Medicine and Poisons in European History - International Conference (Barcelona, 25-27 September)



Medicine and Poisons in European History
Residència d’Investigadors, Barcelona, 25–27 September 2014
International conference organised by the History Department at The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK; and the Medical and Scientific Culture Group at the IMF-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain
(Organisers: O.P. Grell, A. Cunningham, and J. Arrizabalaga)
Conference sponsored by the Wellcome Trust and the Faculty of Arts, The Open University

Programme
Thursday 25th September 2014

17.00–17.15: Ole Peter Grell (The Open University)
Welcome and introduction
17.15–18.15: Toine Pieters (University of Utrecht)
Historic role of pharmacist purifying substances
18.30:  Visit to Hospital de Santa Creu
20.00:  Reception sponsored by Ashgate Publishing

Friday 26th September 2014

09.00–10.00: Helen King (The Open University)
‘First gut your viper’: acquiring knowledge in Galen’s poison stories
10.00–10.30: Coffee
10.30-11.00: Visit to 18th Century Anatomical Theatre
11.00–12.00: Monserrat Cabré & Fernando Salmón (University of Cantabria)
Poisons and the medieval humoral body
12.00–13.-00: Jon Arrizabalaga (IMF-CSIC, Barcelona)
Pestis manufacta: plague, poisons, and fear in Old-Regime Europe
13.00-14.00:  Lunch
14.00-15.00: Georgiana Hedesan (University of Oxford)
Paracelsus's alchemical theories of universal poison
15.00–16.00: Alessandro Pastore (University of Verona)
Poisoning as politics: the Italian Renaissance courts
16.00–16.30: Tea
16.30–17.30: Andrew Cunningham (University of Cambridge)
Mercury: ‘one of the most valuable drugs we have’ (1924)
18.00: Visit to the Salvadoriana exhibition (Barcelona Botanical Garden)
20.30: Dinner


Saturday 27th September

09.00–10.00: Alisha Rankin (Tufts University, USA)
Gender, poison, and antidotes in early modern Europe
10.00-11.00: Helen Bynum (London)
‘I’ll ne’er trust medicine’: Poison on stage
11.00-11.30: Coffee
11.30-12.30: José R. Bertomeu-Sánchez (University of Valencia)
Matthew Orfila and 19th century French toxicology
12.30-13.30: Anne Hardy (London School of Tropical Medicine)
Collateral benefits: food poisoning agents and their therapeutic applications since 1800
13.30-14.30: Lunch
14.30-15.30: William Bynum (London)
Poison by prescription
15.30-16.30: Tea
16.30-17.00: Closing session
20.30: Conference Dinner