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Marble statue of Asclephius on a pedestal, symbol of medicine in Western medicine

Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness. Contemporary medicine applies biomedical sciences, biomedical research, genetics, and medical technology to diagnose, treat, and prevent injury and disease, typically through pharmaceuticals or surgery, but also through therapies as diverse as psychotherapy, external splints and traction, medical devices, biologics, and ionizing radiation, amongst others.

Medicine has been practiced since prehistoric times, during most of which it was an art (an area of skill and knowledge) frequently having connections to the religious and philosophical beliefs of local culture. For example, a medicine man would apply herbs and say prayers for healing, or an ancient philosopher and physician would apply bloodletting according to the theories of humorism. In recent centuries, since the advent of modern science, most medicine has become a combination of art and science (both basic and applied, under the umbrella of medical science). While stitching technique for sutures is an art learned through practice, the knowledge of what happens at the cellular and molecular level in the tissues being stitched arises through science.

Prescientific forms of medicine are now known as traditional medicine or folk medicine, which remains commonly used in the absence of scientific medicine, and are thus called alternative medicine. Alternative treatments outside of scientific medicine having safety and efficacy concerns are termed quackery. (Full article...)

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A complete blood count (CBC), also known as a full blood count (FBC), is a set of medical laboratory tests that provide information about the cells in a person's blood. The CBC indicates the counts of white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets, the concentration of hemoglobin, and the hematocrit (the volume percentage of red blood cells). The red blood cell indices, which indicate the average size and hemoglobin content of red blood cells, are also reported, and a white blood cell differential, which counts the different types of white blood cells, may be included.

The CBC is often carried out as part of a medical assessment, and can be used to monitor health or diagnose diseases. The results are interpreted by comparing them to reference ranges, which vary with sex and age. Conditions like anemia and thrombocytopenia are defined by abnormal complete blood count results. The red blood cell indices can provide information about the cause of a person's anemia such as iron deficiency and vitamin B12 deficiency, and the results of the white blood cell differential can help to diagnose viral, bacterial and parasitic infections and blood disorders like leukemia. Not all results falling outside of the reference range require medical intervention. (Full article...)

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Human eye.

Photo credit: Original uploader was Che (CC-BY-2.5)

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... that mythomania is a condition involving compulsive lying by a person with no obvious motivation?

... that a jet injector is a type of medical injecting syringe that uses a high-pressure narrow jet of the injection liquid instead of a hypodermic needle to penetrate the epidermis?
... that an iridectomy is the surgical removal of part of the iris, most frequently performed in the treatment of closed-angle glaucoma and iris melanoma?

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The following are images from various Medicine-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1American Civil War hospital at Gettysburg, 1863 (from History of medicine)
Image 2The plinthios brochos as described by Greek physician Heraklas, a sling for binding a fractured jaw. These writings were preserved in one of Oribasius' collections. (from History of medicine)
Image 3"Diagram of the causes of mortality in the army in the East" by Florence Nightingale. (from History of medicine)
Image 4Primary care may be provided in community health centers. (from Health care)
Image 5Traditional medicine in a market in Antananarivo, Madagascar (from Traditional medicine)
Image 6A 12th-century Byzantine manuscript of the Hippocratic Oath (from Medical ethics)
Image 7Guy's Hospital in 1820 (from History of medicine)
Image 8Andreas Vesalius's 1543 De humani corporis fabrica contained intricately detailed drawings of human dissections, often in allegorical poses. (from History of medicine)
Image 9American combat surgery during the Pacific War, 1943. Major wars showed the need for effective hygiene and medical treatment. (from History of medicine)
Image 10The Quaker-run York Retreat, founded in 1796, gained international prominence as a centre for moral treatment and a model of asylum reform following the publication of Samuel Tuke's Description of the Retreat (1813). (from History of medicine)
Image 11Replica of Antonie van Leeuwenhoek's microscope of the 1670s (from History of medicine)
Image 12Health Expenditure per capita (in PPP-adjusted US$) among several OECD member nations. Data source: OECD's iLibrary (from Health insurance)
Image 13Mexico City epidemic of 1737, with elites calling on the Virgin of Guadalupe (from History of medicine)
Image 14Assorted dried plant and animal parts used in traditional Chinese medicines, clockwise from top left corner: dried Lingzhi (lit. "spirit mushrooms"), ginseng, Luo Han Guo, turtle shell underbelly (plastron), and dried curled snakes (from History of medicine)
Image 15Monumental stone relief of a fish-garbed figure from the Temple of Ninurta in the Assyrian city of Kalhu, believed by some experts to be a representation of an āšipu, or exorcist-priest, who functioned as a kind of healer and primitive doctor (from History of medicine)
Image 16Infographic showing how healthcare data flows within the billing process (from Medical billing)
Image 17The emergency room is often a frontline venue for the delivery of primary medical care. (from Health care)
Image 18The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, written in the 17th century BCE, contains the earliest recorded reference to the brain. New York Academy of Medicine. (from History of medicine)
Image 19healthcare expenditure in Japan by age group (from Health insurance)
Image 20The oldest Polish Collegium Medicum at Jagiellonian University founded in 1364 (from History of medicine)
Image 21Patient, Surrey County Lunatic Asylum, c. 1850–58. The asylum population in England and Wales rose from 1,027 in 1827 to 74,004 in 1900. (from History of medicine)
Image 22AMA Code of Medical Ethics (from Medical ethics)
Image 23Taoist symbol of Yin and Yang (from Medical ethics)
Image 24Curandera performing a limpieza in Cuenca, Ecuador (from Traditional medicine)
Image 25Life Expectancy of the total population at birth among several OECD member nations. Data source: OECD's iLibrary (from Health insurance)
Image 26Florence Nightingale triggered the professionalization of nursing. Photograph c. 1860 (from History of medicine)
Image 27Global concentrations of healthcare resources, as depicted by the number of physicians per 10,000 individuals, by country. (from Health care)
Image 28Smallpox vaccination in Niger, 1969. A decade later, this was the first infectious disease to be eradicated. (from History of medicine)
Image 29Depiction of smallpox in Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún's history of the conquest of Mexico, Book XII of the Florentine Codex, from the defeated Aztecs' point of view (from History of medicine)
Image 30Botánicas such as this one in Jamaica Plain, Boston, cater to the Latino community and sell folk medicine alongside statues of saints, candles decorated with prayers, lucky bamboo, and other items. (from Traditional medicine)
Image 31The Hippocratic Corpus
A collection of early medical works may be associated with Hippocrates (from History of medicine)
Image 32Hospital train "Therapist Matvei Mudrov" in Khabarovsk, Russia (from Health care)
Image 33Most countries have seen a tremendous increase in life expectancy since 1945. However, in southern Africa, the HIV epidemic beginning around 1990 has eroded national health. (from History of medicine)
Image 34Sometimes traditional medicines include parts of endangered species, such as the slow loris in Southeast Asia. (from Traditional medicine)
Image 35A cochlear implant is a common kind of neural prosthesis, a device replacing part of the human nervous system. (from History of medicine)
Image 3618th-century medical remedies collected by a British Gentry family (from History of medicine)
Image 37Ayurvedic herbal medicines (from History of medicine)
Image 38Mandrake (written 'ΜΑΝΔΡΑΓΟΡΑ' in Greek capitals). Naples Dioscurides, 7th century (from History of medicine)
Image 39The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, United Kingdom is a specialist neurological hospital. (from Health care)
Image 40Medical recipe concerning poisoning. Terracotta tablet, from Nippur, Iraq, 18th century BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul (from History of medicine)
Image 41The numbers of Americans lacking health insurance and the uninsured rate from 1987 to 2008 (from Health insurance)
Image 42World map of universal healthcare.

Countries with free and universal health care
(from Health insurance)
Image 43Louis Pasteur experimenting on bacteria, c. 1870 (from History of medicine)

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