Abstract
Very often scientific publications begin with the pompous words: A new technique for., or An innovative method for.. But are these procedures really new? The French physician and philosopher Émile Littré (1801-1881) wrote the following in the foreword of his Oeuvres complètes d'Hippocrate (Complete Works of Hippocrates): There is no development, even the most advanced of contemporary medicine, which is not found in embryo in the medicine of the past [12]. This opinion is easy to demonstrate by doing some research in a historical library. One will discover that old books not only provide palpable contact with the medical past, but also serve to establish the precedence of an idea, a theory or a technique. Regrettably, we often realise that most of the so-called new techniques derive from ideas which were already published but then forgotten. Numerous examples exist, but we restrict our list to just a few for obvious reasons.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Innovations in Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery |
| Publisher | Springer Berlin Heidelberg |
| Pages | 3-10 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9783540463214 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2008 |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Medicine(all)
Cite this
Rediscovering the wheel : Using the past to influence the future. / Mazzola, R. F.
Innovations in Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2008. p. 3-10.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
}
TY - CHAP
T1 - Rediscovering the wheel
T2 - Using the past to influence the future
AU - Mazzola, R. F.
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - Very often scientific publications begin with the pompous words: A new technique for., or An innovative method for.. But are these procedures really new? The French physician and philosopher Émile Littré (1801-1881) wrote the following in the foreword of his Oeuvres complètes d'Hippocrate (Complete Works of Hippocrates): There is no development, even the most advanced of contemporary medicine, which is not found in embryo in the medicine of the past [12]. This opinion is easy to demonstrate by doing some research in a historical library. One will discover that old books not only provide palpable contact with the medical past, but also serve to establish the precedence of an idea, a theory or a technique. Regrettably, we often realise that most of the so-called new techniques derive from ideas which were already published but then forgotten. Numerous examples exist, but we restrict our list to just a few for obvious reasons.
AB - Very often scientific publications begin with the pompous words: A new technique for., or An innovative method for.. But are these procedures really new? The French physician and philosopher Émile Littré (1801-1881) wrote the following in the foreword of his Oeuvres complètes d'Hippocrate (Complete Works of Hippocrates): There is no development, even the most advanced of contemporary medicine, which is not found in embryo in the medicine of the past [12]. This opinion is easy to demonstrate by doing some research in a historical library. One will discover that old books not only provide palpable contact with the medical past, but also serve to establish the precedence of an idea, a theory or a technique. Regrettably, we often realise that most of the so-called new techniques derive from ideas which were already published but then forgotten. Numerous examples exist, but we restrict our list to just a few for obvious reasons.
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84895210830&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-540-46326-9_1
DO - 10.1007/978-3-540-46326-9_1
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:84895210830
SN - 9783540463214
SP - 3
EP - 10
BT - Innovations in Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery
PB - Springer Berlin Heidelberg
ER -