Doctoral Dissertation Research in the History of Science

博士论文学生南希·罗宾·雅克斯女士正在研究一个案例，根据新的科学和医疗实践，当地对国家科学和医疗政策的抵制。美国政治理论的一个老生常谈是“所有的政治都是地方性的”。这一老生常谈的推论很可能是，如果所有的政治都是地方的，地方在接受或拒绝不同于地方需要的国家政策方面会有很大的不同。当国家政治与影响公民的因素差异太大时，这项政策就会失败。在美国，全国禁止消费和销售酒精饮料的情况就是如此。《国法》禁止酒类消费和销售，但这一政策却被广泛忽视。Jaicks女士正在研究国家政策与地方抵抗之间的关系，以及它与科学和医疗实践的关系。具体地说，她正在研究19世纪法国里昂的科学和医疗实践。然而，她的发现对我们理解导致我们这个时代公共政策失败的因素也有着巨大的影响。19世纪是科学和医学取得重大发展的时期。胚胎学和生殖生理学取得了巨大的进步。疾病的细菌理论正在发展，杀菌理论和有效麻醉的发现使手术变得更加安全。然而，出于社会、政治和职业原因，一个非常政治化的医生阶层推动通过了对医疗程序的极其严格的要求。这些限制忽略了新的科学发展。雅克斯发现，尽管有国家政策，但像里昂这样的地方社区，面对自己的一系列当地条件，转向了杀菌、麻醉和生物科学的新发展，而忽视了国家政策。Jaicks女士的论文将研究联邦政策是如何制定的，以及地方因素如何导致这一联邦公共政策的失败。

The doctoral dissertation student, Ms. Nancy Robin Jaicks, is examining a case of local resistance to national science and medical policy in light of new scientific and medical practices. A truism of American political theory is that "all politics is local." A corollary to that truism may well be, if all politics is local, localities will differ greatly in acceptance or rejection of national policies which differ from local needs. When national politics too greatly differ from factors affecting citizens, the policy fails. In the US, such was the case with national prohibition of consumption and sale of alcoholic beverages. The "law of the land" prohibited alcoholic consumption and sale, yet this policy was widely ignored. Ms. Jaicks is studying the relationship of national policy and local resistance in the context of its relationship to science and medical practice. Specifically she is examining the case of science and medical practice in Lyon in 19th century France. What she finds, however, has enormous implications for our understanding of the factors that make for failed public policy in our times as well. The 19th century was a period of major developments within science and medicine. Embryology and reproductive physiology were making enormous advances. The germ theory of disease was being developed, theories of antisepsis and discoveries of effective anesthesia made surgeries much safer. For social, political and professional reasons, however, a very politicized physician class had pushed through extremely restrictive requirements for medical procedures. These restrictions ignored the new scientific developments. What Ms. Jaicks has found is that, despite a national policy, local communities such a Lyon, confronting there own set of local conditions, turned to the new developments in antisepsis, anesthesia and biological sciences and ignored the national policies. Ms. Jaicks dissertation will examine how the federal policies were developed and how the local factors led to the failure of this federal public policy.