Dynamis

Childbirth and women's healthcare in pre-modern societies: an assessment

She will give birth easily: therapeutic approaches to childbirth in 1st millennium BCE cuneiform sources

This article offers, in the first place, an overview on women's healthcare in relation to childbirth in ancient Mesopotamia, as an introduction that helps to evaluate the meaning of the 7th century Assur text BAM 248 within therapeutic cuneiform texts on childbirth. We proceed to analyse the variety of therapeutic approaches to childbirth present in BAM 248, which brings together various healing devices to help a woman give birth quickly and safely. We analyse the text in its entirety as an example of intersection between different medical approaches to childbirth, given the number of differences in the complexity of remedies, in the materia medica employed, in the methods of preparation and application, even in the technical knowledge required and also, most probably, in the social origin and/or use of the remedies in question.

The physical activity of parturition in ancient Egypt: textual and epigraphical sources

Many medical and magical texts concerning childbirth and delivery are known from ancient Egypt. Most of them are spells, incantations, remedies and prescriptions for the woman in labour in order to accelerate the delivery or protect the unborn child and parturient. The medical and magical texts do not contain any descriptions of parturition itself, but there are some literary, astronomical and mythological texts, as well as a few incantations, which describe the biological act of childbirth and also miscarriage in more detail. Besides the textual sources, the decoration of temple walls and mammisis (birth houses), as well as illustrations on a birth brick provide an insight into the moment of delivery. In this paper, I focus on the "scientific" depiction of the biological act of childbirth, on how it is described in non-medical sources. Although the main sources are mythological-theological texts with numerous analogies, it is remarkable how many details they provide. They contain descriptions that would be expected in the context of medical sources.

For mothers and sisters: care of the reproductive female body in the medico-ritual world of early and medieval Japan

While married female members of the Japanese aristocracy followed the ideal of bearing children, female Buddhist novices and ordained women, often belonging to the aristocracy themselves, had to abstain from sexual activity and reproduction in accordance with the ordination rules. Infertility was considered with disdain by the first group, whereas not bearing children was the utmost expression of leading a virtuous life for the second group. However, both groups were concerned with keeping their physical bodies healthy: some to become mothers, the others to live as nuns or religious sisters. Focusing on the early medieval period, this paper examines various sources to illuminate the ways in which women were cared for and the kind of views and ideas that informed this care. Instead of looking at the ancient methods of treatment through a modern "scientific" lens and sorting them into "proto-scientific" and "superstitious" categories, medico-ritual and religious views on the female body are explored as facets of the worldview prevalent in the period under consideration. Special attention is paid to relevant chapters of the first medical work produced in Japan, the Ishinpō, compiled by a court physician, Tanba no Yasuyori, in the late 10th century CE. The investigation of other sources, such as Buddhist legends and doctrinal texts, suggests that women were recommended to seek to overcome their femaleness altogether by transforming their female bodies into male bodies in order to reach ultimate "healing" in terms of salvation. In lay circles, however, the Buddhist divinities and other powerful deities were worshipped to ensure this-worldly "healing" in terms of successful procreation and continuation of the family line.

Childbirth in aristocratic households of Heian Japan

This paper focuses on childbirth in Japan's aristocratic households during the Heian period (794-1185). Drawing on various sources, including court diaries, visual sources, literary records, and Japan's first medical collection, with its assortment of gynaecological and obstetric prescriptions, as well as Buddhist and other ritual texts, this short excursion into the cultural history of childbirth offers an insight into how childbirth was experienced and managed in Heian Japan. In particular, it addresses the variety of ideas, knowledge systems and professionals involved in framing and supporting the process of childbirth in elite households. In so doing, it casts light on the complex background of early Japanese medicine and healthcare for women.

She will give birth immediately: pregnancy and childbirth in medieval Hebrew medical texts produced in the Mediterranean West

This essay approaches the medieval Hebrew literature on women's healthcare, with the aim of analysing notions and ideas regarding fertility, pregnancy and childbirth, as conveyed in the texts that form the corpus. Firstly, the work discusses the approach of written texts to pregnancy and childbirth as key elements in the explanation of women's health and the functioning of the female body. In this regard it also explores the role of this approach in the creation of meanings for both the female body and sexual difference. Secondly, it examines female management of pregnancy and childbirth as recorded in Hebrew medical literature. It pays attention to both the attitudes expressed by the authors, translators and copyists regarding female practice, as well as to instances and remedies derived from "local" traditions -that is, from women's experience- in the management of pregnancy and childbirth, also recorded in the texts. Finally, the paper explores how medical theories alien to, or in opposition to, Judaism were adopted or not and, at times, adapted to Jewish notions with the aim of eliminating tensions from the text, on the one hand, and providing Jewish practitioners with adequate training to retain their Christian clientele, on the other.

The image of animal magnetism in fictional literature: the cases of Poe, Doyle and Du Maurier

En el presente trabajo nos acercamos a la imagen social del fenómeno conocido como mesmerismo o magnetismo animal a través del análisis de las obras: The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar (1845) de Edgar Allan Poe, The Great Keinplatz Experiment (1885) de Conan Doyle y Trilby (1894) de George Du Maurier. Mostraremos cuál es el estereotipo del magnetizador y los usos que observamos del mesmerismo. Nos acercaremos a los espacios y actores del trasunto mesmerico presentado en los relatos. Tendremos en cuenta la recepción por parte del público de estas historias y las relaciones con los conocimientos mesmericos e hipnóticos que tenían los autores de éstas. En la actualidad, investigadores académicos, dentro de la disciplina de la psicología, publican artículos y libros sobre los mitos populares de la hipnosis intentando poner de manifiesto las imágenes distorsionadas referentes a este fenómeno. Esta imagen distorsionada del proceso hipnótico, y del hipnotizador, proviene de los espectáculos circenses de hipnosis (stage hypnosis), del cine, de la televisión y de la literatura de ficción. Por otro lado, tenemos en la literatura de ficción una fuente única e inestimable de datos, ideas, especulaciones, preocupaciones y posibilidades en torno al magnetismo animal e hipnosis que convierten su estudio y análisis en un capítulo imprescindible de cualquier trabajo histórico de este tema. Veremos cómo el uso literario del mesmerismo en el caso de Poe, Doyle y Du Maurier no es algo casual o periférico, sino que todos ellos estuvieron intelectualmente interesados y estimulados por estas ideas.

In this article, we focus on the social image of the phenomenon known as mesmerism, or animal magnetism, through analysis of the works: The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar (1845) by Edgar Allan Poe, The Great Keinplatz Experiment (1885) by Conan Doyle and Trilby (1894) by George Du Maurier. We describe the stereotype of the mesmerist and the uses of mesmerism observed. We pay attention to the spaces and actors of the mesmeric transcript presented in the stories. We consider the reception of these stories by the public and the relationship of the authors with mesmeric and hypnotic knowledge. Nowadays, academic researchers in the discipline of psychology publish articles and books on popular myths about hypnosis in attempts to depict the distorted images related to this phenomenon. This distorted image of the hypnotic process and the hypnotist derives from «circus» hypnotism shows (stage hypnosis), the cinema, television and fictional literature. Works of fiction represent a unique and invaluable source of information, ideas, speculations, concerns and opportunities around animal magnetism and hypnosis, and the exploration and analysis of this literature is an essential chapter in any historical study of this topic. We see how the literary use of mesmerism by Poe, Doyle and Du Maurier is not chance or peripheral, with all three being intellectually interested in and stimulated by these ideas.

The reaction of Practicantes in Medicine and Surgery to the creation of a Nursing qualification in 1915

El objetivo de este trabajo es conocer los argumentos que justificaron que el Gobierno promulgase la Real Orden de 7 de mayo de 1915, que creaba oficialmente los estudios y el título de Enfermera en España, y por qué y cómo reaccionaron los practicantes en Medicina y Cirugía a esa Real Orden. Dicha norma legalizó el ejercicio asistencial de las enfermeras y se reconoció así a una profesión sanitaria alternativa a la de Practicante, lo cual fue justificado por el Gobierno con tres argumentos: que lo aconsejaron los médicos, la escasa formación básica y profesional de parte de los practicantes y que la profesión enfermera surgía como una nueva vía para que la mujer española tuviese más oportunidades de formarse e incorporarse al mercado laboral. Los practicantes acogieron dicha Real Orden con indignación y se opusieron a ella porque pensaban que atribuía a las enfermeras las mismas competencias que a ellos, y como consecuencia peligraba su futuro laboral. Además, éstos sostenían que las enfermeras para equipararse en funciones a ellos, podían formarse en un menor periodo de tiempo, con menos prácticas, inferior coste económico y menor esfuerzo que los practicantes. Los colegios profesionales de practicantes iniciaron acciones contra la Real Orden: entrevistas con el ministro de Instrucción Pública para solicitarle la derogación de la Real Orden, envío masivo de telegramas de protesta al ministro y recurso ante el Tribunal Supremo para que se declarase la nulidad de la Real Orden, el cual casi dos años después rechazó las pretensiones de los practicantes. También, desde la prensa de los colegios profesionales, significados practicantes realizaron una oposición ardorosa, extremista, intransigente, radical, irónica y guiada por una marcada ideología de género, fruto de la mentalidad patriarcal de entonces y de la superioridad que la hegemonía masculina le otorgaba al colectivo de los practicantes.

This paper deals with the arguments justifying the Government's passage of the Sovereign Ordinance of 7 May 1915, which officially established a course and qualification in Nursing in Spain; and examines how and why Medical and Surgical practicantes (medical assistants) reacted to this decision. The ordinance legalized nurses' care practices, thereby providing official recognition for a healthcare profession other than that of practicante. The Government based its approval on three arguments: the physicians' recommendations; deficiencies in the basic and professional training of practicantes"; and the fact that the nursing profession emerged as a new path providing Spanish women with an opportunity to acquire training and join the labour force. The new legislation was met with outrage by practicantes, who opposed it in the belief that it equated nurses' scope of practice to their own and thus jeopardized their future employment prospects. Additionally, they contended that nurses would be legally qualified to perform the same medical practices as they did, despite receiving their degrees in a shorter period of time with a less prolonged internship, at a lower economic cost and through less effort. Professional associations of practicantes immediately launched a campaign against the Sovereign Ordinance, meeting with the Minister of Public Instruction to request its repeal, organizing a massive telegram campaign directed at the minister, and requesting the nullity of the ordinance before the Supreme Court, which would reject the appeal by the practicantes two years later. Professional associations also used their press organs to publish the arguments of prominent practicantes, who vehemently voiced their opposition in extremist, uncompromising, radical, and ironic terms, arising from a strong gender ideology in tune with the patriarchal mentality of the era and the dominant position that male hegemony conferred to practicantes.

Tuberculosis and phthisiophobia in Argentina: discourses and conflicts in the construction of the Ascochinga sanitorium, 1925

En este artículo pretendemos realizar un análisis de los posicionamientos, discursos y conflictos de vecinos, agentes estatales y empresarios que definieron la construcción de un sanatorio para tuberculosos llevada a cabo por la empresa "Establecimientos Médicos Argentinos" en el pueblo de Ascochinga, Córdoba, Argentina, en 1925. Se indaga acerca de la mirada que tuvieron los distintos actores sobre la tuberculosis y los argumentos, a favor y en contra de la construcción del sanatorio, y se analizan los discursos de los vecinos del pueblo, el empresario que pretendía construirlo y distintos agentes estatales como el presidente del Consejo Provincial de Higiene, el Presidente de la Comisión de Climatología y Climatoterapia y el Fiscal de la Provincia de Córdoba. Si bien se han realizado trabajos acerca de la construcción y organización de distintos establecimientos destinados a albergar tuberculosos, aún no se ha realizado un análisis acerca de los conflictos que se generaron en la sociedad como consecuencia de estas acciones, en el marco del desarrollo de instituciones destinadas a la asistencia a enfermos de tuberculosis. Partimos de la hipótesis de que la "tisofobia" (miedo al contagio de la enfermedad) fue el elemento central de cada una de las argumentaciones que se llevaron a cabo para atacar o defender la construcción de dicho sanatorio. Consideramos que el análisis del sanatorio de Ascochinga se constituye en un caso paradigmático para entender los discursos y percepciones de la sociedad argentina acerca de la tuberculosis.

This article aims to analyze the positions and arguments of various state and social actors around the construction by the "Argentine Medical Establishment" company of a sanatorium for attending to tuberculosis sufferers in the town of Ascochinga, Córdoba, Argentina in 1925. It examines the views on tuberculosis of distinct actors in Córdoba province, beginning with Ascochinga's neighbors, business owners and the President of the Hygiene Council of the province, the President of the Climatology and Climatherapy Commission and the Public Prosecutor, and their arguments for and against the construction of the sanatorium. Although several studies have been performed on the construction and organization of various facilities to house tuberculosis patients, there has been no analysis of the conflicts that the construction generated in the society, as part of the development of institutions for attending to tuberculosis patients. Our hypothesis is that "phthisiophobia" (fear of contagion of the disease) was the core element of the arguments used to attack or defend the development of the sanatorium. We consider the case study of Ascochinga sanatorium a paradigmatic case for understanding the discourses and perceptions of the Argentine society around tuberculosis.

Boundaries and integrity in the "Social Contract for Spanish Science", 1907-1939

En este artículo se analizan las relaciones entre ciencia y política en el primer tercio del siglo XX español desde la perspectiva del Contrato Social para la Ciencia. En él se muestra que en dicho periodo se instituyó un auténtico contrato social para la ciencia en España, aunque surgieron algunos problemas de frontera e integridad. Dichos problemas son analizados y se defiende que los problemas de frontera fueron resultado de la concepción de las relaciones entre ciencia y política de los gobiernos conservadores, mientras que los problemas de integridad tuvieron que ver con la activación de redes de influencia en la concesión de las becas para la formación en el extranjero. Finalmente, el análisis revela que estos problemas no invalidaron el contrato social para la ciencia en España.

This article analyzes the relationship between science and politics in Spain in the early 20th century from the perspective of the Social Contract for Science. The article shows that a genuine social contract for science was instituted in Spain during this period, although some boundary and integrity problems emerged. These problems are analyzed, showing that the boundary problems were a product of the conservative viewpoint on the relationship between science and politics, while the integrity problems involved the activation of networks of influence in the awarding of scholarships to study abroad. Finally, the analysis reveals that these problems did not invalidate the Spanish social contract for science