[Henri-Aimé Lotar (1836-1898) and the Museum of Faculty of pharmaceutical and biological sciences at the University of Lille].

Dispensing pharmacist (settled down at n° 27 of Roubaix street in Lille, in the ancient pharmacy of his father Henri Lucien Joseph Lotar), Henri-Aimé L otar was also assistant professor since 1865, then first pharmacy titular professor at the University of Lille (from the creation of the chair of pharmacy in 1881 to his death in 1898), hospital chief pharmacist, pharmacy inspector, member of Hygiene Council and representative of pharmacy at the Academic Council. He gave his name to the Museum Lotar, which is situated on the ground floor of the Faculty of pharmaceutical and biological sciences at the University of Lille and where his portrait ­ in official costume of professor ­ takes place within a rebuild pharmacy in «19th century¼ style. This museum besides includes ancient pharmacopoeias, numerous books (among which the monumental Herbarium of Charles Fourcade) and old registers of prescription ­ we made an inventory of those ­ as well as pharmacy pots, specimens of herbal drugs, patent medicines, medical devices, several objects for pharmaceutical use, laboratory instruments and a professor dress which belonged to Professor Morvillez, third successor of Lotar at the chair of Pharmacy.

[Biophysical double-lives, 1939-1946. Or: spaces of boredom. On 'information discourse' and (dis)continuities in the life sciences]. / Biophysikalisches Doppelleben, 1939-1946. Oder: Räume der Lange-weile. Zur (Nicht-)Zäsur des 'Informationsdiskurses'.

Arguably, few things have shaped the historiography of the mid-twentieth century psy-sciences (and indeed, of the life sciences and science/technology/intellectual life quite generally) more profoundly than the story of cybernetics. This essay aims to undermine this technofuturistic picture of epistemological upheavals, of cyborg regimes of knowing, and of the incipient post-human, by reinserting back into the story the rather dull and unspectacular lives (and occupations) of the great majority of British, 'diverted' biologists during World War II. Instead of Ratio Clubbers or Macy-Conference frequenters, this essay is concerned with a much larger population of would-be biologists and their most pedestrian appropriations of, and exposures to, electronics. What I argue is that the prevalence and systematicity of such exposures in the course of the personnel-hungry radio-war points to a very different--low-key--picture of the war/technology-induced deflections of biological science at mid-century. As an example of how deeply at odds narrations of cybernetic's ascent tend to sit with developments on ground level, special attention will be devoted to the physiologists-turned-radar-scientists Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley, and their war-time, or more properly, spare-time investigations into the biophysics of nerve. The latter--technical, difficult, and utterly unphilosophical--while absent from the cyber-theme-focused historiography, provided the basis for the tremendous impact Hodkgin and Huxley would in fact have on the mainstream, disciplinarily conservative physiological sciences; the larger aim however is to weave these far from peculiar biographical trajectories into a somewhat bigger picture of the intersections between radar electronics and biological science: a picture which does not centre on sensational discourses but on mundane electronic practices; and thus, on the generational experience of those who were known at the time as "ex radar folk with biological leanings".

Between clinical medicine and the laboratory: medical research funding in France from 1945 to the present.

By focusing on funding methods, this paper considers the way in which medical research eventually led to the science-based medicine that is prevalent in France today. This process seems to have taken place in three stages during the second half of the twentieth century. In the 1940s and 1950s, two major events occurred. The first was the creation of a national health insurance fund in France, which opened up new reasons for, and ways of, funding medical research. The second was the development of antibiotics, which triggered a revival of clinical medicine. In the 1960s and 1970s, a proactive government science policy allowed the life sciences and medical research to come together in the wake of a burgeoning new science: molecular biology. Thus, in 1964, the creation of the National Health and Medical Research Institute (Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale or INSERM), destined to "molecularize" medical research, was seen as the fulfillment of the government's ambitious research policy. Today, with medicine irreversibly embedded in scientific and technical rationality, health has become a major issue in modern societies. This paper therefore touches on some of the key features of biomedical research, including the revival of funding systems for clinical research and the development of a system of research grants that was made possible by patient organizations and the creation of new funding agencies.

[Neo-'hippocratism' in Bernardino Ramazzini]. / L'ippocratismo di Bernardino Ramazzini. per la costruzione di una medicina sociale.

Neo-hippocratism is a rational and mechanic method to explain pathological phenomena and discover the causes of diseases. Bernardino Ramazzini uses Hippocratic empirical observation to investigate the relations between the alterations of the air - due to mephitic vapours, of organic and inorganic origin - and the development of pathological processes. His notion of corruption of the atmosphere as the origin of epidemics and specific diseases, and that of prevention as the main strategy of modern medicine, is developed in medical literature and in the public medicine projects of the end of the Seventeenth century.

The anatomic location of the soul from the heart, through the brain, to the whole body, and beyond: a journey through Western history, science, and philosophy.

OBJECTIVE: To describe representative Western philosophical, theological, and scientific ideas regarding the nature and location of the soul from the Egyptians to the contemporary period; and to determine the principal themes that have structured the history of the development of the concept of the soul and the implications of the concept of the soul for medical theory and practice. METHODS: We surveyed the ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman periods, the early, Medieval, and late Christian eras, as well as the Renaissance, Enlightenment, and Modern periods to determine the most salient ideas regarding the nature and location of the soul. RESULTS: In the history of Western theological, philosophical, and scientific/medical thought, there exist 2 dominant and, in many respects, incompatible concepts of the soul: one that understands the soul to be spiritual and immortal, and another that understands the soul to be material and mortal. In both cases, the soul has been described as being located in a specific organ or anatomic structure or as pan-corporeal, pervading the entire body, and, in some instances, trans-human and even pan-cosmological. Moreover, efforts to discern the nature and location of the soul have, throughout Western history, stimulated physiological exploration as well as theoretical understanding of human anatomy. The search for the soul has, in other words, led to a deepening of our scientific knowledge regarding the physiological and, in particular, cardiovascular and neurological nature of human beings. In addition, in virtually every period, the concept of the soul has shaped how societies thought about, evaluated, and understood the moral legitimacy of scientific and medical procedures: from performing abortions and autopsies to engaging in stem cell research and genetic engineering. CONCLUSION: Our work enriches our shared understanding of the soul by describing some of the key formulations regarding the nature and location of the soul by philosophers, theologians, and physicians. In doing so, we are better able to appreciate the significant role that the concept of the soul has played in the development of Western scientific, medical, and spiritual life. Although ideas about the soul have changed significantly throughout Western history, the idea of the soul as being real and essential to one's personhood has been, and remains, pervasive throughout every period of Western history.

Mechanism, vitalism and organicism in late nineteenth and twentieth-century biology: the importance of historical context.

The term 'mechanism' has been used in two quite different ways in the history of biology. Operative, or explanatory mechanism refers to the step-by-step description or explanation of how components in a system interact to yield a particular outcome (as in the 'mechanism of enzyme action' or the 'mechanism of synaptic transmission'). Philosophical Mechanism, on the other hand, refers to a broad view of organisms as material entities, functioning in ways similar to machines--that is, carrying out a variety of activities based on known chemical and physical processes. In the early twentieth century philosophical Mechanism became the foundation of a 'new biology' that sought to establish the life sciences on the same solid and rigorous foundation as the physical sciences, including a strong emphasis on experimentation. In the context of the times this campaign was particularly aimed at combating the reintroduction of more holistic, non-mechanical approaches into the life sciences (organicism, vitalism). In so doing, Mechanists failed to see some of the strong points of non-vitalistic holistic thinking. The two approaches are illustrated in the work of Jacques Loeb and Hans Spemann.

The ambivalence of error: "scientific ideology" in the history of the life sciences and psychosomatic medicine.

This paper discusses the concept of "scientific ideology" as it appears in the work of the historian and philosopher of medicine Georges Canguilhem, whose work is becoming increasingly well known and used amongst anglophone social scientists. Whilst addressing the problematic of legitimacy and illegitimacy in the history of science, the concept of "scientific ideology" does something different and more complex than either the opposition between science and false science, or the one between orthodoxy and heresy, allow for. On the one hand, it enables us to preserve a crucial acknowledgment of the specificity of science in general, and of medical science in particular. On the other hand, it also allows us to challenge the sharp contrast between science and non-science by setting that contrast in a diachronic perspective. Drawing also on the work of Isabelle Stengers, the last part of the paper discusses an application of the concept of scientific ideology in relation to the field of psychosomatic medicine and psychoneuroimmunology.

[Rostyslav Vsevolodovych Chahovets'. Creative activity and scientific school (on the 100th anniversary of birthday)]. / Rostyslav Vsevolodovych Chahovets'. Tvorchyi shliakh ta naukova shkola (do 100-richchia vid dnia narodzhennia).

Herein we review the main stages of life and scientific work of Rostislav Vsevolodovich Chagovets, prominent biochemist and vitaminologist, Member of the Academy of Sciences of Ukrainian SSR, professor and talanted pedagogue. As a founder of scientific school of vitaminologists and researcher in the field of muscle biochemistry, nutrition and vitamins he made a valuable contribution to development of the national and world biochemistry. This work reflects the main trends of fundamental scientific investigations and developments of vitaminological school founded by R. V. Chagovets which underlied the development of contemporary practical vitaminology.

Birth of the life sciences in Spain and Portugal.

For many centuries, Spain and Portugal were occupied by various nations. The consequent mixing of cultures formed a unique environment in which to do science.

[Biomedicine or anthropological medicine]. / Biomedicina o medicina antropológica.

The huge developments in the biological research and in the technics used in other spheres of science (physics, mathematics, chemistry, cybernetics, etc.) have a great influence on the constitution of the actual medical paradigm, as well as other non strictly scientific factors. These external factors are economic, political and cultural ones -such as the pharmaceutical industry and the public health systems, the privatisation of health services, the large amount of professionals, the advances in the medical instruments, etc. The theoritician of the Heidelberg School, called this prevalent model "biomedical" or "natural-scientific", underlying this way the tendance to the biological reductionism in relation to the concept of "illness" thus excluding the subjectivity, the history and the sociability of the patient when dealing with the pain, the inability and the death. Since the middle of XXth Century a serious criticism of this medical paradigm has been raised. This criticism revolved around the so called anthropological or integral model. This article makes a revision of this problem from a historical and epistemological outlook, revisiting some specific features in the psychiatric field.

From Galen to Golgi: birth of the life sciences in Italy.

Between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries, the study of biology was intimately intertwined with progress in medicine. So how, when and where did research into the life sciences begin?

[The patient and medicine in contemporary Kazakhstan, attitudes towards bio-medicine and complementary medicine]. / Pacjent i medycyna we wspólczesnym Kazachstanie. Postawy wobec biomedycyny i medycyny komplementarnej.

The article discusses society's attitudes towards bio-medicine and complementary medicine in Kazakhstan around the end of the 20th century. It presents the transformation of the health-care system in independent Kazakhstan and its influence on the health situation of the population as well as public opinion on bio-medicine. Presented is a broad spectrum of various fields of complementary medicine which achieved great popularity especially during the 1990s. Among the reasons for that growing popularity appears to be public disenchantment with the collapsing state health-care system which is costly and ineffective. At the same time, an important factor is the durability of traditional beliefs of a magical type which is behind the wide use of nonconventional magic-religious practices -- spells and prayers. Overall public socio-economic malaise and a fear of the future are conducive to a general increase of interest in mystical beliefs and occult practices as well as a paranormal phenomena, and the flourishing of complementary medicine naturally fits into that scheme.