HIST3321 - Introduction to the History of Medicine

The wound man, medical teaching illustration, Germany, 1420. from the Wellcome Library Collection, London.

Dr. Brian Regal

Professor for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine

Department of History, LHAC 212

email: bregal@kean.edu

Course Description:

A survey of medical history from the ancient world to the nineteenth century. Special attention to case studies that provide insight into major discoveries and understanding of disease, illness, medical practitioners and practice in different historical contexts and cultures through the 19th century.

The class will cover the origins of anatomical study, dissection, medical botany, the origin of the hospital, medical astrology, medicine and human rights, and others.

Course Objectives:

Students will gain a familiarity with the history of medicine and the connections between medicine and society. They will examine the lives of important practitioners, researchers, and philosophers of medicine; understand medicine as part of a wider social context; study the social impact of medicine upon religion, politics, the arts and culture. Apply methods of historical research and analysis to the topic.

Syllabus: Spring 2024 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZBbM84Y7uwJnmICyQv8YeGg_-m1CzqS2/view?usp=sharing

Primary Texts:

Roy Porter, ed. The Cambridge History of Medicine (Cambridge University Press, 2011) ISBN: 0-521-68289-4.

William Bynum. The History of Medicine: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2008). ISBN: 978-0-19-921543-0.

Power Point presentation A: Updated November, 2023

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1iJVhrgSut2mnyVkSQVGL9aYukcP_egYe/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=117428245962695631831&rtpof=true&sd=true

Power Point presentation B: Updated March 3, 2021

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1JMZDhMvxJ-Ju1pG7baMVcNUeF36IvBRd/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=117428245962695631831&rtpof=true&sd=true

Power Point Presentation: History of Vaccination: March 30, 2021

Chicago Manual of Style: 9.22.2023

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pnF1h1AyvFZOg8biaZqpNA549qvL0aLr/view?usp=sharing

Required additional readings:

Start with these two very short (two page) articles: read this short article on how to read for a history class, then the companion piece on how to discuss a book for history class. Very helpful.

• Words history students should know

• Confucian medical ethics

• History of Medicine in China

• Hippocratic Oath

• Life of Galen

• Introduction to Alchemy

• Magical Remedies

• The Simon Forman Casebook Project

https://casebooks.lib.cam.ac.uk/about-us/casebooks-project

• Herbs, Herbals and Herbalists

• Botanical Sources

• Edward Jenner and Vaccinations

• The History of Vaccinations

• Update on Edward Jenner

• First use of the microscope

• The Biddenden Maids

• Medicine in India

• Body Snatching in Britain

• Molten Iron in the eye

• History of Anesthesia

• Robert Liston amputates a leg without anesthetic

• Fanny Burney's 1812 letter describing her mastectomy without anesthetic

Supplementary Readings: (strongly suggested but not required).

McCall, Taylor. The Art of Anatomy in Medieval Europe (Reaktion Books, 2023).

The History of Medicine in Education

The Practice of Medicine in Europe

https://thepracticeofmedicine.edwardworthlibrary.ie/

Original text of Ambroise Pare's Oeuvres (scroll down to find Pare)

M. H. Kaufman. Removal of a Tumor from 1834

R. Tate. History of Orthopedics

Fraser and Ayers. Doctor's Casebook, Scotland late 1700s

Luaren Kassell's Oxford Museum of the History of Science podcast lecture on Simon Forman http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/exhibits/podcasts/ (scroll down a bit).

A. W. Bates. The Anatomy of Robert Knox (Sussex Academic Press, 2010).

John C. Burnham. What is Medical History? (Polity Books, 2005).

James Poro and his 'brother' Michael, 1722

Trepanning, 1527

Medieval blood letting

On-Line Resources: accessing these will make your life in this class much easier!

Anesthesia history

http://www.medicalcodingcareerguide.com/resources/the-medical-world-before-anesthesia

Botanical Origins of Medieval Madness, Lapham's Quaterly

Burke's (the Body-Snatcher murderer) skin made into a book

Cultures of Health: A Medical Anthology, University of Windsor Ontario, Canada

http://hih.uwindsor.ca/wordpress/

De Humani Corporis Fabrica, Vesalius on-line, the complete text translated into English with the illustrations

http://vesalius.northwestern.edu/

Vesalius' personal copy of the De Humani discovered

Dream Anatomy, anatomical artwork resource

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/dreamanatomy/da_g_I-B-1-07.html

“England’s New Wonders”: Monstrous Births in the Early Modern Period

http://hih.uwindsor.ca/wordpress/index.php/2009/03/23/%e2%80%9cengland%e2%80%99s-new-wonders%e2%80%9d-monstrous-births-in-the-early-modern-period/

The English Housewife of Gervase Markham (1615), modern transcription

http://books.google.com/books?id=bJ2KV5vfzqYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+english+housewife+gervase+markham

Galen Letter Rediscovered

http://www.historytoday.com/raoul-mclaughlin/galen-and-great-fire-rome

Galen - Podcast on Galen's books by Dr. Vivian Nutton, University College London

http://backdoorbroadcasting.net/2011/02/vivian-nutton-galen-from-byzantium-to-basle/

Gherkins & Tomatoes, a cite on food history and Medieval medicine

http://gherkinstomatoes.com/2009/09/25/13249/

Harry Potter and the History of Medicine, exhibit, Wash., DC.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/harrypottersworld/

History of Medicine Finding Aids Consortium from the US National Library of Medicine

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/consortium/index.html

Iranian Medical History

http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/ancient_medicine_mesopotamia_iran.php

Islamic Medical History podcasts, University of Warwick, UK.

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/podcasts/media/more/medislam/

Les Ecarts de la Nature, (book of monstrous births) Gallica wed site, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8453981x/f1.planchecontact

Monsters in Medicine, Mutter Museum Exhibition, Imperfecta

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMSnZ2A_Qgs

Royal College of Physicians, library on-line rare book collection

https://archive.org/details/rcplondon?sort=-publicdate

Rutgers History of Medicine source page

http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~natalieb/medicine.htm

The Chirugeon's Apprentice, treasure trove of unusual articles, essays, and pictures on the history of pre-anesthetic surgeryhttp://thechirurgeonsapprentice.com/

Medical History Society of New Jersey

http://www.mhsnj.org/

Medical London, cool interactive stuff

http://www.medicallondon.org/walk_1.html

Mütter Museum, Philadelphia (Museum of weird medicine a must see!) www.collphyphil.org/mutter.asp

National Museum of Health and Medicine, Washington DC

http://www.medicalmuseum.mil/

The most notorious body snatchers in history:

New York Academy of Medicine 'The Resurrectionists'

http://www.nyam.org/library/pages/historical_collections_resurrectionists

Nicholas Culpeper's herbal on-line

http://www.bibliomania.com/2/1/66/113/frameset.html