Preparing Princes or Who May Preserve the Ruler for Eternity?

This abstract has open access
Abstract Summary
In the 16th and 17th centuries, medical students from the German-speaking territories would very often set out for Italy especially in order to gain extended anatomical and surgical knowledge. Back home, opportunities to put these additional skills into use were rather narrow, but there were some exceptions. The preparation and embalming of corpses was one of these. This was a topic that had not normally been much focused upon in physicians' writings, but this changed by the middle of the 17th century. From an analysis of some key texts it will become clear that this shift in attention has to do with the increased estimation of surgical skills by physicians. The central item of the paper will be a didactical letter by Balthasar Timaeus (d. 1667), a physician in Pomerania, describing the act of preparing and embalming a corpse to his son, himself a medical student. Timaeus, who had acquired this advanced knowledge of instruments and techniques in Padua during his peregrinatio, passed it on among his family as a surgeon would do. Others almost at the same time did introduce the topic into academic teaching as well, which was a further step of merging the medical and surgical spheres that had, in the Holy Roman Empire, been officially kept well apart. My sources come from the “Physicians’ Correspondences of the German-Speaking Territories, 1500 to 1700” project based at the Bavarian Academy of Science. They further include disputations and other contemporary publications and excerpts on the subject.
Abstract ID :
HSS476
Submission Type
Chronological Classification :
17th century
Self-Designated Keywords :
Holy Roman Empire, Italy, Medicine, Student Migration, Scholar Migration, Transfer of Information, Transfer of knowledge, Embalming Techniques, Transfer of Skills, 16th century, 17th century

Abstracts With Same Type

Abstract ID
Abstract Title
Abstract Topic
Submission Type
Primary Author
HSS575
Aspects of Scientific Practice/Organization
Organized Session
Prof. Anna Graber
HSS355
Technology
Organized Session
Francesco Cassata
HSS587
Medicine and Health
Organized Session
Chantal Marazia
HSS872
Thematic Approaches to the Study of Science
Organized Session
Dr. Alison Kraft
HSS5847
Biology
Organized Session
Dr. Dominik Huenniger
HSS512
Aspects of Scientific Practice/Organization
Organized Session
Alrun Schmidtke
129 visits