BOOK NOTICES

Cornelie Usborne and Willem de Blecourt (eds), CulturalApproaches to the History of Medicine: Mediating Medicinein Early Modern and Modern Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave

Macmillan, 2004. Pp. xxiii + 241. £52.50 HB.

This book is a collection of papers from a conference held inAmsterdam in 1999. It is an impressive feat these days to succeedin publishing a book with topics that range this widely – startingwith Catrien Santing’s essay on the role of the anatomical exami-nation of saints’ hearts in 16th-century Rome and closing withToine Pieters’s analysis of the hype around interferon research inthe 1980s. Although more pronounced in certain articles than oth-ers, the common thread for this collection is the theme of ‘media-tion’ in the history of medicine. The most consistent run ofcontributions is three articles on correspondence and medicine inthe 18th century. Michael Stolberg’s contribution is particularlyinteresting, with his work on epistolary sources being used to ex-plore the dissemination of medical theory in 18th-century Europe.Indeed, while there is little coherence with respect to approach ortopic, the contributions themselves are all interesting, albeit a littleanecdotal. Having said this, I did find the paper on hermaphro-dites somewhat superficial in light of the many treatments this to-pic has received in the last 20 years. On the other hand, Iappreciated Constance Malpas’s analysis of the developing ortho-paedic market in 19th-century France. Nevertheless, as with anycollection of this type, when choosing between an essay by YaarahBar-On on ‘Neighbours and Gossip in Early Modern Gynaecology’and one by Hera Cook on sexology in the first half of the 20thcentury, the reader is liable to be guided by his or her own special-ist interests. [JS]

Metascience (2007) 16:175–177 � Springer 2007DOI 10.1007/s11016-006-9088-z

William R. Eaton, Boyle on Fire: The Mechanical Revolutionin Scientific Explanation, London and New York: Continuum,

2005. Pp. viii + 205. £60.00 HB.

Eaton’s short monograph argues that Boyle’s particular contribu-tion to the mechanical mode of the explanation of naturalphenomena was a significant and lasting legacy to modern science.Boyle’s appeal to the mechanical affections of matter, and in partic-ular his appeal to the ‘contrivance of parts’ in explanations in chem-istry, Eaton argues, was more sophisticated and of greater utilitythan previous approaches to mechanical explanation. While narrowin its scope, Boyle on Fire does provide a useful entree into recentwork on Boyle for the uninitiated, guiding the reader through someof the central historiographical and interpretative issues which haveshaped recent Boyle studies. It is a well-organised and clear book,written in an engaging style. It is not, however, of a sufficient schol-arly standard to have an impact on our understanding of Boyle’sthought. [PA]

Margaret Pelling and Scott Mandelbrote (eds), The Practiceof Reform in Health, Medicine, and Science, 1500–2000,

Ashgate, 2005. Pp. 376. £55.00 HB.

The subtitle of this collected volume of papers – ‘Essays forCharles Webster’ – provides the explanation behind the apparentlybizarre juxtaposition of contributions on 15th- and 16th-centuryreligion, magic, and politics, with others on the history of thehealth services in Britain and the Commonwealth in the secondhalf of the 20th century. While the justification – subjects and stu-dents of Charles Webster – is clear, this does not make the collec-tion any more coherent for the reader. Thus, unless you happen tobe Charles Webster (a privilege reserved for very few), you will se-lect articles as a function of your own speciality or interests. LikeWebster’s work itself, the treatments are stimulating, althoughsometimes a little obscure for a generalist. In the first part, one canread a fascinating discussion of the role of music in natural magicand protestant devotion, as well as an interesting political analysisof the publications around the return to life of one Anne Greenefrom Duns Tew Oxon, hanged for infanticide in 1650. Along withan essay on Henry More’s response to faith healers, and others onmagic, medicine and social reform in the early modern period,

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these contributions clearly reflect a field opened up by Webster’spioneering Great Instauration. In the second part, among othercontributions, Virginia Berridge presents an interesting history ofthe anti-smoking group ‘ASH’, and John Welshman offers somethoughtful observations on the Sheffield Regional Hospital Board.These articles equally reflect Webster’s second area of research, thehistory of the National Health System in Britain. Nevertheless,while the title of the collection tries to establish a relationship (al-beit weak) between these diverse areas of scholarly endeavour, itmight have been more perspicacious to have interchanged thebook’s subtitle with its title, and called it simply ‘Essays forCharles Webster’. [JS]

177BOOK NOTICES