"This work is an attempt to give, first, the story of medicine in each country by means of excerpts from the important writers; and secondly, the state of medicine in each country at the time of writing, gathered by correspondence with contemporary physicians. I know of no work on exactly the same lines..." (Note by William Osler in Bibliotheca Osleriana [1929] 3830). Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.