Europas Medizin im Biedermeier: anhand der Reiseberichte des Zürcher Arztes Conrad Meyer-Hofmeister 1827–1831

medical procedures some curious practices were and in some cases still may be found: for example the belief that treatments are affected by the phases of the moon, or that a worm in the tooth causes the ache. Chapter Five deals with herbal, animal and mineral protective agents from the folk pharmacopoeia, the latter partly used for antiseptic and styptic effects. Her concluding chapter on empirical and magical practices draws the reader into a world of mystical and superstitious cures. A number of striking illustrations in the appendix present a vivid picture of folk medical practices. Grabner, herself an art historian, makes use of such iconographic evidence to extend our insight into folk medicine. Her book is a wide-ranging and important compendium of research on folk medicine focusing on its naturalistic aspects. Despite the absence of a bibliography, it is rich in facts and examples, drawn not only from other German-speaking areas but from all around the world. This is a book for everyone interested in folk medicine. Meyer-Hofmeister's travel-accounts are sure to appeal to anyone interested in the history of medical practice, the history of the body or the history of acute physical discomfort. I read this book on holiday and found it not only more compelling than the novels I had packed for light entertainment but also well worth every ounce it added to my luggage-a considerable achievement given that the book measures three bricks in size. This lavishly illustrated and richly annotated edition of a Swiss physician's medical Netherlands offers a vivid portrait of the diverse forms of medical practice, education and thought cultivated in Europe around 1830. Although Morgeli, the editor, treats the diary as a kind of unmediated representation of the state of medicine in Biedermeier Europe, I would argue that its strength lies in precisely the opposite direction, namely in its being a highly selective representation of Europe as it appeared to a man who was, on Morgeli's account, as archly Biedermeier as they come (p. 19). For those unfamiliar with the term, Biedermeier refers to a social-cultural movement associated with the values of inwardness, domesticity and political provincialism which flourished in Germany roughly between 1815 and 1848. Consider, for example, the following account of an instrument in use at one of the German spas. In Meyer-Hofmeister's words: it is "shaped liked a penis ... and water squirts out the far end. A woman …