Syndrome du jour: The historiography and moral implications of Diagnosing Darwin

Buchanan, Roderick D.

doi:10.1016/j.shpsa.2021.09.006

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…These diagnoses may be divided into two groups which may be psychogenic/psychological and recognized psychiatric disorders. The first group has been presented in depth by Buchanan and will not be reviewed individually here [ 1 ]. Psychogenic diagnoses once flourished, including numerous psychoanalytical diagnoses which have been proposed as the underlying cause for Darwin’s illness.…”

Section: Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…… we could surely conclude that something is amiss here, that they cannot all be right. We may even wonder if they are all wrong ” [ 1 ]. Jared Goldstein summed this up succinctly: “ Take your pick, there’s something for everybody: hypochondriasis, refractive error, depression, arsenic poisoning, Oedipal complex, pigeon allergy, familial psychosis, chronic brucellosis, chronic anxiety, Chagas’ disease, and more ” [ 2 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many of these diagnoses were popular at the time of their proposal and reflect concepts of illnesses current at that time. These diagnoses have been reviewed by Colp in two books [ 14 , 19 ] and, more recently, in their historical context, by Buchanan [ 1 ]. An updated, personal (JH) collection of diagnoses in chronological order, almost certainly an incomplete list, is given in the next section together with a critical analysis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diagnoses for Charles Darwin’s Illness: A Wealth of Inaccurate Differential Diagnoses

Hayman¹,

Finsterer²

2022

Cureus

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Charles Darwin suffered from a relapsing, debilitating illness for much of his adult life with numerous, differing symptoms. His occasional problems as a student, his seasickness throughout the voyage of the HMS Beagle , and his brief illnesses when ashore in South America and Australia were all early expressions of this illness. Diagnoses for Darwin’s illness are as numerous as his symptoms and are equally variable. Many diagnoses reflect the medical fashion of their time; psychological and psychogenic diagnoses once flourished. These diagnoses have recently been comprehensively reviewed in an uncritical and unbiased account. Rather than a repeat review of diagnoses this paper aims to critique and make a critical appraisal of the diagnoses given. As stated, they are not all right. Some are not wrong but are simply incomplete. Pathological mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations are the cause of a variety of childhood diseases and more recently have been recognized as the cause of some adult-onset conditions with a plethora of presenting symptoms. The diagnosis favored here is that Darwin suffered from such a disorder due in his case to a maternally inherited pathological mtDNA mutation. This proposal should be seen in the context of self-certainty and subject to similar critical appraisal. Diagnosing Darwin may have a unique, correct solution, a solution that would benefit those who suffer from a similar disorder today and who, like Darwin, are misdiagnosed, misunderstood, and inappropriately treated.

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Section: Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diagnoses for Charles Darwin’s Illness: A Wealth of Inaccurate Differential Diagnoses

Hayman¹,

Finsterer²

2022

Cureus

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“…Environmental History (White, 2004). In the 21st century genetic data became a source for some historians, again in disputed ways; historians of medicine have embraced or rejected the opportunity to perform retrospective diagnoses through genetic sequencing and bioarchaeology (Buchanan, 2021;Cooter, 2010;Karenberg, 2009;McGough, 2005).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even though both subdisciplines participated in the social and cultural turn at the end of the twentieth century that questioned such empirical work, there is still no shortage of historians of medicine pursuing similar empirically orientated work, just as there are those counting rainfall in Environmental History (White, 2004). In the 21st century genetic data became a source for some historians, again in disputed ways; historians of medicine have embraced or rejected the opportunity to perform retrospective diagnoses through genetic sequencing and bioarchaeology (Buchanan, 2021; Cooter, 2010; Karenberg, 2009; McGough, 2005). Historians of pandemic and epidemic diseases have made the strongest case for absorbing STEM methodologies, most obviously Monica Green's work (2012, 2015) on using scientific approaches to reconsider the history of plague and other pandemics (for an excellent history of modern plague from an Environmental History perspective see Staub, 2022.…”

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confidence: 99%

Medicine in the field: Growing connections between environmental and medical history

Heggie

2023

History Compass

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This article argues that Environmental History and History of Medicine are disciplines that are natural allies and productive partners; successfully working across the sub‐disciplines will be essential to understanding current and future crises, including climate change and pandemics. While it is relatively easy to find acknowledged intersections between histories of science and/or technology and of the environment, so far these are less systematic and substantial in the history of medicine. Partly this is because there are points of serious methodological and theoretical tension, but I argue that these can function as moments of contact and provocation. Most obviously Environmental History poses challenges to historians of medicine in terms of the scale of our work in both its chronological and conceptual reach, and how we incorporate the non‐human, and even the non‐biotic as historical actors. History of Medicine offers approaches to help environmental historians negotiate their relationships with science, in particular the balance between science as a subject of study or as a source of data. Both disciplines share the struggle of combining focused, heavily contextualised local histories with the pressing need for globalised and ‘big picture’ historical explanations. In this review I will outline the main historiographical challenges to working across these subdisciplines—particularly in terms of scale and focus—and then consider the most productive intersections of these fields before making recommendations for future collaborative work.

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Reflections on Darwin Historiography

Browne

2022

J Hist Biol

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Syndrome du jour: The historiography and moral implications of Diagnosing Darwin

Cited by 5 publications

References 77 publications

Diagnoses for Charles Darwin’s Illness: A Wealth of Inaccurate Differential Diagnoses

Diagnoses for Charles Darwin’s Illness: A Wealth of Inaccurate Differential Diagnoses

Medicine in the field: Growing connections between environmental and medical history

Reflections on Darwin Historiography

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