Articles Volume 18 (1998)
Prize Dynamis 1997
The Role of the Junta Suprema de Sanidad (Supreme Board of Health) in Spanish Health Policy in the 18th Century (Article in Spanish)
FERNANDO VARELA PERIS
Regulation of Health Care in the Spanish Habsburg Court (1515-1700) (Article in Spanish)
MARÍA DEL MAR REY BUENO; M.ª ESTHER ALEGRE PÉREZ
Guiseppe Cervi, Guillaurne Jacobe and the Relations Between the Royal Society of Medicine and other Sciences of Seville and the Royal Society of London in 1736 (Article in Spanish)
MANUEL VALERA; CARLOS LÓPEZ FERNÁNDEZ
The Impact of Germ theory in the Genesis of Cancer. Consequences for Surgical Treatment in the Victorian Era (Article in Spanish)
ANTONIO PERElRA POZA
The Role of Insurance in the Prevention of Work-Related Accidents in France in the First Half of the 20th Century
MICHELE RUFFAT
Prize Dynamis 1997
The Role of the Junta Suprema de Sanidad (Supreme Board of Health) in Spanish Health Policy in the 18th Century (Article in Spanish)
FERNANDO VARELA PERIS
Summary
1.-Historical context. 2.-Regulation of the lazaretos. 3.-Judicial and administrative activity in the face of epidemics. 4.-Censoring of medical and scientific works and regulation of medical training. 5.-Controversies and lawsuits. 6.- The «accounts» of the- Supreme Board of Health. 7.- The end of the Supreme Board of Health.Abstract
The Supreme Board of Health was the first Spanish health institution that took responsibility for health throughout the entire territory of the Crown. Established in 1720 at the behest of Felipe V, the Board was endowed of wide prerogatives from the political and administrative point of view, and was characterized by a rational) centralist stance. In practice, however) its function was limited in essence to the preservation of the Kingdom and the protection of the people)s health against catastrophic diseases. It adopted measures of a «defensive» nature in the face of the various epidemics that occurred within and outside of Spain during the eighteenth century.
MARÍA DEL MAR REY BUENO; M.ª ESTHER ALEGRE PÉREZ
Summary
1.-Introduction. 2.-Government regulations. Palace etiquette. 3.-Structure of the Royal House. 4.-Health care in the Spanish court. 4.1.-Royal medicine, 4.2.~The Royal Apothecary. 4.2.-The Distil1ery Laboratories. 4.4.-The Ladies' Infirmary. 4.5.-The Royal Chemistry Laboratory.Abstract
This article tries to reconstruct the composition of the royal health care system during the government of the Spanish kings in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The health professions during this period comprised five institutions: Royal Physicians, responsible for the health of the king, his family and al1 the staff of the Royal House; the Royal Apothecary, responsible for the preparation, dispensation and storage of medicines; the Royal Distillery Laboratories; the Ladies' Infirmary, responsible for the medical care of al1 the ladies who directly served the queen, and the Royal Chemistry Laboratory, founded for the dispensation of chemical drugs, commonly used in the seventeenth century.
MANUEL VALERA; CARLOS LÓPEZ FERNÁNDEZ
Summary
1.-Introduction. 2.-The early years of the Regia Sociedad de Medicina y demás ciencias de Sevilla. 3.-Guiseppe Cervi and the Regia Sociedad. 4.-Privileges given by Felipe V to the Regia Sociedad. 5.-Guillaume Jacobe in Paris: Relations with the Académie Royale des Sciences. 6.-The election of Cervi as a member of the Royal Society. 7.-The end of relations between the Regia Sociedad and the Royal Society. 8.-Jacobe's final years in Seville. 9.-Appendix: Transcription of ten documents related with the election of Cervi as an associate of the Royal Society of London.Abstract
The eighteenth century was the century of scientific institutions. Spain did not remain apart from this process, and among the earliest institutions was the Regia Sociedad de Medicina y demás Ciencias de Sevilla, which, although founded at the beginning of century, really came into its own in the decade of the thirties. In this reappearance of the Sevillian Society Giuseppe Cervi, first court physician to Felipe V and one of the most relevant personages of the Spanish medical panorama of the era, played a key role. This article aims to study the circumstances that surrounded the election of Cervi as a member of the Royal Society of London -thanks to the efforts by the French physician Guillaume Jacobe, hired by the Regia Sociedad, undertaken during a stay in Paris in 1735. The career of this physician and his services to the Spanish medical institution are also further examined.
ANTONIO PERElRA POZA
Summary
Introduction. 1.-The genesis of cancer in light of the cellular theory. 2.-A presumed increase in the incidence of cancer. 3.- The infectious nature of cancer. Parasitic theory. 4.-Nonparasitic theories of cancer.Abstract
We use texts by preeminent figures in Victorian surgery at the end of the nineteenth century and information about their role in disseminating the germ theory to analyse the impact of this new etiologic element in the genesis of cancer. We trace the career of William Watson Cheyne (1852- 1932) , a disciple of Lister, and of many other surgeons of his generation, to outline the changes in the approach to treatment for cancer, the theoretical basis for these changes, and the role of a new conceptualization of cancer in the light of the microbial theory. This theory, among many other better- known factors, helped establish the foundation for radical surgery which became widespread in oncological treatment during the final decade of the nineteenth century.
MICHELE RUFFAT
Summary
1.-Manufacturers. associations and the prevention of risks at work. 2.-Compensation law of 1898, the insurance industry and the beginnings of State involvement. 3.-1946: The turning point.Abstract
Insurance has played a role in the development of prevention of work- related accidents in several ways in France since the industrial revolution. The first attempts at prevention were taken at the initiative of manufacturers' associations, but it remained a matter of goodwill for manufacturers. The 1898 law gave systematic, if partial, financial responsability for occupational hazards to employers, who turned to insurance companies to carry the risks. As a result a new branch of insurance (assurance-loi) appeared, which accounted for 40% of general accident revenue for companies at the time of World War II. But the new law made no mention of prevention and even had a negative impact, since compensation was taken care of by insurance. However, after World War I, insurance companies created an association for the prevention of work-related accidents and illnesses and started to adjust rates according to the prevention efforts of corporations. When social insurance was generalized in 1946, insurance of occupational hazards went under state control and became compulsory. But the experience accumulated in the field of prevention by insurance companies was put to use in this new context, both on the technical side and the financial side.