There’s also an important cultural context for this rush of activity that cannot be ignored: it was the tail end of the golden age of medicine. Before 1935 there weren’t too many effective treatments around: we had insulin, liver for iron-deficiency anemia, and morphine—a drug with superficial charm at least—but in many respects, doctors were fairly useless. Then suddenly, between about 1935 and 1975, science poured out a constant stream of miracles.
