Article ID: CBB889232108

United in Scholarship, Divided in Practice: (Re)Translating Smallpox and Measles for Seventeenth-Century Jews (2022)

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This essay investigates the translatability of experience in seventeenth-century medical practica. It reconstructs the translation and the retranslation of the chapter on smallpox and measles taken from the immensely popular Praxis medica of Lazare Rivière. This text was adapted by two Jewish physicians: Jacob Zahalon, who translated it into Hebrew; and Abraham Wallich, who then modified it further. Both presented this work as their own. Reconstructing the decision making that went into their work, the essay argues that the erasure of some practical and experiential content does not constitute a failure of translation but, rather, a reevaluation of the content’s applicability in a new context. The essay, dealing with Jewish learned physicians, also examines how different environments were reflected in these physicians’ writing. It therefore shows how physicians of comparable expertise resorted to dissimilar practices.

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Authors & Contributors
Abrams, Jeanne E.
Altbauer-Rudnik, Michal
Ben-Zaken, Avner
Boschiero, Luciano
Ferre, Lola
Fortuna, Stefania
Journals
Early Science and Medicine: A Journal for the Study of Science, Technology and Medicine in the Pre-modern Period
History of Science
Aleph: Historical Studies in Science and Judaism
Archives Internationales d'Histoire des Sciences
Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences
Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences
Publishers
Brandeis University
Johns Hopkins University Press
Concepts
Translations
Transmission of texts
Experience; witness
Jewish civilization and culture
Expertise
Transmission of ideas
People
Borri, Cristoforo
Della Valle, Pietro
Galen
Galilei, Galileo
Hippocrates of Cos
Isaac Israeli, The Elder
Time Periods
17th century
Medieval
18th century
15th century
16th century
21st century
Places
China
Italy
Great Britain
Korea
Persia (Iran)
Europe
Institutions
Jesuits (Society of Jesus)
Royal Society of London
Accademia del Cimento, Florence
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