Low-level, catch-all, antiquarian gatherings
In the last number of the Newsletter of the European Association for the History of Medicine, the president of the association, Dr. Esteban Rodríguez-Ocaña, writes the following: "... [in part as a] reaction to the distasteful experience of low-level, catch-all, antiquarian-prone international gatherings of (mainly practicing) physicians... the EAHMH [European Association for the History of Medicine and Health] has succeeded in establishing a firm foundation for the new history of medicine and health... also refreshed by the incorporation of Foucaultian, feminist and, in general, post-modern perspectives." (Esteban Rodríguez-Ocaña, "Letter from the President," Newsletter of the European Association for the History of Medicine and Health, XXIII, December 2002, p. 3.) It is sad that the president of a society which is supposed to promote the study of history of medicine should feel the need to use such language toward physicians who, not having had the fortune of acquiring a sophistication similar to his own, are nevertheless interested in history of medicine. Dr. Rodríguez-Ocaña should be more forgiving toward the less fortunate, especially toward those poor practicing physicians. After all, without practicing physicians no history of medicine (not even "new history of medicine") would exist and Dr. Rodríguez-Ocaña would be out of a job. Plinio Prioreschi, M.D. (practicing kind)