Social History of Medicine - current issue

Editorial Note

Luckin, B. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

Medical Refugees in Britain and the Wider World, 1930-1960: Introduction

Weindling, P. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

The Impact of Germanic Refugees on Twentieth-Century British Psychiatry

Shepherd, M. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

This paper examines the reception accorded to refugee psychiatrists in the United Kingdom. It evaluates the value placed on their qualifications and skills, as well as their influence. In addition, the paper traces the extent to which Jewish refugee psychiatrists were not made welcome by the British scientific elite. This prejudice was all too widespread in a profession claiming to have insight into human behaviour.

The Anschluss and the Problem of Refugee Stomatologists

Zamet, J. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

Some 360 Viennese stomatologists applied to the General Medical Council to be placed on the Dental Register to practise in Britain. Their dental training was different to that in Britain and the majority were denied by the 1878 Dental Act. This article examines the dilapidated state of British dental health and dentistry during the 1930s, when it functioned as a ‘cottage industry’, and compares this situation with the philosophy and dental training at the University of Vienna. Only 41 were allowed to stay and re-qualify over a six-month period and were then allowed to practise. Many of those rejected by the General Medical Council, despite their excellent training, probably died during the Holocaust.

Medical Refugees and the Modernisation of British Medicine, 1930-1960

Weindling, P. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

This paper reappraises the position of medical refugees in Britain between the 1930s and 1950s. Advocates of reforming British medicine in terms of its knowledge base and social provision emerged as strongly supportive of the medical refugees. By way of contrast, an élite in the British Medical Association attempted to exercise a controlling regime through the Home Office Advisory Committee. The effects of these divisions are gauged by reconstructing the complete spectrum of refugees as a total population. Applying this methodology of population reconstruction provides a corrective to the notion of a cohesive ‘medical establishment’ exercising rigid and discriminatory controls.

European Refugee Physicians in Scotland, 1933-1945

Collins, K. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

Summary. In the years following the Nazi seizure of power, several hundred refugee physicians, almost exclusively Jewish from Central Europe, obtained medical qualifications in Scotland. The study programmes, mainly in the extra-mural medical schools in Glasgow and Edinburgh, gave them access to the examinations of the Triple Qualification Board of the Scottish Royal Colleges of Medicine and Surgery which provided a licence to practise medicine in Britain. Many refugee psychiatrists, whose speciality was less well developed in Britain, began their new careers in Scotland, finding the atmosphere congenial despite the contemporary hardships of dislocation, anti-alien agitation and internment.

The Attitude of German Emigre Doctors Towards Medicine under National Socialism

Pross, C. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

The attitudes of émigré doctors provide some insight into whether Nazi medical atrocities were something peculiar and unique or whether they were an extreme consequence of widespread thinking and scientific concepts in medicine at the time. Doctors of the sexual reform movement and the political left partly welcomed the Nazi sterilisation law as an implementation of their eugenic ideas. Some labelled Nazi medicine plainly as charlatanism which is a protective claim by those who dream the dream of the genetic improvement of humanity. Others saw in it a cold-blooded utilitarianism, symbolising the triumph of a soldierly spartan life over the intricacies and agonies of the human soul. For those, the most important lessons of the past lay in protecting the chronically ill, the handicapped, the psychologically ill and the poor from radical utopias aimed at ‘making the national body healthy’.

The Emigration of Women Doctors from Germany under National Socialism

von Villiez, A. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

This paper considers the case of women refugee doctors, using a detailed sample from Hamburg. Gender is established as a major issue in the persecution of Jewish doctors under National Socialism and emigration. A case study of Hamburg allows both a qualitative and quantitative approach. Finally, lives after emigration are assessed. The paper examines the picture of the female refugee doctors drawn in gender history with the tools of collective biographical research. Some changes to the results of previous studies concerning emigration patterns and their biographies as refugee doctors are suggested.

Professional Identity across the Borders: Refugee Psychiatrists in Palestine, 1933-1945

Zalashik, R., Davidovitch, N. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

The article explores and contextualises the arrival of Jewish psychiatrists from Germany and Austria in Palestine and their absorption process during the 1930s and 1940s. We investigate the interaction between the refugees and a varied local population composed of Jews from different origins, Arabs and immigrants. We claim that the case of psychiatrist refugees from Europe in the 1930s was unique in comparison to the migration of Jewish psychiatrists to other countries and in comparison to the immigration of other medical professionals to Palestine during the period. The lack of a psychiatric community in Palestine before their arrival determined the nature of their unique absorption. It also created a special psychiatric discourse based on a mixture of the German medical model and the reality of the Jewish Zionist settlement that forged new perceptions of both mental health and Zionism.

Web 2.0: A Useful Tool for the History of Medicine

Borghi, L. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

Binge Drinking: A Confused Concept and its Contemporary History

Berridge, V., Herring, R., Thom, B. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

Binge drinking is a matter of current social, political and media concern. It has a long-term, but also a recent, history. This paper discusses the contemporary history of the concept of binge drinking. In recent years there have been significant changes in how binge drinking is defined and conceptualised. Going on a ‘binge’ used to mean an extended period (days) of heavy drinking, while now it generally refers to a single drinking session leading to intoxication. We argue that the definitional change is related to the shifts in the focus of alcohol policy and alcohol science, in particular in the last two decades, and also in the role of the dominant interest groups. The paper is a case study in the relationship between science and policy. We explore key themes, raise questions and point to a possible agenda for future research.

So What? A Reply to Roger Cooter's 'After Death/After-"Life": The Social History of Medicine in Post-Postmodernity'

Toms, J. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

Notes on Contributors

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

The Ottoman Army 1914-1918: Disease and Death on the Battlefield

Harrison, M. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

Before My Helpless Sight: Suffering, Dying and Military Medicine on the Western Front, 1914-1918

Whitehead, I. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

Shattered Anzacs: Living with the Scars of War

Blackmore, K. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

The Dark Pocket of Time: War, Medicine and the Australian State, 1914-1935

Bridge, C. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

War and Disease, Biomedical Research on Malaria in the Twentieth Century

Neushul, P. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

Under the Radar: Cancer and the Cold War

Kutcher, G. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

British Military and Naval Medicine, 1600-1830

Charters, E. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

A Surgeon in the Army of the Potomac

Allard, J. R. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

The Making of Mr Gray's Anatomy

Lawrence, C. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

Artisans of the Body in Early Modern Italy: Identities, Families and Masculinities

Park, K. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

Fatal Thirst: Diabetes in Britain until Insulin

Curth, L. H. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

Mortal Coil: A Short History of Living Longer

Thane, P. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:13 PST

The Secret Vice: Masturbation in Victorian Fiction and Medical Culture

Downing, L. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:14 PST

Cult of the Will: Nervousness and German Modernity

Lerner, P. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:14 PST

Kinderen van hun Tijd: Zestig Jaar Kinder-en Jeugdpsychiatrie in Nederland, 1948-2008

Pols, H. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:14 PST

Mania: A Short History of Bipolar Disorder

Engstrom, E. J. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:14 PST

Happy Pills in America: From Miltown to Prozac

Healy, D. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:14 PST

Health Culture in the Heartland, 1880-1980: An Oral History

Coombs, J. G. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:14 PST

A Cruel Wind: Pandemic Flu in America, 1918-1920

Humphries, M. O. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:14 PST

Trusting Doctors: The Decline of Moral Authority in American Medicine

Lederer, S. E. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:14 PST

What Would You Do? Juggling Bioethics and Ethnography

Evans, J. H. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:14 PST

Medical Lives in the Age of Surgical Revolution

Wall, R. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:14 PST

Shifting Boundaries of Public Health: Europe in the Twentieth Century

Hardy, A. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:14 PST

Brulures Profondes: Recit de Vie de Deux Grands Brules

Taylor, T. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:14 PST

At the Heart of Healing: Groote Schuur Hospital 1938-2008

Sweet, H. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:14 PST

The Collectors of Lost Souls: Turning Kuru Scientists into Whitemen

Kennedy, D. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:14 PST

The Afterlife of Images: Translating the Pathological Body between China and the West

Chiang, H. H. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:14 PST

Tibetan Medicine in the Contemporary World: Global Politics of Medical Knowledge and Practice

Mukharji, P. B. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:14 PST

Their Footprints Remain: Biomedical Beginnings Across the Indo-Tibetan Frontier

Craig, S. R. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:14 PST

The Quest for Public Health in Manchester: The Industrial City, the NHS and the Recent History

Rivett, G. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:14 PST

Notes on Book Reviewers

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:37:14 PST