Women's translations of scientific texts in the 18th century: a case study of Marie-Anne Lavoisier

In the 18th century, many outstanding translations of scientific texts were done by women. These women were important mediators of science. However, I would like to raise the issue that the 'selection,' which is the process by which intellectual women chose to conduct translation works, and those 'selections' made by male translators, would not be made at the same level. For example, émilie du Chatelet (1706-1749), the only French translator of Newton's "Principia," admitted her role as participating in important work, but, still, she was not perfectly satisfied with the position. For du Chatelet, the role as a translator was only an option under the current conditions that a female was denied the right to be a creator by society. In the case of Marie-Anne Lavoisier (1743-1794), like du Chatelet, we find an acute feeling in her mind that translation was not the work of creators. Because of her respect toward creative geniuses and her knowledge about the practical situation and concrete results of scientific studies, the translation works done by Marie-Anne Lavoisier were excellent. At the same time, the source of this excellence appears paradoxical at a glance: this excellence of translation was related closely with her low self-estimation in the field of science. Hence, we should not forget the gender problem that is behind such translations of scientific works done by women in that era. Such a possibility was a ray of light that was grasped by females, the sign of a gender that was eliminated from the center of scientific study due to social systems and norms and one of the few valuable opportunities to let people know of her own existence in the field of science.     

朝鲜燕行使者与18世纪北京的琉璃厂

在中韩文化交流史上,18世纪是个重要的转折时期。一方面,从这一时期开始,朝鲜人逐渐调整心态,对盛清时代的来临,作了全新的认识。而在另一方面,随着东亚形势的变化,以及朝鲜燕行使者孜孜不倦的公关活动,中国官方对燕行使团成员的限制逐渐放宽。在这一世纪,燕行使团渐渐摆脱了朝鲜馆内序班(中国胥吏)的控制,直接与琉璃厂的书商等展开频繁的交流。由于琉璃厂是当时北京雅俗文化的中心,这不仅极大地丰富了书籍采买的来源,而且,通过持续不断的观察,以及与不同阶层的接触和交流,也使得朝鲜人对于中国社会的了解更为全面。     

Pietism and medicine in the first half of the 18th century

In the beginning of the 18th century Halle Pietists tried to establish a specific approach to sickness and healing. They constructed close links between physical illness on the one hand and the religious concept of individual piety, penance and rebirth on the other. This new' pietist medicine largely depended on Georg Ernst Stahl's medical theory, which was not pietist in itself, but was adopted and simplified by pietist physicians. Although conclusive and rhetorically present in programmatic texts, pietist medicine turned out to be less influential on medical practice than expected.     

Further developments in molecular sex assignment: a blind test of 18th and 19th century human skeletons

The identification of sex in human remains recovered from archaeological locations is important in order to understand the social and biological structure of past societies, and to reconstruct past population demographic events. Sex determination is usually based on morphological traits of the skeletons, with the drawback that most methods do not apply to juveniles and require well preserved remains. In cases where morphological methods cannot be used, or are ambiguous, methods of molecular sexing systems are an alternative. In this methodological study we tested and validated the accuracy and usefulness of a molecular sexing method based on the amelogenin gene using pyrosequencing. We did this in a double blind study of documented 18th and 19th century human remains.     

Lorenz Heister and the challenge of trepanation: a neurosurgical case study from the 18th century

In the 18th century, medical practice was essentially based on communication. Cranial trepanation, however, was usually performed on an unconscious person. Here the dialogue ceased. It was the only operation which had to be attempted without the positive consent of the patient. Thus trepanation challenged the surgeon's skill not only with its intricate surgical practice, but also with its unusual social setting. The present paper illustrates possible ways out of the "trap of trepanation" by interweaving two points of view. On the one hand, a general account is given on the basis of surgical publications written by Lorenz Heister and his contemporaries. On the other, the unpublished sources of the Heister correspondence serve to reconstruct the case of Heinrich Wilhelm Bachmann, a German merchant who fell victim to a traffic accident and underwent trepanation in 1753. The case study shows how the physician in charge counterbalanced the patient's inability to communicate by strengthening the remaining network of professionals, and ultimately confirming his decisions by use of the post-mortem.     

清中前期的东堂藏书

本文以惠泽霖《北堂图书馆西文善本目录》著录的题识信息为基础,结合部分罗马耶稣会档案馆旧藏档案、埃武拉公共图书馆档案和来华传教士信件等资料,通过对乾隆朝以前北京东堂的创设和变迁情况的梳理,可知东堂藏书空间的变化。将惠泽霖著录、高华士整理部分藏书题识,与现存藏书比对与复校,对题识内容进行了分类、翻译和分析,展现出清中前期东堂藏书收集、管理与利用的历史,以及东堂藏书的专题特色与流动脉络。     

十六至十八世纪的澳门与东西宗教文化交流

从１６世纪至１８世纪,澳门因其特殊的地理位置和社会背景成了东西文化、宗教交流的基地,对于推动国际间的交流与融合有着特别重要的地位。     

18世纪清宫佛堂供龛的样式及其艺术特征

清宫所供奉的藏区各地进贡和造办处铸造的佛像甚多,但长期以来由于受保存条件所限,大量佛像与所装供之供龛被分置庋藏,学者们在研究佛教造像的同时并未对其供奉形式予以足够重视。浏览清宫造办处档案可以发现,18世纪有关宫中造龛的记载不胜枚举。本文拟从归纳清宫供龛的基本样式和龛、像关系出发,对供龛的艺术特征及其所体现的时代精神和宗教情感等进行尝试性分析,以期全面把握清代宫廷藏传佛教艺术的整体特征。     

Bites, nibbles, sips and puffs: new exotic goods in Norway in the 18th and the first half of the 19th century

The slow but significant changes in the material culture of European households that took place in the pre-industrial period are visible in several ways, such as in the changing patterns of housing, furnishing and clothing which have been illustrated in several studies. However, most of these studies focus on the pre-industrial economic leaders, often ignoring the changes taking place on the margins of the economic growth centres. This article seeks to rectify this by looking at changes in the material culture in one such 'marginal' country, namely Norway. The goods focused upon in this case are sugar, tobacco and coffee, which are often termed as exotic goods. These were new commodities in the 18th century and precisely because of their novelty and foreign origin, it is in many cases possible to trace how they spread in rural society, as well as how they impacted it. The emphasis has been put on rural areas for the simple reason that this was where the overall majority of Norwegians lived at the time.