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Constructing Textual Identity: Framing and Self-Reference in Egyptian Texts

Fredrik Hagen

in Ancient Egyptian Literature: Theory and Practice

This chapter analyses the way in which Egyptian literary, scientific, and mortuary texts present their own origins, and how they seek to construct a (largely fictional) historical identity for ... More

This chapter analyses the way in which Egyptian literary, scientific, and mortuary texts present their own origins, and how they seek to construct a (largely fictional) historical identity for themselves. This identity is established by the use of a shared set of topoi, phraseology, narrative structures, and protagonists, including well-known historical characters like Hordedef, Khaemwaset, and Amenhotep Son of Hapu. By drawing on so-called ‘find-notes’ from the Book of the Dead Spells, as well as medical and mathematical texts, and by comparing them with the literary tradition as preserved in tales and wisdom instructions, the chapter maps the ways in which such identities are constructed, as well as the motives behind this practice.Less

Terrestrial Suffering in a Topsy-Turvy World

Jean Baumgarten

Jerold C. Frakes (ed.)

in Introduction to Old Yiddish Literature

There are three topics that illustrate the relationship between Jewish texts and the lived history of the Jewish people. First, there are historical poems linked to the elegiac tradition of Hebrew ... More

There are three topics that illustrate the relationship between Jewish texts and the lived history of the Jewish people. First, there are historical poems linked to the elegiac tradition of Hebrew poetry, preserving the memory of the daily misfortunes of the Jewish quarter. Second, there are books of medicine (sifrey refuous) that illustrate how receptive the Jews were to the cultural traditions of the societies in which they lived. Third, there is the period of the festival of Purim, serving as an antidote to the tears and suffering of Jewish life and signaling the triumph of laughter and transgression, as well as the creation of a utopian society. The Purim plays, which form the beginnings of modern Jewish theatre, illuminate the peculiarly Ashkenazic role of dream and play in the culture.Less

Introduction

Hannah Newton

in The Sick Child in Early Modern England, 1580-1720

The Introduction summarises the book’s main arguments, provides definitions of key terms, sets out the parameters of the study, and situates the research in its wider historiographical context. It ... More

The Introduction summarises the book’s main arguments, provides definitions of key terms, sets out the parameters of the study, and situates the research in its wider historiographical context. It also provides a substantial discussion of the book’s methodology, identifying the types of primary material used in the analysis, and the various limitations and challenges presented by these sources. These include the problems of deducing the child’s experience from the words of adults, the religious and socio-economic biases of the sources, and the complicating issues of censorship, literary convention, and reader reception.Less

The Wife of Philinus, or the Doctors' Dilemma: Medical Signs and Cases and Non‐deductive Inference

G. E. R. Lloyd

in Maieusis: Essays in Ancient Philosophy in Honour of Myles Burnyeat

This chapter focuses on 5th- and early 4th-century medical texts. The Hippocratic Corpus provides rich materials for the study of non-deductive inference — as also do the extant remains of ... More

This chapter focuses on 5th- and early 4th-century medical texts. The Hippocratic Corpus provides rich materials for the study of non-deductive inference — as also do the extant remains of Hellenistic medicine. The interest of this material lies partly in the obvious fact that the doctors were working under considerable pressure to arrive at judgements in cases where their patients' lives — as well as their own reputations — were at stake. The author puts himself as far as possible in their shoes to examine what they thought they could infer from the signs they cite, given how they understood disease. It is shown that there is a recurrent tension within the Hippocratic texts between the urge to generalize and the realization of its difficulty.Less

Homeopathy Is Not Medicine

Paul U. Unschuld

in What Is Medicine?: Western and Eastern Approaches to Healing

Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843) was from a poor family and had to translate English (and later French and Italian) medical and pharmaceutical texts to finance his studies. He uncovered a clue in British ... More

Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843) was from a poor family and had to translate English (and later French and Italian) medical and pharmaceutical texts to finance his studies. He uncovered a clue in British author William Cullen's remark that cinchona bark was effective against malaria during one of his translations. He was not convinced with the William Cullen's reasoning and decided to experiment on himself. He recorded his observations and finally came to the conclusion that medication heals the same illness in the sick that it produces in the healthy. He saw that every plant had been given its own medication principle from its creator, which could not be removed from the plant in any way. This medication principle that lives in the plant like a spirit works on the life power that resides in the body like a spirit, in the stomach.Less

Stylistics of healthcare discourse

Martin Solly

in The Stylistics of Professional Discourse

This chapter looks at the language of medicine, at communication in the various spheres of healthcare, and more specifically at the use of language in these settings. The first part outlines the ... More

This chapter looks at the language of medicine, at communication in the various spheres of healthcare, and more specifically at the use of language in these settings. The first part outlines the current state of healthcare communication, highlighting some of its key features: the impact of the new technological affordances, the mobility of healthcare professionals, the tension between tradition and innovation, the issue of health literacy. Healthcare professionals are expert insiders and their language choice can depend on the different communicative situations and contexts. Moreover, there are different medical text types and different levels of discourse. The chapter then focuses on some more specific aspects of language choice and communication in healthcare, examining the stylistic features of a number of healthcare texts, such as patient information leaflets, and the importance of case studies in medical discourse. Finally, it presents an analysis of how opposition, for example the risk vs. protection antithesis, is used in international healthcare insurance discourse.Less

The Founding Years

Gerard N. Burrow

in A History of Yale's School of Medicine: Passing Torches to Others

This chapter describes how the Yale College curriculum was designed primarily for the education of clergymen. During the first half-century of the college's existence, nearly one-fourth of Yale ... More

This chapter describes how the Yale College curriculum was designed primarily for the education of clergymen. During the first half-century of the college's existence, nearly one-fourth of Yale graduates were ordained as ministers. The curriculum provided a classical education, which was also necessary to read the medical texts written in Latin. Graduates of Yale College, however, had been involved in the practice of medicine long before the founding of the medical school. At least 224 Yale graduates, or about 10 percent of those awarded bachelor of arts degrees, practiced medicine during the eighteenth century. These rates are comparable to the proportion of Yale graduates practicing medicine in the nineteenth century and are not dissimilar to twentieth-century proportions.Less

Readings

Curtis L. Meinert

in An Insider’s Guide to Clinical Trials

Every trialist needs a library of standard textbooks. Clearly, this should include texts on the nuts and bolts of trials, texts on biostatistics, and texts devoted to the ethics of medical research. ... More

Every trialist needs a library of standard textbooks. Clearly, this should include texts on the nuts and bolts of trials, texts on biostatistics, and texts devoted to the ethics of medical research. This chapter presents a list of textbooks covering topics such as biostatistics, clinical trials, ethics, history, clinical research, data management, meta-analyses, and epidemiology. It also presents lists of dictionaries, manuals, encyclopedias, codes and guidelines, and other readings.Less

Primers, Medical Texts, and Other Works

Peter Francis Kornicki

in Languages, scripts, and Chinese texts in East Asia

This chapter follows on from Chapters 8 and 9, which were devoted to Buddhist and Confucian texts, and applies a similar analysis to a variety of other texts with a focus on those that were subjected ... More

This chapter follows on from Chapters 8 and 9, which were devoted to Buddhist and Confucian texts, and applies a similar analysis to a variety of other texts with a focus on those that were subjected to a process of vernacularization. The first genre discussed is that of primers, which initially existed solely to teach the young the elements of Sinitic. Second, medical texts are examined in some depth, for the botanic and linguistic diversity of East Asia necessitated the production of glossaries giving the local names for plants appearing in Chinese pharmacopoeia and later the development of local pharmacopoeia based on locally available plants. Third, conduct books for women are taken up, for the different expectations of women in East Asian societies made Chinese imports unsuitable. Subsequently, a Tang-dynasty manual of statecraft, a manual of forensic medicine, Chinese vernacular fiction, and books about the West are discussed.Less

Medical Vocabulary, with Especial Reference to the Hippocratic Corpus

Elizabeth Craik

in Liddell and Scott: The History, Methodology, and Languages of the World's Leading Lexicon of Ancient Greek

This chapter considers the emergence of Hippocratic lexicography. The study of medical texts, and to a limited extent the study of medical vocabulary, has attracted much interest recently, and can be ... More

This chapter considers the emergence of Hippocratic lexicography. The study of medical texts, and to a limited extent the study of medical vocabulary, has attracted much interest recently, and can be viewed as an academic growth area. The proliferation of new subject areas—women’s studies, sociology, environmental issues, ethnography—which impinge on issues of human health and well-being has caused scholars to look anew at the rich source material to be found in medical writings. The situation has changed greatly since the first edition of the Lexicon in 1843 and even since the ninth in 1925–40: ancient medicine, once viewed as the esoteric pursuit of eccentrics or the province of retired physicians, has become a mainstream area of academic specialization. There is now a large and growing constituency of young, and not so young, scholars who need a lexicon to consult for aid in reading these unfamiliar and frequently difficult texts.Less

Medical and Mythical Constructions of the Body in Sanskrit Texts 1

Wendy Doniger

in On Hinduism

This chapter examines the concept of the human body in Hinduism by analyzing three Sanskrit texts: medical texts, The Laws of Manu, and the Puranas. It first considers the doctrine of the three ... More

This chapter examines the concept of the human body in Hinduism by analyzing three Sanskrit texts: medical texts, The Laws of Manu, and the Puranas. It first considers the doctrine of the three humors, tackled in Hindu medical texts such as the Charaka Samhita, and closely related to the Hindu belief that all matter, including the human body, is composed of the three elements of lucidity (sattva), energy (rajas), and torpor (tamas). It then looks at Manu’s attitudes toward the body, in particular offering a chilling image of it. The Puranas offer several explanations of conception and birth that are different from the ones discussed in Manu and the medical texts.Less