Rationalizing 'folk medicine' in interwar Germany: faith, business, and science at "Dr. Madaus & Co.'.

医疗社会史研究 Pub Date : 2001-12-01 DOI:10.1093/SHM/14.3.459

Carsten Timmermann

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引用次数: 22

Abstract

The relationship between orthodox or mainstream medicine and heterodox or alternative practices has often been expressed in terms of dichotomies, such as science versus anti-science or rationality versus irrationality. By studying the history of a company producing herbal medicines and homoepathic remedies in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s, this paper attempts to create a more differentiated picture. 'Dr. Madaus & Co.' was founded in 1919 by the three sons of a free church minister and his wife, who practised as a non-licensed healer herself. The company not only sold medicines, it also produced journals and books promoting heterodox healing methods and contributing to ongoing health political debates, for example over compulsory vaccination programmes, human experimentation, quackery, and a general 'crisis of medicine'. Gerhard Madaus, a medical doctor and one of the three founders, published in 1938 a three-volume Textbook of Biological Healing Methods, turning folk medicine into science. The essay follows the rise of the Madaus family firm and interprets the story of 'Dr. Madaus & Co.' as an example of social rationalization, emphasizing the role of commercial operations in twentieth-century alternative medicine in Germany.

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在两次世界大战之间的德国合理化“民间医学”:信仰、商业和科学在“Dr. Madaus & Co.”

正统或主流医学与非正统或另类医学之间的关系通常以二分法来表达，例如科学与反科学或理性与非理性。通过研究20世纪20年代和30年代德国一家生产草药和顺势疗法的公司的历史，本文试图创造一个更不同的画面。“Dr. Madaus & Co.”于1919年由一位自由教会牧师的三个儿子和他的妻子创立，他的妻子自己也是一名没有执照的治疗师。该公司不仅销售药品，还出版期刊和书籍，宣传非正统的治疗方法，并促进正在进行的卫生政治辩论，例如关于强制性疫苗接种计划、人体实验、江湖骗术和普遍的“医学危机”。Gerhard Madaus是一位医生，也是三位创始人之一，他在1938年出版了一本三卷本的《生物治疗方法教科书》，将民间医学变成了科学。这篇文章跟随了Madaus家族企业的崛起，并将“Dr. Madaus & Co.”的故事解释为社会合理化的一个例子，强调了商业运作在20世纪德国替代医学中的作用。

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来源期刊

医疗社会史研究

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发文量

140