Irritating experiments : Haller's concept and the European controversy on irritability and sensibility, 1750-90 / Hubert Steinke.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Steinke, Hubert, author.

Series:

Clio Medica 76.

Wellcome series in the history of medicine

Clio medica, 0045-7183 ; 76

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Irritability.

Physiology--History--18th century.

Physiology.

Senses and sensation.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (354 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Brill 2005

Amsterdam, Netherlands ; New York, New York : Rodopi, [2005]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

One of the great medical controversies of the Enlightenment was the European debate on motion, sensation, and animal experimentation provoked by Albrecht von Haller’s treatise on irritability and sensibility (1752). Irritating Experiments is the first full-length study to explore the theoretical background and the experimental process that led to Haller's description and separation of two fundamental bodily qualities: irritability, or the capacity of muscles to contract upon stimulation, and sensibility, or the capacity of the nervous system to transmit impressions that are felt as touch or pain in humans, or produce signs of pain in animals. This new concept presented a serious challenge to the reigning medical systems. Haller’s animal experiments were repeated all over Europe, on a scale never seen before. The results, however, were contradictory. Haller's concept was largely rejected, and animal experimentation could not be established as a major research method in physiology. Focussing on procedural aspects of experimentation, the interaction between experiment and theory, the status of surgery, the use of medical and pathological models, and the culture of criticism, Irritating Experiments tries to explain why.

Contents:

Preliminary Material

List of Figures

Abbreviations

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Theories of Animal Motion before 1750

Experimentation in the Göttingen Laboratory

Haller’s Changing Views on Irritability and Sensibility

The Uses of Experiment

Irritability, Sensibility, and Medical Philosophy

The Debate and the Medical and Public Sphere

Conclusion

Bibliography

The Spread of Experiment

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

90-04-33298-7

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004332980 DOI