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History of Science, Technology, and Medicine

Wilfrid Laurier University

Theses/Dissertations

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in History

Venus In The Trenches: The Treatment Of Venereal Disease In The Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919, Lyndsay Rosenthal Jan 2018

Venus In The Trenches: The Treatment Of Venereal Disease In The Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919, Lyndsay Rosenthal

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation examines the treatment of venereal disease (VD) in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF). The Canadians had one of the highest rates of infection during the war with 15.8 per cent of servicemen being diagnosed with VD. These figures generated concern among Canadian officials about the negative impact this could have on both public health and opinion. Overseas officials needed to develop policies and procedures to control the spread of the disease. When strict disciplinary measures did little to address the issue, the military experimented with more lenient ones rooted in science and medicine. Even with these measures in …

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Modernizing Midwifery: Managing Childbirth In Ontario And The British Isles, 1900–1950, Gwenith Cross Jan 2018

Modernizing Midwifery: Managing Childbirth In Ontario And The British Isles, 1900–1950, Gwenith Cross

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation considers the differences, as well as the similarities, between midwifery and childbirth practices in Ontario and in Britain in the first half of the twentieth century. Addressing the modernization of medical practices on either side of the Atlantic, the periodization of this project reflects the increasing concerns about maternal and infant morbidity and mortality alongside medical and political attempts to ensure the involvement of trained medical professionals during pregnancy and childbirth. In Britain, the establishment of the 1902 Midwives Act regulated midwifery so that only midwives approved by the Central Midwives’ Board were allowed to practice. British midwives …

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The Science Of Defence: Security, Research, And The North In Cold War Canada, Matthew Shane Wiseman Jan 2017

The Science Of Defence: Security, Research, And The North In Cold War Canada, Matthew Shane Wiseman

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation examines the development and implementation of federally funded scientific defence research in Canada during the earliest decades of the Cold War. With a particular focus on the creation and subsequent activities of the Defence Research Board (DRB), Canada’s first peacetime military science organization, the history covered here crosses political, social, and environmental themes pertinent to a detailed analysis of defence-related government activity in the Canadian North. Three contextual chapters on the history of federal defence research in Canada provide the foundation for a close study of defence research projects pursued and supported by the Canadian government. The dissertation …

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Climate And Capitalism: English Perceptions Of Newfoundland's Natural Environment And Economic Value, 1610-1699, Joshua Tavenor Jan 2017

Climate And Capitalism: English Perceptions Of Newfoundland's Natural Environment And Economic Value, 1610-1699, Joshua Tavenor

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

For English merchants, planters and politicians, colonizing Newfoundland required learning the limitations and opportunities afforded by the island’s natural environment. The crucial period for this learning process took place from 1610, the first English effort to colonize the island, to the 1699 passing of the Act to Encourage the Trade to Newfoundland, which defined the cod fishery as the island’s only viable industry. During these eighty-nine years, English enterprises and policies consistently failed to meet the expectations of their backers, and new information challenged accepted ideas about Newfoundland’s climate and natural resources, pressuring the supporters of those decisions to …

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Birth Pangs: Maternity, Medicine, And Feminine Delicacy In English Canada, 1867-1950, Whitney L. Wood Jan 2016

Birth Pangs: Maternity, Medicine, And Feminine Delicacy In English Canada, 1867-1950, Whitney L. Wood

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The pain women experience in giving birth is a universal, cross-cultural, biological reality. The ways women experienced these pains, as well as the ways they were perceived by physicians and depicted in wider medical discourses, however, are historically and culturally specific. In late nineteenth and early twentieth century English Canada – a key period in terms of both the medicalization of birth and the professionalization of obstetrics – the dominant medical perception of the female body held that white, middle-class, and urban-dwelling women were particularly “delicate” and sensitive to pain for a variety of reasons. Drawing on a broad range …

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The Treatment Of Evacuated War Neuroses Casualties In The Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919, Mark Osborne Humphries Jan 2005

The Treatment Of Evacuated War Neuroses Casualties In The Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919, Mark Osborne Humphries

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The conventional historiography of the treatment of war neurosis in Canada is limited and suggests that "shell shocked" soldiers were diagnosed and assigned treatment based on their rank and social class. According to the literature this meant that officers and soldiers from the upper classes were diagnosed with neurasthenia and given "rest" and "spa" treatments while soldiers from the other ranks and lower classes were diagnosed with hysteria and treated with punitive therapies designed to convince them to return to the front lines. However, these conclusions were based on contemporary medical journals and have been formed with very little archival …

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