History 101C

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Retrospective Diagnosis

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Identifying a historical illness by using modern knowledge.

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Epidemic

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Rapid spread of infection to a large number of people in a short period of time. Comes from a treatise called "The Epidemics" written by Hippocrates.

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Bruno Latour

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A French philosopher of science born in 1947.

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Graham Twigg

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Writer of the 1984 book The Black Death: A Biological Reappraisal, arguing that transmission of plague through rats was impossible in medieval Europe.

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Yersinia Pestis

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A bacteria that can infect humans and animals in three ways: pneumonic, septicemic and bubonic plague. Responsible for many plagues in human history including black death between 1347 and 1353.

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Malthus' Essay Concerning Human Population

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1798 essay by Thomas Malthus discussing population growth and limitations.

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Kaffa

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Early-modern state located in present day Ethiopia. In 1346, Mongols engaged in biological warfare when they catapulted disease-ridden corpses over the city walls.

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Hippocratic Corpus

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A collection of Ancient Greek medical works written between 560 and 460 B.C. that are associated with Hippocrates. Attempted a rational explanation for human disease rather than a theological one.

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Boccaccio's Decameron

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A book of short stories written around 1350 that details social consequences of plague.

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Galen

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A Greek physician who lived between 130 and 200 C.E. He focused on balancing the four humors of the body (sanguine, melancholic, choleric and phlegmatic)

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Konrad of Megenberg

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Author of "Treatise Concerning the Mortality in Germany", written in 1350. Provided rational reasoning as to why Jews are not the source of plague.

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Ibn al-Khatib

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Muslim scholar and physician who wrote "A Very Useful Inquiry into the Horrible Sickness" around 1350. Argues for contagion theory rather than divine intervention.

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Florentine Castato

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A census conducted in Florence between 1427 and 1430. Collected information from around 260,000 inhabitants.

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European Marriage Pattern

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Between 1400 and 1600, the typical age for marriage was 26-28 for men and 23-25 for women.

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Isenheim Altarpiece

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An altarpiece sculpted by Niclaus of Haguenau and Matthias Grunewald in 1510. Painted for monastery of St. Anthony, which specialized in hospital work. Painting shows Jesus crucified and covered with plague sores.

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Danse Macabre/Dance of Death

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Artistic genre between 1400 and 1600 that emphasizes the universality of death.

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St. Sebastian Intervening for the Plague Stricken

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A piece of art from around 1500 showing St. Sebastian kneeling before God to pray for humanity. St. Sebastian was traditionally prayed to for protection from the plague.

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Leviticus chapter 13

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A chapter in the bible that details practices for dealing with skin diseases.

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Columbian exchange

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Transmission of disease between European explorers and the indigenous people of the Americas following Columbus' 1492 expedition.

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Paracelsus

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A Swiss German physician who lived between 1493 and 1541, he emphasized using empirical methods to understand disease rather than relying on ancient texts.

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pox/wood houses

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Places where sufferers of smallpox can be quarantined.

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Fracastoro's Syphilis

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A 1530 poem involving a shepherd boy who is punished by Apollo with syphilis. The poem suggests using mercury and guaiac as a cure.

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Guaiac treatment

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Using the bark of the guaiac tree in order to treat syphilis.

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Timon of Athens

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A 1607 play by Shakespeare.

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Florentine Codex

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A detailed account of Aztec culture composed by Bernardino de Sahagun in 1585. In it, he describes the smallpox epidemic of 1520.

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Hispaniola

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The island that is made up of present day Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is where Christopher Columbus founded the first European colonies in 1492.

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virgin-soil epidemic

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When groups are introduced to diseases they have no history with and are thus immunologically defenseless.

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Jesuit Relations

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Books written by Jesuits from 1632-1672 to relay information regarding colonial progress back to Europe.

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Plasmodium falciparum

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A species of parasite that causes malaria in humans.

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balanced polymorphism

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When a less desirable trait persists because of positive side effects, such as sickle-cell anemia.

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mechanical philosophy

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An innovative branch of philosophy arising between 1620 and 1650 that describes the universe as a large scale mechanism.

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Anton van Leeuwenhoek

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A Dutch scientist who made improvements to the microscope during the 1660s.

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Thomas Sydenham

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An English physician who died in 1689, he believed that it was possible to chart the course of disease and was one of the earliest people to conceptualize immune system responses.

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cordon sanitaire

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A barrier implemented to stop the spread of disease. First used in 1821 to stop spread of fever from Spain to France.

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variolation

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Application of smallpox material in order to build an immunity to the disease.

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Jenner's "An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae"

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Edward Jenner's 1798 documentation about testing his smallpox vaccine.

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vaccination

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Introducing outside material in order to stimulate an individual's immune system to develop resistance to a specific pathogen.

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James Lind

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A Scottish physician who in the 1750s, developed the idea that citrus fruits can be used to cure scurvy.

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Benjamin Rush

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A founding father who, in the 1790s, was a professor of medical theory at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Broad Street Pump

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The origin of an outbreak of cholera in Soho, as identified by Dr. John Snow in 1854. An early example of the application of germ theory.

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Edwin Chadwick

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An English social reformer who improved sanitary conditions and public health. He died in 1890.

Front 42

"On the Mode of Communication of Cholera"

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A text published by John Snow in 1855 documenting how cholera is spread from person to person.