History of Pre-Modern Medicine
Professor: Alexandra Cuffel
Office: Old Main 308
Office Hours: MWF 2:00-3:00
Phone: 696-6414
e-mail: cuffel@macalester.edu
website: http://www.macalester.edu/~cuffel/
This course is intended to familiarize students with
concepts of human biology and medicine from ancient
Requirements for the course:
1) Class participation: 15%
Class participation is based on the quality and
frequency of your oral participation in in-class discussions and upon the
quality and frequency of your comments/discussion on the Moodle site for this
course. For those who are slightly
more comfortable with writing rather than speaking, or visa versa,
participation in class or on the Moodle site may balance one another out
slightly, however, you are expected to engage in both. Attending class or looking at the web but
saying nothing will result in an NC, just as failure to attend class regularly
will result in no credit.
2) Oral Book Review: 10%
There is a list of
books from which to choose on line on the current courses page under this
course on my website, as well as guidelines for a good book review. The due date for book reviews will vary
depending on the book which you choose.
3) Research
Bibliography and Proposal: 10% The proposal consists of a 1-2 page
explanation of your thesis and proposed project for your research paper which
should be accompanied by an extensive bibliography for your research
paper. The bibliography must be
divided into primary and secondary sources and contain articles as well as books.
4) Analytic paper
dealing with a primary source relating to your research paper: 15%- You should select one or two of the primary
sources that you will be using for your research paper, and analyze
it/them. A good paper will have a
thesis, and will make good use of the source(s) to prove your point. You many incorporate parts of this paper
into your research paper.
5) Research Paper:
30%
This consists of an
original research paper using primary sources in conjunction with scholarly
articles and books to make an argument about some aspect of pre-modern medicine
that interests you. See guidelines
on my website.
6) Final exam: 20%
The Final (7-10 pages) consists of taking comparing 3 documents that we have examined in class, one each from the ancient, medieval and early modern periods that you feel are related in terms of subject matter, and discussing how and why medical theory and/or practice on this subject had changed or remained the same from the ancient through the early modern period.
Books for the course:
1)
Hippocratic Writings
2) Source Book of Medical History, ed.
3) Women's Secrets: A translation of Pseudo-Albertus Magnus' De Secretis Mulierum with Commentaries, ed./ trans. Helen Rodnite Lemay
4) Ibn Qayyim al-Jauziyya, Healing with the Medicine of
the Prophet
5) Paracelsus, Four
Treatises
*6) Galen, On the Usefulness of Parts, vols. 1-2 – on reserve at the
Macalester library.
Required on-line readings will be marked (@) and the link to them will be on the on-line version of this syllabus at my website http://www.macalester.edu/history/~cuffel/
under “current courses”
N.B.
My policy on plagiarism prohibits "any attempt by the student to gain academic advantage
through dishonest means." It
specifically prohibits "submitting a work for credit that includes words,
ideas, data, or creative work of others without acknowledging the source." It also prohibits "using another
author's words without enclosing them in quotation marks . . . or without
citing the source appropriately."
Teachers are obligated to report any instance in which they believe that
a student has intentionally plagiarized.
The typical penalty for plagiarism is a grade of "NC" for the
course. Repeat violators may be
dismissed from the college.
I- Ancient Medicine
Mon. Jan. 24: Introduction to the course. Lecture: Ways and Problems of knowing
about the diseases and medical practices of the pre-modern world.
Wed. Jan. 26: Lecture: Medical thought, practices,
and ailments in ancient Mesopotamia and
Fri. Jan. 28: Discussion of texts. Lecture: Zoroastrian concepts of disease and healing.
Readings for next class: Selected Avestas: @Fargad 7, “Purity laws” VII a (36-40), VII b (41-44), IX (60-72; 66-69; @Fargad 20 “Thrita and the Origin of Medicine”; @Fargad 21 “Healing Spells”; @Fargad 22 “ Angra Mainyu creates 99,999 diseases; Ahura Mazda counters with the Holy Manthra and with Airyaman”.
Mon. Jan. 31: Discussion of texts.
Wed. Feb. 2: Lecture on Hippocratic corpus and different schools of medicine.
Fri. Feb. 4: Discussion of texts.
Readings for next
class: Hippocratic writings,
"Epidemics I and III," pp. 113-38 (skim); @selections from
Herophilus; Clendening: Galen, "On the Pulse," pp. 42-45 and
"On Bones," pp. 48-50
Mon. Feb. 7: Discussion of texts: methods of observation and diagnosis and their problems. How did ancient Greek doctors learn about the body and medicine? Begin Lecture on Humors.
Readings for next class: Hippocratic writings, "Airs, Waters, Places," pp. 148-69; "The Sacred Disease," pp. 237-51; and "The Nature of Man," pp. 260-71.
Wed. Feb. 9: Discussion of texts. Lecture: Ancient Indian and Chinese medicine.
Fri. Feb. 11: Discussion of readings: Climate, health
and medicine in
Mon. Feb. 21: 3)Nutritive System: @selections from Aristotle on the stomach; (on reserve)Galen, books 4 & 5 of "On the Usefulness of Parts"; (@)modern account from Merck Manual. 4)Reproductive System: Hippocratic writings, "The Seed and The Nature of the Child," pp. 317-46; @selections from Aristotle on reproduction; (on reserve)Galen, books 14 & 15 of "On the Usefulness of Parts"; @selections from Soranus, Gynecology; (@)modern account from Merck manual.
Mon. Feb. 14: Meet in library.
Wed. Feb. 16: No Class.
Fri. Feb. 18: Presentations on 1) Lungs and Heart; 2)
Head, neck, brain.
Mon. Feb. 21: Presentations on 3) Nutritive System; 4)
Reproductive System
Wed. Feb. 23: Discussion of texts – wrapping up ancient Greek medicine. Lecture: Herbology/pharmacology, military “hospitals”, and encyclopedias – the Roman contributions to medicine.
II- The Middle
Ages
Fri. Feb. 25: Lecture/Discussion: The coming of Christianity and Islam; the transmission of Greek medical knowledge to the Byzantine, Muslim and Latin worlds; translations and the medical "revolutions" in the Muslim and Latin lands. Hospitals and medical learning and practice.
Mon. Feb. 28: Guest Lecture: Prof. Joseph Rife: Paleoarcheology and the study of medicine in the late Roman and early Byzantine era.
Wed. March 2: Discussion of texts. Bibliographies
and Proposals are due.
Readings for next class: @ Conrad,
“A Ninth-Century Muslim Scholar’s Discussion of Contagion.”;
Ibn Qayyim al-Jauziyya, Healing with Medicine of the Prophet, pp. 17-35,
128-134, 158-221, 246-247.
Fri. March 4: Discussion of texts. Lecture/slide show: Medieval
pharmacology and the transmission of herbal and other types of medical
knowledge and practice.
Readings for next class: @ Tom Allsen, “Medicine” from his Culture
and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia; @Selections from The
Trotula 1, 2, 3; Ibn Qayyim al-Jauziyya, Healing with
Medicine of the Prophet, pp. 39-47, 87-90, 96-100, 135-138 . Also choose at least 5 substances in the
section on “Simple drugs and foods “in al-Jauziya, (pp. 251-350)
and read them.
Mon. March 7: Discussion of texts
Readings for next class: @R.I. Moore, "Lepers" from his Formation of a persecuting society; @M. A. Judds, “Fracture Patterns at the medieval leper hospital in Chichester” @H.D. Isaacs, "A Medieval Arab Medical Certificate"; @Hildegard of Bingen, On Natural Philosophy and Medicine, pp. 102-103; Ibn Qayyim al-Jauziyya, Healing with Medicine of the Prophet, pp. 106-108.
Wed. March: 9: Lecture/Discussion: Religion and medicine: sickness and sin in Islam, Christianity and Judaism: Leprosy. Lecture: The Great Famine, Plague, and patterns of blame.
Readings for next class: Ibn Qayyim al-Jauziyya, Healing with Medicine of the Prophet,pp. 47-54; @ Ibn Iyas’ account of the Plague; @ Ron Barakai, “Jews and the Plague” @ Medieval medical texts on the plague from Western Europe
Fri. March 11: Continued lecture and discussion of texts.
.”@ Michel
Drancourt and Didier Raoult, “Molecular insights into the history of the plague.” Begin Reading Women’s Secrets.
Mon. March 14: In-class debate/discussion: Was it really Bubonic Plague? Lecture: Love and sex as health problems.
Readings for next class: Ibn Qayyim al-Jauziyya, Healing
with Medicine of the Prophet, pp. 222-245; @
Selections from A Treatise on Lovesickness;@ Selections from Maimonides’ Regimen @Hildegard of Bingen,
pp. 50-65; @ Franz Rosenthal, "Ar-Razi on the
hidden sickness."
Wed. March 16: Discussion of texts. Introduction to
medieval gynecology, and women as medical practioners in the medieval Near East
and
Fri. March 18: Discussion of texts. Analytic paper
due.
Spring Break
– Enjoy!
III-Early Modern
Period
Mon. March 28: Lecture/Discussion: Negative medieval
medical perceptions of women and early modern consequences. Lecture:
“New” worlds, new diseases and new medicines. Disease of long-distance travel: scurvy. "Discovery" of
Wed. March 30: Discussion of texts.
Fri. April 1: Lecture/Discussion: Early Modern European curiosity, expansion, and consequences. Ottoman interest in European medicine and the importation of European doctors.
Mon. April 4: Lecture/slide show: Experimentation,
anatomy, and the dissection of criminal bodies in the Europe and
Wed. April 6: Discussion of texts. Lecture: Discovering the Heart.
Readings for next class: @ Ullman on al-Nafis, @ selections from the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, @ Vesalius, Epitome, chap. 4; Clendening, Vesalius, pp. 147-149, William Harvey, pp. 152-169, Marcello Malpighi, "On the Lungs," pp. 209-213, Albrecht von Haller, "Aneurisms" pp. 282-284
Fri. April 8: Discussion of texts. Introduction to Paracelsus.
Mon. April 11: Discussion of texts. Lecture: "Bad chemistery" - mining and other hazardous occupations.
Wed. April 13: Discussion of texts. Lecture: chemical cures - the innovations and theories of Paracelsus.
Fri. April 15: Discussion of texts.
Mon. April 18: Lecture: Madness, epilepsy and related maladies: changes in attitudes and treatments
Readings for next class: Ibn Qayyim al-Jauziyya, Healing
with Medicine of the Prophet, pp. 69-74; @Selection from Usamah ibn
Munqidh, Diary; Clendening: Thomas Sydenham, "On
St. Vitus Dance;" "Treatment of the insane," pp. 442-451; Begin
reading Paracelsus, “Diseases that deprive man of his reason” in Four
Treatises.
Wed. April 20: Discussion of texts.
Fri. April 22: Discussion of text.
Mon. April 25: Lecture: Public health, hygiene, syphilis, and social hierarchy.
Wed. April 27: Discussion of texts.
Readings for next class: Selections from @ Frank, Medical Police 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Fri. April 29: Discussion of text.
Mon. May 2: Slide show: Race, gender, ethnicity and disease in the early modern period. Wrapping up.
Fri. May 6: Last Day to turn in Final Exam.