Publications by authors named "Rina Knoeff"

With a focus on the challenges of today and tomorrow in the critical medical humanities the role of history is often overlooked. Yet history and medicine are closely intertwined. Right now, with the surfacing of knotty problems such as changing demographics, chronic pain, loneliness and Long Covid - and the consequent necessity to change directions and policies - history seems more urgent than ever.

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In this paper, we address the question on how societies coped with pandemic crises, how they tried to control or adapt to the disease, or even managed to overcome the death trap in history. On the basis of historical research, we describe how societies in the western world accommodated to or exited hardship and restrictive measures over the course of the last four centuries. In particular, we are interested in how historically embedded citizens' resources were directed towards living with and to a certain extent accepting the virus.

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This paper argues that the anatomical Cabinets of Dutch anatomist Frederik Ruysch must be understood as an early modern workshop in which preparations were continuously handled. It is claimed that preparations actively appealed to anatomists and visitors to handle, re-dissect, touch, and even kiss them. Touching anatomy, therefore, not only refers to the physical handling of objects, but also to the ways preparations impacted on visitors and touched them emotionally.

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People in the early modern period frequently gave accounts of little animals (such as worms, flies, slugs and even dogs) living and breeding inside their bodies. This article investigates descriptions of "animals inside" in the works of Dutch anatomist Frederik Ruysch. It links the occurrence of such animals to the fear of pile worms endangering Dutch dikes and houses, and thereby the safety of society.

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A controversy between the well-known medical teacher Herman Boerhaave and the anatomist Frederik Ruysch on the nature of the glands shows how chemical knowledge had a decisive influence on the way in which Boerhaave perceived the anatomy and working of the glands. While Ruysch maintained that the glands are no more than the extremities of arteries and act as mechanical instruments separating the fluids into smaller particles, Boerhaave examined the glands as membranous follicles in which chemical processes prepare the fluids for their different uses in the body. Boerhaave, in other words, turned to the chemical properties of particles rather than the vessels that contain them.

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Thomas Willis's description of the intercostal nerves has not received much attention by historians of medicine. Yet the intercostal nerves are of paramount importance for his neurology. Willis explained that via these nerves, which connect the brain to the heart and lower viscera, the brain controls the passions and instincts of the lower body.

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Among historians of science and medicine it is well known that early modern anatomical representations, in addition to illustrating ideas on the body, also teach a moral lesson. The anatomical cabinets of Frederik Ruysch (1638-1731) are exemplary. His exhibits show 1) the divine design of the body and 2) the fragility of life and man's dependence on God for his existence.

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