Geschichte Unter Der Haut by Barbara Duden

These women and their illness MUST be understood in their terms and how they describe them as they processes that they undertake to treat themselves.

The strength of Duden's book lies in the fact that she constantly challenges the modern reader's propensity to attempt to label past ailments with modern diagnoses. It would be presumptuous to assume that as the 18th century progressed, that women came under the direct control of male doctors and that their health was thus micromanaged by them. This could include a multitude of different professionals such as apothecaries and midwives. The treatment of women necessitated the use of both as their health was supervised by themselves, their family and close community. Duden's book draws together two different medical concepts: traditional and the growing medical and scholarly. It is important to note that often there were no physical examinations, but rather self diagnoses and the doctor prescribing based on testimony either read through a message or heard in person. That said, the read was colloquial and it helped make sense of a developing understanding of a woman's body as seen through the lens of a doctor who treated them. It could also have to do with the fact that the historian is German and it is inevitable for other countries vocabulary and means of explaining concepts get lost in the translation to another language and means of studying and writing history.

Possibly because of issues of translation, I found this volume hard to follow.

Geschichte Unter Der Haut by Barbara Duden