Metropolitan versus provincial medicine: Materia medica pedagogy in London and Manchester, c.1858-1900

Description

During the nineteenth century, the teaching of materia medica in medical schools underwent drastic changes. Increasing specialisation and the introduction of the laboratory meant that, by 1900, the subject had been transformed within an institutional context. Using Manchester's Owens College, the medical school at Guy's Hospital and the School of Pharmacy in London as case studies, this paper will argue that these changes differed greatly between medical schools. It will also examine how Owens College's identity as an institution that embraced scientific methodologies shaped its response to developments in materia medica. With specialisation limiting the scope of the subject and the discovery of active principles in the laboratory triggering some to question the relevance of materia medica, how the subject was taught and perceived at the end of the century was determined by the identity of the institution in question.

Period	8 Jun 2018
Event title	Urban Knowledges: Making Knowledge in Urban Contexts, 1700-1925: History of the Humanities Network
Event type	Workshop
Location	ManchesterShow on map
Degree of Recognition	Local