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Culture and Belief 11: Medicine and the Body in East Asia
Kuriyama's class at Harvard University for the Fall Term 2009.
79
Anthropology
Undergraduate 1
12/17/2009

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Term
aperient
Definition

were mild laxatives, and were related to the French word aperitif which were drinks. As a laxative, it is linked to Western medical ideas of purging the body of toxins. But aperients are a good example of how concepts can change radically in the course of the history of medicine. It is a term that is modernly obscure although it was once rather popular. Can also look to Tarrant’s effervescent seltzer aperient, an early cousin of Alka Seltzer. From advertisements, we see the belief that the stomach and bowels impacted the brain and nerves, causing headaches or impacting mental function, all which can be cured by aperients. Aperients faded away as the use of these beverages changed from cathartic purgation to the treatment of digestive problems. (Lecture 10/26 and 10/28)

Term
autogenic therapy
Definition

developed by Johannes Schulz, its techniques (centered breathing, heart regulation, etc) aim was to treat emotional disorders through muscular exercises. Its significance to the course arises through the influence of Emile Coue on Schulz. Coue believed in optimistic autosuggestion, which believed that willpower could influence your physical health. The Coue method, which included exercises such as repeating “every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better,” was aimed towards concentrating the power of the human imagination (Law of Concentrated Effort). After Coue, it was agreed that the emotions and the mind could influence physical health, such as muscular pain, heart rate, blood pressure, etc. . Schulz argued that the muscles could influence the emotions as well. Autogenic therapy draws parallels to Jacobson’s progressive relaxation techniques which help eliminate tension in the body through the muscle sense. Kuriyama argues that autogenic therapy was significant because it helped change the idea of muscular tension as a virtue into a pathology that needed to be treated. Also, it was significant to the idea of zhuyi, that the mind can be diverted towards different parts of the body --> the imagined can be manifested in reality.

Term
average man
Definition

Adolph Quetelet’s idea that the ideal man was the “average man” based on a number of statistical index’s (Quetelet’s index is a precursor to the body mass index). It arose from concepts of subjectivity in something like pulse diagnosis (west wants precision, east seems more fluid definitions).It is significant to the course because it is an example of the rise of statistical analysis in medicine, and the move (later linked to insurance companies) of analyzing health through mechanized measures (like blood pressure) in order to make medicine quantitative. It represented the larger movement towards alienation from the human body, which helped later influence organ transplantation since organs became seen as something biological and impersonal. (Lecture 11/18/09)

Term
Baby Bob’s paradox
Definition

a recurring theme in the course, it is the question by Baby Bob of why Chinese medicine seems familiar to us while western medicine seems alien. Baby Bob argues that while acupuncture and Chinese notions of qiemo are still popular, purgation and bloodletting seem distant and destructive. Kuriyama tells us the answer to this problem in the October 28th lecture: in the West, the shift from classical to modern medicine represented the decline of the body-toxin duality key to humors theory as modern circulatory theory (heart as pump) and nervous theory (stimuli/excitement, key role of electricity) were developed. The West converged with the East since in the West the monism of the energetic body became the accepted norm. This has similarities to traditional Chinese notions of qi and xushi (finite life force).

The paradox also relates to many key themes in the course, like that culture shapes medicine, or that there are certain apparent differences between classical western and eastern medicine that appear to erode over time, or that medicine is often based on the means of how one thinks about and views the body (humoral medicine and crisis vs. flowing qi and depletion/repletion), etc. It is also similar to our final projects in that something that is familiar (Western medicine) is discovered to be unfamiliar in its history, or something that is initially alien (Eastern Medicine) appears to becomes more familiar and reasonable.

Term
brain death
Definition

 investigated primarily in the Margaret Locke article, the issue of brain death exemplifies different approaches to medicine between the Western view and the Japanese view. The west sees death as an event, and so can define the moment when “brain death” occurs; this allows for organ harvesting. In Japan, death is a process and not event (loss of qi over a lifetime), so they are more reluctant to accept the concept of brain death, impeding organ transplantation. Japan feared the dilution of their culture by Western practices, and so were reluctant to adopt the idea of brain death since they believed it to be something invented by the medical profession. The issue alludes to the role that technology plays in mediating medicine, and how as technology blurs the line between death and life (there wouldn’t be brain death without the invention of a respirator). This can also be linked to the need for preservation efforts like freezing brains, hungry ghosts, Japanese dolls, and the development of the idea that the human mind (the continuity of memory) shapes the identity. 

Term
circulation (in Germany)
Definition

From the Lynn Payer book, she uses the example of the German culture as a direct influence towards the views on the circulation and the heart; more generally, culture affected how Germans perceived the human body. West German doctors prescribe several times more heart drugs than their French or American counterparts, and Payer links this to the influence of romanticism. Romanticism emphasizes emotion and feeling centered in the heart, and the German concept of the heart is more metaphorical than an American view of it as a pump. Therefore, Germans often focus on heart in diagnosis, often sighting Herzinsuffizenz, roughly translated as heart insufficiency, often in medical practice even with little to no evidence. In class, this was also linked to katakori as evidence for cultural influence on the practice of medicine and how you approach the body. (Just in book, although payer is mentioned in lecture 10/14/09) It also makes strong connections to Chinese notions of the holistic body, since it took a less mechanical view of the body in favor of a view of the body dominated by many forces.

Term
closure (in Understanding comics)
Definition

Refers to the often required the “filling in” of information in the gutter between panels of a comic book by the reader. It is significant in our course because McCloud emphasized the different approaches to closure in Western vs. Eastern Comics. The Western comic is very goal oriented, and there is little closure required by the reader between panels. Eastern comics, conversely, sometimes emphasize closure and what is not presented to the reader, and often present labyrinthine or cyclical progressions. This can be applied to the history of medicine by understanding how different expectations might impact the influence of the seen vs. the unseen. As argued by McCloud, comics are a way of seeing, and the same can be said for how one approaches medicine. (Lecture 10/6/09 and the book)

Term
Coué method
Definition

 Émile Coué developed the method of optimistic autosuggestion from the early observation of the placebo effect. It was a technique of self-cultivation. He believed in the law of reversed effort, i.e. the harder a person tried to cure himself or herself, the less likely it was that they would succeed. Rather, one had to believe in the cure; i.e. curing oneself must pass through the imagination. Through the law of concentrated attention, an idea that exclusively occupied the mind would in turn become reality. The Coue method involved the person constantly telling oneself that they were getting better. The Coue method fits into the larger argument of the course that modern times eroded the differences between Western and Eastern Medical thought, because in this case agency and willpower is actually an obstacle to cure, and it appears that effortless action similar to wuwei is the means for improvement. (Lecture 11/18/09)

Term
Couvade syndrome
Definition

Affecting men whose wives are pregnant, this syndrome involves the male presenting many of the signs of pregnancy like food craving, breast enlargement, and even large bellies. This is thought to be due to the sympathetic alignment of the men to their wives with whom they identify. This ties into the larger issues of the imaginary affecting the reality, and the idea that our psyches can change our bodies (link to voodoo death: if you truly believe that you will die, then you can actually die) and to Understanding Comics in the idea that we often identify and intertwine our inner feelings with our external perceptions of an abstract cartoon face. (Lecture 10/19/09)

Term
crisis
Definition

One of the defining features of Classical Western humoral medicine, it is the belief that in the course of the progression of disease, there is a critical turning point where the body goes through a crisis (nosebleed or epistaxis as an example, Solano de Luque became famous for being able to predict epistaxis through the pulse) after which the person will either recover or die. Crises were seen as a natural process, one that should not be interfered with by the physician. Crisis transformed in modern times as it becomes important socially and economically as industrialism puts a price on labor and the human body (similarities to measles prints) and sees the body as a template for natural processes: Clement Juglar develops a theory of tracking cycles of natural financial crisis, Karl Marx used crisis to explain the eventual collapse of capitalism. Puysegur called magnetic sleep the “perfect crisis”, even linked to laissez-faire and the “rule of nature”. In terms of the larger themes of the course, crisis is an example of one of the basic differences in theories of balance vs. theories of vulnerability, it falling into the category of theories of balance in Western medical thought. (Lecture 9/21, 9/23, 9/28, kind of all over throughout the course)

cunsi - a form of meditation in which the adept directs the mind to different localities within the self, and thereby induces the local presence of divinities. There is a constant fear of divinities will float away (theories of vulnerability), so the effort is to ensure the presence of vital spirits inside you. Cunsi speaks to the two ways of centering the self in the body presented in the course. In Chinese medicine, because the body is in continuity with the natural world, you must find a way to create a self identity; Zhuyi, or the “pouring of the mind” is the essence of presence. In Western Medicine, attention (=tension) is the essence of presence, and ideas of stress, and muscular tension and agency are central for defining the body and self.   (Lecture 10/6/09)

 

Term
cult of holy relics
Definition
Treat objects like a piece of the person is inside of it (like japanese doll ministry)
Park article, byrum article
Stems from the worship of saints + their relics in the middle ages. Its significance is the material continuity of the identity in external objects. People in both the West and the East had a need to persist even after death. This is similar to the idea of hungry ghosts, (the presence of a spirit (hun and po) that stays on earth after death), the practice of Japanese doll making, the primacy of communion/resurrection in Western religion, and modern recording technology (Nipper/ “His Masters Voice”)
Term
deodorants
Definition

There is a movement in the modern world to deodorize everything. Smell was often important for erotic suggestion, and the example we got in class was that Napoleon requested that his wife not bathe before he returned home because he was aroused by her smell. There is also the sense that one’s smell is connected to one’s identity, but the modern trend was to eliminate odor through deodorant and in a sense remove part of one’s identity. Freud spoke to the idea that a lack of smell had been associated with being more civilized and hygienic, but in removing scents you were alienating yourself from your body and that this was one cause of mental illness. This was part of the number of lectures Kuriyama gave on the evolution of sensory experience. (Lecture 9/4/09)

Term
depletion (xu) / repletion (shi)
Definition

depletion represented the main medical concern of Classical Chinese medicine. Life was marked by a depletion and loss of vital force like qi. Xu meant emptiness, and depletion was vulnerability to the threat of external forces like wind or cold which caused disease. Shi was the opposite, or fullness. These external forces re-entered through repletion and filled the emptiness, causing disease. Ideas of depletion and repletion are examples of theories of vulnerability that defined one of the primary differences between Eastern medicine and the theories of balance that defined Western humoral medicine. In other words, one was focused on the evils of retention while the other was focused the vulnerability caused by dissipation (Lecture 9/23/09)

Term
Enema
Definition
The importance of excrement and evacuations
Recall Louis XIII’s importance held of enemas and purgations – evacuation of all weights
The importance of evacuating bodily plethora in western medicine at this time (i.e. bloodletting, epistaxis, purgations)
To understand this we must understand the nature of medical theories in general
Two types of foundational theory
1. Theories of balance
philosophies of cosmic order
Theories of cosmic harmony:
Health = balance, sickness = imbalance
sickness = incidental disorder, departure from the ideal
assumes that you should be healthy and sickness is something that happens by accident (we are usually in an ideal state)
2. Theories of vulnerability – much more specific to medicine
psychologies of anxiety
sickness is natural & preventing it requires attention & effort
Fears of vulnerability: that we are on a steady incline and we must constantly work to stay healthy… if we stop we risk sickness and decline
Also recall Ian Belcher’s account of fasting & enema use in support this purgative regimen
Term
Epistaxis
Definition
Solano de Luque (Spanish doctor) figured out that there is a certain pulse to predict nosebleeds – makes him famous at the time
Why did he become famous for predicting nosebleeds?
There are three reasons for the emphasis on epistaxis
1. In traditional medical theory, epistaxis often associated w/ a cure; nosebleeds signal salvation (no nosebleed = death)
2. In previous times, nosebleeds were more frequent
Solano observed over 50 cases of epistaxis in just 3 months
It was like patients learned to be sick (if they knew that a nosebleed made them better, than they bled from the nose)
A script to illness: Idea that disease has a development, then a build up, a crisis point, and then a recovery period (or death)
3. Importance of the theory of crises
Crisis: associated concretely with: epistaxis, sweating, vomiting, diarrhea
Meaning: there is a critical turn, determining the recovery of death of a patient
Manifestation of the healing power of nature: nature’s ability to expel noxious wastes through crises
You DO NOT want to mess with nature! à if you intervened with this natural course, worse things might result
Note this important parallel between economic thought (Laissez faire) and medical thought
Term
Fengshui:
Definition
(Lecture 9/30) East Asian form of geomancy. The earth also has “mo” and sites (acupuncture), and fengshui was process of navigating the qi of the earth. Orient the place where you live and work along with the flow of air and water on the earth, maintaining a balance and harmony with one’s surroundings. It is also involved in relationship between ancestors and descendents. A good gravesite is necessary to appease the ancestors, because the local qi of the area will flow from the ground into the buried ancestors, and then into the living descendents. This is critical to the idea of the embalming of the dead in Western technology and the hungry ghost in China as each deals with prolonging life after death.
Term
Fletcherizing
Definition
(Lecture 9/30) Business man named Fletcher came up with the notion that if a person chewed their food until it was macerated and all the nutrients were extracted, the body could be sustained with less food and with less harmful consequences. It is an example of Yangsheng, or the art of living, which is an idea that there are proper techniques for exercising, eating, sleeping, breathing, and mating. It also makes similarities to the dogma of humors theory, which says that food is damaging to the body.
Term
Hell money
Definition
(Lecture 11/30) also known as ghost money or joss paper. It was both a Greek tradition and a Chinese tradition. Afterlife monetary paper is used in Chinese ceremonies to honor ancestors and repay debts. It is burned at traditional Chinese funerals to ensure that the spirit of the deceased will have lots of good things in the afterlife. This is an extension of “the three monkeys” and the heavenly ledger. It is directly parallel to the Western tradition of putting money in the eyes of corpses to help them cross the river Styx. Also, the Greek theory of indulgences, that saints can transfer their good deeds to dead sinners by paying money in the afterlife, is significant to the idea of guilt debt. It is not only significant that these two traditions are virtually the same, but that it makes connections to the broader cycle of conversions (money<->labor).
Term
Heso no yadogae (A navel changes lodgings)
Definition
A Japanese book and a Japanese saying form the Edo period. This includes ridiculous pictures of people selling hands and ears, an old grandmother committing suicide with 12 year old lover, and people selling random parts of body. This colloquialism refers to that which is absurd. Central lesson of this is that there is no natural order. This relates to the idea that advances in science create ethical dilemmas, and that in a world of money, people become interchangeable for money and that the body becomes an object of consumption. Kuriyama directly links this to the issue of organ transplants, i.e. the interchangeability of parts of the body (the body as replaceable).
Term
Huangdi Neijing
Definition
Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine. Goes back 2000 years. Similar to the Hippocratic Corpus because of the diversity of people who wrote it—not just one person. Composed of 2 basic parts of 81 chapters each. Suwen: general theory of medicine. And Lingslu: acupuncture. Relates to Baby Bob’s paradox and our paradoxical sense of history: We believe in the potential relevance of the yellow emperor’s classic of medicine, and we assume the irrelevance of Hippocrates and Galen.
Term
Hun (breath soul) and po (body soul):
Definition
(Lecture 9/30) Hun is associated with air and thoughts. Po is associated with food and the five senses. Upon death, the hun wanders, rising into the air, while the po remains with the corpse, or slowly sinks downward into the earth. Human souls are a combination of the two, with part of us remaining in this world, and part of us moving on. It is part of the overall lectures on ideas about death. Treatment of the body after death related to fengshui. Offerings are given, because in Chinese culture, spirits must be fed by the living. This was significant to the discussion on the need to preserve the presence of the dead.
Term
hungry ghost
Definition
Concept that the living are burdened by the dead who are hungry and must be fed. You needed to have descendents to be fed in the afterlife so having kids had a special significance.
Idea of prolonging life: we try to carry life on after death. Effects you in life – you need to produce descendants so that you can be fed after death. There is a material element even after death. It is a persistent concern. Connected to Greek idea of putting coins on their eyes and concept of afterlife, money, and debt.
Term
Indra’s Net -
Definition

 Buddhist concept

Network of orbs in which you can see all the other orbs reflected in it at once, metaphor of a spider web with dew drops

Significance: All life is interconnected; this is an argument for the contextual body in China. Nevertheless, identity is constructed by looking outside the body, since you can only see each orb in the reflection of other orbs => again, looking at nature to explain the mysteries of the body. Finally, indra's net can't be artistically represented => impossibility of knowing everything about the human body.

Term
James-Lange Theory:
Definition

(Lecture 11/18) changed the traditional view of the connection between emotions and the body. Whereas it was previously thought that emotions resulted in changes in the body (muscle tension, heart rate, respiration, dryness in mouth), William James and Carl Lange posited the reverse: changes in the body could cause a change in mood. Example is the use of Botox as a cure for depression – if you can’t frown, you won’t have feelings of sadness. “All tension is muscular tension.” This was similar to Swammerdam and autogenic therapy. It also makes connections to the ideas of self-cultivation; that if you work towards building the body through voluntary exertion, the culture of the nation will be strengthened as well (similarities to tiyu – daily exercise regimen to improve the health/mind).

Term
Katakori
Definition

(Numerous lectures, introduced in 9/09, mentioned in 10/14, 12/2) the single most common complaint in contemporary Japan, but there is no equivalent in the medical dictionaries of other countries. Relationship between felt experiences and theoretical ideas. Kori means to coagulate/congeal. It symbolizes a blocked flow, specifically qi in the body. In ancient Western medicine, the circulation of qi is sustained by human activity, especially working. Stagnation of qi is the most pervasive sickness. Major theme: modern transition from a pathology of indolence (laziness) to a pathology of overwork; life as action to life as reaction. Also, the puzzle of katakori: how certain medical conditions / complaints are particular of a certain culture / time period. 

Term
Mawangdui (tomb materials)
Definition

One of the pre-Huangdi Neijing (Yellow Emperor’s classic) sources on Medicine. From the last three centuries, BCE. These tomb texts spoke of moxibustion (putting something on an acupuncture point, and then burning that thing), but not acupuncture and spoke of conduits (paths where blood flows), but not points. Tomb was closed in 168 BCE, but opened in 1973. It tells us about pre-classical Eastern medicine and its similarities to Hippocratic writings. 

Term
Measles prints
Definition

(Lecture 10/14) reaction to a measles epidemic in Japan in 1862, which killed thousands of people. Prints showed certain business owners killing the measles demon, while others were trying to protect it. It reflects the new supremacy of money (money > life?). People who own bath houses, geishas, etc were killing the demon because it was losing them money, while doctors, pharmacists, and gravestone makers were protecting it, because they would lose money if it was cured. It touches on importance of money in life. Money must be made to work; money as a living force; “time is money”; association of money with excrement “filthy rich”; inseparability of money and debt.

Term
metabolic revolution
Definition

In the 19th century, focusing more on food and energy. Today, the five pounds of insensible perspiration are considered to be consumed as fuel or energy. 1840s: the principle of the conservation of energy. There was the creation of the concept of energy and the mutual convertibility of all its forms. People knew that things did work (chemistry, mechanical, electrical). 1890s: energy conservation in biology: Carbohydrates, fats, and proteins mutually exchangeable in accordance with their calorie equivalents. We think about calories and not yellow bile or black bile. We convert or reduce food to energy. Broader cycle of conversions: energy -> labor -> money -> back to energy. 

Term
Muscular Christianity
Definition

G. Stanley Hall - a 19th century movement, and as the YMCA article presents, is rooted in the idea of the mind, body and soul as inseparable. Thus, building good muscles develops soul and mind and what it means to be good Christian. This idea was also influenced by Herbert Spencer’s idea of the correlation of fitness with the musculature of the body and with physical education. He draws on social Darwinism, making a literal interpretation of “survival of the fittest” to support his promotion of physical education. This discussion fits in with the larger theme of muscle consciousness and the classical Western perception of health and the strong, defined, body. But this value of physical education is also seen in the East, with the Chinese national consciousness about having strong bodies in order to fight to combat Western influences. This points to our greater theme of East-West convergence.

Term
Muzak
Definition
Erik Satie - Contraction of Music and Kodak
Music and meaning: Not only that music has meaning but gives meaning
Leads to the idea of furniture music (Erik Satie, 1923) – the idea that this is music you don’t listen to; instead to be played as a sort of background music to influence your psychological state
Furniture music becomes the precursor to multiplexing created by George Squier in 1910
In 1922 Squier creates Wired Radio → Muzak
Muzak smoothes your way thru life w/o offering intrusive meaning
Modern trend: items that smooth your way thru existence w/o making you experience anything too distinct
Significance: fits in to the transformation of tension as life to tension as pathology (the primacy of relaxation induced by muzak); also ties into Taylorism (increased people's efficiency)
Term
Opium Wars
Definition
2 of them
· Brits come up with the scheme of exporting opium in India to the Chinese to offset the silver depletion → China becomes a country of addicts à creates fears of Western influences in China
· Opium Wars = Urgent call throughout all of Asia for national self-strengthening through:
o Improved technology, science
o Stronger bodies
o Facilitated missionary activity
§ Medical missionaries
§ YMCA → how much of Western sports enter and transform China
o Shift: Yangsheng (cultivation of life) → tiyu (physical education, fears of Western influences)
§ i.e. Yao Ming’s His appearance can be traced to the Opium wars
Term
Phantom limb:
Definition

A phantom limb is the sensation that an amputated or missing limb is still attached to the body and is moving appropriately with other body parts. Often these sensations are painful, and the limb is described as not being able to move, or in an uncomfortable position. V. Ramachandran invented a mirror box to allow the patients to ‘see’ their phantom limb, and allow them to recover mobility in their phantom limb.

Themes in the Course: Medium/Mediation

Term
Phlebes:
Definition

Greek phlebes and Chinese mo are significant in physiology (carrying blood and pneuma or qi) and pathology (carrying noxious matter, inducing disease). Their supposed paths do not exactly coincide, but several are broadly similar, and more similar to each other than either is to the observed paths of arteries and veins. They are more paths of bloodletting in phlebes, much like the conduits for qi in acupuncture. The similarities between the pathways of the phlebes and mo conduits gave rise to the hypothesis that there could have been some cultural exchange between blood letting and acupuncture.

Themes in the Course: Cultural influence on the practice of medicine, Theories of Balance/Vulnerability, Empty/Full

Term
Physiocracy:
Definition

The economic belief of “Laissez-faire,” where the state’s role was ONLY to uphold the NATURAL order. The physiocrats were a group of French economists in the 18th century led by Francois Quesnay. They were, for example, against trade regulation, as it interfered with natural market forces. Although physiocracy deals with economics, it can be related to medicine. For example, some may consider bloodletting to be an interference with the natural order of the body.

Themes in the Course: Cultural influence on the practice of medicine, Theories of Balance/Vulnerability

Term
Plethora:
Definition

The Galenic idea of excess blood in the body. Europeans considered it best to prevent plethora through methods such as bloodletting and fasting. Since, during this time period, there was no notion of circulation, it was believed that blood travelled from the heart to the body, and needed to be released through bloodletting. Plethora is important to crises theory, which itself was opposite to Chinese ideas of preserving blood and life. Instead, Chinese medicine advocated a natural removal of accumulates (similar to plethora) through an emptiness of lifestyle/diet that would result in fullness of vitality.

Themes in the Course: Cultural influence on the practice of medicine, Theories of Balance/Vulnerability, Empty/Full

Term
ponos:
Definition

The Greek word for pain, and for exercise. Exercise has been understood as a combination of physical exertion and pain in the Western world since antiquity. As ponos has two definitions, it introduces the idea of “no pain, no gain.” It also introduces the issue of voluntary action, such as exercise, versus involuntary action, such as a pulse. This connects acts of will to our bodies; our selves and our identities. Also, ponos allows us to consider the cultural influences on the perception of the body: The classical European view of the body is focused on muscles, while the traditional Chinese view of the body is focused on the flow and circulation of qi. In China, exercise involves self cultivation (yangsheng) and wuwei (effortless action).

Themes in the Course: Cultural influence on the practice of medicine, Voluntary/ Involuntary, Self Cultivation and Relation to Identity

Term
progressive relaxation:
Definition

A technique of relaxation where the individual is to learn how to relax the principle muscle groups of his body to any extreme degree. One can do this by tensing and relaxing your muscles. This practice is associated with stress, and anxiety, as by focusing on relaxing your body, you can relax your mind. This technique was developed by Dr. Edmund Jacobson in 1912. Important to the idea of the transformation of tension as virtue to tension as pathology. This technique connects to the ideas of voluntary and involuntary motion, as well as self-cultivation.

Themes in this Course: Voluntary/Involuntary, Self-cultivation, Tension/Relation/Flow

 

Term
qiemo:
Definition

Traditionally, Chinese doctors have focused on qiemo, the palpation of the various mo (mo is the feeling of the qi in the body), or a procedure for tracking changes in the conduits that so powerfully affected the body’s pains and powers. Although pulse diagnosis and qiemo appeared to be the same thing, as both Chinese and European doctors would feel the wrists of their patients, Chinese writings insist that the two are different. Through qiemo, doctors can diagnose illnesses for specific parts of the body, and not only the heart. This differentiates qiemo from pulse diagnosis. This conflict between qiemo and pulse diagnosis displays how perception and cultural beliefs can so greatly affect knowledge.

Themes in the Course: Cultural influence on the practice of medicine, Pulse/Qiemo

Term
REM Sleep
Definition
REM sleep was discovered in the 1950s by Aserinsky and Kleitman. In this stage of sleep, the brain is as active as in the waking state. This discovery blurs the definition of the period of life, challenging the previous perception that voluntary motion defines being alive, since in REM sleep your brain is alive but your body is atrophied. Thus this fit into the greater scheme of the debate between life and brain death. Also, REM sleep made ties to crises theory; “cerebral excrement theory” stated that REM sleep, like the heart’s diastole, was the inactive period necessary after hard work.
Term
ritual / li:
Definition
Li is a recurring theme in Confucius’ Analects, and it translates to “holy rite” or “sacred ceremony.” The notion of li was used to find a path to existing in the ‘right way,’ following the current traditions and conventions of society.“Li is a medium within which to talk about the entire body of the mores.” (Mores refers to the reasonable conventions of society. Note the similarity between mores and moral). Confucius believed that to become truly human, you must train your impulses to follow li. It is meant to be effortless, an impulse. Consider, for example, social activity that is coordinated by civilized society, like a handshake.
Themes in the Course: self-cultivation, voluntary/involuntary (impulse, effortlessness), cultural influence.
Term
Se:
Definition
A term used both by Mencius and Confucius, meant to describe the expression on one’s face. The term is often confused and associated with color, because of the 5-color/5-phase analysis. This idea of semi-ambiguous terminology demonstrates the importance of language as expression. While some view se as describing color, others view it as an expressions for facial expression. Although some differences in the practice of medicine may be attributed to cultural differences, or differences in perception, some may also be attributed to the manner in which we understand the describing language used.
Themes in the Course: Cultural influence on the practice of medicine
Term
shock/trauma:
Definition
Trauma is an experience that breaks the barrier between the self from the non- self. A traumatic experience can trigger shock and trauma, which are involuntary reactions. Trauma is often connected to development in technology, as the invention and widespread use of trains increased the number of shock and trauma cases. This has also spurred the idea of ‘railway spine,’ which refers to invisible shock/trauma–although there may be no visible injuries. This idea of the progression of shock and trauma is important, as it demonstrates how the development in technology can both worsen illness, and at the same time, improve medical treatment. From ‘railway spine,’ the ideas of mental trauma and hypnosis have been developed, as well as the crucial role of memory in modern pathology.
Themes in the Course: voluntary/involuntary action, Cultural influence
Term
shunga (Japanese erotic prints):
Definition
Edo Shunga were the Japanese erotic prints, complete of approximately 2300 titles, each with 10-12 prints. These prints display naked genetailia, but no nude bodies. Shunga demonstrates culturally different approaches to eroticism. Given that many seem to focus on the sounds and the experience of sexual intercourse, shunga differs from Western eroticism. The reason for the difference is that in shunga there was an emphasis on not releasing vital seed (recall spermatorrhea) cathartically, since it would lead to the depletion (xu) of the human body (related to yangsheng).
Themes in the Course: Cultural influence
Term
Spermatorrhea:
Definition
A disease that was prevalent in China in the 1930s, consisting of the involuntary emission of semen. Losing sperm was dangerous, as it was traditionally believed to contain one of the most concentrated forms of vitality. The disease had existed for more than 1800 years, yet it only became a large concern in the early twentieth century. This is an example of how cultural beliefs can greatly influence medical practice–due to the Chinese fear of losing vitality through sperm, many remedies to this ‘disease’ have been created. It is also an example of how culture can influence perception–the Chinese saw their bodies as a vessel that needed to be kept full, while Europeans perceived their bodies as too full, and they feared plethora. It also draws connections to zhuyi (mind as flow) and cunsi (distraction is loss of self) since it was believed that the loss of self control was responsible to weakness and that the disorientation associated with spermatorrhea was a primary concern for china's government and an obstacle to self-cultivation (this was why spermatorrhea was popular in the early 20th century!).
Theme in the Course: Cultural influence on the practice of medicine, Theories of Balance/Vulnerability, Empty/Full
Term
Spirit photography:
Definition
First used by William Mumler (1832-1884), when he took a picture of only one person, and found the image of someone else in the background. Spirit photography is an attempt to photograph a spirit (something imaginary). This is related to the connection between real and the imaginary. How can disease be real, if the discomfort felt is imaginary? Similarly, we assume that spirits are imaginary, and yet, one has been captured on film. This also introduces the importance of a medium: The camera was the medium between the real and the imaginary. Similarily, a doctor is the medium between the patient, and the disease/diagnosis. Finally, spirit photography emphasized the sense of the enduring presence of ghosts, similar to Western and Eastern ideas discussed in other IDs.
Themes in the Course: Medium/Mediation, Doctor-Patient Relationship
Term
Stimulus/excitation
Definition
theory by John Brown (1780)
Stimuli act upon excitable objects (creatures) to produce a living being
Too much stimuli and the body enters a state where it has reduced excitability (sthenic state)
Too little stimuli -> asthenic state -> unused excitability, laziness -> leads to death
Significance: Similar to the ideas of a finite life force in China and the fears of a depletion of the qi. It also represents the inversion of the classic soul (stimulus comes from the outside rather than from within).
Term
"Survival of the fittest"
Definition
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
Social Darwinism: progress through ruthless competition
Applied Darwinism to societies → this is the filtered version of evolution that came into China
Spencer (not Darwin) proposed the idea that society is a jungle & the coined the term “survival of the fittest”
We talk about being fit and being health as if they are the same thing
The idea of being fit only goes back to the turn of the century when the idea of “survival of the fittest” came around
Fitness involves a sort of physical prowess
Similarities to tiyu
Term
tarantism:
Definition
Lecture: 11/9/09
Definition: Tarantism is condition that was reported in Spain during the 18th c. (it had been prevalent in other parts of Europe since the 1600’s, but the example from class was Spain 18th c.) that was believed to have been caused by the bite of the Tarantula. Symptoms included breathing difficulty, chest pressure, nausea, sensation of dying, trembling. The cure prescribed for this condition was music that induced a sate of frenzied dancing in the patients. The dance was referred to was a Tarantella.

Ties: Relates the theme of external stimuli affecting the internal physiological state (see also Fright and Anger as pathologies, John Brown, Voodoo death). As another example, see Bach’s Goldberg Variations, which was written as a cure for insomnia.
Term
Taylorism:
Definition
Lecture: 11/16
Background: Frederick Taylor analyzed factory workers and production during the late 19th c. and early 20th c. and employed a scientific approach to the study of business management and process development. In 1911 he published his research in the Principals of Theory of Scientific Management (it was later published 2 years later in Japan -> significant to the unrecognized convergence of Western and Eastern Medicine. “Taylorism,” as his theory was called, focused on increasing productivity by delineating the most efficient actions for workers. Emphasized the view of the human body as a machine.
Ties: Relates to the emerging conception of the human body as a machine that can be fine-tuned and controlled. Ties into study of time-lapse photography to determine methods of maximizing the efficiency of movement and action. Refer also to the work of Dudley Sargent, the director of Harvard’s Hemenway Gymnasium who established many of the founding principles of modern physical education. It also had ties to the work of Ueno Yoichi in China and the Confucian ideas of maximizing the efficiency of life – “24 hours a day, life must be efficient”
Term
terrain
Definition
Lecture: Medicine and Culture, Lynn Payer, 61-73
Definition: The most accurate english translation is “constitution.” Understanding the importance of the terrain is key to understanding the manner in which French physicians interpret and treat different ailments. French doctors’ belief that susceptibility to disease is result of poor terrain often leads them to discount the role of the environment in their diagnoses. They are more likely to prescribe medications that support the immune system (i.e. homeopathics) than medications that confront the condition directly (i.e. antibiotics).
Connection: Shows that within the broader field of western medicine, discrepancies over medical definitions and practices have arisen from regional and cultural differences. The French view of the terrain can be related to eastern ideas of fitness and medicine.
Term
three monkeys:
Definition
Lecture: 10/6
Definition: In Japanese culture the three monkeys correspond to a belief that the body is inhabited by 3 corpse worms that keep a ledger of an individual’s deeds and thoughts. These corpse worms leave the body during sleep every 60th day (koshin) to report to the Heavenly Emperor. Aging and disease are punishments for impure thoughts and actions. It became custom to stay awake on the koshin to prevent the corpse worms from leaving the body in an attempt to prolong life. The motif commonly associated with the three monkeys is that of “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.” This is derived from a pun of the Japanese word for monkey, zaru. Because of the reporting happening on the night of the monkey, you have this portrayal of the monkey that doesn't hear, speak, or see.  This relates to the quest for long life, and preventing the worms from leaving.  

Connection: Relates to Yangsheng. Also, the concept of death and debt is present in eastern and western religious traditions. (from Lawrence’s notes) “The point of debt is that the ledger of good and bad doesn't disappear, and there is a moral continuity in the universe, so after you die you have to deal with your unpaid debts.”
Term
tiyu
Definition
Lecture: 11/16
Definition: Western encroachment into asia at the end of the 19th c. during the Opium Wars also facilitated missionary activity in the region. An effect of the YMCAs’ presence in china was that the populace was indoctrinated not only into western spiritual tradition, but into western ideas of physical education and fitness. Tiyu was the Chinese term for this form of western physical education. The term was first used by Yan Fu, who derived it from the Japanese taiku, which was the Meiji-ea translation of Herbert Spencer’s “Physical education”.
 
Connection: The emergence of western physical ideals in china represents a transition away from an ideal of fitness rooted in the traditional practice of yangsheng (the cultivation of life).
Term
tonic motion
Definition
Lecture: 10/21
Definition: Tonic motion can be understood as a contrast to translational motion; while an object or person might not be moving relative to one perspective, it can still be engaged in strenuous activity. The example given was of the man swimming against the current. The concept of tonic motion is derived from Galen’s question of how to detect the presence of the soul. Animation (anima translates to soul in latin) is not enough to determine the presence of a soul, as shown by mechanic automatons. Similarly, the lack of animation does not connote the absence of life, as shown by the guards of Buckingham Palace (guards must be very tense to retain posture). This suggests that tension, and therefore pain, is inescapable.

Connection: Galen’s classical interpretation of life assumes that voluntary action is only muscular contraction. However in the modern period we recognize that even relaxation is a form of action. See “Progressive Relaxation.” This modern view of action is similar to that of chinese workout manuals (see xingqi).
Term
topological bloodletting
Definition
Definition: Refers to the belief that certain diseases and conditions could be remedied through bloodletting in specific locations (behind the ear for disease X, elbow for disease Y, etc). What was interesting was that the location of the bloodletting and the location of the pain or condition were often disjoint. Galen argued in his works that the location of the bleeding was not important, and that his method of bloodletting (that is, bleeding from one location) was sufficient.
Connection: The maps of these topological points resembled acupuncture diagrams, suggesting either that these points carry some universal physiological significance, or that topological bloodletting and acupuncture share some common influence.
Term
umami
Definition
Lecture: 11/2
Definition: Umami is the 5th flavor. Although it was discovered in 1907 by Ikeda Kikunae (Japanese), it was not popularly recognized until the end of the 20th c. The flavor is a response by taste receptors to the detection of glutamic acid, found naturally in meats, cheese, broth, and mushrooms, and is generally described as “savory.” Even before its discovery, umami was an important flavor in Japanese cuisine (eel stock). MSG, monosodium glutamate, is an important ingredient in many processed, canned, and frozen food.
Connection: Umami was discovered by Ikeda Kikunae through analyzing kombu (seaweed) stock. This Kombu was one of Japan’s principal exports tho china during the beginning of the 19th c, and was involved in a trade route that involved trading drugs and herbs from China to Toyama, where they were processed into medicines. Kombu was popular in china for its high sodium content (salt was regulated by the government).
Term
Uniform Determination of Death Act
Definition
Definition: This law was drafted in 1981 and has since been adopted by most US states. Its intent is to “provide a comprehensive and medically sound basis for determining death in all situations.” Defines criteria for death as “(1) irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions, or (2) irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem.” This law became necessary as the advent of life sustaining technologies enabled physicians to keep bodies “alive” after brain death.
Connection: This tied most closely into the reading on cultural definitions of death in the US and in Japan. In the US, the law allowed many people to receive transplants from brain dead donors. Also, refer to the Life Extension Society, founded in 1965, which offers cryogenic preservation after death to its clients. The majority of its clients are just heads, which identifies the brain as the one organ which is essential to personhood (from a western medical perspective).
Term
voodoo death
Definition
Definition: The reading discusses the phenomenon of “Voodoo Death” witnessed by anthropologists in some tribal regions of South America, Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and the islands of the pacific. It refers to a state of physical decline provoked by a resolute conviction of one’s impending doom by spiritual forces. Examples given are a Maori woman who ate tabooed fruit, and a young man who was cursed by a witch doctor. Both patients became extremely unwell, despite the absence of any physical cause. The second patient, on the brink of death, recovered when the witch doctor rescinded his curse. The article suggests that voodoo death exists and could be explained as an overreaction of the sympathetic nervous system brought about by shocking emotional stress.
Connection: Ties into the theme of the mind’s influence over the body. Relates to the reading on Stoch’s Disease of Women, in which the author reports the psychosomatic effects of fear and anger on a woman’s health.
Term
wuwei
Definition
Description: Roughly translates to “effortless action,” it was believed that one of the secrets to longevity was through the practice of wuwei. Professor Kuriyama used the allegory of the chef hocho (cleaver) who was able to use the same knife for many years without having to sharpen it because he understood the paths of least resistance in the meat.
Connection: In west, relates to Fletcherization. Represents Chinese belief that harmony with the universe was a requirement for health (theme of theories of cosmic harmony vs. theories of personal vulnerability). Chinese fear of depletion.
Term
yangsheng
Definition
Definition: Yangsheng is the practice of cultivating health, well-being, and longevity, described in Daoist text Zhaunqi (4th c. BCE). It was believed that lifestyles characterized by an excess of work, stress, drinking, or sexual promiscuity would lead to a depletion of vital energy and were detrimental to one’s health. Rather it was necessary to live in such a way that this vital energy is conserved. Yangsheng described the proper methods of eating, meditation, copulation, eating, sleeping, etc. that would ensure a person’s retention of vital energy, inner balance, and harmony with nature.
Connection: In west, relates to Fletcherization. Represents Chinese belief that harmony with the universe was a requirement for health (theme of theories of cosmic harmony vs. theories of personal vulnerability). Chinese fear of depletion.
Term
xingqi
Definition
Definition: This is a method of exercise involving a combination of breathing technique and intention to circulate qi to different parts of the body (think about the “hand breathing” exercise we did in class). Although xingqi is strenuous, it contrasts with western conceptions of exercise, as it does not incorporate muscular exertion. In the Chinese tradition, attention is zhuyi, which means “pouring the mind.” Xinqi as a method of reinforcing agency, requires redirecting qi.
Connections: Ties into theme of agency and governance, and of differences in the definition of the self between the east and the west. Relates to cunsi, which involves directing qi to different organs in the body in order to retain the divinities that inhabit them.
Term
zhuyi
Definition
Zhuyi is the classical Chinese idea, meaning the ”pouring of the mind” which presents the idea of the mind as a fluid that can flow to different parts of the body or out of the body. Thus effort, in the Chinese sense, is about redirecting the flow, and losing that flow through distraction is associated with the loss of self. This contrasts the Western idea of attention, where to exist implies tension, an affirmation of agency. Thus, this fits into the discussion about how East and West perceive effort, as flow and tension.
Term
Bian Que
Definition
Lecture: 9/16 (I think...)
Definition: Famous physician in China
Helped cure problems of the qi
Doctor who saw illness before it actually happens (doctor's acumen)
Patient / Doctor relationship: the importance of trust in the formation of knowledge
Story goes: Doctor diagnoses illness ahead of physical symptoms, king would not trust him

 Significance: hermeneutics the art of interpretation (different styles of seeing) => key to doctor's acumen => focus point of Chinese medical drawings, texts.
Term
John Brown
Definition
Lecture: 10/28
Definition: John Brown (1735-1788) was a Scottish physician who propounded a theory of medicine that identifies excitability as the fundamental feature of living bodies. He argued that health was an equilibrium between stimulus and excitability. Diseases were therefore classified based on whether they were caused by over- or under-stimulation of the body. Whereas overstimulation can exhaust a person’s capacity to get excited (the sthenic state), insufficient stimulation leads to an accumulation of excitability (the asthenic state). Treatments prescribed for these conditions were usually the ingestion of opium or alcohol. His principal work was Elements of Medicine (1780).
Connection: John Brown’s theory that life was mediated by external stimuli represented a sort of inversion of the classical idea of the inner soul. It also bridged the gap between Chinese ideas of xushi and Western medicine (once our stimulus is depleted completely, so are we)
Term
Confucius: Analects
Definition
The Analects was a collection of the sayings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius. It comments on human nature and relationships, articulating a worldly, practical humanism that could be seen as a major step toward the rejection of superstition. Confucius still revealed a belief in a magical dimension to human virtue however; he emphasized the magic behind the human power to accomplish a will effortlessly through ritual. The Analects’ basic conception of man is man’s potential to be shaped into human form (he is born with the raw material but this must be elaborated by learning and culture).
Significance: it highlights how Confucius saw there to be a proper way of living and existing; this could be accomplished through self-cultivation.
Term
Francisco Solano de Luque,
Definition
a physician of the 1700s, was responsible for the revival of the pulse in the modern period, as he asserted that through it, crisis could be predicted. Concretely, crisis is sweating, diarrhea, vomiting and epistaxis (nosebleeds) and is a critical turn in a patient’s health, determining the recovery (in the presence of epistaxis) or death of a patient (in the absence).
Significance: Crisis ties into the discussion of the healing power of nature, nature’s ability to expel noxious wastes through crises. This also ties into the discussion of how the values of an environment, the culture of the time influence medical practices and beliefs since the idea that intervention makes things worse echoes Adam Smith’s laissez-faire approach of the time.
Term
Freud’s “Civilization and its Discontents”
Definition
Freud: what is the nature of civilization?: Civilization and its discontents (1930)
Upright posture as crucial change
Makes us rely on sight as our main way of seeing the world
this posture also made us continually sexually excited because sight is constantly stimulating us
Distinction between humans and animals
Animals are characterized by: 1) shameless sexuality, 2) primacy of smell
Civilization has resulted in human disengagement from smell
→ horror of excrement
→ denial of the body
bodily identity is associated with smell and sexuality but the primacy of sight has resulted in it’s repression
The story of modernity
Transformation from the Aphrodite of antiquity, with the same poses → to the modern deodorized person
The importance of bodily odor is now in a negative light
Today’s women have a totally disengaged, visual attractiveness, no smell
 

Significance: we deny our own sexual bodies through deodorants; suppression of smell is associated with mental illness; we now attribute dogs with derogatory terms.
Term
Luigi Galvani
Definition
(1737-1798)
The puzzle of what makes muscles contract: Solved by Galvani in late 1700s thru static electricity
He concluded that what is at work is animal electricity
Also concluded that this is really the secret of life
Animal electricity was a special substance that was unique to living beings
A. Volta said that it was not electricity but just a reaction of things in general
Galvani laid the foundation of electrotherapy → if you can manipulate electricity you can manipulate life
All sorts of devices began to come out that involved stimulation of muscles via the generation of static electricity
Significance: Critical to understanding Baby Bob’s paradox (monism of the energetic body in China now merged with new notions of a body fueled by electricity in the West)
Term
Albrecht von Haller
Definition
1708-1772, did the volume experiments with muscles that proved that nerves don’t carry spirit or fluid but rely on electrical stimulation to activate muscles
Two vital parts of the living body
Irritable parts: "become shorter upon being touched" -> muscles
Sensible parts: "transmit impression of being touched to soul" -> nerves
Boundaries of the soul marked by pain and voluntary motion
Organ transplants did not carry human identity since once removed, you no longer felt them
The most irritable parts are those which are not subject to the command of the soul; irritability continues after death, and in parts quite separated from the body, and entirely insensible
Significance: muscles aren't directly influenced by the spirit, key transformation that spirit's influence was on the mind, tied to stimulus/excitement theory
Term
Kaibara Ekiken
Definition
was a 17th century Japanese philosopher and botanist who lived during the beginning of the Edo period which was defined by the growth of mercantalism, and thus the growth of the importance of money in Japan. Ekiken presented the idea that in order to stay healthy a person has to work, and thus presenting a relationship not only between work and life, but between money and a person’s life.
Significance: This idea shows the effect that the cultural climate of the time- the emphasis on trade and economy-shapes the medical beliefs of the period; in a society becoming increasingly commercial, healthy bodies are laboring bodies.
Term
Bernarr McFadden
Definition
Muscles and the nude
1. Nudity allows display of muscles
2. Muscles signal agency, volition, power
3. For artists and docs alike, agency is central human identity
One of the most famous icons of body building in the 20th century is Charles Atlas
Became a “perfect man” by winning body building contests
Basic method of training = dynamic tension
The importance of tension as power, vitality
Atlas became famous next to Bernarr McFadden
Important influence on Henry Lindlahr and naturopathy
1st person to promote body building → responsible for gyms & the “buffing up” movement
1899: created magazine Physical Culture – promoting “weakness as a crime” & “strength runs the human machine”
association of muscularity with health
one of the first magazine to extensively use photographs
his publications surpass Hearst publications → & make him very rich
1919: created True Story magazine → where people write in their true stories (although the stories weren’t really that true, written by professionals)
to learn about the hidden life of people – voyeurism
Voyeurism has its roots in dissection and anatomy
Anatomy as a means of self-exposure
Close association of the erotic inspection of the female body and scientific inquiry
But not just the female body
Nudity allows you to accentuate the form of the body
What you are trying to do in anatomy is to apprehend the underlying form (to see THROUGH the body)
These forms are important in terms of Platonic philosophy: forms are the ultimate reality for seeing the universe and truth
Term
Marquis de Puysegur
Definition
A follower of Mesmer & animal magnetism
Puysegur was part of the very high aristocracy
At an estate outside of Paris he magnetized things
i.e. magnetized elm that would be used to treat people
In the course of magnetizing things, he discovered, thru the case of Victor Race (~1784) that instead of inducing usual crisis, Victor would fall asleep
Puysegur called this the “perfect crisis” → led him to conclude that it is not magnetic fluid, but magnetiser’s will and lucidity
 
This process of “perfect crisis” Puysegur initially named magnetic sleep, and, later, artificial somnambulism (inducing sleep walking)
 
Significance: the body could be influenced by outside will, change in the concept of the influence on the soul, also important to the development of the energetic body in the West
Term
Mencius
Definition

Student of Confuciansim. Also the name of the work. Mencius develops particular interpretation of Confucianism that is now the mainstream. Mencius’ 3 parables illustrate that people are essentially good; we have the seeds for goodness, but just as plants that have to grow over time and be nourished, the goodness has to be nourished within us. Evil happens when we don’t cultivate these roots.

 

Three Parables:

1.) child approaching a well. Impulse shows inherent goodness. Before we are ready to make a decision, we have an uncontrollable impulse to jump out and save the baby. However, an evil person will not cultivate this impulse. Significance: proper cultivation -> effortless action -> yangsheng

 

2.) foolish man of song. A man’s crops are not growing well, so he pulls his crops out of the ground to help them. This parables shows that there is a technique to self-cultivation. This technique is effortless in that you don’t strain self to develop, it’s not forceful, but at the same time it is an active process. This particular technique of goodness cultivation = yangsheng. moral component to yangshang: if you act immorally you lose qi and vitality and that can lead to earlier death and so on.

 

3.) the tale of ox mountain. Mencius uses this parable to respond to people saying that bad people do exist in the world. He points to the situation of ox mountain, saying that because the woodsmen have been cutting down trees for a long time, the mountain is now barren. However, this was a process, since the mountain used to be full of trees. Thus, because people didn’t cultivate it in the appropriate way, the mountain is barren. Significance: theories of cosmic balance, natural restoration

Term
Franz Anton Mesmer
Definition
In his 1774 work, Mesmer pioneered the idea of animal magnetism which is the idea that there is a vital fluid (Mesmeric fluid) inside the body and sickness is the obstruction of this fluid; yet by using these magnetic processes he can cause crises in the person and relieve the stoppage. This can be tied into the discussion of electricity, and the attempt to understand how electricity works for the body as it works for the laws of physics. Also, this idea of the body being composed of this fluid and concern about fluid obstuction echoes the ancient Chinese concern with the obstruction of qi, which composes the body but like the idea of Mesmeric fluid.
Term
“Nipper”/ His Master’s Voice
Definition
Painted by Francis Barraad who sold is work to RCA and it became the trademark of the gramophone. Sold to company RCA and became the trademark. Illustration:
The function of the gramaphone as a:
1)Preserver of the identity of a person (voice à identity”)
2)Mirror of mortality, as a way that you confront own mortality because you come to terms with your death when you are in the process of making a recording.
 
Significance: This focus on embalming the voice ,which is something worldly and concrete ties into the discussion of relic veneration and the importance of the body in medieval resurrection and having the body as whole unit for afterlife. Death is normally thought of as spiritual phase that we move into, but we see the importance of the body, not just the soul, even in medieval Christian arguments (do people keep their fingernails etc. etc.).
Term
Santorio Santorio
Definition
(1561-1635) De static medicina - Association of heaviness with sickness
One of the most famous physicians in Europe during his time
A pioneer in quantification (analyze things in terms of numbers)
First to use a pendulum to measure pulse
One of the first to systematically weigh himself on a daily basis
Weighed: His own body, all his food & drink, all his feces & urine
Santorio’s results: 8 pounds of food and drink ingested only resulted in 3 pounds of feces and urine
He concludes that this discrepancy is due to 5 pounds of insensible perspiration
Thus he though that if our pores were not open, all these poisons would becomes trapped inside us – we must keep pores open
Term
Dudley Sargent
Definition
The director of Hemingway gym from 1879-1919, he was one of the national leaders in a scientific approach physical education around the country. He made the argument that as you develop your muscles, you are really developing your brain. It is also interesting that he argues that since all the hard work is done by machines (steam power and electricity), we need to exercise to keep one's own motor apparatus and vital machinery in good working order. He therefore developed a number of exercises, exercise equipment, and the Sargent jump test. He is important to the larger course because helped start the practice of taking nude pictures of students to find good physiques, a practice that can also be found in Japan, and he marked the larger movement by society to focus on fitness as the bedrock of good health, and at a larger sense to equate national fitness with individual fitness .(Lecture 11/16/09)
Term
Johann Storch
Definition
(18th century) From the Duden article, he examined women to see how they experienced the body. He claims that there is little difference between men and women – that all bodily fluids are the same. Woman’s menstrual flow is also present in a men’s bleeding, it just happened in a different way. Significance is the ideas that gender is a construct. Different ways of seeing…
Term
Jan Swammerdam
Definition
performed physiological experiments and microscopic observations in the 17th century such as cutting the legs off frogs and seeing that they still respond to stimuli long after cut from the body. This presents a dilemma for the idea that muscles are the organs of voluntary will, since the legs move on their own (similarly, when you tickle someone with a feather and they aren’t aware of it, they still scratch themselves and skin becomes red) Thus it appears that we can never be truly said to move voluntarily, but rather actually end of complex chain of causation. Also, he did Studies of insect wings => discovery that sound was made by the pulsations, ripples of air pressure -> bee wings beating -> frequency determined by rapidity. Thus, Swammerdam helped further the movement of the quantification/alienation of the human body.
Term
Thomas Sydenham
Definition
was a 17th century English physician whose theory of the body was in line with botany in that he believed diseases were like botanical species and he classified diseases in much the same way that Linnaeus classified plats. Sydenham borrows from botany to understand how the human body works, reinforcing the theme about how ideas of the body are shaped by culture.
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