The object of sense and experiment’
The ontology of sensation in William Hunter's investigation of the human gravid uterus
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8392159 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Richard T Bellis (0000-0003-1039-3138, Durham University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 227-246 |
| Publication date | 2022-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The British Journal for the History of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-0874 • E-ISSN: 1474-001X |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0007087422000024 |
| PMID | 35220981 |
| OpenAlex | W4214704838 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 17 |
William Hunter's anatomical inquiry employed all of his senses, but how did his personal experiences with the cadaver become generalized scientific knowledge teachable to students and understandable by fellow practitioners? Moving beyond a historiographical focus on Hunter's images and extending Lorraine Daston's (2008) concept of an ‘ ontology of scientific observation’ to include non-visual senses, I argue that Hunter's work aimed to create a stabilized object of the cadaver that he and his students could perceive in common. Crucial to this stabilization was the sense of touch and its interaction with other senses, creating intersensory knowledge of the cadaver. Through a close reading of his neglected posthumous publication An Anatomical Description of the Human Gravid Uterus (1794), I demonstrate that Hunter wrote extensively about touch and other sensory experiences, using comparative metaphors and other linguistic strategies to engender clear ideas of the cadaver in the mind of the reader. That these ideas could be consistent between practitioners was guaranteed by God, but required practitioners to appropriately reflect on their sensory experiences with cadavers. Hunter's experimental practice encompassed both simple and complex methods, all aimed at increasing the range of sensorial experiences he had with the gravid uterus. His preservations of these experiences in text, image and preparation could then be used to support further anatomical investigations
Historiography · Object (grammar · Ontology · Reading (process · Sensation · Sociology of scientific knowledge · Anatomy and Medical Technology · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Medical History and Innovations
Casting life, casting death
‘As to the plan of this work … we think Dr. Baillie has done wrong’
Science in the Age of Sensibility
The Illustrious Anatomist
Visualizing Reproduction
Touching anatomy
The pen and the sword
Follow Your Nose? Smell, Smelling, and Their Histories
William Hunter's Early Medical Education
Systems of display
Anatomical Mercury
On Scientific Observation
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |