2000 HSS/PSA Program 1 - History of Science Society

HSS Abstracts
of tropical medicine’, discovered that the mosquito was the intermediate host
of the filarial worm that caused elephantiasis. This discovery initiated a new
research orientation in tropical medicine and parasitology. In his research,
Manson conceptualized the mosquito as the ‘nurse’ of filarial embryos. This
paper analyzes the relation between Manson’s concept and nineteenth-century
theories of the sexual division of labour in nature’s economy. Moreover,
Manson’s understanding of the role of the intermediate host was related to the
concerns of British medical men about the maternal functions of European
women and the role of native wet-nurses in European domestic arrangements
in China. British medical men held that European women in China were too
debilitated by the climate to nurse their children and the reliance on native
wet-nurses was inevitable. However, the presence of the natives in the
household and their influence on the children often caused great anxiety among
the Europeans. The employment of native wet-nurses caused heated discussions
and debates. By exploring the role of gender in Manson’s parasitological
research, I show that his idea of nature’s order was closely related to European
gender norms at the periphery of the empire.
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Monica Libell Lund University, Sweden
Physiology, Civilization and the Pain of Vivisection
In the latter part of the nineteenth century, the educated Western world became
highly interested in the expanding methodology of physiology-vivisection.
For that society, compassion for suffering beings appears to have been central
to the idea of civilization. In this paper, I will discuss how the notion of pain/
suffering was played out in the rhetoric of the antagonists within the German
vivisection debate. The image of “civilized man” entailed a belief in kindness
and compassion which prohibited the infliction of wanton pain. It was against
this backdrop that physiologists in pursuit of “scientific medicine” had to
impress the significance of their work for medical advancement while
simultaneously contending with a growing public concern with the suffering
of animals. Much of their research, however, was not initially intended to
advance, not did it immediately translate into, medical therapy. Certain
rhetorical strategies, therefore, needed to be adopted. Such scientists esteemed
“civilized man” no less than did their adversaries, and they anxiously presented
themselves as servants of mankind primarily concerned with, and sensitive to
pain. Animals, however, being commonly thought of as inferior to humans,
could legitimately be used by man for his needs. Consequently, only
unnecessary pain was presented as offensive and uncivilized. Physiologists
also attempted to bolster their image by appropriating the public’s trust in “the
good house doctor” whose foremost duties were commonly associated with
the alleviation of pain and with the healing and comforting of the patient.
Although at a remove from that patient, experimental physiologists eagerly
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