The Progress of Experiment: Science and Therapeutic Reform in the United States, 1900-1990

Harry M. Marks

Cambridge University Press, Oct 2, 2000 - Medical - 258 pages

This book explores the origins of our contemporary system of drug regulation and the modern clinical trial. Marks illustrates the symbiotic relationship between the history of modern drug regulation and the history of therapeutic reform. Accompanying this history of public policy is a detailed account of changing experimental ideals and practices. Marks traces the history of therapeutic experimentation, from the "collective investigations" of the past century to the controlled clinical trial that emerged after 1950 as the paradigm of scientific experimentation. The result is the first general history of clinical research in the United States, a book that examines therapeutic experiments in a wide range of diseases, from syphilis and pneumonia to heart disease and diabetes.

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Contents

• A rational therapeutics: 17
• Memories of underdevelopment Therapeutic research in the United States 19001935: 42
• Playing it safe The Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938: 71
• War and peace: 98
• Of methods and institutions or The triumph of statistics: 129
• Managing chance Statistics and therapeutic experiments 19501960: 136
• You gotta have heart: 164
• Anatomy of a controversy The University Group Diabetes Program study: 197
• The dreams of reason Retrospect and prospect: 229
• A NOTE ON SOURCES: 249
• INDEX: 251

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Progress of Experiment: Science and Therapeutic Reform in the United States, 1900-1990; Cambridge Studies in the History of Medicine; Cambridge history of medicine, ISSN 1358-9849
• Author: Harry M. Marks
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2000
• ISBN: 0521785618, 9780521785617
• Length: 258 pages
• Subjects: Medical / History