Paper 1: Early History of Science, Medicine and Technology
Also Paper O11 in CLT2 Classical Tripos Part II
You should answer four questions in total. Answer one question from Section A and
three questions from Section B. All questions carry equal weighting.
You should spend no more than three hours on answering all the questions, and a
word limit is set of no more than 1,500 words per answer, so no more than 6,000
words for the whole paper.
All your answers for this paper should be submitted in one DOC, DOCX or PDF
document. Each answer should be clearly headed with the question number and the
question.
Put your Blind Grade Number (BGN) at the start of the document. Do not put your
name anywhere in the document.
SECTION A
1. What was the role of images in early modern medicine and science?
2. How did the discovery of America change European science and medicine?
3. “Early modern medicine is a footnote to Galen.” Discuss.
SECTION B
4. Account for the longevity of astrology as a guiding principle of healing in early
medicine.
5. Were hospitals or households the most important places for healing in early
medicine?
6. “Blood-letting was the most common and widespread form of medical
intervention in early medicine.” Discuss.
7. What, if anything, is wrong with the notion of the early modern medical
marketplace?
8. How did the Black Death change attitudes to health and medicine?
9. To what extent is it possible to write a history of patient experiences of illness
and healing in medieval and early modern Europe? What methods and sources
would you use to do so?
10. Were scientific societies the key institutions for the development of natural
philosophy between 1600 and 1800?
11. What part did medicinal drugs have in practices of healing around 1700?
12. Discuss the relative importance of value, taste and order in natural history
collections over the early modern period.
13. What role did the Jesuits play in the history of Chinese medicine?
14. “‘Have the courage to use your own understanding’ is the motto of
Enlightenment” (Immanuel Kant, “What is Enlightenment?”, 1784). Does this
motto accurately characterise eighteenth-century medicine and natural
philosophy?
15. What role did commercial interests play in promoting eighteenth-century
European sciences?