The history of medicine and surgery is well documented, but this volume offers the first specific exploration of the treatment of and attitudes towards children with injuries and birth defects through the ages. Popular thought holds that children in ancient times with birth defects faced a short life of abandonment or neglect. Examination of written records from ancient Egypt, India, Greece, and Islam, however, shows that physicians and surgeons have attempted to find remedies to cure ailing youths from the beginning of recorded medical history. These essays document the origins of children's surgery, chronicle the history of children's surgery into modern times, and explore the treatment of the most common visceral birth defects. With contributing authors offering perspectives from a variety of cultures, this extraordinary collection will interest not only medical professionals, but also historians and others in the child care field.