Description
Book SynopsisThis book explores the tradition of the 'science of man' in French medicine of the era 17501850. Its chief purpose is to recover the history of a holistic tradition in French medicine that has been neglected because it lay outside the mainstream themes of modern medicine.
Trade Review"...a densely packed study that will contribute greatly to debate on the nature and meaning of the science of man, as well as to that on the origins of both anthropology and physiology as independent disciplines." Dorinda Outram, Isis
"It is impossible in a brief review to do justice to this complex and richly suggestive analysis....Readers will surely admire Williams's shrewdly perceptive commentaries on individual texts." Matthew Ramsey, American Historical Review
"In this thoughtful and thoroughly researched book, Williams has shown why France provided such fertile soil for what has come to be called the 'medicalization' of society. In the process, she has reconceptualized the history of French medicine, placing the developments of the Revolutionary decade into a broad chronological perspective." Clifford Rosenberg, Journal of Interdisciplinary History
Table of ContentsList of illustrations; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Montpellier vitalism and the science of man; 2. Anthropological medicine and the medical revolution; 3. Medical politics under the restoration: the fragmentation of the science of man; 4. Decline and dispersal: the science of man, 1830–48; Epilogue; Index.
