Book excerpt: "In this work on the discovery and therapeutic use of the china root in the treatment of syphilis, Vesalius described the first attempt to formulate methods of identification of an exotic drug. He also offered physicians an opportunity to determine whether or not a drug coming into common use might be adulterated. The work contains Vesalius's defense of his anatomical methods and doctrines as described in the Fabrica (No. 375), as well as important autobiographical data."--Garrison & Morton (1991).