Lecture: "Hermann Boerhaave and Enlightenment Medicine" by Harold J. Cook (UCLA Programs in Medical Classics, 24 February 2004)
Lecture: "Hermann Boerhaave and Enlightenment Medicine" by Harold J. Cook (UCLA Programs in Medical Classics, 24 February 2004) Tuesday, 13 January 2004, 6:00 p.m. Hermann Boerhaave and Enlightenment Medicine: Steering Clear of Ultimate Questions. Harold J. Cook, Ph.D. Professor and Director, The Wellcome Centre for the History of Medicine at University College London Introduction by Dora B. Weiner, Ph.D. Professor of the Medical Humanities and of History, UCLA Hal Cook has for some years been working on the history of medicine and natural history during the Dutch Golden Age, rounding off his story with a fresh look at the famous medical and botanical (and chemical) professor of Leiden, Herman Boerhaave. Boerhaave became the most famous medical professor of early 18th-century Europe. Yet there have been quite different views about his contributions, even among his students: was he a materialist, a mechanist, an iatrochemist, a vitalist, a Hippocratic, a Calvinist? This presentation takes another look at Boerhaave’s teachings, not in light of what came after, but in light of the controversies of his own world, so that we can see afresh the intellectual and clinical problems facing him, and how he dealt with them or finessed them. The January program is co-sponsored by the UCLA Department of History [http://www.history.ucla.edu] This program will begin at 6:00 pm in the UCLA Faculty Center, followed by wine & soft drinks, conversation, and an opportunity to examine some of the books discussed that evening as well as related material from the Biomedical Library’s History & Special Collections Division. There is no charge for the lecture and reception. An optional dinner with the speakers, at $22.00 per person, will take place in the Faculty Center about 7:30 pm. A reservation is required for dinner; please call the History & Special Collections Division of the Louise Darling Biomedical Library at (310) 825-6940 to make a reservation. An abridged form of an related, classic text will be distributed by snailmail to those persons who request it in advance. To request this text (not that this is a _related_ text; the _lecture itself_ is not taped or transcribed) or more information, please send Teresa Johnson [tgj@library.ucla.edu] an e-mail, including your name and address, with the words “Medical Classics Program: February 2004 Lecture” in the subject line; or call the History & Special Collections Division at (310) 825-6940. # # # UCLA Programs in Medical Classics is a series of presentations designed to enhance an appreciation of the links among famous medical writings, clinical practice, basic research, and humanistic scholarship. Six times a year these meetings bring together a convivial group of individuals of scholarly tastes—both from the community and from UCLA faculty, students, and staff—for a lecture and an opportunity to discuss and examine texts and topics that embody the history of advances in medicine, as well as the relations of medicine to broader cultural settings. http://www.library.ucla.edu/biomed/his/medicalclassics.html Printable PDF version of February 2004 announcement: http://www.library.ucla.edu/biomed/his/medclass-feb2004.pdf