Monthly Archives: February 2019

Seminars in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology- 25th February (week 7)

“In this paper I introduce some of the key ideas of my new book Thrifty Science. I argue that “oeconomic” literature on household management provides a useful starting-point for making sense of the material practices of experimenters in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Oeconomy encouraged thrift in managing a household, which meant a balance of expenditure on new things and making the most of what one already had. Focusing on the seventeenth century, I shall argue that householders experimenting in their homes brought thrifty attitudes to new forms of natural knowledge-making, and while historians have focused on the new and dedicated materials of this period they have overlooked how experimenters exploited what they already had. This “thrifty science” involved, in particular, “making use of things” – using everyday items as best as possible, a practice which met derision from some quarters, but which various experimenters claimed was a critical feature of the new science. I shall highlight different opinions on the nature of household practices as experimental knowledge. For some, domestic experiment was sufficient in itself as a new form of science, but others argued that it needed to be extracted from the home for testing and accreditation elsewhere. Many things might be “experiments” but only some could be “natural philosophy.”

I examine seventeenth and eighteenth-century English attitudes to material goods, and suggest that the literature of “oeconomy” or household management offers a means to better understand this. Householders encouraged thrift in the management of their homes, which did not simply equate with saving money but with finding a balance between excess and frugality, a contribution to the good order of the home and social harmony. Householders might buy new goods, but they should also make use of what they already possessed. This encouraged a view of materials as open-ended and adaptable, and I propose this was one route to the experimentation that flourished in the seventeenth century. Scholarly households such as the Bacons, Evelyns and Boyles viewed experiment as an important means to find out the many uses of things systematically. Such a desire for what Francis Bacon called “polychrests” or things of many uses, was not uncontested, however. Not everybody was thrifty, the rich were extravagant and the poor were forced to be frugal; and not everybody thought that making use of things was an appropriate way to make natural knowledge. The chapter concludes by considering ways that experimenters gave humble household knowledge credit and legitimacy.”

When? Monday 25th February 2019, 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 25th February

Our Week 7 opening hours will be as follows:

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

Our collection of books on the history of medicine are available to search on SOLO. We welcome new readers, so if you would like to visit please contact us to arrange an appointment.

Have a brilliant weekend!

Pill coating machine, France, 1915-1925. Credit: Science Museum, London. CC BY

Opening Hours w/b 18th February

Our opening hours in week 6 will be as follows:

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

Our collection of books on the history of medicine are available to search on SOLO. We welcome new readers, so if you would like to visit please do contact us by email or phone to arrange an appointment.

Have a lovely weekend!

Pharmacy leech jar, England, 1830-1870. Credit: Science Museum, London. CC BY

Seminars in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology- 18th February (week 6)

Dr Koen Vermeir, CNRS, Paris/Maison Française d’Oxford
Charlatan epistemology

‘In the spring of 1697, wonder-workers cured many citizens of Rotterdam by what was called “piss-work”. Instead of attending to the patient, healers used a secret powder to treat the patient’s fresh morning urine, and through a sympathetic interaction, the patient would be cured. The charlatans did not only draw censure from established physicians but some physicians supported the new cure bringing the charlatans into the fold. I will use this case study to discuss the epistemology of the charlatan. Charlatans have caused a historiographical headache for the history of medicine. The very category of “the charlatan” has been questioned again and again because of the intrinsic dangers of projection, anachronism and inappropriate judgment that seem to be embedded in the word itself. Instead of repeating the rhetoric of imposture and credulity, historians of medicine have recently tried to discover the “real” historical charlatan behind the polemics. In order to understand the charlatan we cannot ignore the divisive rhetoric, however. Key notions such as imposture, credulity, imagination and deception have to be historicized.’

When? Monday 18th February 2019, 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 11th February

Our opening hours in week 5 will be:

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

Our books relating to the history of medicine are available to search on SOLO. We welcome new readers, so if you would like to visit please contact us to arrange an appointment.

Have a brilliant weekend!

Treatment of nasal polypus, 17th Century, G. M. Faenisch. Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BY

Seminars in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology- 11th February (week 5)

‘Throughout the eighteenth century and for much of the nineteenth, the French language was the equivalent of the English language today: it was the language of diplomacy, of national elites, of culture in general, of science and medicine in particular. During the early decades of the XIX century, two major French publishers, Charles-Louis Panckoucke (1780-1844) and Jean-Baptiste Baillière (1797-1885) entered the market of transnational and global communication, by making available translations from the German language into French. Panckoucke, the son of the publisher linked to the editorial enterprise of Diderot’s and D’Alembert’s Encyclopédie, published a Dictionnaire des sciences médicales (60 vol., 1811-1822). The work was heavily indebted to German medicine, and made him a millionaire. From the late 1820s until the late 1850s, Baillière produced multi-volume translations of German works in medicine, physics, chemistry, the history of medicine and the history of philosophy – with a marked predilection for homeopathy and macrobiotics. He opened a highly profitable shop in London, and sent members of his family to establish branches in Australia, Canada, the United States, and Spain, thus becoming the first global scientific publisher – and a very rich man.’

When? Monday 11th February 2019, 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 4th February

Please note that our opening hours for week 4 will be slightly different from the usual, as follows:

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

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

Have a wonderful weekend!

‘The Kings medicines for the plague. Prescribed in the year, 1604 / by the whole Collodge of Physitians, both spiritual and temporal. Generally made use of, and approved in the years, 1625, and 1636. And now most fitting for this dangerous time of infection, to be used all England over.’ Royal College of Physicians.
London : F. Coles & T. Vere, 1665. Credit: Wellcome CollectionCC BY

Seminars in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology- 4th February (week 4)

‘Even before Britain’s National Health Service opened its doors on 5th July 1948, it was the subject of considerable international commentary, both enthusiastic and appalled. By 1948, the British government, medical professional bodies, activist groups, trade unions, and members of the public were not only aware of international conversations around the NHS, but were actively intervening in them. This is most visible in relation to perceptions of the Service in the United States, where the NHS was heavily invoked in national debates over the appropriate role of the state in the provision of health care. This talk will explore the efforts of a range of actors to influence domestic and international opinions about the National Health Service from its first decade to the end of the 20th century. What can representations of the NHS tell us about the place of the Service itself as a symbol of international standing and national values?’

When? Monday 4th February 2019, 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.