Listing of Sessions and Abstracts of Papers - History of Science ...

of historicism and prepared the ground for Max Weber's re-definition of history as a Kulturwissenschaft
in the 1900s. Especially Rickert fundamentally qualified the traditional historicist claims to objectivity,
universality and social as well as national relevance. The use of theory, thus, proved to be a deeply
ambivalent rescue operation for historicism at the turn of the century.
Russell, Mark
E-mail Address: mrussell@vt.edu
Popularizing Eugenics: Sir George Archdall Reid and the Medicalization of Social Problems
c.1890-1910.
Sir George Archdall Reid played an important but overlooked role in the extension and application of
biological theory to human problems, an intellectual trend which culminated in the rise of the eugenics
movement. Reid’s career straddled two crucial periods in the growth of this movement--namely, before
and after the re-discovery of Mendel’s work in 1900. As alcoholism specialist, medical doctor, and
author of widely used medical textbooks, Reid held a particularly useful position from which to broadcast
his belief in the reduction of social problems to biological and hereditary causes. The present essay
explores the development and impact of Reid's work in the context of the growth of scientific studies of
human heredity, the medical educational curriculum, and the larger social-political context of the eugenics
movement. I argue that Reid's work presents a remarkable example of the dynamic interaction of
social and scientific goals in this era. By appeal to the biological and hereditary basis of human temperament
and character, eugenically minded scientists and physicians ultimately rendered a wide array of
socially problematic behaviors ‘treatable,’ using methods as extreme as sterilization and human breeding.
I argue that Reid’s role in the growth and legitimacy of this movement deserves reappraisal.
Rutkin, H. Darrel
E-mail Address: drutkin@indiana.edu
The 'Unnamed Master' Revisited: Mathematics, Perspective and Astrology in Roger Bacon and
Albertus Magnus
In his Opus tertium (1266-67), Roger Bacon attacks a well-known contemporary, the "unnamed
master," as ignorant of perspective and mathematics, both of which are central to Roger's natural philosophy.
The scholarly status questionis identifies the "unnamed master" as Albertus Magnus. But when
we compare Roger's own definitions of perspective and mathematics--and their relation to astrology--
with the treatment of these subjects in Albertus's extensive natural philosophical opera, the likelihood of
this identification diminishes significantly. Such a comparison will be the subject of my talk.
Sandman, Alison
E-mail Address: Alison_Sandman@brown.edu
Questionnaires and observing instruments: Standardization, credibility, and control of empirical
observations in Spain and Spanish America.
In this paper I examine attempts by Spanish chart makers at the end of the sixteenth century to find a
way to gather reliable information about the New World. Chart makers based in Seville struggled to
reconcile a variety of reports, ranging from the voyage accounts of the individual pilots to lunar eclipse
observations. The contradictions in these reports, however, made it clear that the empirical information
they required to make their charts was often of questionable reliability. Since sending highly-educated
(and thus more credible) observers proved prohibitively expensive, the chart makers instead worked to
develop printed instructions, detailed questionnaires, and special-purpose observing instruments, designed
to constrain the actions of the observers already present in the New World. Though they met
with varying success, the details of their attempts indicate both the importance of the observers' personal