Acta historiae medicinae, stomatologiae, pharmaciae, medicinae veterinariae

Therapeutic Strategies for Cancer in Late Antiquity: Evidence From Aetius of Amida’s Medical Compendium

Larisa Orlov Vilimonović — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 13:59:54 +0200

This article examines the therapeutic management of malignant disease in the medical compendium of Aetius of Amida, treating the Tetrabiblon as evidence for late antique medical practice rather than merely as a repository of inherited theory. Focusing on passages concerning breast and uterine carcinomas, it analyzes diagnostic description, surgical criteria, post-operative care, and pharmacological treatment. The article argues that Aetius preserves a coherent therapeutic framework in which prognosis, anatomical accessibility, and humoral regulation determine the choice between excision, cauterization, and palliative care. The study further shows that Aetius’ pharmacological material, combining botanical, mineral, and animal-derived substances, reflects a practical and symptom-oriented approach to malignant disease. It suggests that late antique physicians possessed a more nuanced practical understanding of tumor progression and therapeutic limits than is often assumed.

Health Preservation during Travel: Evidence from the Medieval Medical Manuscript Cantica Canticorum Avicenne Cum Commento Averrois

Branka Grbavac, Željko Dugac — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:30:26 +0200

This paper examines medieval recommendations for maintaining health during travel, as recorded in the manuscript Cantica canticorum Avicenne cum commento Averrois, preserved in the Metropolitan Library of Zagreb. It is a Latin translation of Avicenna’s poetic medical treatise Urjuza fi’l tibb (Poem of Medicine) accompanied by Averroes’ commentary. Focusing on chapters that provide practical guidance for travellers, the study examines advice concerning diet, hygiene, environmental conditions, and preventive medical practices for journeys by land and sea during both winter and summer times. These instructions are analysed within the broader framework of medieval medical theory, particularly the humoral concept of bodily balance. The paper also situates Avicenna’s recommendations in relation to earlier medical observations found in the Corpus Hippocraticum, highlighting continuities and divergences in the perception of travel as a potential health risk. The analysis illustrates how medieval medical authors synthesized ancient and Arabic medical knowledge with practical guidance, emphasizing the significance of preventive measures and the preservation of health in premodern travel contexts.

Dealing with Demography. Immigration Restrictions in the United States c. 1880-1930 and the Literature of Exclusion

David Redvaldsen — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 11:14:19 +0200

The article investigates immigration restrictions in the United States circa 1880 to 1930. The emphasis is on the rhetoric and arguments utilized by supporters of limiting the intake. In the time period, immigrants from southern and eastern Europe grew as a proportion of the total. The anticipated resulting demographic change was worrying to traditionalist Americans and to the labour movement. Yet their country had always progressed through arrivals from overseas. How could they formulate mechanisms of exclusion which distinguished between people who were similar to themselves and those who brought something new? The racist conservationist Madison Grant drew upon anthropology and history for his contention that Americans were a great fusion of pioneers from northern Europe. The historian and journalist Lothrop Stoddard continued this line of reasoning. Both were organized supporters of eugenics, a doctrine used to ‘fine-tune’ racist discourses. However, eugenics was only a factor in the last two decades of the period. The labour movement and others had been clamouring for immigration restrictions long before that, roused to action especially by the arrival of Chinese workers. The pamphlet Meat vs. Rice by American Federation of Labor leader Samuel Gompers and Herman Gutstadt, originally published in 1902, applied crude racism to limit competition from such entrants in the job market. A dividing line was drawn between those who could become American and those who could not, buttressed by the Naturalization Law of 1870 and the Chinese Exclusion Acts of 1882 and 1902. The negative contentions against immigrants from less familiar places had significant influence on the Immigration Act of 1924. The article argues that Yankee intellectuals often had a conception of America as a British republic, in which related peoples were assimilable and valuable too.

The Impact of the Great War on Urban Health: A Case Study of Contagious Diseases in the Dubrovnik Civil Hospital, 1914–1924

Antun Car — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:09:48 +0200

Infectious diseases were a leading cause of mortality among soldiers and civilians during World War I. While most of these pathogens were known prior to the conflict, wartime conditions catalyzed their transition into widespread epidemics. Although vaccines for typhoid, cholera, and tetanus significantly reduced mortality, their implementation was often delayed or met with public resistance. This study analyzes the epidemiological profile of the Dubrovnik Hospital, which functioned as both a civil and military institution. Strict infection control was maintained, notably through mandatory smallpox vaccination for all hospital admissions. During the war, the hospital treated an average of 1,100–1,200 patients annually, one-third of whom were military personnel. While Dubrovnik recorded cases of louse-borne spotted typhus, it avoided the catastrophic outbreaks seen on the Eastern Front. However, the proximity of the Neretva River marshes, combined with the influx of infected soldiers, resulted in high malaria mortality. The final year of the war was marked by the emergence of the Spanish flu, which caused a high death toll in 1918 due to severe pulmonary complications. Tuberculosis remained a persistent threat throughout the period, while the high incidence of sexually transmitted diseases among soldiers significantly impacted military readiness. Other diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, erysipelas, and scarlet fever further complicated the public health landscape. This research also addresses the challenges of fragmented archival records and the loss of documentation from the Military Garrison Hospital and St. James’s Lazaretto, which limits a complete statistical reconstruction of certain war years and child mortality rates.

Review: De zwevende Wereld, by Annejet van der Zijl

Carsten Günter — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:43:29 +0200

Review