Medicine by the numbers: revisiting James Cassedy's America
- Collection:
- NLM Publications and Productions
- Alternate Title(s):
- History by the numbers (Jim Cassedy)
- Series Title(s):
- James Cassedy memorial lecture
- Contributor(s):
- Martensen, Robert L. (Robert Lawrence) National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
- Publication:
- [Bethesda, Md.] : National Library of Medicine, 2008
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Moving image
- Subject(s):
- Demography History of Medicine History, 19th Century Topography, Medical United States
- Genre(s):
- Lectures
- Abstract:
- To honor the distinguished historian of medicine and long-time National Library of Medicine staffer James Cassedy, the History of Medicine Division at NLM sponsored the first annual James Cassedy memorial lecture. Speaker Robert Martensen, MD, PhD, presented this lecture titled "Medicine by the numbers: revisiting James Cassedy's America." During his long career, Cassedy explored the rich history of counting and calculating that preoccupied many 19th-century American physicians. While numerical inquiries had long interested social historians and demographers, Cassedy's "American Medicine and Statistical Thinking, 1800-1860" (1984) and "Medicine and American Growth, 1800-1860" (1986) stimulated intellectual historians to analyze how and why our medical forebears embraced statistics. In this talk, Martensen revisits Cassedy's mid-century accounts and explores how physicians re-defined medical arithmetic as medicine turned increasingly to laboratory science in the century's closing decades.
- Copyright:
- The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
- Extent:
- 060 min.
- Color:
- Color
- Sound:
- Sound
- Cast:
- Introduction, Donald A.B. Lindberg ; presenter, Robert Martensen.
- Provenance:
- Received: July 21, 2008; transfer; from Stephen Greenberg, public services librarian, History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine.
- Technique:
- Live action
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101479536 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101479536