Mola, False Conception, and False Pregnancy in British Medicine, 1550-1850

Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-1-914967-17-7
Verlag: Durham University IMEMS Press

Buch, Englisch, 268 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 570 g

Reihe: Science in Culture, c.350 – c.1750

When reproduction defied certainty, it unsettled medicine, law, and belief. This book reveals how ambiguous pregnancies reshaped knowledge, emotion, and the cultural meaning of conception across centuries.

Across the long durée of the early-modern period, British medical practitioners and society at large were preoccupied with the elusive phenomenon of "false generation"-a term encompassing false conceptions, molae, moles, and spurious pregnancies. These non-foetal pregnancies, often indistinguishable from true gestations, generated profound uncertainty in medical, legal, and theological thought. Drawing on sources ranging from anatomical treatises and midwifery manuals to women's letters, diaries, and court records, Donaghy traces how false generation shaped reproductive knowledge and understandings of the embodied experience. Through case studies such as Mary I and Joanna Southcott, the book highlights how reproductive ambiguity was not merely a private ordeal but a public and intellectual crisis. Engaging with figures like Galen, Jean Fernel, François Valleriola, and Frederik Ruysch, the book situates British debates within wider contemporaneous European contexts as well as a transhistorical development of medical knowledge.

By foregrounding uncertainty as both an emotional and conceptual force, this monograph contributes to the history of emotions, knowledge, and the body. It offers a field-defining account of how false generation unsettled assumptions about life, conception, and pregnancy, and how these ideas evolved into modern categories such as molar pregnancy. The book speaks directly to current debates in reproductive justice and healthcare, while presenting a compelling case for the historical contingency of reproductive knowledge and the diverse ways it has been shaped by cultural, scientific, and experiential factors.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Donaghy, Paige

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies, Geschlechtersoziologie
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizin, Gesundheitswesen Geschichte der Medizin
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Pflege Hebammen, Geburtshilfe

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction.

1 Queen Mary I's Mola: False Generation in Context, 1550-1750.

2 Molas and False Conceptions in European Medicine, 1550-1650.

3 Uncertain Life: False Generation in Natural Philosophy, Theology and Law.

4 Anatomy, Male Midwifery, and New Knowledge about Moles, 1690-1790.

5 Generating Uncertainty: Joanna Southcott and The Advent of Spurious Pregnancy, 1790-1850.

Conclusion.

Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Donaghy, Paige
PAIGE DONAGHY is a McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne. She is a historian of reproduction, sexuality, and medicine in Europe c. 1550 to 1850.