Helen King
I created a free 6-week online course (MOOC) with FutureLearn on ancient health: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/ancient-health which ran twice in 2017. It's due to run again at the start of 2018
Since my PhD on ancient Greek ideas about menstruation, I've been interested in setting medical texts within their cultural contexts of production and reception. Recently I've been doing more on the reception end, looking at the uses of Hippocratic gynaecology in medicine up to the nineteenth century. See http://medienportal.univie.ac.at/uniview/professuren/detailansicht/artikel/helen-king-der-mythos-um-die-weiblichkeit/
My most recent monograph, The One-Sex Body on Trial (2013), concerns the reception of two ancient stories about women and the challenge this poses to Laqueur's model of change in the history of the body. I have also recently published on the humours in ancient medicine, the role of Hippocratic medicine in the later history of phobia, the reception of the plague of Athens, and the senses in medicine.
Since my PhD on ancient Greek ideas about menstruation, I've been interested in setting medical texts within their cultural contexts of production and reception. Recently I've been doing more on the reception end, looking at the uses of Hippocratic gynaecology in medicine up to the nineteenth century. See http://medienportal.univie.ac.at/uniview/professuren/detailansicht/artikel/helen-king-der-mythos-um-die-weiblichkeit/
My most recent monograph, The One-Sex Body on Trial (2013), concerns the reception of two ancient stories about women and the challenge this poses to Laqueur's model of change in the history of the body. I have also recently published on the humours in ancient medicine, the role of Hippocratic medicine in the later history of phobia, the reception of the plague of Athens, and the senses in medicine.
less
InterestsView All (34)
Uploads
Books
http://www.chuv.ch/iuhmsp/ihm_home/ihm_publications/ihm_bhms.htm
I PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Manfred Horstmanshoff, Helen King and Claus Zittel
II INTRODUCTION
Helen King
III HISTORY OF PHYSIOLOGY IN CONTEXT: CONCEPTS, METAPHORS, ANALOGIES
PHYSIOLOGIA, FROM GALEN TO JACOB BORDING
Vivian Nutton
PHYSIOLOGICAL ANALOGIES AND METAPHORS IN EXPLANATIONS OF THE EARTH AND THE COSMOS
Liba Taub
THE RECEPTION OF THE HIPPOCRATIC TREATISE ON GLANDS
Elizabeth Craik
BETWEEN ATOMS AND HUMOURS. LUCRETIUS’ DIDACTIC POETRY AS A MODEL OF INTEGRATED AND BIFOCAL PHYSIOLOGY
Fabio Tutrone
LOSING GROUND: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ATTRACTION FROM THE KIDNEYS
Michael R. McVaugh
THE ART OF THE DISTILLATION OF ‘SPIRITS’ AS A TECHNOLOGICAL MODEL FOR HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY: THE CASES OF MARSILIO FICINO, JOSEPH DUCHESNE AND FRANCIS BACON
Sergius Kodera
THE BODY IS A BATTLEFIELD – CONFLICT AND CONTROL IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY PHYSIOLOGY AND POLITICAL THOUGHT
Sabine Kalff
HERMAN BOERHAAVE’S NEUROLOGY AND THE UNCHANGING NATURE OF PHYSIOLOGY
Rina Knoeff
THE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF MIND: DAVID HUME’S VITALISTIC ACCOUNT
Tamás Demeter
MORE THAN A FADING FLAME. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF OLD AGE BETWEEN SPECULATIVE ANALOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
Daniel Schäfer
SUFFERING BODIES, SENSIBLE ARTISTS. VITALIST MEDICINE AND THE VISUALIZING OF CORPOREAL LIFE IN DIDEROT
Tomas Macsotay
IV BLOOD
BLOOD, CLOTTING AND THE FOUR HUMOURS
Hans L. Haak
AN ISSUE OF BLOOD. THE HEALING OF THE WOMAN WITH THE HAEMORRHAGE (MARK 5.24B-34; LUKE 8.42B-48; MATTHEW 9.19-22) IN EARLY MEDIEVAL VISUAL CULTURE
Barbara Baert, Liesbet Kusters, Emma Sidgwick
THE NATURE OF THE SOUL AND THE PASSAGE OF BLOOD THROUGH THE LUNGS: GALEN, IBN AL-NAFĪS, SERVETUS, İTAKİ, ‘AṬṬĀR
Rainer Brömer
SPERM AND BLOOD, FORM AND FOOD. LATE MEDIEVAL MEDICAL NOTIONS OF MALE AND FEMALE IN THE EMBRYOLOGY OF MEMBRA
Karine van ’t Land
THE MUSIC OF THE PULSE IN MARSILIO FICINO’S TIMAEUS COMMENTARY
Jacomien Prins
‘FOR THE LIFE OF A CREATURE IS IN THE BLOOD’ (LEVITICUS 17:11). SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON BLOOD AS THE SOURCE OF LIFE IN SIXTEENTH CENTURY RELIGION AND MEDICINE AND THEIR INTERCONNECTIONS
Catrien Santing
WHITE BLOOD AND RED MILK. ANALOGICAL REASONING IN MEDICAL PRACTICE AND EXPERIMENTAL PHYSIOLOGY (1560-1730)
Barbara Orland
V SWEAT AND SKIN
THE ‘BODY WITHOUT SKIN’ IN THE HOMERIC POEMS
Valeria Gavrylenko
SWEAT: LEARNED CONCEPTS AND POPULAR PERCEPTIONS, 1500-1800
Michael Stolberg
OF THE FISHERMAN’S NET AND SKIN PORES: REFRAMING CONCEPTIONS OF THE SKIN IN MEDICINE 1572-1714
Mieneke M. G. te Hennepe
VI TEARS AND SIGHT
VISION AND VISION DISORDERS: GALEN’S PHYSIOLOGY OF SIGHT
Véronique Boudon-Millot
EARLY MODERN MEDICAL THINKING ON VISION AND THE CAMERA OBSCURA: V.F. PLEMPIUS’ OPHTHALMOGRAPHIA
Katrien Vanagt
THE TERTIUM COMPARATIONIS OF THE ELEMENTA PHYSIOLOGIAE.
JOHANN GOTTFRIED VON HERDER’S CONCEPTION OF “TEARS” AS MEDIATORS BETWEEN THE SUBLIME AND THE ACTUAL BODILY PHYSIOLOGY
Frank W. Stahnisch
VII BODY AND SOUL
FROM DOUBT TO CERTAINTY. ASPECTS OF THE CONCEPTUALISATION AND INTERPRETATION OF GALEN’S NATURAL PNEUMA
Julius Rocca
METABOLISMS OF THE SOUL: THE PHYSIOLOGY OF BERNARDINO TELESIO IN OLIVA SABUCO’S NUEVA FILOSOFÍA DE LA NATURALEZA DEL HOMBRE (1587)
Marlen Bidwell-Steiner
“FULL OF RAPTURE”. MATERNAL VOCALITY AND MELANCHOLY IN WEBSTER’S DUCHESS OF MALFI
Marion A. Wells
THE SLEEPING MUSICIAN: ARISTOTLE’S VEGETATIVE SOUL AND RALPH CUDWORTH’S PLASTIC NATURE
Diana Stanciu
Table of contentx
http://www.ircps.org/publications/aestimatio/rreviews.htm
That's what I wanted to create - something accessible, readable, but also stimulating! Something that leaves the reader with questions (there's a list of questions at the end of the book, in fact) but makes them able to engage with debates on the subject.
Papers
http://www.chuv.ch/iuhmsp/ihm_home/ihm_publications/ihm_bhms.htm
I PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Manfred Horstmanshoff, Helen King and Claus Zittel
II INTRODUCTION
Helen King
III HISTORY OF PHYSIOLOGY IN CONTEXT: CONCEPTS, METAPHORS, ANALOGIES
PHYSIOLOGIA, FROM GALEN TO JACOB BORDING
Vivian Nutton
PHYSIOLOGICAL ANALOGIES AND METAPHORS IN EXPLANATIONS OF THE EARTH AND THE COSMOS
Liba Taub
THE RECEPTION OF THE HIPPOCRATIC TREATISE ON GLANDS
Elizabeth Craik
BETWEEN ATOMS AND HUMOURS. LUCRETIUS’ DIDACTIC POETRY AS A MODEL OF INTEGRATED AND BIFOCAL PHYSIOLOGY
Fabio Tutrone
LOSING GROUND: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ATTRACTION FROM THE KIDNEYS
Michael R. McVaugh
THE ART OF THE DISTILLATION OF ‘SPIRITS’ AS A TECHNOLOGICAL MODEL FOR HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY: THE CASES OF MARSILIO FICINO, JOSEPH DUCHESNE AND FRANCIS BACON
Sergius Kodera
THE BODY IS A BATTLEFIELD – CONFLICT AND CONTROL IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY PHYSIOLOGY AND POLITICAL THOUGHT
Sabine Kalff
HERMAN BOERHAAVE’S NEUROLOGY AND THE UNCHANGING NATURE OF PHYSIOLOGY
Rina Knoeff
THE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF MIND: DAVID HUME’S VITALISTIC ACCOUNT
Tamás Demeter
MORE THAN A FADING FLAME. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF OLD AGE BETWEEN SPECULATIVE ANALOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
Daniel Schäfer
SUFFERING BODIES, SENSIBLE ARTISTS. VITALIST MEDICINE AND THE VISUALIZING OF CORPOREAL LIFE IN DIDEROT
Tomas Macsotay
IV BLOOD
BLOOD, CLOTTING AND THE FOUR HUMOURS
Hans L. Haak
AN ISSUE OF BLOOD. THE HEALING OF THE WOMAN WITH THE HAEMORRHAGE (MARK 5.24B-34; LUKE 8.42B-48; MATTHEW 9.19-22) IN EARLY MEDIEVAL VISUAL CULTURE
Barbara Baert, Liesbet Kusters, Emma Sidgwick
THE NATURE OF THE SOUL AND THE PASSAGE OF BLOOD THROUGH THE LUNGS: GALEN, IBN AL-NAFĪS, SERVETUS, İTAKİ, ‘AṬṬĀR
Rainer Brömer
SPERM AND BLOOD, FORM AND FOOD. LATE MEDIEVAL MEDICAL NOTIONS OF MALE AND FEMALE IN THE EMBRYOLOGY OF MEMBRA
Karine van ’t Land
THE MUSIC OF THE PULSE IN MARSILIO FICINO’S TIMAEUS COMMENTARY
Jacomien Prins
‘FOR THE LIFE OF A CREATURE IS IN THE BLOOD’ (LEVITICUS 17:11). SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON BLOOD AS THE SOURCE OF LIFE IN SIXTEENTH CENTURY RELIGION AND MEDICINE AND THEIR INTERCONNECTIONS
Catrien Santing
WHITE BLOOD AND RED MILK. ANALOGICAL REASONING IN MEDICAL PRACTICE AND EXPERIMENTAL PHYSIOLOGY (1560-1730)
Barbara Orland
V SWEAT AND SKIN
THE ‘BODY WITHOUT SKIN’ IN THE HOMERIC POEMS
Valeria Gavrylenko
SWEAT: LEARNED CONCEPTS AND POPULAR PERCEPTIONS, 1500-1800
Michael Stolberg
OF THE FISHERMAN’S NET AND SKIN PORES: REFRAMING CONCEPTIONS OF THE SKIN IN MEDICINE 1572-1714
Mieneke M. G. te Hennepe
VI TEARS AND SIGHT
VISION AND VISION DISORDERS: GALEN’S PHYSIOLOGY OF SIGHT
Véronique Boudon-Millot
EARLY MODERN MEDICAL THINKING ON VISION AND THE CAMERA OBSCURA: V.F. PLEMPIUS’ OPHTHALMOGRAPHIA
Katrien Vanagt
THE TERTIUM COMPARATIONIS OF THE ELEMENTA PHYSIOLOGIAE.
JOHANN GOTTFRIED VON HERDER’S CONCEPTION OF “TEARS” AS MEDIATORS BETWEEN THE SUBLIME AND THE ACTUAL BODILY PHYSIOLOGY
Frank W. Stahnisch
VII BODY AND SOUL
FROM DOUBT TO CERTAINTY. ASPECTS OF THE CONCEPTUALISATION AND INTERPRETATION OF GALEN’S NATURAL PNEUMA
Julius Rocca
METABOLISMS OF THE SOUL: THE PHYSIOLOGY OF BERNARDINO TELESIO IN OLIVA SABUCO’S NUEVA FILOSOFÍA DE LA NATURALEZA DEL HOMBRE (1587)
Marlen Bidwell-Steiner
“FULL OF RAPTURE”. MATERNAL VOCALITY AND MELANCHOLY IN WEBSTER’S DUCHESS OF MALFI
Marion A. Wells
THE SLEEPING MUSICIAN: ARISTOTLE’S VEGETATIVE SOUL AND RALPH CUDWORTH’S PLASTIC NATURE
Diana Stanciu
Table of contentx
http://www.ircps.org/publications/aestimatio/rreviews.htm
That's what I wanted to create - something accessible, readable, but also stimulating! Something that leaves the reader with questions (there's a list of questions at the end of the book, in fact) but makes them able to engage with debates on the subject.
Some sixteenth-century writers omitted the ending of the case history – her death – in order to argue that sex change from female to male was indeed possible: others included Phaethousa alongside stories of the sudden emergence of a penis, arguing that no ‘change’ occurred, such a ‘woman’ really being male all along. The story could also illustrate theories about the role of emotion (lust, as her husband was not available to satisfy her; sorrow, as she missed him so much) and the power of the imagination (by thinking of her husband, she came to resemble him), or feature as an example of disorders such as menstrual suppression and uterine prolapse.
The report was published in: Structures and Subjectivities: Attending to Early Modern Women, ed. Joan Hartman and Adele Seeff (Newark, DE: University of Delaware Press, 2007), pp. 100-101.
The full citation is: Helen King and Monica H. Green, “On the Misuses of Medical History,” The Lancet 391 (7 April 2018), 1354-55. It is available for open-access download at this link: https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(18)30490-2.pdf.