All entries for Wednesday 16 October 2013

October 16, 2013

Have you heard about? The Casebooks Project

Writing about web page http://www.magicandmedicine.hps.cam.ac.uk/

What is my disease? Am I pregnant? Will I die? These are the sorts of questions that thousands of people asked Simon Forman and Richard Napier, two of the most popular astrologers in early modern England. Through four busy decades, Forman and Napier recorded approximately 80,000 consultations. Their casebooks are one of the most extensive surviving sets of medical records in history. They provide a unique view of the lives of ordinary — and extraordinary — people four centuries ago.

And, thanks to the casebooks project, funded by the Wellcome Trust and supported by the Bodleian Library and Cambridge’s Department of the History and Philosophy of Science, these will all be made available online in a format which is both browse-able and searchable. For those who are new to the genre of early modern casebooks, a guide to reading the texts is provided- discussing everything from the editing conventions utilised to the taxonomy under which the records have been sorted and categorised for searching.

Example Case

The interface, while not the easiest to use, provides a lot of detail regarding each case as well as a zoomable-image. Summary, or statistical, data is also available on a few clicks:

stats

As with an increasing number of Digital Humanities projects, the website also includes a section “on astrological medicine” providing a rounded guide to the topic as well as a valuable bibliography for those who wish to read around the topic.

If you are interested in a similar project, get in touch with the Digital Humanities team and see how we can assist.