Abstract
‘Medicine in the library’ describes the continued influence of ancient manuscripts throughout Europe and the Middle East, and how individuals with access to such texts dominated healthcare until the emergence of medical schools and universities from the eleventh century onwards. Early medical schools and hospitals allowed medicine to be taught on a wider scale, but led to little scientific research until the discovery of anatomy in the fourteenth century. Public dissections inspired greater interest and research on the nature of the body, as part of the Renaissance's scientific revolution. Despite this, diagnosis remained holistic and treatment methods changed little.
