Introduction

Medicine, as it stands today, did not develop overnight. It is the culmination of efforts of millions of people, some we know and others we do not. The flame of civilization, including medicine, started thousands of years ago. The flame has been handed over from one generation to another, and from one country to the other. Depending on who took the sacred responsibility of hosting it, sometimes it got brighter and sometimes it got dimmer. However, it never died away, because if it did, it would have been too hard to start all over again.

Between the ancient civilizations, namely...