La physiologie de l'expérience onirique dans les traditions grecque, arabe et latine

The Colour of Dreams. The Physiology of Oneiric Experience in Greek, Arabic, and Latin Traditions



CSMBR Upcoming Lecture


Marco Signori


23 June 2026 – 5 PM (CET)


This talk explores the concept of dream colour as it appears in a selection of medieval Arabic and Latin philosophical and medical texts. Lying at the intersection of psychophysiology, medicine and the doctrine of the rational soul, this subject draws on ancient humoral theory to explain an intriguing aspect of the dream experience. 

The idea of a correlation between the colour of oneiric images and the predominance of one of the four humours originates from a concise yet highly significant doxographic passage attributed to Galen, as recorded in the only surviving manuscript, Arabic MS Baġdād (Awqāf 9763), and is referenced in notable resources such as Avicenna's (Ibn Sīnā, d. 1037) writings and the Persian Book of Science for ʿAlāʾ al-Dawla.

Curiously, however, while other Arabic students of this Galenic excerpt on humoral oneirology, such as Abū l-Faraǧ ibn al-Ṭayyib (d. 1043), omitted references to colour when addressing related topics, this connection reemerges in the Latin tradition, as demonstrated by Albert the Great and, most notably, Boethius of Dacia.

Building on previous scholarship and analysing various intermediary channels, the contribution will discuss the possible historical and doctrinal links between these authors, tracing hypothetical lines of transmission from Greek-Arabic medicine to 13th-century Latin philosophy.


To register for this event, please click here. 

Une histoire conceptuelle de la pédopsychiatrie

Folle enfance. Une histoire conceptuelle de la pédopsychiatrie

Yann Craus

Sortie : Printemps 2026
Collection Bibliothèque d'histoire de la médecine et de la santé
Ouvrage soutenu par le Fonds national suisse (FNS)

Les psychoses de l’enfant ont disparu des classifications psychiatriques internationales. Les symptômes qu’elles regroupaient demeurent pourtant un défi pour la communauté médicale alors que les concepts cliniques orientent tant l’édifice nosographique, les propositions thérapeutiques que la recherche dans le champ pédopsychiatrique. Par quelles entités nosologiques ces psychoses ont-elles été remplacées ? Et, d’abord, qu’ont-elles apporté à la pédopsychiatrie quand elles en constituaient l’objet, certes énigmatique mais central ? Folle enfance en propose une histoire conceptuelle qui couvre le long 20e siècle et éclaire les enjeux actuels de la santé mentale des enfants et des adolescents.

L'enfance et l'histoire globale des sciences, des technologies et de la médecine

Global Childhood(s) and Histories of Science, Technology, and Medicine

Call for papers

Symposium


Keynote Speaker: Dr. Sebastián Gil-Riaño, Associate Professor, History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania

When: 16-18 November 2026

Where: The Centre for History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds (UK)

Co-organisers: Dr. Elisabeth M. Yang, Dr. Franziska Kohlt, and Dr. Elizabeth Hoiem

Modality: in-person with online presentation option

This three-day symposium and workshop at the Centre for History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds will bring together an international, muti-disciplinary group of scholars who work at the interface of the histories of science, medicine, and technology, and childhood studies. We welcome participants from across the humanities whose research concerns child health, medicine, technology and the psy-sciences, as well as applied fields including education, public policy, and information sciences.

Reflective of current trends that signify the entangled histories of scientific cultures, knowledge, and technologies and the child, childhoods, and childism, the event will promote this innovative area of research and practice while supporting dialogue between different theoretical approaches and methodologies. There will be an opportunity to present research projects in the form of lighting talks, presentations, or writing workshops. You may also propose a panel or workshop designed to organize participation on a collaborative project or engagement with public policy, museum, and community outreach. Events will be primarily in-person with online presentation options explored depending on submissions. As a legacy of the event, the organizers will establish a global network of scholars in the history of science/medicine/technology and childhood studies, with the purpose of facilitating future events, collaborations, publications, and public outreach.

Please submit your proposal using our conference management platform by June 22, 2026. You will be asked to provide your contact information, a short biography (150 words), and a 3-page CV with your proposal. You will specify how you want to participate (lightning talk, presentation, workshop, etc.). To suggest a workshop, please explain what kind of writing, whether a book proposal, article, book chapter, dissertation, thesis, or other piece. For a collaborative project or public engagement, please clarify the stage of your project and what you hope to accomplish through the symposium. Proposal lengths (not including citations): 

• Lightning talk: 150-word description
• Presentation (single scholar): 250-word description
• Presentation panel (3-4 presenters): 250-word description each, submitted by the panel chair as a single document
• Workshop article, book chapter, book proposal, or dissertation chapter: 500 words
• Collaborative project or public engagement: 500 words

Please contact the organizers with any queries at the following email address: histchildscience2026@gmail.com.

*A limited number of travel bursaries are available to assist participants with travel costs. Priority will be given to PhD candidates and Early Career Researchers who have no access to funds to cover their travel expenses. If you are interested in applying for a bursary, you will have the opportunity to upload a statement (200 words max) explaining your needs.

Les discours scientifiques et le grand public

Science narratives and the public


Call for papers


A conference taking place on 20 November 2026 at the Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, SW1Y 5AG, London

9.30am – 5.00pm


Deadline for submissions: Friday 26 June 2026



2026 sees the 100th birthday of Sir David Attenborough FRS, perhaps the greatest exponent of natural history through television. His work is part of a long tradition of communicating often-complex ideas to a wider public. Scientists have used a variety of media to make a case for science: most traditionally in printed works, but also through anecdotes, lectures, demonstrations, exhibitions, press articles, radio and television. Today, our scientists may create websites or take to social media to gain a wider audience for their work, or to explain the work of many others. But who have been the most successful communicators and why? What narrative techniques made them effective? In an era of good and bad influencers, distortion or rejection of science, fake news, and information overload, what can we learn from episodes of science communication past and the messages which cut through?



The Society is interested in how scientific narratives have been crafted and how the best of current knowledge has been conveyed to general audiences. Some storytelling has retained an enormous hold on the popular imagination: from apple trees and gravity, to flying kites and lightning. Why have such tales and images of science in action persisted and how far from reality are they? To what extent have scientists deliberately fashioned such basic narratives, and what makes a good story (or a bad story) in science?

Equally, how have public voices, from everyday people with expertise, such as craftspeople, sailors, miners, pregnant women, and inhabitants of other nations influenced science narratives? And whose voices remained unheard?

 The Royal Society is holding a one-day conference to explore themes of discourse between scientists and the public through a variety of media. The event should produce an interdisciplinary gathering of literary scholars, film and television historians, and historians of science. We welcome proposals for 15- to 20-minute papers on appropriate themes relating to narratives of the 17th – 21st centuries: 

• How far have narrative techniques been shaped by scientists, and how much by others?
• How is narrative structured? What aspects are prioritised? How does the scientific content influence the narrative form, and vice versa?
• What role does imagination and imaginative imagery play in explaining science?
• Is there a link between particular literary genres and scientific narrative? How do scientific stories influence popular literature?
• Which media have had the significant impacts on how science is explained, and why?
• Which scientists have succeeded in becoming storytelling sages, talking heads, or media pundits? Were their reputations for omniscience deserved?
• How much care have scientists exercised in straying from their usual disciplines while explaining science to the public?

Please submit proposals (not exceeding 300 words, including a biographical note of c.50 words) for 15- to 20-minute papers to library@royalsociety.org by Friday 26 June 2026, with the subject line ‘proposal for conference paper’.


Financial support will be available, based on need, to help speakers cover expenses related to attendance, including accommodation, transport and care costs. We welcome papers from all stages of research careers.

La science des propriétés naturelles

The Science of Natural Properties. Knowledge, Transmission, and Practice (6th-15th century)

International Conference

organized by:
Alessandra Scimone
Amine Xhakoni
Lucia Raggetti

Bologna, 17-19 June 2026
Aula Magna - Biblioteca Universitaria, Via Zamboni 33
Sala delle Armi - Palazzo Malvezzi, Via Zamboni 13
 

Keynote speakers:
Jean-Charles Coulon, Isabelle Draelants
(Institute de Recherche et d’Histoire des Texts – CNRS)

For further information or to join us on MS Teams, please email filo.scienceofnaturalproperties@unibo.it

June 17
Morning
| 10:00-11:00 REGISTRATION AND WELCOME
Sala delle Armi, Palazzo Malvezzi

| 11:00-12:30 NATURAL AND OCCULT PROPERTIES OF MINERALS AND METALS
MARIO LENTANO (Università di Siena), ANNA MARIA URSO (Università di Messina)
Pietre pregne e donne gravide. Una storia culturale dell’aetite
STEFANIA FORTUNA (Università Politecnica delle Marche)
I metalli nella terapia dei medici antichi greci e latini
HUSSIEN SOLIMAN ELZOHARY (Bibliotheca Alexandrina)
Defending Natural Properties of Metals: ʿAbd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī on the Dispute
between the Chemist and the Theorist

Afternoon
| 14:30-15:30 TECHNICAL HANDBOOKS AND MATERIAL KNOWLEDGE
ALESSIA ZUBANI (École du Louvre – Institut Français d’ Études Anatoliennes)
Natural Properties and Mechanical Knowledge in al-Jazarī’s Compendium of the
Theory and Practice of the Mechanical Arts
LEONIE BÖTTIGER (Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte)
Valets, Velvet, and Vultures: The Properties of Animal Parts in a Fifteenth-Century
Arabic Housekeeping Manual

| 15:30 – 16:00 Coffee Break

| 16:15-17:15 KEYNOTE SPEECH
Aula Magna, Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna
ISABELLE DRAELANTS (Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes - CNRS)
Proprietas, un concetto medievale cardine tra esegesi, fisica, filosofia e magia

 

June 18
Morning

| 9:30-10:30 KEYNOTE SPEECH
Aula Magna, Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna
JEAN-CHARLES COULON (Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes - CNRS)
From Nature to Letters: Plato and the History of Arabic Occult Sciences

| 10:45 – 11:30 Coffee Break

| 11:30-13:00 STARS, STONES, AND TALISMANS
Sala delle Armi, Palazzo Malvezzi
BENNET ALBERTH (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen)
A Lost Greek Work on Occult Properties Hidden in the Arabic Tradition?
NICOLETTA PALMIERI (Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne)
Influenze astrali e metereologiche sulla natura umana: la prima res non naturalis
secondo i maestri di medicina nel XII secolo
GIULIA FRENI (Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Storici)
Tra mineralogia e astrologia: un opuscolo astrologico sulle pietre planetarie nel XV secolo

Afternoon
| 14:30-16:00 MANIPULATION AND INTERPRETATION OF NATURE
ANGELICA GASPARI (Sapienza Università di Roma)
Magnetismo e altri fenomeni fisici nella letteratura pahlavi
EUGENIO VILLA (Università di Udine)
Astanus/Ostanes in the Bologna University Library and beyond
ALMA ELIAZ (Tel Aviv University)
The Properties of Numbers in a Fifteenth-Century Hebrew Geomantic Treatise

| 16:00 – 16:15 Coffee Break

| 16.15-17:15 PROPERTIES AND CRAFTMANSHIP
JAVIER LÓPEZ RIDER (Universidad de Córdoba)
Hojas, raíces y cortezas. El uso de sustancias de origen vegetal en la producción
cosmética de la España bajomedieval
DAVID FERNÁNDEZ SÁNCHEZ (Universidad de Córdoba)
Curtición vegetal y producción de obras de cuero en la Castilla bajomedieval

| 17:15 – 17:30 Coffee Break
 

| 17:30-18:30 PRESENTATION OF THE EDITION OF THE BOOK OF OCCULT
PROPERTIES BY ABŪ AL-ʿALĀ IBN ZUHR

 

June 19
Morning

| 10:00-12:30 NATURAL AND OCCULT PROPERTIES OF PLANTS BETWEEN
LITERATURE AND MEDICINE
Sala delle Armi, Palazzo Malvezzi
ARSENIO FERRACES RODRÍGUEZ (Universidade da Coruña)
El poder hemostático de la morera (arbor mori) en dos pasajes mágico-médicos de
la antigüedad tardía
BEHNAM ATAEI (Freie Universität Berlin)
From the “Expeller of Death” to the “Slayer of the Evil Eye”: The Apotropaic Rebirth
of Haoma/ Hōm in the Iranian World

| 11:00 – 11:30 Coffee Break
CHLOE NEWMAN (Cambridge University)
Materia Medica as Allegory: Translating the Power of Plants in the Alexander
Romance Tradition
SAMUELE FILIPPI (Università di Palermo)
Che cosa cura davvero? Virtus e farmaco nel Plusquam Commentum di Pietro
Torrigiano

Afternoon
 | 14:00-16:30 NATURAL AND OCCULT PROPERTIES OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS
IN MEDICINE
GIUSEPPE TROVATO (Università di Messina)
Proprietà occulte nei Physica di Teodoro Prisciano
ABEL DE LORENZO RODRÍGUEZ (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela –
University of Edinburgh)
Pearls, Cinnamon, and Deer Heart Bones. The Emerging Salernitan Recipes and
Medical Properties in Twelfth century Iberia

| 15:00 – 15:30 Coffee Break
MARINA DÍAZ MARCOS (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha)
Las propiedades naturales de las plantas en la traducción latina medieval del
galénico De simplicium medicamentorum facultatibus VI
LI PARRENT (McGill University)
Agent and Ingredient: Wildness and Domesticity as Mediators of Natural Properties
in Plants and Animals in Courtly Contexts, c.1250-c.1450

| 16:30-17:00 CLOSING REMARKS
For more information or to join us on MS Teams, please email filo.scienceofnaturalproperties@unibo.it

Une histoire globale des antidouleurs

Markets of Pain: Opium, Capitalism, and the Global History of Painkillers

Benjamin Robert Siegel

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 15, 2026
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0197527825


Markets of Pain offers a sweeping history of the business of licit opium--following cultivators, merchants, scientists, and policymakers--and shows how this potent crop reshaped global trade, medicine, and geopolitics.

For centuries, opium has been a source of both profit and peril, its legacy entangled with addiction, imperialism, and the complex interplay of global trade and national development. While the illicit opium trade is infamous, the history of licit opium--how it was farmed, refined, and used to build modern medicine and shape state power--has remained largely untold.

Drawing on archival sources from Asia, Europe, and the United States, Markets of Pain traces the global arc of licit opium from poppy fields and processing plants in India, Turkey, and Australia to the clinics and laboratories of modern medicine. It shows how both the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic treated the opium poppy as a national resource and a means of securing global stature. In postcolonial India, by contrast, nationalist leaders initially rejected opium's imperial legacy before embracing its strategic value amid the shifting currents of the Cold War. At the heart of this story are the cultivators, scientists, bureaucrats, and policymakers who shaped the licit opium trade and grappled with its far-reaching consequences. Their work and visions demonstrate how colonial empires and postcolonial states helped forge the global pharmaceutical industry as it struggled to govern a drug it could not abandon.

Markets of Pain reveals how a seemingly marginal crop became an unlikely engine of modernization, a tool of Cold War geopolitics, and a harbinger of today's global opioid crisis. Blending vivid scenes from opium's fields and factories with incisive analysis of scientific and diplomatic archives, Benjamin Robert Siegel recovers a buried history with urgent relevance for global supply chains, international power, and public health.

Une histoire globale de la peste noire

The Black Death: A Global History of Humanity's Most Devastating Pandemic

Thomas Asbridge


Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 26, 2026
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 544 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593129166

In the mid-fourteenth century, a lethal plague struck the medieval world, causing unimaginable suffering and destruction. The Black Death was unquestionably one of history’s defining episodes, yet a critical feature of its progress has often been ignored: the disease was not confined to Europe, but rather affected almost all of the known world, including the Near and Middle East, Byzantium, north Africa and Asia.

Tracing the pandemic’s course across the medieval globe, The Black Death contrasts the experiences of different peoples, including Christians, Muslims, and Jews, charting this catastrophe’s transformative effects on diverse aspects of medieval life. And crucially, Asbridge demonstrates that the plague was often at its most destructive in the Islamic world, where it ultimately played a role in the collapse of the mighty Mamluk Empire.

The Black Death also brings the human drama of this calamitous era to life, evoking the terror and the turmoil that beset cities such as London, Cairo, and Florence. Asbridge reconstructs the lives of the men, women and children who faced the Black Death—from ruling monarchs to peasant farmers—laying bare both the abject horror they endured and the courageous resolve they often demonstrated while striving to survive.

Uncovering a story that speaks to our own age, The Black Death highlights humankind’s capacity for compassion and resilience amidst a global crisis to explain how the medieval world confronted, and ultimately overcame, this shattering pandemic.

Les sages-femmes juives et les pratiques de guérison secrètes dans l'Europe moderne

Delivering Knowledge: Jewish Midwives and Hidden Healing in Early Modern Europe

Jordan R. Katz 

Stanford University Press (April/May 2026)
Series: Stanford Studies in Jewish History and Culture

This book offers a new perspective on the history of early modern Jewish communities by centering the experiences of Jewish midwives. In the wake of the Thirty Years' War, as cities and towns across northern and central Europe placed new emphasis on the regulation of healthcare and childbirth, Jewish midwives stood at the crossroads of tremendous changes in both Jewish communities and the surrounding Christian municipalities. Drawing on previously untapped archival sources, Jordan Katz reveals that Jewish midwives were integral to the expansion of medical bureaucracies, crossing boundaries between genders, between religious communities, and across classes through their work caring for pregnant women and newborn babies.

Grounded in rich historical evidence, the book shows how a focus on Jewish midwives illuminates the complex relationships between Jewish communities and local municipalities, showcasing a level of engagement between Jews and Christian civic authorities that has gone unstudied. Through the lens of midwives, this book opens up new understandings of Jewish communal history, the history of women's healing practices, Jewish-Christian relations, and cultures of record in the early modern period.