Book Notes

Zohar Amar and Efraim Lev. A Historical Survey of Medicinal Substances of the al-Sham Region during the Middle Ages (640-1517 CE) / Seker histori shel homre ha-marpe be-'erets yisra'el u-ve-suryah ('alsham) bi-me ha-benayim. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University; Jerusalem: C. G. Foundation, 1999. 24 pp. in English, 32 pp. in Hebrew. Ill. $13.00. (Available from Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies, Land of Israel Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, Israel.)

The region of al-Sham includes parts of present-day Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan. To assemble the list and descriptions of substances—both native and imported, including minerals, zoological materials, and botanical materials—used in al-Sham, the authors have surveyed medical, agricultural, travel, geographic, Mamluk, and commercial literature, along with archival data, the Genizah, and secondary sources. The short text is printed in both English and Hebrew; the book also contains an assortment of tables, a bibliography, and illustrations (some in color) reproduced from manuscripts by Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari and Dioscorides.

Peter J. Koehler, George W. Bruyn, and John M. S. Pearce, eds. Neurological Eponyms. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. xiv + 386 pp. Ill. $54.95 (0-19-513366-8).

"This book aims at both education and entertainment," write the editors in their preface; "Enjoyment of the unknown and unexpected, we hope, will enhance the teaching of neurology's heritage" (p. vi). Fifty-five eponyms were chosen for inclusion on the basis of their frequency of use, their familiarity to the clinical neurologist, and "the importance for neurology of the person behind the eponym" (p. vi). Some fifty authors (including Harm Beukers, Samuel Greenblatt, Howard Kushner, and Francis Schiller) have written five- to seven-page essays including short biographies of the eponymous neurologists, discussion of the original publication that gave rise to the eponym, and analysis of the eponym's subsequent development and significance.

Angela N. H. Creager, Elizabeth Lunbeck, and Londa Schiebinger, eds. Feminism in Twentieth-Century Science, Technology, and Medicine. Women in Culture and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001. xii + 264 pp. Ill. $65.00 (cloth, 0-226-12023-6), $20.00 (paperbound, 0-226-12024-4).

This book arose from a workshop, "Science, Medicine, and Technology in the Twentieth Century: What Difference Has Feminism Made?" organized by the Women's Caucus of the History of Science Society and held in October 1998 at Princeton University. The editors have three objectives: (1) to bring together discussions of science, medicine, and technology while recognizing the different ways in which scholars in these areas have dealt with questions concerning women and gender; (2) to "shift the focus from women and gender to an emphasis on feminism, examining it in its diverse instantiations as a source for historical change during the past century" (p. 2); and (3) to ask, "What difference has feminism made to science, technology, and medicine? How have feminists contributed to the intellectual ferment of the past quarter century?" (p. 2).

The resulting twelve essays are assigned to three large categories: science, technology, and medicine. A foreword by Catharine R. Stimpson precedes an introduction by all three editors. In the first section, "Science," appear essays by Alison Wylie ("Doing Social Science as a Feminist: The Engendering of Archeology"), Linda Marie Fedigan ("The Paradox of Feminist Primatology: The Goddess's Discipline?"), Scott F. Gilbert and Karen A. Rader ("Revisiting Women, Gender, and Feminism in Developmental Biology"), and Evelyn Fox Keller ("Making a Difference: Feminist Movement and Feminist Critiques of Science"). The second section, "Technology," contains essays by Carroll Pursell ("Feminism and the Rethinking of the History of Technology"), Ruth Oldenziel ("Man the Maker, Woman the Consumer: The Consumption Junction Revisited"), Pamela E. Mack ("What Difference Has Feminism Made to Engineering in the Twentieth Century?"), Michael S. Mahoney ("Boys' Toys and Women's Work: Feminism Engages Software"), and Ruth Schwartz Cowan ("Medicine, Technology, and Gender in the History of Prenatal Diagnosis"). The final section, "Medicine," comprises three essays, by Nelly Oudshoorn...