No 26, April 2002

ISSN 0962-7839

Roy Porter 1946 – 2002 Contents

Obituary by Chandak Sengoopta on page 2

Roy Porter

—page 2

Conference report

“Ethics and Ethnics”,Aberdeen, 19th-20th Oct 2001

—page 3

Announcements

Conferences, Calls forPapers, World Wide Web

—page 4

Studies in the SocialHistory of Medicine

new volumes—page 7

Amendments to theSSHM constitution

—page 8

Elections to the EC

—page 9

2002 essay prize

—page 11

Correspondenceshould be sent to the editor, Carsten Timmermann, CHSTM, The University, Maths Tower,Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL. Phone: +44-161-275 7950; Fax: +44-161-275 5699;

Email: gazette@sshm.orghttp://www.sshm.org

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OBITUARY

Roy Porter, 1946-2002Roy Porter, who died suddenly on 3

March 2002 at the age of fifty-five, was oneof the earliest and best-known practitionersof what came to be known as the socialhistory of medicine. Over the many years hespent at the Wellcome Institute for theHistory of Medicine in London, he becamelegendary for his industriousness – he spentat least fourteen hours at his desk seven daysa week – and for the cheerful, inspiringleadership he provided to students,postdoctoral fellows and visiting scholars.(Not to mention the lunches he bought themperiodically.)

Above all, however, he transformedhistorical writing and the intellectual life ofBritain with a flow of scholarly books thatthe book-buying public – not just scholars –wanted to read. Although always claimingthat he found writing a painful task, heseemed to revel in that pain: averaging abouttwo books per year, he was undoubtedly themost productive medical historian of ourtime. But passionate as he was in his pursuitof the history of medicine, narrowspecialisation was anathema to him. Nothinggave him more joy than to finish a book onthe history of gout and turn without a pauseto the history of the British Enlightenment.Or, for that matter, to take up the history ofthe Bethlem Hospital as soon as he hadcompleted a vast social history of London.

At the time of his death, he was ostensiblyretired but nobody could have believed it

from his output. During the previous year, hehad published a brief history of madness;delivered the manuscript of a short history ofmedicine to its publisher; almost completed abook on how modern man came todisbelieve in the soul; and was in the researchstages of a comprehensive two-volume socialand cultural history of Britain. As always, healso reviewed a dizzying range of books forliterary magazines, scholarly journals and theSunday papers; lectured regularly in localesranging from Peru to Mauritius; and was afrequent presence on the radio. And as if allthat weren’t enough, he was also taking yogalessons, cultivating his allotment andthreatening to learn Portuguese and play thetrumpet.

Although no slouch at writing foracademics and although always ready to helpout professional colleagues with spectaculargenerosity, erudition and wit, Porter, a truebeliever in Enlightenment ideals of freedebate and the free interchange of ideas, feltno embarrassment in addressing audiencesoutside the academic world. The man simplycould not accept the boundaries betweendifferent sub-fields of history or between thescholarly and popular domains that so manyprofessional scholars observe so fastidiously.Scorning jargon, earnestness and pomposity,he communicated the excitement of history,the joy of ideas and the sheer exhilaration ofthought to those very people whom socialhistorians purport to rescue from theenormous condescension of posterity butwith whom they are usually unwilling (orunable) to communicate. Transfixed as a boyby the intellectual vistas revealed to him byhis English teacher, Porter strove all his lifeto bring that same electrifying experience,not only to his fellow academics, but topeople everywhere, regardless of theirbackground, education, or status.

Chandak SengooptaCentre for the History of

Science, Technology and MedicineUniversity of Manchester

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CONFERENCE REPORT

Ethics and Ethnics: theimplementation of westernmedicine, 1800 to the presentUniversity of Aberdeen19th –20th October, 2001

Despite coming soon after the tragicevents of September 11, the conferenceorganisers (Oonagh Walsh and the staff ofthe Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies atthe University of Aberdeen) were still able towelcome delegates from North America,Ireland and various British institutions to thisprovocatively-titled event. Despite a lowerthan expected turnout, the eventdemonstrated that enthusiasm and interestcontribute much to a successful conference.The two-day gathering concentrated on theimplementation of western medicine over aperiod of two centuries. However, given thenature of the papers, a number ofsupplementary themes emerged during theconference, including the production ofmedical knowledge, the representation ofcolonial subjects, and the role of film sourcesin historical research.

Saturday’s session got off to a flying startwith a presentation by Lesley Diack of theUniversity of Aberdeen. Her talk, entitled‘The ethics of a nuclear reserve: corned beef,typhoid and government policy in the 1960s’,provided the conference with a local theme,whilst discussing the health effects ofcontaminated provisions. This studyaddressed the particular fate of corned beefthat was stockpiled locally after 1945 for usein the event of nuclear war, especially ofthose tins deemed past their shelf-life. Thepaper considered the government’s dilemmain weighing up the relative risk of typhoidwhen faced with nuclear war, and describedsubsequent efforts to eliminate the hazard byoffering old stocks as food aid to Pakistan.

A paper by Hugh Pennington elaboratedon the ethical dimensions of BSE and E. colipoisoning, and calculated the financial costs

of such health outbreaks to the economy. Aswith Diack’s paper, Pennington’s linkedoutbreaks of illness to production methods atthe level of the firm, and it was agreed thatwork on business archives where possiblewould add an important dimension to theseaccounts of food contamination. LarryGeary’s paper on medical practice among thepre-famine Irish poor was a furtherexploration of medical ethics within theimmediate geography of Ireland and Britain.It discussed the expectations and provisionof medical services from the perspectives ofboth the practitioner and the patient. Theremainder of conference papers examinedmedical provisions in a colonial context.

The presentation of several healthpropaganda films early in the conference(discussing subjects as varied as malariaeradication projects, anti-tuberculosisvaccination and the prevention of sleepingsickness) both primed participants for theremaining papers and demonstrated thepotential uses of these fascinating historicalrecords. The films were selected andintroduced by Michael Clark of theWellcome Trust. Not surprisingly, most filmswere judged unethical by today’s standards,though only limited attempts were made toanalyse, for example, the narrative structureof this material. The lively discussions thatfollowed each screening clearly suggestedfurther work on these sources would be bothproductive and worthwhile.

A later viewing of a film from 1946 onDDT and malaria control proved a well-chosen introduction to Patricia Barton’spresentation, entitled ‘Mass treatment ofmalaria in British India, 1900-1939’. This,amongst other things, asked how colonialrulers could encourage a governedpopulation to take anti-malarial drugs whenits own troops would not even contemplatetheir use. In this particular situation theconundrum was neatly solved with theoutbreak of war. A similar experiment in

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disease control was discussed by JohnManton. This time, the setting was OgojaProvince, Nigeria between 1940 and 1947.Manton described, in considerable detail, theways in which the nebulous intentions andplans of colonial and missionary actors werefocussed by the arrival of a leprologist and astaff of medical missionary sisters fromIreland, whose work gave rise to aprogramme combining a hybrid of religiouscommunity and public health experiment.

A final colonial experiment was describedby Karen Eng of Georgetown University,whose work concentrated on the role ofmedicine in German efforts to create a rivalto Hong Kong at Liautschou in China before1914. The paper was particularly good atdiscussing the health threats of the regionand its people as perceived by the Germanoccupiers, who were attempting to constructa jewel in their small colonial empire. Thiswas followed by Samuel Connally’s livelysummary of the better-known campaign forthe mass-treatment of syphilis in Tuskegee,Alabama.

While preceding papers clearly emphasisedcontemporary beliefs in the superiority ofwestern medicine, the conference’s finalpaper, by Bristol’s Margaret Jones,demonstrated a very different interplaybetween western and indigenous medicine.Her work on Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)presented an interesting example ofknowledge production. Orthodox medicinethere, rather than becoming progressivelymore western throughout the twentieth

century, comprised an interesting mix ofboth Ayurvedic medicine and westernpractices. Finally, the conference concludedwith the Annual General Meeting of theSociety for the Social History of Medicine,and discussion of the topics covered over thetwo days continued during a very enjoyabledinner at the Linklater Rooms of King’sCollege.

Whilst this conference show-cased muchstimulating work, it also clearly emphasisedthe influence of the present on the study ofthe past, to a greater degree than any other inrecent memory. Most presentations elicited areaction from the audience confirming thatpast attempts to implement western medicinewere indeed often unethical. Consequently,the particular relationships consideredthroughout the conference also tended to bethose discussed by ethicists today: theseincluded those involving ruler and subject,doctor and patient, amongst others, whilstmore lateral affiliations, such as thosebetween practitioners, or betweengovernment and business, were rarelyconsidered. Nevertheless, this importantconference offered a variety of new work,and revealed promising new directions inwhat is clearly a fertile area for furtherresearch.

Jonathan ReinarzCentre for Medical HistoryUniversity of Birmingham

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

Postgraduate workshopThemes in twentieth-centurypsychiatryExeter, UKJune 2002

We would like to announce a one dayworkshop organized by postgraduatestudents for other postgraduates andsponsered by the SSHM.

This is a new venture that aims to sharefindings, develop information networks andfoster a research culture amongstpostgraduate students interested in the socialhistory of medicine. The first event dealingwith themes in twentieth-century psychiatrywill be held at the University of Exeter inJune (date to be confirmed).

Postgraduate students are encouraged tosubmit an abstract of up to 250 words if they

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would like to present a paper. Newresearchers who would simply like to comealong are also welcome. We are especiallykeen to involve part-time and maturestudents as well as drawing on existing strongregional connections. There are a smallnumber of bursaries available to studentmembers of the Society for the SocialHistory of Medicine.

For more details please contact:

Dr Pamela DaleCentre for Medical History

Amory Building, University of ExeterExeter EX4 4RJ, UK

Email: Pamela.L.Dale@exeter.ac.uk

________________________________________________________________________________

ConferenceBirthing and Bureaucracy:the history of childbirthand midwiferySheffield, UK11th-12th October, 2002

The School of Nursing and Midwifery atthe University of Sheffield, in collaborationwith the Society for the Social History ofMedicine, the UK Centre for the History ofNursing, and the Manchester Wellcome Unitfor the History of Medicine, are hosting aninternational conference marking thecentenary of the passage of the firstMidwives’ Act in the UK, in 2002. This Actwas a significant milestone in the history ofmidwifery, marking a fundamental change inthe relationship between birth andbureaucracy.

The development of modern birthingpractices and of the modern profession ofmidwifery has been associated withsignificant changes in authoritativeknowledge in relation to birth, and withchanges in the relationship between birthattendants and childbearing women.

The conference will bring togetherresearchers and practitioners from a range ofdisciplines.

Papers address the formalisation andrationalisation of childbirth knowledge,explore the gendering of knowledge andbirthing practices, and deal withprofessionalisation and bureaucratisation.

Session themes include: Birth and midwifery in the early modern

period Controversy and compromise: birth and

midwifery in the nineteenth century Birth and bureaucracy ‘Doing the work’: birth attendants in the

nineteenth and twentieth centuries Birth and place Representations and narrative

constructions of birth

The Society for the Social History ofMedicine is sponsoring five bursaries toenable post-graduate students to attend.Students wishing to apply for one of theseshould request further information from theconference organiser:

Jane DurellWomen’s Informed Childbearing and Health

Research Group (WICH)School of Nursing and Midwifery

University of SheffieldBartolome House, Winter Street

Sheffield S3 7ND, UKE-mail: j.durell@sheffield.ac.uk

http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/projects/wich

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SSHM Research SymposiumThe Normal and the Abnormal:Historical and culturalperspectives on norms anddeviationsManchester, UK10th-11th July, 2002

The abstracts for this symposium are nowavailable on-line at the following webaddress:

http://www.soton.ac.uk/~wer/abnormalabstracts.htm

For further details, please contact theorganisers, Dr Chandak Sengoopta(c.sengoopta@man.ac.uk) or Dr WaltraudErnst (wer@soton.ac.uk).

________________________________

World Wide WebMedicine and Madison Avenue

Duke University's Rare Book, Manuscript,and Special Collections Library is pleased toannounce the availability of “Medicine andMadison Avenue” (MMA).

MMA is an online database of over 600health-related advertisements printed innewspapers and magazines between 1911and 1958, as well as 35 selected historicaldocuments relating to the creation andinfluence of health-related advertisements.As a new addition to our image resources,Instructor's and Student’s Guides are alsoincluded, and provide ideas for use of thedatabase in the classroom. This project is acollaboration of the National HumanitiesCenter, the John W. Hartman Center forSales, Advertising, and Marketing History,Duke’s Digital Scriptorium, and the StateUniversity of New York at Stony Brook.MMA was generously funded by theAhmanson Foundation.

The purpose of the project is to illustratethe variety and evolution of marketingimages from the 1910s through the 1950s ofhealth-related advertisements. The collection

represents a wide range of products such ascough and cold remedies, laxatives andindigestion aids, and vitamins and tonics,among others. The images are drawn fromthe collections of the John W. HartmanCenter for Sales, Advertising, and MarketingHistory, with the bulk of the ads originatingin the J. Walter Thompson Company’sCompetitive Advertising File.

An important component of Medicine andMadison Avenue is the inclusion of“Suggestions for Classroom Use.” Thissection contains the Instructor’s andStudent’s Guide, and is written by NancyTomes, Professor of History, StateUniversity of New York at Stony Brook. TheInstructor's Guide aims to help courseinstructors design effective assignmentsbased on the documents included in MMA.The Student’s Guides contain case studiesand classroom exercises for use with thisdatabase. The MMA database is designed foruse in secondary schools, colleges anduniversities, and medical, nursing, dental andpublic health schools. It provides materialrelevant to a wide range of courses, includingAmerican history, history of health andhealing, American studies, sociology,women's studies, and communications. Thedatabase may be used not only to stimulatediscussions of advertising and health, butalso to build critical thinking skills in general.

You can visit the Medicine and MadisonAvenue web site at:

http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/mma

Jacqueline ReidDuke University

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STUDIES IN THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF MEDICINE

The SSHM Series with Routledgecontinues to thrive. Almost twenty volumeshave been published, and the most recentand forthcoming titles are listed below.Monographs as well as edited collections ofessays are now included and the editorswelcome proposals. Guidelines on

submission are available on the SSHM webpage (http://www.sshm.org). Members ofthe Society are reminded that they enjoy a 30per cent price reduction on volumespublished in the Series. Details of thisconcession are also on the web page.

The Editors:

Dr Anne Borsay (Edited Collections)Department of HistoryUniversity of Wales LampeterCollege StreetLampeter, Ceredigion SA48 7ED, UKTel: +44 (0)1570 422351Fax: +44 (0)1570 423885E-mail: anne.borsay@lamp.ac.ukor anneborsay@netscapeonline.co.uk

Dr Jo Melling (Monographs)Centre for Medical HistoryUniversity of ExeterExeter EX4 4RJ, UKTel: +44 (0)1392 263297Fax: +44 (0)1392 263297 or 263305Email: J.L.Melling@ex.ac.ukor Medarch@ex.ac.uk

Recently published and forthcoming volumes

2001

R. Davidson and L.A. Hall (eds.), Sex, Sin and Suffering: venereal disease and Europeansociety since 1870 (2001), ISBN: 0-415-23444-1: This volume brings together a series ofstudies on the social history of venereal disease in modern Europe and its former colonies. Itexplores, from a comparative perspective, the responses of legal, medical and politicalauthorities to the ‘Great Scourge’, in particular, how such responses reflected and shaped socialattitudes towards sexuality and social relationships of class, gender, generation and race.

A. Bashford and C. Hooker (eds.), Contagion (2001), ISBN: 0-415-24671-7: ‘Contagion’explores cultural responses to infectious diseases and their biomedical management over thenineteenth and twentieth centuries. It also investigates the use of ‘contagion’ as a concept inpostmodern reconceptualisations of embodied subjectivity.

2002

W. Ernst (ed.), Plural Medicine, Tradition and Modernity (February 2002), ISBN: 0-415-23122-1: Research into ‘colonial’ or ‘imperial’ medicine has made considerable progress inrecent years, whilst the study of what is usually referred to as ‘indigenous’ or ‘folk’ medicine incolonized societies has received much less attention. This book redresses the balance bybringing together current critical research into medical pluralism during the last two centuries.It includes a rich selection of historical, anthropological and sociological case studies that covermany different parts of the globe, ranging from New Zealand to Africa, China, South Asia,Europe and the USA.

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J. Stanton (ed.), Innovations in Health and Medicine: Diffusion and Resistance in theTwentieth Century (March 2002), ISBN: 0-415-24385-8: This volume brings together cuttingedge research by historians from Britain, Germany, France, the US, Japan and New Zealand.Innovative in its approach to innovation, it focuses on diffusion and resistance, andorganization as well as technology.

H. Phillips and D. Killingray (eds.), The Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918: new perspectives(August 2002), ISBN: 0-415-23445-X: The chapters in this book have been structured aroundfive main themes to explore the medical and societal ramifications of this disease: the virologyof the pandemic, medical responses, official responses, the demographic impact and the long-term effects of the pandemic are all explored in detail.

S. Sturdy (ed.), Medicine, Health and the Public Sphere in Britain, 1600-2000 (August2002), ISBN: 0-415-27906-2: An international team of scholars uses the techniques of medicalhistory to analyse the changing boundaries and constitution of the public sphere from earlymodernity to the present day.

________________________________________________________________________________

AMENDMENTS TO THE SSHM CONSTITUTION

At the Annual General Meeting of theSociety held in Aberdeen on 20th October2001 a minor change to the Constitution wasapproved.

The Constitution of the Society was lastamended at the Exeter AGM in July 1999.Since that time a number of minor changesto membership of the Executive Committeehave occurred, for which a change to theConstitution is required.

The role of Series Editor has been split,such that the Society now has a PublicationsEditor (edited volumes) and a PublicationsEditor (monograph).

The Journal now has two editors, and ithas been found helpful for both to attendmeetings of the Executive Committee.

As a consequence, the following changesto the wording of the Constitution wereproposed and approved.

Previous:5. The Executive Committee

(ii) It shall consist of a) the President exofficio, b) the officers, c) an Editor of theJournal ex officio, d) the Series Editor exofficio, and e) nine further members of theSociety.

Approved:5. The Executive Committee

(ii) It shall consist of a) the President exofficio, b) the officers, c) the Editors of theJournal ex officio, d) the Publications Editor(edited volumes) and the PublicationsEditor (monographs) ex officio, and e) ninefurther members of the Society.

The full constitution of the Society isavailable on its web-site, at:

http://www.sshm.org/constit.htm

Stuart AndersonChair

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OFFICIAL NOTICE: ELECTION TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Nominations are invited to fill the fourvacancies on the Executive Committee of theSociety for the Social History of Medicine,which will arise following the 2002 AnnualGeneral Meeting.

The Executive Committee consists ofsixteen members, twelve of whom areelected. Four members stand for electioneach year, serving a three year term of office.The joint editors of the Society’s journal,Social History of Medicine, the edited serieseditor, and the monographs editor are ex-officio members of the ExecutiveCommittee.

The members of the committee who areretiring in 2002 are Oonagh Walsh, DavidCantor, Jonathan Reinarz and KellyLoughlin. All are eligible for re-election.

Candidates must be members of theSociety of at least one year’s standing.Proposers and seconders must be membersof the Society.

Members of the Society may nominatethemselves or another member. Thenomination form (overleaf) should becompleted, signed by the proposer, theseconder and by the nominee.

The completed form should be returnedto the Society’s Honorary Secretary:

Dr Lesley Diack,Room G08,Crombie Annexe,University of Aberdeen,Meston Walk,ABERDEEN AB24 3FX.

The closing date for nominations isFriday 31 May 2002.

In the event of there being morenominations than there are vacancies anelection will be held. Candidates will be askedto write a brief, 100 word statement insupport of their nomination. These will bepublished in the August 2002 number of TheGazette, together with a voting form.

The closing date for the submission ofcompleted voting forms will be Wednesday25 September 2002.

The results of the election will beannounced at the 2002 Annual GeneralMeeting of the Society, to be held in Londonon Friday 27 September 2002.

Please visit the SSHM Website at http://www.sshm.org

DisclaimerAny views expressed in this Gazette are those of the Editor or the named contributor; theyare not necessarily those of the Executive Committee or general membership. While everycare is taken to provide accurate and helpful information in the Gazette, the Society forthe Social History of Medicine, the Chair of its Executive Committee and the Editor of theGazette accept no responsibility for omissions or errors or their subsequent effects.Readers are encouraged to check all essential information appropriate to specificcircumstances.

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SOCIETY FOR THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF MEDICINE

ELECTION TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2002

NOMINATION FORM

Name of candidate: …………………………………………………………………………

Proposed by:…………………………………………………………………………………(Member of the Society for the Social History of Medicine)

Seconded by:………………………………………………………………………………. .(Member of the Society for the Social History of Medicine)

I accept nomination for election to the Executive Committee:

……………………………………………………………………………………………….(Member of the Society for the Social History of Medicine)

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PRIZE ESSAY COMPETITION 2002

The Society for the Social History of Medicine invites submissions for its two 2002 prize essaycompetitions -- the 2002 essay competition and the 2002 student essay competition. Please turn overthis page for an entry form.1. Prizes:

Two prizes will be awarded: one for the best original, unpublished essay in the social history ofmedicine in each competition. The winner of the 2002 essay competition will be awarded a prize of£300.00. The winner of the 2002 student essay competition will also be awarded £300.00. The winningentries of both competitions may also be published in the journal, Social History of Medicine, subject tothe usual editorial procedures, including double blind refereeing.2. Eligible Candidates:

2002 Essay Competition: post-doctoral scholars and faculty who acquired their Ph.D. (or equivalentqualification) after 31 December 1996.2002 Student Essay Competition: students, undergraduate or postgraduate, part-time or full-time.∗ No candidate may enter both competitions in one year.∗ All candidates must join the Society for the Social History of Medicine (membership form is

available on the SSHM website, http://www.sshm.org. Alternatively, please contact the membershipsecretary).

∗ Candidates who are uncertain as to whether they are eligible to enter the competition should contactthe Membership Secretary before preparing their entry.

3. Essays must be:

∗ Unpublished∗ Written in English∗ 5000-8000 words in length (including footnotes).∗ In conformity with the bibliographic conventions of Social History of Medicine, available at

http://www.sshm.org.NOTE: The same essay cannot be submitted more than once, and entries from previous years will notbe accepted4. Assessment Panel:

The panel will consist of the Chair of the Society for the Social History of Medicine, the Society'sRepresentative on the Editorial Board, and the Editors of Social History of Medicine, with the assistance ofother members of the editorial board.5. To enter:

Please complete the form overleaf and send it with 4 copies of the essay to Dr. Lesley Diack, Schoolof History and Art, University of Aberdeen, Room G08, Crombie Annexe, Meston Walk, AberdeenAB24 3FX, UK. The deadline for entries is 31 December 2002; a decision will be made by 31 March2003, and the announcement of the prize winners will be made at the AGM of the Society.Notes:

∗ The Editors of Social History of Medicine reserve the right to consider any of the entries forpublication, subject to normal refereeing procedures.

∗ Members of the Executive Committee of the SSHM or the Editorial Board of Social History ofMedicine may not enter either competition, even if otherwise eligible.

∗ The prizes will not be awarded if the Assessment Panel considers that none of the essays reaches anacceptable standard.

Membership secretary: David Cantor, Building 31, Room 2B09 MSC 2092, National Institutes ofHealth, Bethesda, MD 20892-2092, USA. Email: competition@sshm.org.

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SOCIETY FOR THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF MEDICINE

2002 PRIZE ESSAY COMPETITIONS

ENTRY FORM

I have read the rules for the SSHM’s 2002 Prize Essay Competitions. I agree to abide bythese rules.

I am entering: [Please tick one box]

[ ] the 2002 essay competition[ ] the 2002 student essay competition.

I declare that I am eligible to enter this competition according to the terms of rule 2.

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