This volume describes important medical discoveries, from the introduction of the first antibiotic to the present, where serendipity, intuition, coincidence, or laboratory accident played an important role in bringing a discovery to light. Although chance is the principal determinant, the book emphasizes other factors, such as economic and political exigencies and being in the right place at the right time.
1. Dyes and Destiny
2. A Lesson from "The Wizard of Oz"
3. Elegy for a Planet
4. Afflictions of Affluence
5. Too Much of a Good Thing
6. Foresight, Nearsight and Insight
7. Captain of the Men of Death
8. The Oxford Incidents
9. Orphans and Their Relatives
10. Janus and the Cancer Connection
11. Concept Out of Chaos
12. Bing, Bang and Levin and the Horseshoe Crab
13. Mighty like a Rose
14. Backyard Full of Diamonds
Podolsky\, Daniel K.