author
Albert H. (Albert Henry) Buck
1842–1922
A pioneering American ear specialist, he helped shape otology as a medical field in the United States and later turned his attention to writing broad, accessible histories of medicine. His work moves from close clinical study to a much wider view of how medicine grew over time.
2 Audiobooks
The growth of medicine from the earliest times to about 1800
by Albert H. (Albert Henry) Buck
About the author
Born in 1842 and educated at Yale, Albert Henry Buck became one of the American physicians most closely associated with the early development of otology, the study of the ear. He served as an aural surgeon at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary and later taught as a professor of otology at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons.
His medical writing centered on ear disease and hearing, with books such as Diagnosis and Treatment of Ear Diseases, A Manual of Diseases of the Ear, and First Principles of Otology. These works helped organize a growing specialty for both students and practicing doctors, and they show how strongly he focused on careful observation, anatomy, and practical treatment.
Later in life, Buck also wrote about the history of medicine. Books like The Dawn of Modern Medicine and The Growth of Medicine from the Earliest Times to about 1800 reveal a writer interested not only in treating disease, but also in explaining how medical knowledge was built across generations. He died in 1922, leaving behind both specialist textbooks and readable historical works.