[The "homeopathic specific:" commercial legitimization of homeopathy in Barcelona (1902-1910)]. / El "específico homeopático": legitimación comercial de la homeopatía en Barcelona (1902-1910).

The change in position of homeopathic remedies in the health market produced by the emerging pharmacological paradigm was key to the popularization of homeopathy in Spain. The introduction of specifics and their marketing strategies led to a rise in popular legitimization of homeopathy, and the battles between different professionals created fertile ground for explaining and promoting this doctrine. This article analyzes a contextualized case in Barcelona in the early twentieth century, and explores from different perspectives the new role of pharmacists and medications in spreading homeopathy, centering on strategies for popularizing homeopathic remedies in Spain.

El cambio en la posición que ocupaban los remedios homeopáticos en el mercado de la salud, derivado del emergente paradigma farmacológico, fue clave en la popularización de la homeopatía en España. La introducción de los específicos y sus técnicas de publicidad originó un aumento en la legitimación popular de la homeopatía y encontró en las pugnas entre diferentes profesionales un terreno abonado para la divulgación y la promoción de esta doctrina. El artículo analiza un caso de estudio contextualizado en Barcelona a principios del siglo XX, aproximándose desde diferentes perspectivas al nuevo rol del farmacéutico y el medicamento como divulgadores de la homeopatía y centrándose en las estrategias de la popularización de los remedios homeopáticos en España.

El " específico homeopático ": legitimación comercial de la homeopatía en Barcelona (1902-1910) / The " homeopathic specific: " commercial legitimization of homeopathy in Barcelona (1902-1910)

Resumen El cambio en la posición que ocupaban los remedios homeopáticos en el mercado de la salud, derivado del emergente paradigma farmacológico, fue clave en la popularización de la homeopatía en España. La introducción de los específicos y sus técnicas de publicidad originó un aumento en la legitimación popular de la homeopatía y encontró en las pugnas entre diferentes profesionales un terreno abonado para la divulgación y la promoción de esta doctrina. El artículo analiza un caso de estudio contextualizado en Barcelona a principios del siglo XX, aproximándose desde diferentes perspectivas al nuevo rol del farmacéutico y el medicamento como divulgadores de la homeopatía y centrándose en las estrategias de la popularización de los remedios homeopáticos en España.

Abstract The change in position of homeopathic remedies in the health market produced by the emerging pharmacological paradigm was key to the popularization of homeopathy in Spain. The introduction of specifics and their marketing strategies led to a rise in popular legitimization of homeopathy, and the battles between different professionals created fertile ground for explaining and promoting this doctrine. This article analyzes a contextualized case in Barcelona in the early twentieth century, and explores from different perspectives the new role of pharmacists and medications in spreading homeopathy, centering on strategies for popularizing homeopathic remedies in Spain.

[Unmasking impostors: Professional physicians and their struggle against fake doctors in Peru]. / Desenmascarando a los impostores: Los médicos profesionales y su lucha contra los falsos médicos en Perú.

The characterization of non-professional healers as "quacks" or "impostors" has influenced much of how such actors have been perceived by public opinion and in academic research. As a result of this, a divide has emerged between professional physicians, on the one hand, and those who acquired their knowledge in a traditional and non-academic way, on the other. This work questions the alleged divide between these two groups in the health field in order to offer a more complex and richer picture of local practices in Peru. Based mainly on correspondence from the Faculty of Medicine in Lima and newspaper ads, we reconstructed the attempts made by medical authorities to contain and exclude healers of Asian, European, or local backgrounds, many of which failed. For this reason, we studied two specific devices designed to legitimate and monitor physicians trained professionally: degrees or diplomas and lists of graduates, both of which are predecessors to our current identification cards and databases.

La caracterización de sanadores no-titulados como "charlatanes" o "impostores" ha influido notablemente en cómo han sido percibidos por la opinión pública y en las investigaciones académicas. Se creó, entonces, una división entre los médicos profesionales y aquellos que adquirieron su conocimiento de modo tradicional y no-académico. Este artículo cuestiona la supuesta división entre dichos especialistas en el campo de la salud para ofrecer un cuadro más complejo y rico de prácticas locales a partir del caso peruano. A partir, sobre todo, de correspondencia de la Facultad de Medicina de Lima y de avisos en periódicos, reconstruimos la dinámica de las autoridades médicas en sus intentos, muchas veces infructuosos, de contener y excluir a sanadores de origen asiático, europeo o local. Para ello, estudiamos dos artefactos diseñados para legitimar y monitorear a los médicos formados profesionalmente: los títulos o diplomas y las listas de graduados, predecesores de nuestros modernos documentos de identidad y bases de datos.

Desenmascarando a los impostores: Los médicos profesionales y su lucha contra los falsos médicos en Perú / Unmasking impostors: Professional physicians and their struggle against fake doctors in Peru

RESUMEN La caracterización de sanadores no-titulados como "charlatanes" o "impostores" ha influido notablemente en cómo han sido percibidos por la opinión pública y en las investigaciones académicas. Se creó, entonces, una división entre los médicos profesionales y aquellos que adquirieron su conocimiento de modo tradicional y no-académico. Este artículo cuestiona la supuesta división entre dichos especialistas en el campo de la salud para ofrecer un cuadro más complejo y rico de prácticas locales a partir del caso peruano. A partir, sobre todo, de correspondencia de la Facultad de Medicina de Lima y de avisos en periódicos, reconstruimos la dinámica de las autoridades médicas en sus intentos, muchas veces infructuosos, de contener y excluir a sanadores de origen asiático, europeo o local. Para ello, estudiamos dos artefactos diseñados para legitimar y monitorear a los médicos formados profesionalmente: los títulos o diplomas y las listas de graduados, predecesores de nuestros modernos documentos de identidad y bases de datos.

ABSTRACT The characterization of non-professional healers as "quacks" or "impostors" has influenced much of how such actors have been perceived by public opinion and in academic research. As a result of this, a divide has emerged between professional physicians, on the one hand, and those who acquired their knowledge in a traditional and non-academic way, on the other. This work questions the alleged divide between these two groups in the health field in order to offer a more complex and richer picture of local practices in Peru. Based mainly on correspondence from the Faculty of Medicine in Lima and newspaper ads, we reconstructed the attempts made by medical authorities to contain and exclude healers of Asian, European, or local backgrounds, many of which failed. For this reason, we studied two specific devices designed to legitimate and monitor physicians trained professionally: degrees or diplomas and lists of graduates, both of which are predecessors to our current identification cards and databases.

Ads and Labels From Early 20th-Century Health Fraud Promotions.

Ten advertisements and labels from the American Medical Association (AMA) Historical Health Fraud and Alternative Medicine Collection illustrate false health beliefs perpetuated in 20th-century medical quackery promotions. This article canvasses some of the claims made and responses to these ads and labels.

A concorrência na arte de partejar na cidade do Rio de Janeiro entre 1835 e 1900 / Competition in the arts of midwifery in the city of Rio de Janeiro from 1835 to 1900

Resumo Este artigo discute a concorrência entre parteiras e médicos na oferta dos serviços de partos na cidade do Rio de Janeiro entre 1835 e 1900. Foram analisadas as atas da congregação, os livros do curso de partos e de termos de exames de verificação de médicos, cirurgiões, boticários e parteiras da Faculdade de Medicina do Rio de Janeiro, além de anúncios e propagandas de médicos e parteiras nas colunas "Anúncios" e "Indicações Úteis" do Jornal do Commercio . Observa-se como o aumento do número de médicos-parteiros e seus discursos científicos contribuíram para que as parteiras se vissem obrigadas a diversificar a clientela, instalando-se e atendendo em áreas populares e inóspitas.

Abstract The article discusses competition between midwives and doctors offering birth-related services in the city of Rio de Janeiro from 1835 to 1900. The research analyzed minutes from meetings, textbooks on births, and terms from qualification examinations for physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, and midwives at the Rio de Janeiro Medical School (Faculdade de Medicina do Rio de Janeiro), as well as announcements by and advertisements for doctors and midwives in columns featuring advertisements and useful recommendations in the Jornal do Commercio newspaper. An increase in the number of delivery physicians, and their scientific discourses led midwives to feel an obligation to diversify their clientele, consequently establishing themselves and working in lower-class and inhospitable areas.

Disappearing Acts: Anguish, Isolation, and the Re-imagining of the Mentally Ill in Global Psychopharmaceutical Advertising (1953-2005).

The visualization of mental illness has attracted substantial attention from scholars in recent decades. Due to the invisible nature of mental disorders, this work has stressed the importance of representations in shaping perceptions of mental illness. In the second half of the 20th century, advertisements for psychopharmaceutical medications became important avenues through which mental illness was made visible. This article analyzes how drug advertisements portrayed mentally ill individuals in medical journal advertisements from 14 countries between 1953 and 2005. We argue that a shift in representations occurred in the 1980s: whereas earlier campaigns were dominated by images of the mentally ill suffering in isolation, the post-1980s period was marked by a trend toward "positive" imagery, social inclusion, and ordinariness. This shift re-imagines the role of psychopharmaceuticals and who might be understood as mentally ill, reflecting changes in global marketing and the arrival of the "happiness turn" within the pharmaceutical industry.

Unexpected healers: Chinese medicine in the age of global migration (Lima and California, 1850-1930). / Sanadores inesperados: medicina china en la era de migración global (Lima y California, 1850-1930).

The massive waves of Chinese migrants arriving in California and Lima in the second half of the nineteenth century played a crucial role in expanding Chinese medicine in both settings. From the late 1860s on, herbalists expanded their healing system beyond their ethnic community, transforming Chinese medicine into one of the healing practices most widely adopted by the local population. This article uses a comparative approach to examine the diverging trajectories of Chinese healers in Peru and the USA, as well as the social and political factors that determined how this foreign medical knowledge adapted to its new environments.

Sanadores inesperados: medicina china en la era de migración global (Lima y California, 1850-1930) / Unexpected healers: Chinese medicine in the age of global migration (Lima and California, 1850-1930)

Resumen Las masivas olas de migrantes chinos que llegaron a California y Lima en la segunda mitad del siglo XIX jugaron un rol clave en la expansión de la medicina china en ambos contextos. Desde fines de la década de 1860, los herbolarios expandieron su sistema de sanación más allá de su comunidad étnica, transformando la medicina china en una de las prácticas de sanación más adoptada por la población local. Desde una perspectiva comparada, este artículo examina las divergentes trayectorias de los sanadores chinos en Perú y EEUU, así como los factores sociales y políticos que determinaron la adaptación de este conocimiento médico, foráneo, en su nuevo entorno.

Abstract The massive waves of Chinese migrants arriving in California and Lima in the second half of the nineteenth century played a crucial role in expanding Chinese medicine in both settings. From the late 1860s on, herbalists expanded their healing system beyond their ethnic community, transforming Chinese medicine into one of the healing practices most widely adopted by the local population. This article uses a comparative approach to examine the diverging trajectories of Chinese healers in Peru and the USA, as well as the social and political factors that determined how this foreign medical knowledge adapted to its new environments.

[Competition in the arts of midwifery in the city of Rio de Janeiro from 1835 to 1900]. / A concorrência na arte de partejar na cidade do Rio de Janeiro entre 1835 e 1900.

The article discusses competition between midwives and doctors offering birth-related services in the city of Rio de Janeiro from 1835 to 1900. The research analyzed minutes from meetings, textbooks on births, and terms from qualification examinations for physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, and midwives at the Rio de Janeiro Medical School (Faculdade de Medicina do Rio de Janeiro), as well as announcements by and advertisements for doctors and midwives in columns featuring advertisements and useful recommendations in the Jornal do Commercio newspaper. An increase in the number of delivery physicians, and their scientific discourses led midwives to feel an obligation to diversify their clientele, consequently establishing themselves and working in lower-class and inhospitable areas.

Este artigo discute a concorrência entre parteiras e médicos na oferta dos serviços de partos na cidade do Rio de Janeiro entre 1835 e 1900. Foram analisadas as atas da congregação, os livros do curso de partos e de termos de exames de verificação de médicos, cirurgiões, boticários e parteiras da Faculdade de Medicina do Rio de Janeiro, além de anúncios e propagandas de médicos e parteiras nas colunas "Anúncios" e "Indicações Úteis" do Jornal do Commercio . Observa-se como o aumento do número de médicos-parteiros e seus discursos científicos contribuíram para que as parteiras se vissem obrigadas a diversificar a clientela, instalando-se e atendendo em áreas populares e inóspitas.

Recurrent themes in the history of the home use of electrical stimulation: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and the medical battery (1870-1920).

BACKGROUND: In recent years, neuroscientists and ethicists have warned of the dangers of the unsupervised home use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), in which individuals stimulate their own brains with low levels of electricity for self-improvement purposes. Although the home use of tDCS is often referred to as a novel phenomenon, in reality the late nineteenth and early twentieth century saw a proliferation of electrical stimulation devices for home use. In particular, the use of an object known as the medical battery bears a number of striking similarities to the modern-day use of tDCS. OBJECTIVE: This article reviews a number of features thought to be unique to the present day home use of brain stimulation, with a particular focus on analogies between tDCS and the medical battery. METHODS: Archival research was conducted at the Bakken Museum and at the American Medical Association's Historical Health Fraud Archives. RESULTS: Many of the features characterizing the contemporary home use tDCS-a do-it-yourself (DIY) movement, anti-medical establishment themes, conflicts between lay and professional usage-are a repetition of themes that occurred a century ago with regard to the medical battery. A number of features, however, seem to be unique to the present, such as the dominant discourse about risk and safety, the division between cranial and non-cranial stimulation, and utilization for cognitive enhancement purposes. CONCLUSION(S): Viewed in the long durée, the contemporary use of electrical stimulation at home is not a novel phenomenon, but rather the latest wave in a series of ongoing attempts by lay individuals to utilize electricity for therapeutic purposes.

[Advertising and Zeitgeist. The advertising of Schwabe Pharmaceuticals]. / Werbung und Zeitgeist. Die Inserate der Firma Dr. Willmar Schwabe.

This contribution explores the advertisements for homeopathic products in magazines in the first half of the twentieth century, focusing on the period between 1933 and 1945 and based on the example of the pharmaceutical company Dr Willmar Schwabe. In the first half of the twentieth century, Schwabe Pharmaceuticals was market leader for homeopathic and other complementary medical products (phytotherapy, biochemicals). The example chosen as well as the time frame complement the existing research. We searched three German publications (the homeopathy journal Leipziger Populäre Zeitschrift für Homöopathie, the medical weekly Münchner Medizinische Wochenschrift and the pharma magazine Pharmazeutische Zeitung) and collected target-group-specific results for laypersons, physicians and pharmacists. Analysis of the images and texts in the selected advertisements often reflected the historical background and the respective health policies (wartime requirements, times of need, "Neue Deutsche Heilkunde"). The history of this traditional company was seen as an important point in advertising, as were the recognisability of the brand through the company logo, the emphasis on the high quality of their products and the reference to the company's own research activities. We furthermore found the kind of argumentation that is typical of natural medicine (naturalness, the power of the sun, prominent representatives). Schwabe met the expectations of its clients, who were interested in complementary medicine, whilst pursuing an approach to homeopathy that was compatible with natural science, and it presented itself as a modern, scientifically oriented enterprise. The company did not lose credibility as a result, but increased its clientele by expanding to include the whole naturopathic market.

Cure for empire: the 'Conquer-Russia-Pill', pharmaceutical manufacturers, and the making of patriotic Japanese, 1904-45.

Seirogan, a popular anti-diarrhoeal pill, is arguably one of the most successful pharmaceutical products of modern Japan. What is less known is that the Japanese army initially developed Seirogan during the Russo-Japanese War as the 'Conquer-Russia-Pill', which was later marketed to the public by private manufacturers. Previous scholars have emphasised the top­down governmental method of mobilising private sectors to manipulate public opinion for the cause of external imperialist expansion and domestic stability during wartime Japan. But the matrix that the Conquer-Russia-Pill allows us to glimpse is an inverted power relation among the state, commercial sectors, and imperial citizens. While the Japanese government remained indifferent if not hostile to jingoistic pharmaceutical manufacturers who could easily disrupt international relations, pharmaceutical companies quickly recognised and exploited the opportunities that the Conquer-Russia-Pill and its symbolism provided under the banner of the empire. In turn, Japanese consumers reacted to commercial sermons carefully anchored in patriotic and militaristic discourses and images by opening their wallets. In other words, the popularity of the Conquer-Russia-Pill was a culmination of the convergence of a governmental initiative to enhance military capabilities, the commercial ingenuity of pharmaceutical manufacturers, and a consumer response to patriotic exhortations.

Drug treatment of epilepsy in the century of the ILAE: the first 50 years, 1909-1958.

This paper provides a review of the drug treatment of epilepsy from 1909, the year of the foundation of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), to 1958. It was during this period that modern approaches to the medicinal therapy of epilepsy were formulated and many new drugs were introduced. Of these, both phenytoin and phenobarbital continue to be widely used today. This was the period when scientific screening was also introduced into drug discovery. The leading figures in the ILAE played an important role in guiding the evolution of the treatment of epilepsy during this period.

Magic, science and masculinity: marketing toy chemistry sets.

At least since the late nineteenth century, toy chemistry sets have featured in standard scripts of the achievement of eminence in science, and they remain important in constructions of scientific identity. Using a selection of these toys manufactured in Britain and the United States, and with particular reference to the two dominant American brands, Gilbert and Chemcraft, this paper suggests that early twentieth-century chemistry sets were rooted in overlapping Victorian traditions of entertainment magic and scientific recreations. As chemistry set marketing copy gradually reoriented towards emphasising scientific modernity, citizenship, discipline and educational value, pre-twentieth-century traditions were subsumed within domestic-and specifically masculine-tropes. These developments in branding strategies point to transformations in both users' engagement with their chemistry sets and the role of scientific toys in domestic play. The chemistry set serves here as a useful tool for measuring cultural change and lay engagement with chemistry.

[Assisted birth in 19th century Bahia]. / Assistência ao nascimento na Bahia oitocentista.

This paper presents the traditions of assisted childbirth in the Brazilian state of Bahia in the 19th Century and develops the hypothesis that two obstetrical traditions coexisted in the capital, Salvador, namely the doctor-midwives--who used technical resources and knowledge acquired from obstetrics as a medical specialty--and the traditional midwives, whose know-how was purely of an empirical-sensorial nature. Despite all efforts employed by the doctors to win over the confidence of Bahian families, the midwives continued to be predominant in the art of 'delivering' children and treating female illnesses. The analysis focuses on the social and professional segments that were active in assisted birth; the role of the Bahian College of Medicine (Faculdade de Medicina da Bahia) in the training and certification of midwives and the use of newspapers as a way to legitimize the doctor-midwives; it also discusses the scant coverage of the midwives in these media.