The preface of The Person Behind the Syndrome by Peter and Greta Beighton
(Springer, £39.50, ISBN 3 540 76044 X) introduces a new
phenomenon—promiscuous eponymy—a thing to be avoided if you want
your name to be perpetuated as the originator of a syndrome. This volume,
containing descriptions of a hundred syndromes and short biographies of their
discoverers, follows one published ten years ago that did not include women.
There aren’t many in this volume either, a fact the compilers deplore.
Unfortunately, the layout is old-fashioned too. But if you’re keen on the
subject.
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