TINCTURE OF TIME: A Concise History of Medicine surveys the major and seismic forces that shaped the evolution of Western medicine. The study progresses chronologically in its examination of ancient medical practices, the classical period, Byzantium, Arabic and monastic medieval medicine, annihilating epidemics and plagues, the Renaissance and the Enlightenment periods, hospital centered 19th century medicine, women in medicine and the spectacular advances of 20th century medicine. It intersperses throughout comparisons with eastern medicine in the same time frames. The evolution of Western medicine is discussed in the context of the seminal discoveries that have informed modern medicine and describes the physicians - still renowned and those long forgotten - responsible. It assesses the snail paced progress from superstition, prejudice and the application of dangerous misconceptions and erroneous thinking to the sound, unassailable principles that emerged through experiment, insightful inquisition, and even serendipitous and accidental findings, . Incorporated into the saga of the jagged progress in medical thought and practice is the degree to which political and institutional forces abetted / hindered medical advancement.