Scientific medicine

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Scientific medicine is a modern form of medicine stemming from the synthesis of the Flexnerian medical education reforms of the early 1900s and the Germ theory of disease.[1]

Romano discusses the rise of the importance of science in medicine in the late 19th century, observing that "the previous generation had also considered its own medicine scientific [...] In many ways the term scientific medicine was a successful attempt to garner allies; no one championed unscientific medicine. The meanings of scientific medicine changed over time [...] [I]t was in various disputes that the ambiguity and broadness of the term scientific medicine became most evident."[2]

Some contemporary usage contrasts "scientific medicine" (in the sense of mainstream conventional medicine) with "alternative medicine".[3]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Jonas, Wayne B. (2005). Mosby's dictionary of complementary and alternative medicine. Mosby. p. 519. ISBN 978-0-323-02516-4. Retrieved 2010-04-25.  quoted at: "scientific medicine". The Free Dictionary. Retrieved 2010-04-25. "scientific medicine, n a term used to describe the form of medicine derived from the Flexnerian reformation of medical education and the germ theory in the early 1900s. Jonas: Mosby's Dictionary of Complementary and Alternative Medicine. (c) 2005, Elsevier." 
  2. ^ Title Making medicine scientific: John Burdon Sanderson and the culture of Victorian science Making Medicine Scientific Author Terrie M. Romano Edition illustrated Publisher JHU Press, 2002 ISBN 0-8018-6897-1, ISBN 978-0-8018-6897-9 Length 225 pages p 7 Romano, Terrie M. (2001). Making medicine scientific: John Burdon Sanderson and the culture of Victorian science. Baltimore: JHU Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-8018-6897-9. Retrieved 2010-04-25. 
  3. ^ For example: Coulter, Ian D.; Evan M Willis (2004). "The rise and rise of complementary and alternative medicine: a sociological perspective" (PDF). In Lewith, G. T. Medical Journal of Australia 180 (7): 588. Retrieved 2010-04-25. "[...] [I]n the paradigm that we now call conventional scientific medicine, dilution of a therapeutic substance weakens its potency. However, in the homoeopathic paradigm, dilution - even multiple times so that few molecules of the original substance remain - actually increases its potency. Presumably dilution can't do both. The paradigms are incommensurable, and so the possibilities for combining treatments based on the two paradigms must be limited."