Before the discovery of the cell, the body was seen as composed of nothing but fibers. Fiber, Medicine, and Culture in the British Enlightenment is the first full account of the concept of fiber and fiber theory in eighteenth-century British medicine. It explores the pivotal role fiber played as a defining, underlying concept in anatomy, physiology, pathology, therapeutics, psychology, and the life sciences. With the gradual demise of ancient humoralism, the solid fibers appeared on the medical scene both as the basic building unit of the body and as the dynamic agent of life. As such, fiber...