Leprosy in Premodern Medicine

A Malady of the Whole Body
Erscheinungsjahr 2007
ISBN: 978-0-8018-8613-3
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press

Buch, Englisch, 344 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 608 g

While premodern poets and preachers viewed leprosy as a “disease of the soul,” physicians in the period understood it to be a “cancer of the whole body.” In this innovative study, medical historian Luke Demaitre explores medical and social perspectives on leprosy at a time when judicious diagnosis could spare healthy people from social ostracization and help the afflicted get a license to beg.

Extending his inquiry from the first century to late in the eighteenth century, Demaitre draws on translations of academic treatises and archival records to illuminate the professional standing, knowledge, and conduct of the practitioners who struggled to move popular perceptions of leprosy beyond loathing and pity. He finds that, while not immune to social and cultural perceptions of the leprous as degenerate, and while influenced by their own fears of contagion, premodern physicians moderated society's reactions to leprosy and were dedicated to the well-being of their patients.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Demaitre, Luke

Fachgebiete

• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizin, Gesundheitswesen Geschichte der Medizin
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction
Acknowledgments
1. The Sources: Texts and Contexts
2. Iudicium leprosorum: Medical Judgment
3. The Many Labels of Leprosy
4. Definitions and Explanations
5. "Une maladie contagieuse et héréditaire"
6. Causes, Categories, and Correlations
7. Diagnosis: Signs and Symptoms
8. Prognosis, Prevention, and Treatment
Conclusion
Notes
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Demaitre, Luke
Luke Demaitre is a visiting professor of history in the Humanities in Medicine Program at the University of Virginia. He is the author of Doctor Bernard de Gordon, Professor and Practitioner.