Monstrous animal siblings in Europe

Reports of women giving birth to a baby together with an animal (toad, mouse, bird, etc.), are documented in Europe from the 1100s onwards: the most important traditions of which are the frater Salernitanorum and the sooterkin. Throughout the centuries, authors have typically attempted to explain monstrous animal siblings in the light of contemporary medical knowledge. The present paper compares the medieval frater Salernitanorum with the later sooterkin and investigates both in historico-folklore terms. It argues that it is important to understand monstrous birth traditions not only in the light of medical history, but as beliefs and narratives actively shared through acts of communication. In so doing, this article is informed by both the history of medicine and folklore studies.

The emergence of modern therapeutic similarity

One of the roots of modern therapeutic similarity might be retraced to the work of Samuel Hahnemann at the end of the 18th century. His particular formulation arose from an original synthesis of traditional therapeutic similarity, dating from classic Antiquity and mantained as an undercurrent in medical thinking, and contemporary theories, particularly counter-irritation (antagonistic fever) theory. Against historical readings asserting that modern therapeutic similarity is either a mere a continuation of the ancient, or a historical orphan, it is possible to verify that Hahnemann’s work belonged within the specific framework of 18th medical science. The formulation of modern therapeutic similarity is best described as a process combining both continuity and epistemological break. Keywords: History of Medicine; 18th century; Pharmacology; Peruvian bark; Modern therapeutic similarity.  O surgimento da semelhança terapéutica moderna Resumo Uma das raízes da semelhança terapéutica moderna pode ser localizada na obra de Samuel Hahnemann, no final do século XVIII. Sua formulação particular surgiu da síntese original da semelhança terapéutica tradicional, procedente da Antigüidade clássica e conservada subterraneamente no pensamento médico, com teorias contemporâneas, especialmente a teoria da contra-irritação (febre antagonista). Por oposição a leituras históricas que afirmam que semelhança terapéutica moderna é uma mera continuação da antiga ou, alternativamente, um ófão histórico, pode-se constatar que a obra de Hahnemann corresponde ao marco específico da ciéncia médico do século XVIII. A formulação da semelhança terapéutica parece ser melhor compreendida como um processo que combina continuidade e ruptura epistemológicas. Palavras-chave: História da Medicina; século 18; Farmacologia; semelhança terapéutica moderna.  El surgimiento de la similaridad terapéutica moderna Resumen Una de las raíces de la similaridad terapéutica moderna puede ser localizada en la obra de Samuel Hahnemann al final del siglo XVIII. Su formulación particular surgió de la síntesis original de la similaridad terapéutica tradicional, procedente de la Antigüedad clásica y conservada subterráneamente en el pensamiento médico, con teorías contemporáceas, especialmente la de la contrairritación (fiebre antagonista). En oposición a lecturas históricas que afirman que la similaridad terapéutica moderna es una mera continuación de la antigua o un huérfano histórico, se puede constatar que la obra de Hahnemann corresponde al marco específico de la ciencia médica del siglo XVIII. La formulación de la similaridad terapéutica moderna parece ser mejor comprendida como um processo que combina continuidad y ruptura epistemológicas. Palabras-clave: Historia de la Medicina; siglo 18; Farmacología; similitud terapéutica moderna.  Correspondence author: Silvia Waisse Priven, [email protected] ; http://www.pucsp.br/pos/cesima How to cite this article: Waisse Priven S. The emergence of modern therapeutic similarity. Int J High Dilution Res [online]. 2008 [cited DD Mmm YYYY]; 7(22): 22-30. Available from: http://journal.giri-society.org/index.php/ijhdr/article/view/252/335. ÂÂÂ

History of homeopathy and social history of medicine: the story of a successful marriage

The Institute for the History of Medicine (IGM) was established in 1980 by the Robert Bosch Foundation, in Stuttgart, Germany, on the basis of a collection of documents and other small objects belonging to Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy. However, since its very inception, its directors considered that the history of homeopathy also had a role to play in the larger picture of the history of medicine. On the other hand, the history of homeopathy was not restricted to the account of the development of ideas and careers of practitioners, but it would benefit significantly by approaching it from the perspective of social history, including the study of institutions, patients’ views, lay supporting societies and publications. This paper presents a review of this project as assessed by an analysis of recent publications that, taken as a whole, reflect the historiographical contribution of researchers at IGM.

From New Spain to Damascus: Ottoman Religious Authorities and the Making of Medical Knowledge on Tobacco

This article examines the translation, circulation, and adaptation of the medical opinion of Spanish physician Nicolas Monardes (d. 1588) on tobacco in the Ottoman Empire. In addition to medical and encyclopedist authors, the spread of new medical knowledge in learned and eventually popular registers was the result of the efforts of religious authorities. These latter authorities, namely jurists, Sufis, and preachers, took an interest in the bodily and mental effects of smoking for its moral implications. In forming their medical-moral discourse, they sought and studied contemporary medical works of both Ottoman and European provenance. Challenging the strict division between learned and popular medicine, this article argues that Ottoman religious authorities, while often excluded from the history of medicine, played significant roles in the circulation, adaptation, and localization of medical knowledge.

A WELL-KNOWN POPULARIZER OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND A PROMINENT SPECIALIST IN THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN SIBERIA

Valerian Nikolaev (03.02.1951), Doctor of Medical Sciences, Editorial Board Member of the Siberian Research journal. He has 81 scientific publications in eLibrary journals, 2 monographs. His articles have been cited 120 times, h-index: 5. Areas of expertise: phthisiology, healthcare organization, history of medicine. He is actively engaged in promoting scientific knowledge. He has 14 popular scientific publications on the history of health care and medical science.

Beyond Overcoming: A Woman Writer’s Articulation of Pain in Socialist China

Feminist inquiries into the status of women in Mao-era China have shed light on the challenges women experienced in their double role as producers and reproducers in the nascent socialist state. Less is known about how women lived up to expectations of (re)productivity while struggling with illness. Drawing on gender studies, literary studies, history, and the history of medicine, this article examines articulations of pain in the diaries that writer Yang Mo (1914-95) kept between 1945 and 1982, and published in 1985, to explore intersections among normative configurations of pain, gender politics, and identity construction in socialist China. Yang’s diaries show that the narrative of pain is fundamentally shaped by cultural and political discourses of “overcoming” physical and ideological shortcomings – discourses that the party-state upheld to transform the Chinese people into physically-fit, ideologically-correct socialist citizens. Within this context, this study focuses on Yang’s embodied experience to reveal both the empowering potential of these discourses and their inherent limits.

The Obstetric Connection: Midwives and Weasels within and beyond Minoan Crete

The Minoan peak sanctuaries call for systematic comparative research as an island-bound phenomenon whose significance to the (pre)history of medicine far transcends the Cretan context: they yield clay anatomical offerings attesting to the earliest known healing cult in the Aegean. The peak sanctuary of Petsophas produced figurines of weasels, which are usually interpreted as pests, ignoring their association with votives that express concerns about childbirth, traditionally the first single cause of death for women. The paper draws from primary sources to examine the weasel’s puzzling bond with birth and midwives, concluding that it stems from the animal’s pharmacological role in ancient obstetrics. This novel interpretation then steers the analysis of archaeological evidence for rituals involving mustelids beyond and within Bronze Age Crete, revealing the existence of a midwifery koine across the Near East and the Mediterranean, a net of interconnections relevant to female therapeutics which brings to light a package of animals and plants bespeaking of a Minoan healing tradition likely linked to the cult of the midwife goddess Eileithyia. Challenging mainstream accounts of the beginnings of Western medicine as a male accomplishment, this overlooked midwifery tradition characterises Minoan Crete as a unique crucible of healing knowledge, ideas, and practices.