Staff – Page 23

Collections of Stones, Collections of Ideas

Staff From our researchers, In the museum, Out of the stacks November 3, 2016November 22, 2016Chemistry in medicine, History of medicine, John Syng Dorsey, Lithotomy, Urinary stones

– by Wood Institute travel grantee Dr. Edward Allen Driggers*

Historians take for granted the ways in which the profession produces knowledge. Usually historians construct a question from the historiography or primary sources that they encounter. I think occasionally, though, Clio speaks and we are inspired. I recently completed one of the most dynamic years of my life: my daughter was born into the world, I completed my Ph.D. in the history of science, and I completed my first year on faculty in the history department at Tennessee Technological University. My recent research trip to the Historical Medical Library at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia did the same thing for me that it did in 2014 under my first Wood Institute travel grant: it allowed me to be quiet and let the muse speak. It was inspiring.

The Vocabulary of the Book: Adventures at Rare Book School

Staff Staff projects October 19, 2016November 22, 2016History of the book, Professional development, Rare Book School, Rare books, Special collections librarianship

This past June, I experienced what many rare book librarians only dream of – I was accepted at Rare Book School, also know as Summer Camp for Book Nerds. Rare Book School (RBS) was founded in 1983 by Terry Belanger to enhance the study of books across multiple disciplines and fields. Today, RBS offers over 60 courses at multiple locations, with the main hub being at The University of Virginia.

I was accepted into the most competitive class at RBS: The History of the Book, 200-2000 taught by John Buchtel, Head of Special Collections at Georgetown University, and Mark Dimunation, Chief of the Rare Books and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress. The course promised a survey of printing methods and the evolution of the book, and the cultural impact of both. The course also provided a strong list of vocabulary words and phrases that all students who wish to stay in the field should know. I received my master’s degree a little more than a year before attending RBS, and in my current position as Reference Librarian, I find myself working with scholars from all over the world, all of whom have multiple perspectives on books. This course seemed promising.

George Outerbridge: A Philadelphia Fellow in WWI France

Staff Digital humanities, Intern work, Voices from our collection September 23, 2016March 27, 2018Base Hospital no. 10, Fellows of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, George Outerbridge, Military physicians, World War I (1914-1918)

– by Paige Randazzo, Digital Projects intern

The year 2017 marks the centennial of the United States’ entry into World War I. In memory of those Fellows of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia who served in times of war, the Historical Medical Library will be creating a geo-referenced digital timeline using the letters and photographs of College Fellow and World War I surgeon George Outerbridge (1881-1967). The collection was donated to the Library in 1972 after they were found by the residents of George Outerbridge’s former home.

Female Trouble: Headaches and the Modern Woman

Staff From our researchers, Out of the stacks, Voices from our collection September 9, 2016September 19, 2016Headaches, History of medicine, Pain in medicine, Women's healthcare

– by Wood Institute travel grantee Christine Yao, PhD*

Who among us has not experienced the dreaded throb of cranial pain that accompanies stress and anxiety? Headaches seem to be the physiological manifestation of modern life’s tensions: perhaps more so than aches in any other part of the body, pain in the head symbolically ties together physical, mental, and emotional distresses.[1] In popular culture, headaches are also seen as a particularly female trait – think of the old misogynistic joke about a woman pleading a headache as an excuse to avoid a man’s sexual advances. While acting as humor on the basis of supposed female frailty and sexuality, the alleged headache functions to indicate the inner conflict the woman has between the different demands she faces because of her gender and her will as an individual. Managing these clashing societal demands and personal desires is, as it were, a headache.

A Little-Known Manuscript Dated 1471, made for Ercole d’Este, Duke of Ferrara

Staff From our researchers, Out of the stacks July 28, 2016July 29, 2016Baptista Massa of Argenta, Emblems, Ercole d’Este, Medieval manuscripts, Provenance

–by Peter Kidd, Wood Institute travel grantee*

Baptista Massa de Argenta, *De fructibus vescendis*, 1471, Call number 10a 189

In early November 2014 I spent a stimulating morning looking at the medieval manuscripts belonging to the Historical Medical Library of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. One that particularly caught my interest is a small volume of 80 leaves, each about 155×115mm (6”×4½”), whose main content is a treatise in 27 chapters on edible fruits, from figs and grapes to pumpkins and capers. It was an appropriate acquisition for the College because it discusses each fruit under various headings, giving their general medical and other properties, and their effect on various parts of the body.

A Serpentine Arms Race: S. Weir Mitchell, George Halford, and the Most Venomous of Snakes

Staff From our researchers, Out of the stacks June 7, 2016June 14, 2016George Halford, History of medicine, Silas Weir Mitchell, Snake venom, Snakebite treatments

– by Dr. Peter Hobbins*

The title of ‘world’s deadliest snake’ has long been contested, and remains difficult to adjudicate. The criteria are varied, including: 1) the annual human death toll; 2) the innate toxicity of the venom for laboratory animals; 3) the rarity of the serpent, and 4) whether it is a shy or aggressive species. The clinical impact of bites, whether leading to rapid death from respiratory paralysis, awful and extensive ulceration, or permanent disability, tends to be a lower-level consideration – except, naturally, for those who have been bitten.

Until the 1860s, however, it was unclear whether there was any meaningful difference between the venoms of poisonous snakes around the world. Indeed, for centuries it had been presumed that they all possessed the same ubiquitous ‘venom’. The potency of their bites was instead believed to depend largely upon environmental factors, such as the ambient temperature, and especially by the malevolence of the serpent itself. “The cause of the Venom is to be imputed to the Spirits enraged”, wrote French apothecary Moyse Charas in 1670, “and not to any other thing or parts in the Vipers body”.