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CATEGORIES:Cabinet of Natural History
SUMMARY:'It is indeed a thing ominous for a Toad to be bor
 n of Woman': taking experimental frogs and toads s
 eriously - Charlotte Sleigh (University of Kent)
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20120521T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20120521T141500
UID:TALK37598AThttp://talks.cam.ac.uk
URL:http://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/37598
DESCRIPTION:During the final months of his life\, Jan Swammerd
 am spent a great deal of time with frogs\, making 
 their description the grand finale of his posthumo
 usly published _Bybel der Natuure_ (1679/1737). Hi
 stories of biomedicine often portray Swammerdam's 
 experiments as the first step in a soon-to-unfold 
 discipline of neurophysiology. But what did Swamme
 rdam himself\, without this benefit of hindsight\,
  think that he was doing? Frogs\, this paper argue
 s\, were not neutral laboratory tools for experime
 nters\, but entities sticky with cultural connotat
 ions. In particular the frog had a status\, ongoin
 g from the medieval period\, as a creature that co
 uld be generated by putrefaction. Such beliefs req
 uired considerable theological and experimental un
 tangling in the early-modern period\, not least by
  Swammerdam himself. Swammerdam's frogs are shown 
 to occupy a crucial\npivot-point in his rhetoric\,
  linking the lower insects with God's greater crea
 tion – even humans themselves.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philoso
 phy of Science
CONTACT:Sophie Waring
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