Monthly Archives: November 2018

Opening Hours w/b 3rd December

Our opening times next week will be as follows:

Monday & Tuesday: 2.15pm-5pm
Wednesday: 2pm-4.30pm
Thursday: 2.15pm-5pm
Friday: CLOSED

Our collections covering the history of medicine are available to search on SOLO. We welcome new readers, so if you would like to pay us a visit, do contact us to arrange an appointment!

PLEASE NOTE: From 10th December-10th January inclusive, we will be having some essential maintenance work carried out in Room 2 of the library. All of the books in Room 2 (shelfmarks from R702 CLA 2010 onwards) will be completely sealed by sheeting for the duration, and therefore inaccessible. If you anticipate that you will need access to any of these books in the meantime, please contact us so that we can retrieve them for temporary storage in Room 1.

Have a lovely weekend!

A cure for a cold. Coloured lithograph, G. Tregear, 1833. Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BY

Opening Hours w/b 26th November

Our Week 8 opening times will be as follows:

Monday & Tuesday: 2.15pm-5pm
Wednesday: 2pm-4.30pm
Thursday: 2.15pm-5pm
Friday: CLOSED

Our collections covering the history of medicine are available to search on SOLO. We welcome new readers, so if you would like to pay us a visit, do contact us to arrange an appointment!

Have a brilliant weekend!

‘Artificial nose, Europe, 1601-1800’. Credit: Science Museum, London. CC BY

Seminars in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology- Week 7, 19th November

‘The late eighteenth century was a pivotal era in the history of ideas about venereal disease in the British Empire. The slow death of the Atlantic slave trade put new pressures on British doctors to cultivate sexual health among enslaved women in the British Caribbean in order to ensure their fertility, and at the same time the extensive engagement of the British military in the Caribbean raised new concerns about the sexual health of British soldiers and sailors. This paper will discuss how these pressures unfolded and how they shaped the circulation of medical knowledge about venereal disease. Particular attention will be given to the relationship between African and British healers, and especially the engagement  of the Surgeon General of the British Armed Forces, John Hunter, with ideas about venereal disease that were generated in the Caribbean through the interaction of white and black healers.’

When? Monday 19th November 2018, 16:00. Coffee will be available from 15:30.

Where? Lecture Theatre, History Faculty, George Street, Oxford OX1 2RL

All welcome to attend! This term’s HSMT Seminar series is convened by Professor Rob Iliffe and Dr Sloan Mahone, Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology. More information about HSMT events can be found here.

Opening Hours w/b 19th November

Our opening times in Week 7 will be as follows:

Monday & Tuesday: 2.15pm-5pm
Wednesday: 2pm-4.30pm
Thursday & Friday: 2.15pm-5pm

Our collections covering the history of medicine are available to search on SOLO. If you would like to pay us a visit, contact us in advance to arrange an appointment.

Have a lovely weekend!

Pocket inhaler, London, 1901-1918, used to treat colds and flu. With glass bottle for menthol. Credit: Science Museum, London. CC BY

 

 

Seminars in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology- Week 6, 12th November

‘What hereditary effect, if any, does alcohol have upon the nervous system? As the temperance movement gained popularity and political influence in the 19th century, the potential influence of intemperate habits on human heredity became a pressing topic for concern in both the medical and the religious press. The shared anxieties of medical and religious institutions led to an abundance of pamphlets and treatises that attempted to unite the religious and phrenological views on the dangers of intoxication. In this paper, I argue that by examining the significance of phrenological thought to the temperance movement, we can better understand how ideas of the transmission of illnesses and vices from parent to offspring were diffused in the 19th century to the reading public. Drawing on John van Wyhe’s characterisation of phrenology as a popular medium through which scientific naturalism gained prominence, I show that the temperance movement provided a site of discourse that communicated not only the dangers of alcohol, but also theories of reproduction, heredity, and the transmission of acquired traits. As such, the temperance movement prioritised some understandings of the laws of heredity while overlooking or downplaying others.’

When? Monday 12th November 2018, 16:00. Coffee will be available from 15:30.

Where? Lecture Theatre, History Faculty, George Street, Oxford OX1 2RL

All welcome to attend! This term’s HSMT Seminar series is convened by Professor Rob Iliffe and Dr Sloan Mahone, Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology. More information about HSMT events can be found here.

Opening Hours w/b 12th November

Our opening times in Week 6 will be:

Monday & Tuesday: 2.15pm-5pm
Wednesday: 2pm-4.30pm
Thursday: 2.15pm-4.30pm
Friday: 2.15pm-5pm

Our collections covering the history of medicine are available to search on SOLO. If you would like to pay us a visit, do contact us in advance by email or phone to arrange an appointment.

Have an excellent weekend!

”The medical student’ by Albert Smith.’ . Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BY

New Books in October 2018

A quick round-up of the excellent new books we received last month, including an uplifting perspective on early modern health, and the story of 18th-century bowels!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rebecca Anne Barr, Sylvie Kleiman-Lafon & Sophie Vasset (eds.), Bellies, Bowels and Entrails in the Eighteenth Century (Manchester University Press: 2018)

Suman Seth, Difference and Disease: Medicine, Race, and the Eighteenth-Century British Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2018)

Hannah Newton, Misery to Mirth: Recovery from Illness in Early Modern England (Oxford University Press, 2018)

Hugh Cagle, Assembling the Tropics: Science and Medicine in Portugal’s Empire, 1450-1700 (Cambridge University Press, 2018)

You can find all of these books on our New Books Display in Room 1 of the Library. For regular updates of our new books, do visit our LibraryThing page!

 

 

Lecture 8th Nov: ‘Science Fictions: The triumph of the imagination and the invention of scientific creativity’

Thursday 8th November, 17.00. South Schools, Examinations Schools.
All wellcome to attend! The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception in the North School.

Seminars in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology- Week 5, 5th November

‘This paper looks at how eugenics shaped Catholic discussions on sexuality, reproduction and the protection of the family in Hungary during the interwar period. The main issue at the time was how to harmonise the interests of the state and the nation with the interests of individuals and families. The eugenic focus on reproduction intersected long-seated religious and cultural patterns of family life, which Hungarian Catholics considered unalterable. However, eugenics was not completely rejected by the Catholic Church. Whilst negative eugenic practices such as sterilisation and euthanasia were rejected, positive eugenics was considered an important medium through which the Catholic Church could voice its views on sexual morality, population policies and the protection of Hungarian racial qualities.’

When? Monday 5th November 2018, 16:00. Coffee will be available from 15:30.

Where? Lecture Theatre, History Faculty, George Street, Oxford OX1 2RL

All welcome to attend! This term’s HSMT Seminar series is convened by Professor Rob Iliffe and Dr Sloan Mahone, Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology. More information about HSMT events can be found here.

Opening Hours w/b 5th November

Our Week 5 opening times will be as follows:

Monday & Tuesday: 2.15pm-5pm
Wednesday: 2pm-4.30pm
Thursday & Friday: 2.15pm-5pm

Our collections covering the history of medicine are available to search on SOLO. If you are new to the library and would like to visit, please contact us in advance to arrange an appointment.

Have a sparkling weekend!

Pyrotechny: designs for fireworks. Engraving by A. Bell.’ . Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BY