Feverish Bodies, Enlightened Minds : Science and the Yellow Fever Controversy in the Early American Republic / Thomas Apel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Apel, Thomas, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Yellow fever--United States--History--18th century.

Yellow fever.

Yellow fever--Etiology--History--18th century.

Epidemics--United States--History--18th century.

Epidemics.

Diseases--United States--History--18th century.

Diseases.

Medical sciences--United States--History--18th century.

Medical sciences.

Diseases--Causes and theories of causation--History--18th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (204 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press, [2020]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

From 1793 to 1805, yellow fever devastated U.S. port cities in a series of terrifying epidemics. The search for the cause and prevention of the disease involved many prominent American intellectuals, including Noah Webster and Benjamin Rush. This investigation produced one of the most substantial and innovative outpourings of scientific thought in early American history. But it also led to a heated and divisive debate—both political and theological—around the place of science in American society. Feverish Bodies, Enlightened Minds opens an important window onto the conduct of scientific inquiry in the early American republic. The debate between "contagionists," who thought the disease was imported, and "localists," who thought it came from domestic sources, reflected contemporary beliefs about God and creation, the capacities of the human mind, and even the appropriate direction of the new nation. Through this thoughtful investigation of the yellow fever epidemic and engaging examination of natural science in early America, Thomas Apel demonstrates that the scientific imaginations of early republicans were far broader than historians have realized: in order to understand their science, we must understand their ideas about God.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Contexts and Causes

2. “Declare the Past”

3. “Nature Is the Great Experimenter”

4. “Let Not God Intervene”

5. “In Politics As Well As Medicine”; or, The Arrogance of the Enlightened

Conclusion: “A New Era in the Science of Medicine”?

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Jul 2020)

ISBN:

9780804799638

0804799636

OCLC:

1178769686