Entertaining and enlightening, illuminating and intriguing, Dr. William S. Haubrich's Medical Meanings is a reference work that will educate professionals and laymen alike. The etymologies of over 3000 medical and related terms are explored in a lively, insightful style.A few of the terms that you will find in this book: Ambulance comes from the French and began as hopital ambulant, literally "a walking hospital." During Napoleon's campaigns, to bring medical aid to soldiers in the field, portable units were devised that contained dressings and medicines and provided for evacuation of the wounded as well. Cold turkey is vernacular for the total, abrupt cessation of a drug, especially a narcotic. The expression alludes to the "gooseflesh" that appears in the skin of persons withdrawing from addiction to opiates. The nodular uppearance is that of the skin of a plucked, uncooked turkey.Enjoyable for browsing, indispensable for research, Medical Meanings is a unique volume, one sure to please students, physicians, and word connoisseurs. Read Less