[On the objectives and the contents of the course: "Introduction to medicine" - a literature investigation].

The education of Introduction to Medicine for the medical students can be traced back to the Hippocratic medicine in ancient Greece, when regarded some essays on the nature of medical care in Corpus Hippocraticum. However, its modern precurser may be the medical historian, Henry Sigerist who published the book: Einführung in die Medizin (Introduction to medicine) in 1931 on the basis of his lecture at Leipzig University. Influenced probably by the German medical tradition the education of the Introduction to Medicine has been flourished in the medical schools in Japan since 1941. In Korea the course has been introduced in 1971 and only few universities have adopted it as the regular course for medical students, while the education of behavioral science in the medical schools became more popular since 1970. The objectives and the contents of the education of the Intorduction to Medicine seem to be different according to the organizer of this course. This study deals with the questions about the objectives and contents of the Introduction to Medicine. Fourteen books by twelve authors entitled with either the Introduction to Medicine or the relevant one which were published in Japan, except for the above mentioned book of Sigerist since 1945 were under the investigation. The motivations and the purposes of the authors for the publications of the books and their contents were compared each other in which the guidelines for the education of Introduction to Medicine were indirectly reflected. ...