Gewina
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Historical Article
[The unicorn and the pharmacists. Early modern views on the presumed anti-toxic effects of unicorn horn].
Around 1600, the age-old belief in the anti-toxic effect of unicorn horn began to be called into question. This is evidenced by the views of two well-known French pharmaceutic authorities whose publications are discussed in this paper: the surgeon Ambroise Paré (1510-1590), court physician to four French kings, and the Montpellier pharmacist Laurent Catelan (1568-1647), who owned a famous cabinet de curiosités. Although Paré had to accept, however reluctantly, the existence of the unicorn (since it is mentioned in the Bible), he vehemently denied the supposed medicinal effect of unicorn products. ⋯ Paré's arguments failed to convince Catelan, who adhered to an alternative, so-called spagyric, medical theory of neoplatonic inspiration, as propagated by Paracelsus and Ficino. Catelan remained convinced of the efficacity of unicorn horn, which in his view could drain the human body from any poisonous substance. The medical establishment being reluctant to give up a rewarding source of income,'unicorn' remained much in demand as a prescription.
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Historical Article
[Images of patients in a modernising society: the Netherlands, 1880-1920].
In this essay it is argued that advertisements for medicines in the lay press constitute an important source for the patient in medical history. At first sight, advertisements only seem to document the supply side of the medical market. However, the image of the proactive manufacturer offering his goods to passive consumers is a misleading one. ⋯ When looking at it this way, the health care system (or rather: the medical market) becomes a place where meaning is being constructed, negotiated and exchanged. Thus, by taking a closer look at advertisements, the demand side comes in sight as well. By using advertisements for medicines in the lay press as a source, it seems possible to overcome the objection that much patient history is still too much focused on the academy and on physicians.
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Historical Article
[An attempt to combine humanitarianism and pacifism. The Red Cross and the Dutch movement for international peace].
Both the International and the Dutch Red Cross were heavily damaged by World War II. The Red Cross movement especially was blamed for its lack of care for persecuted Jews and political prisoners. To restore its reputation all kinds of initiatives were taken. ⋯ The DRC grew immensely in numbers in the years after 1945. With the cold war coming up the peace movement lost most of its popularity and therefore lost its attraction for the Red Cross as a partner. As in the rest of its mutual history, the attempt to humanise war did not mix with the wish to abolish it.
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Historical Article
[The classical healer as a castrator. The involvement of doctors in castration practices of the Graeco-Roman world].
The elimination of the testicles of boys and men, what we call castration, was frequently practised in Graeco-Roman antiquity. Probably it was sometimes done by laymen, but certainly also sometimes carried out by doctors. This article provides an overview of classical texts concerning castration practices in which doctors were involved, and explores the background of these specific castration practices. It appears that doctors not only cooperated in several practices that were (thought to be) beneficial for their patients, but also in the involuntary castration of healthly slave boys, mostly for the benefit of slave-owners, and hardly to the advantage of their patients.
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Historical Article
[Classical physicians and philosophers on the location of the mind].
This triptych deals with the history of the question of the location of the mind in the human body as it was discussed by Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers. Special attention is paid to the different contexts in which the debate was held.