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Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: September 29, 2020 at 12:06:55 PM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Environment]: Griffin on Grell and Cunningham and > Arrizabalaga, 'It All Depends on the Dose: Poisons and Medicines in European > History' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Ole Peter Grell, Andrew Cunningham, Jon Arrizabalaga, eds. It All > Depends on the Dose: Poisons and Medicines in European History. The > History of Medicine in Context Series. New York Routledge, 2018. > Illustrations. 258 pp. $155.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-138-69761-4. > > Reviewed by Clare Griffin (Nazarbayev University) > Published on H-Environment (September, 2020) > Commissioned by Daniella McCahey > > This edited volume, consisting of an introduction and twelve chapters > as well as multiple black-and-white images, looks at the fraught > boundary between medicines and poisons in medieval, early modern, and > modern western Europe and the ancient world medical texts valued > there. This volume both retreads familiar ground and traces a new > path. Within the history of medicine, the "Western tradition," as it > is often termed, has attracted a substantial amount of attention, and > this volume builds on that scholarship. Much work has recently been > devoted to the issue of medical drugs, both within the Western > tradition and elsewhere, and for those of us who work on that topic > the idea that medicines and poisons are closely related substances is > familiar. However, that idea is rarely examined directly, and a major > contribution of this volume is to address this issue of the > relationship between medicines and poisons in a variety of contexts > and sources. > > Andrew Cunningham's introduction sets out the central concern of the > volume: not just the close relationship between medicines and poisons > but also the idea--encapsulated in Paracelsus's quote used in the > title of the book--that the difference between the two is more an > issue of quantity than of quality. This issue of dose determining if > a substance is a medicine or a poison is a major theme of the book, > in particular being directly addressed in Jeffrey K. Aronson and > Robin E. Ferner's chapter on the Law of Mass Action and modern ideas > of graded concepts of medicines, which help pharmacists determine how > much of a substance will help a patient versus how much will cause > harm. > > The book also introduces several other ideas about how the boundary > between medicines and poisons has been understood. Toine Pieters's > work on poisons in medicine cabinets deals with the so-called strong > medicines, medicines that can cause harm as they act to heal the body > (such as chemotherapy). In examining his strong medicines, Pieters > shows how certain medicines are so strong they can only be medicines > in carefully controlled environments, like the hospital; when used > elsewhere they are poisonous. The chapter by Helen King on snake > poison in Galen's writing instead highlights how process is > important: snake poison is a poison, but if carefully prepared as the > ancient world remedy theriac, it can transform into a medicine. > Cunningham's chapter on mercury shows how this one substance was > interpreted and used differently in different periods, crossing the > boundary between medicine and poison over time. > > Readers find several familiar substances, like mercury and arsenic, > and well-known figures, like Galen, but also are introduced to > less-well-known chapters in the history of drugs and poisons. > Paracelsus not only gives the volume its title but also appears > repeatedly throughout, most prominently in Georgiana D. Hedesan's > chapter, which examines his views on poisons as a fundamental quality > of all-natural objects. In contrast, Alisha Rankin shows us that > relatively unknown women, a group often stereotyped as poisoners, > took part in early modern experiments relating to antidotes, and > José Ramón Bertomeu-Sánchez demonstrates a link between the > development of toxicology and nineteenth-century poisoning trials > through the biography of the understudied figure of Mateu Orfila. > > Many of the chapters present a very literal take on what constitutes > a poison, such as Alessandro Pastore's chapter contextualizing > Italian Renaissance political assassinations within a broader trend > of poisonings among other social groups, and Montserrat Cabré and > Fernando Salmón's close reading of a medieval Spanish text on > miracles including an autopsy of an accidentally poisoned woman. > Other chapters subvert the concept of the volume and consider how > other substances, and even other actions, have been discussed as > "poisons." Jon Arrizabalaga shows how both literal poisonings and the > idea of a "manufactured plague" in medieval Europe were linked by a > common belief in human agency in such disasters. Anne Hardy examines > modern ideas of food poisoning and demonstrates that certain toxins > seen to be key in such poisonings (such as botulism) made the jump to > also be used as medicines. Most inventively, Ole Peter Grell's > chapter examines the views of Martin Luther on sex, demonstrating > that he saw sexual abstinence as a kind of poison negatively > affecting the body. > > As a whole, this volume presents a broad range of perspectives on the > history of poisons and drugs from across western Europe, providing a > welcome addition to existing histories focusing on other aspects on > the history of medicine and the history of medical drugs. It will be > of use to any scholar interested in situating the history of medicine > within other historical concerns, from legal proceedings to religious > literature. > > Citation: Clare Griffin. Review of Grell, Ole Peter; Cunningham, > Andrew; Arrizabalaga, Jon, eds., _It All Depends on the Dose: Poisons > and Medicines in European History_. H-Environment, H-Net Reviews. > September, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54811 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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