Skin and Disease in Early Modern Medicine: Jan Jessen's De cute, et cutaneis affectibus (1601)

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Abstract

This article examines skin and disease in early modern medicine through the writings of the little-known Bohemian physician Jan Jessen (1566– 1621). In 1601, Jessen published De cute, et cutaneis affectibus, a set of twenty-one theses dedicated to the question of whether skin disease existed. In considering Jessen and his relationship to a broader world of writing, this article makes three arguments. First, it suggests that, contrary to existing historiography, the question of skin disease was a common sixteenth-century concern. Second, it posits a pro-fessional channel for this concern, which arose from surgery and disease, rather than from anatomy and physiology. Finally, rather than positioning Jessen at the forefront of discovery, I suggest his text functions as a representative case study. It allows us to see material change in medicine within a stable Galenic framework.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1
Pages (from-to)179-214
Number of pages36
JournalBulletin of the History of Medicine
Volume94
Issue number2
Early online date1 Jun 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2020

Keywords

  • Disease
  • French pox
  • Holy Roman Empire
  • Jan Jessen
  • Skin
  • Surgery
  • Technique
  • Vernacular print

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