Official journal of the International Society Revue officielle de la ...

Vesalius, VI, 2, 133-135, 2000Financial support for 'amateur' authors is noteasy to obtain. The Wellcome Institute has thelargestfunds, and help from these can be appliedfor. The SSHM is fortunate in having the GuthrieTrust, to which prospective researchers andauthors can apply. Medical or dental studentsrequiring help can apply to the John Blair Trust,organised between the SSHM and the BSHM.Student interest in medical history continuesto grow outside London. The General MedicalCouncil, the statutory body responsible for legalregistration to practice medicine in Britain,decided five years ago that the medicalundergraduate curriculum had become tootechnical. They decreed that 'cultural' subjectswere to be studied as 'modules' during thestudent course, and medical history is now an anestablished one. Students take a course and areexamined on their work. Levels of teachingmodules are variable; some schools have only afew large class lectures. A few have wellestablishedmore intensive courses as in StAndrews and Cardiff. A new centre has justbeen started in the University of Birmingham,next year's national BSHM meeting will be heldthere, in September of 2001.Eighteen U.K medical historians attendedthe ISHM Conference at Galveston in Septemberlast. We now have 61 paid-up members/societies, so are well represented in the InternationalSociety. Our members enjoyed the location,the proceedings, and the home hospitality.We will invite some colleagues from overseas totake part in a day conference of reminiscencesto be held in London on the 7th of November,2001, under the auspices of the Royal Society ofMedicine. The conference will be a reunion offormer British conscript doctors who servedbetween 1948 and 1961 - a period unique inBritish history when there was conscription duringpeace time.John S.G. BlairTurkeyI would like to report and give detailed informationabout the contents of the main topics tobe discussed during the 38'th meeting of ISHMin Istanbul in 2002.1. Reappraisal of Medieval Medicine :Reappraisal of Medieval Medicine withoutsetting it apart as two different topics - Islamicand European medicine - but treating it inaccordance with the conception of contemporarycultures, with common and uncommon features,values and standards in the field of medicine isaimed. The evaluation of the Medieval Ages asa period of preservation of antique medicalknowledge and its contribution as a preparatoryperiod to the emergence of the Renaissancemedicine and the question why and how theRenaissance was realized in Europe, is expectedto be dealt with. The session will also give achance to search for and learn more about themedical circumstances in the Medieval Ages inthe other parts of the world outside the Europeanand Islamic worlds. Besides, the session willalso provide an opportunity to rediscuss medicalworks of the Medieval Ages not studied in detailso far. In addition, the influences of MedievalMedicine on the future centuries' medicalliterature, practice, thought and values areexpected to be handled specifically.2. History of Medical Philosophy,Health Politics, Legislation andInstitutionalization :The philosophy and specially valuesof peoplesinfluence the development of the medical scienceand practice as well as health politics which inreturn reflects to the legislation andinstitutionalization of the ideas and tendencies.All of these features have determined the standardsand dimensions of medical practicethroughout history in different societies. Thereforethe history of medical philosophy, health politics,134