A study on the reconstruction of the concept of diseases during establishment of modern clinical medicine

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24590633
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Medical sociology
• Research Institution: Juntendo University
• Principal Investigator: SAKAI Tatsuo 順天堂大学, 医学部, 教授 (90114488)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): SAWAI Tadashi 順天堂大学, 医学部, 助教 (40407268)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): KITAMURA Kiyoshi 東京大学, 医学部, 教授 (10186265)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 疾患 / 医学実地 / 医学教育 / 熱病 / 医学史

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The medical books dealing with individual diseases from the 11th to the 19th century were collected and analyzed to demonstrate the change of disease concepts in the revolution of medicine during the 19th century. These medical books before the 18th century were called frequently “Practica medicinae”. In total 101 books of “Practica medicinae “ by 95 authors were divided into 4 periods. The oldest book were written in the Salernitan school of medicine, and possessed basic style with regional diseases arranged from head to toe and with fevers. The medical books before the 18th century were stable and changed only slightly and gradually, whereas those in the 19th century changed dramatically in contents and style, and classified into 1) nosological type, 2) eclectic type, 3) organ system type, and 4) infection emphasis type.

Free Research Field

医歯薬学