I cannot begin without thanking Zoe Ragland, who was with me before all this started and is still at my side as it comes to a close. Researching and writing books takes hundreds of long days over many years. She has made every day so much better.
>I thank my editor, Frank Huisman, and the staff at Brill for giving their guidance and help. Two anonymous reviewers went far beyond the usual scholarly duties to review the original manuscript, which encompassed what are now two long books. Their attention to the details and views of the larger story helped a great deal as I divided the manuscript, rewrote the introduction and conclusion, and made many changes and corrections. Of course, the remaining errors remain my own.
This book is unusual since it is not the revised version of my dissertation. Instead, it has largely been the work of three semesters on fellowship leave and many evenings, weekends, summers, and “break” periods between semesters. As I began revising my dissertation, I researched and wrote a new chapter about what came before the experimentalism of Leiden University medical education in the 1640s through the 1670s. I wanted to tell more of a story of change over time. The sources only seemed to multiply, and reading steadily through textbooks and then pulling threads here and there quickly unraveled my prior view based on the standard narratives about Galenic medicine. Following the leads of the sources through philosophical theory, making medicines, therapy, anatomy, and clinical practices took me to all sorts of new places. One chapter became three, then six, then seven. I think I have a better account of the “before” part of the story now.
Since this book did not build significantly from research support and advising during the dissertation process, further support played a vital role. A research and travel grant from the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts at the University of Notre Dame started the intensive research process. A further subvention from the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts at the University of Notre Dame supported the publication process. A generous fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies was essential in providing a year on leave to research and write full-time. A later semester’s sabbatical gave me time to revise and extend the crucial chapters on medicines and knowing diseases. My initial dissertation research in archives in Europe received support from
Libraries and librarians should never be forgotten. The rare books staff at Leiden University supported my steady survey of hundreds of seventeenth-century medical disputations. Archivists at the Leiden Regionaal Archief and the Stadsarchief Amsterdam helped me to find useful sources. Further research with documents in the Sloane Collection at the British Library still yields rich finds. I always received quick and excellent assistance from the staff of the Rare Books and Special Collections at Notre Dame. I have received quite a few interlibrary loans in very good time from the staff at Notre Dame and lending libraries. The Bayerische StaatsBibliothek has been an invaluable online resource for research and images, especially during the COViD-19 pandemic. The staff of the Museum Boerhaave in Leiden helped me find essential, rare sources.
A number of audiences gave welcome encouragement, questions, and critiques. I thank especially colleagues at Cambridge University, the University of Minnesota, Indiana University Bloomington, Johns Hopkins University, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the University of Notre Dame, and the Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte.
Colleagues at the University of Alabama Huntsville provided a beautiful community for my first full-time teaching job. At the University of Notre Dame, where I researched and wrote this book, I thank all the members of the Department of History and the program in the History and Philosophy of Science. Chris Hamlin has been my mentor, conversation partner, sounding board, co-teacher, and reader of drafts of some of the material here. I was a bit star-struck to call him a colleague; I am honored to call him a friend. Robert Goulding’s expertise in Renaissance history of science, his excellent leadership, and his good cheer have been a steady help. Paul Ocobock has given much good advice and many pep-talks, usually when he least expected another visit. John Deak made my first years at Notre Dame much more welcoming. Dan Hobbins gave good advice and encouragement. Brad Gregory, as always, gave much to think about. Tawrin Baker and Phil Sloan helped to form a vital community of scholars of early modern medicine and life sciences. My department chairs, Jon Coleman and Elisabeth Köll, provided patient support and firm deadlines. I thank them both from my heart. Chris Hamlin and Bob Sullivan have been steadfast, wise, and humane advisors.
Friends and colleagues have read parts of this book in various drafts. I thank especially R. Allen Shotwell for reading much and his ready, expert replies to email queries. Nico Bertoloni Meli, Matthew Gaetano, Tomàs Valle, and Eric Jorink all read significant amounts of earlier drafts and all gave valuable comments. I thank Tomàs Valle and Matthew Gaetano in particular for their persistence and keen editing. Nuno Castel-Branco shared his excellent work on Steno and gave comments on parts of this book. I also thank Arnaud Zimmern, Britta Eastburg-Friesen, Hannah Stevenson, and Zoe Ragland for reading parts of the final manuscript. I thank Britta and Zoe, especially for their eagle-eyed editing.
I wrote or revised much of this book at home, and quite a bit of it during the ongoing pandemic. Although I think it has some valuable things to say, and helps to keep home and hearth together, it has also tended to keep me from my children. I want to thank each of them—Charlotte, Josiah, Christopher, and Lucy—for their patience and impatience. I also want to mark clearly the joy they bring by existing. I am happy to say to them that the book is finally (nearly) done. The next is well on the way, too. My relatives and friends have provided encouragement and friendly inquiries. Claudia and Kevin Wood have helped the most and the longest. I also thank my mother and father for supporting my earlier education and raising me up.
At the end, as at the beginning, I thank Zoe most of all. Thank you.