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Infection of the innocents : wet nurses, infants, and syphilis in France, 1780-1900 / Joan Sherwood.
Van Pelt Library RC201.6.F8 S54 2010
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Sherwood, Joan, 1929-
- Series:
- McGill-Queen's/Associated Medical Services studies in the history of medicine, health, and society ; 37.
- McGill-Queen's/Associated Medical Services studies in the history of medicine, health and society ; 37
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Hospice de Vaugirard--History.
- Syphilis, Congenital, hereditary, and infantile--Treatment--Social aspects--France--History.
- Syphilis, Congenital, hereditary, and infantile.
- Syphilis--Patients--Legal status, laws, etc--France--History.
- Syphilis.
- Wet nurses--Legal status, laws, etc--France--History.
- Wet nurses.
- Medical personnel--Malpractice--France--History.
- Medical personnel.
- Hospice de Vaugirard.
- Syphilis, Congenital--history.
- Medical personnel--Malpractice.
- History.
- Syphilis--Patients.
- Social aspects.
- France.
- Syphilis, Congenital--therapy.
- Mercury--history.
- Breast Feeding.
- Malpractice--legislation & jurisprudence.
- Pediatrics--history.
- Medical Subjects:
- Hospice de Vaugirard--History.
- Hospice de Vaugirard.
- Syphilis, Congenital--history.
- France.
- Syphilis, Congenital--therapy.
- Mercury--history.
- Breast Feeding.
- Malpractice--legislation & jurisprudence.
- Pediatrics--history.
- Physical Description:
- xiii, 214 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
- Place of Publication:
- Montreal ; Ithaca : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2010]
- Summary:
- In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries congenital syphilis was a major cause of infant mortality in France but mercury, the preferred treatment for the disease, could not be safely given to infants. In the 1780s the Vaugirard hospital in Paris began to treat affected infants by giving mercury to wet nurses, who transmitted it to infants through their milk. Despite the highly contagious nature of syphilis and the dangerous side-effects of mercury, the practice of using healthy wet nurses to treat syphilitic infants spread throughout France and continued into the nineteenth century.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages [179]-207) and index.
- Local Notes:
- Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.
- ISBN:
- 9780773537415
- 0773537414
- OCLC:
- 594940562
- Publisher Number:
- 99939891718
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