Weeks (German, Illinois State U.) rejects some of the myths surrounding the 16th-century medical pioneer, based on a close examination and revised dating of his writings. He finds his radical trans-disciplinary theories to be a response to sectarian conflicts of the early Reformation, and such particulars as the transmuted disease and unrecognized female pathology as challenges to the established order and ideology. The quotations are offered in both German and English. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.