The Oxford Dictionary of Medical Quotations

A wonderful addition to the stable of Oxford dictionaries. The editor has dredged deep and has come up with a remarkable selection of aphorisms and observations from an astonishing range of sources. As a former teacher of French literature I was pleased to see Moliere and Voltaire represented although one missing item from the latter is 'the task of the physician is to amuse the patient while Nature effects the cure'. However the more caustic 'A physician is one who pours drugs of which he knows little into a body of which he knows less' is included. Many names have only one entry. The index is quite superb: key words refer to the gist of the quotation, which enables the lecturer or after-dinner speaker to locate just the bon mot they are looking for. A book that all readers should order.