Medicine is the applied science or practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness in human beings.
Contemporary medicine applies health science, biomedical research, and medical technology to diagnose and treat injury and disease, typically through medication or surgery, but also through therapies as diverse as psychotherapy, external splints & traction, prostheses, biologics, ionizing radiation and others.
The word medicine is derived from the Latin ars medicina, meaning the art of healing.
Read more about Medicine: History, Clinical Practice, Institutions, Branches, Education, Medical Ethics, Legal Controls, Criticism of Modern Medicine, Honors and Awards, Patron Saints
Famous quotes containing the word medicine:
“The only medicine for suffering, crime, and all the other woes of mankind, is wisdom.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“Good medicine is bitter to the taste.”
—Chinese proverb.
“In view of the fact that the number of people living too long has risen catastrophically and still continues to rise.... Question: Must we live as long as modern medicine enables us to?... We control our entry into life, it is time we began to control our exit.”
—Max Frisch (1911–1991)