Journal ArticleDOI
Sharing cases: the Observationes in early modern medicine.
TLDR
This paper charts the development of the Observationes, a new form of medical writing that emerged in Renaissance humanistic medicine, examining how its growth contributed to the new epistemological value of observation in the age of the Scientific Revolution.Abstract:
This paper examines the rise of an epistemic genre, the Observationes, a new form of medical writing that emerged in Renaissance humanistic medicine. The Observationes (collections of case-histories) originated in the second half of the sixteenth century, grew rapidly over the course of the seventeenth, and had become a primary form of medical writing by the eighteenth century. The genre developed initially as a form of self-advertisement by court and town physicians, who stressed success in practice, over and above academic learning, as a core element of their professional identity. This unprecedented emphasis on practice as a source of knowledge remained a key feature of the Observationes in its subsequent development. As the genre evolved, the original emphasis on therapeutic success gave way to a new focus on the descriptive knowledge of disease through detailed observation. The authorial identity projected by the writers of Observationes was increasingly that of the learned and experienced observer, bent on comparing notes and sharing his cases with the fellow members of the res publica medica. This paper charts the development of the genre, examining how its growth contributed to the new epistemological value of observation in the age of the Scientific Revolution.read more
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DissertationDOI
The roles of the Edinburgh, Kelso, and Newcastle dispensaries in charitable relief, 1776-1810
Journal ArticleDOI
The Medical Case Narrative: Distant Reading of an Epistemic Genre
TL;DR: It is argued that historians of knowledge (including medical knowledge) should draw a distinction between “epistemic” and “literary” genres, and that the medical case narrative belongs to the first group, that is, those kinds of texts that develop in tandem with scientific practices.
Journal ArticleDOI
Introduction: Medical Case Histories as Genre: New Approaches
TL;DR: The article highlights the importance of narrative, and thinking in cases, supports the notion of “epistemic genres” and pays special attention to the distinction between example and exemplar, and discerns three interrelated functions of case histories: propaedeutic, instantiative, and singular.