Mind and Body in Eighteenth Century Medicine

Mind and Body in Eighteenth-Century Medicine: A Study Based on Jerome Gaub’s De Regimine Mentis is a comprehensive exploration of eighteenth-century psychosomatic medical thought through the works of Jerome Gaub, a leading physician and chemist of his time. This book provides a new English translation of Gaub’s essays, along with detailed commentaries and notes, offering a nuanced understanding of the period's ideas on the interplay between mind and body in health and disease. The essays, originally published in Latin in 1747 and 1763, delve into topics such as the physiological mechanisms underlying mind-body interactions, the physician's duty to treat the whole person, and the effects of emotions on physical health. By juxtaposing Gaub's medical theories with those of his contemporaries, as well as tracing their roots to classical thinkers like Galen and Descartes, this work contextualizes Gaub’s insights within a broader intellectual tradition. The book also addresses Gaub’s cautious yet progressive stance on the physician’s role in managing mental disturbances via bodily interventions. While emphasizing the traditional view of the mind as influencing bodily health, Gaub also challenged his peers to explore new therapeutic frontiers, advocating for research into drugs and treatments that could influence mental states. His essays reveal a tension between the emerging mechanistic models of medicine and the enduring belief in the psychosomatic unity of the individual. With its detailed examination of Gaub's contributions and the broader medical-philosophical debates of the era, this work is an invaluable resource for scholars of medical history, philosophy, and eighteenth-century intellectual thought. It highlights the enduring complexities of the mind-body relationship and its relevance to contemporary discussions in psychosomatic medicine. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1965.