This wide-ranging and imaginative book examines the social and scientific role of the French Academy of Medicine from its creation in 1820 to the outbreak of the Second World War. The first chapters focus on the institution and its activities, including the evaluation of medical innovations and the cultivation of professional memory through eulogies and institutional art. Weisz argues that the Academy was gradually transformed from a low-status public institution that was central to French medical science in the nineteenth century to an "establishment" institution largely irrelevant to...

This wide-ranging book is the first to examine one of the most significant and characteristic features of modern medicine - specialization - in historical and comparative context. Based on research in three languages, it traces the origins of modern medical specialization to 1830s Paris and examines its spread to Germany, Britain, and the US, showing how it evolved from an outgrowth of academic teaching and research in the 19th century into the dominant mode of medical practice by the middle of the 20th. Taking account of the parallels and differences in national developments, the book shows...

Culled from the proceedings of 'La quantification dans les sciences medicales et de la sante: perspective historique' held at the Musee Claude-Bernard in France in 2002, this title moves beyond the usual emphasis on public health and clinical medicine to include the central role of numbers in laboratory work and medical instrumentation.

Medical or hio- ethics has in recent years been a growth industry. Journals, Centers and Associations devoted to the subject proliferate. Medical schools seem increasingly to be filling rare positions in the humanities and social sciences with ethicists. Hardly a day passes without some media scrutiny of one or another ethical dilemma resulting from our new-found ability to transform the natural conditions of life. Although bioethics is a self-consciously interdisciplinary field, it has not attracted the collaboration of many social scientists. In fact, social scientists who specialize in the...

Mark Weber, after retiring for the night, was transported in time to Jerusalem at the time of the final days of Christ. He experienced the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, on what is now known as Palm Sunday. In a very brief stay, he was given the ability to read and speak all languages. Returning to his own bed, he was in shock when he awoke and realized that it had not been a dream. He met and joined forces with two others who had a parallel experience. They were the only apparent opposition to an evil super genius, who had charmed most people, and who was well along in his intent to be their...

A collection of essays, historical and contemporary, on the health and healing of children around the world. It sheds light on the medical, political, and cultural dimensions of the efforts to preserve and protect the lives of our most vulnerable citizens.

The papers in this volume represent the first attempt at a coherent analysis of the institutional structure of French science and technology in the nineteenth century. They treat both research and education and cover the main developments in the period from the establishment of the Napoleonic University in 1808 to the outbreak of the First World War. The papers reflect the intense interest in the social history of French science since the Revolution and convey a vivid impression of different modes of thought in a particularly active field of research. The contributions stress and develop more...