The ten essays selected for this volume range from an investigation of Boswell's repeated infection with gonorrhea to a critical examination of Plato's account of Socrates's death in the Phaedo, subjects both ancient and modern. A pathologist by training and practice, more specifically a histopathologist, Dr. Ober has spent most of his life trying to diagnose diseases by looking through a microscope at pieces of tissue removed from the human body by biopsy, at surgery or autopsy. By applying medical analyses, and by applying evidence from other disciplines as well, Dr. Ober scrutinizes selected literary subjects and brings to their mind-body problems new and often astonishing interpretations. -- Book Jacket