physician Andreas Vesalius, meant that the approach to human anatomy and good surgery would be completely reinvented. The readers are David Rintoul, Peter Capaldi, Jason Watkins and Scott Handy.