Doctoral Dissertation Research on Generation and Its Problems in Harvey, Highmore and their Contemporaries

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Introduction: The PIs propose to examine William Harvey's and Nathaniel Highmore's mid-seventeenth century studies of physiology, in particular embryology and their role in debates during the period over generation, the nature of living material, and the development of organisms. They plan to do archival research at the British Library and at the Wellcome Institute in London, and in Oxford at the Bodleian Library and in the university records. These archives contain the correspondence and notebooks of the seventeenth-century physician and physiologist Nathaniel Highmore, as well as contemporary notes on experiments and lectures that are closely related to his work.Intellectual merit: Highmore was a friend and collaborator of William Harvey: a comparison between their works will clarify a number of issues related to the problems of generation emerging from contemporary debates. Central developments in early modern science, philosophy, and medicine converged in Highmore's remarkable work, particularly, in his discoveries and novel explanations of reproductive organs, generation, and hysteria. The archival research builds on two studies of Highmore's s published works that have been presented at history of science conferences. There are several respects in which archive visits are crucial to the dissertation: the extensive collections of unpublished writings will shed light on Highmore's medical education, intellectual sources, interactions with patients, the role of experiments and medical experience on his research, the development of his thought, and the reception of his published texts. No close examinations of these important sources have been published. This project focuses in particular on the early stages of the appropriation of chemistry by academic medicine, which remains virtually unexplored. Moreover, studying the student notebooks will enhance historical understanding of early seventeenth-century medical education, particularly the extent to which students were exposed to the new sciences, philosophies, and experimentation.Broader impact: The proposed project examines major questions about life that persist to this day: What distinguishes living from non-living matter? At what point do fetuses acquire human status? The aim is to provide a critical analysis and historical understanding of these questions that are heavily enmeshed with ethical and religious values. These issues also serve as a locus at which to examine how different areas of science, medicine, metaphysics, epistemology, and theology informed each other during the mid-seventeenth century. The interdisciplinary and synchronistic nature of the project means that it has broad ramifications for early modernists. The theme of the upcoming joint meeting of the British, US, and Canadian history of science societies, "Connecting Disciplines," reflects the field's recognition of the value of interdisciplinary studies. Portions of the research will be presented during 2008, both at the international meeting and at a conference on early modern chemistry, physiology and medicine. Funds for this project were provided by a joint venture of the BIO and SBE directorates known as "Impacts of Biology on Society," which is administered via the STS program.