2012 Participants
Roisin Leonard
In his research on medical history, Andrew Shail has established that at least two rival explanations of the purpose of menstruation were circulating in medical discourses during the 1880s, and that by the end of the century, one of these – our contemporary explanation – was agreed upon. This research project seeks to establish a story of this turning point in medical discourse, using Newcastle University’s rich holdings in medical publications to chart the forces that led physiologists and gynaecologists to adopt this ‘correct’ explanation, an explanation that – though still widely held – was shown in the twentieth century to be inaccurate.
Funding source: Newcastle University