The April 2012 Malloch Circle Lecture and Reception

Date: April 25, 2012
Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

The Malloch Circle is a special group of friends who are interested in the history of medicine and support the historical programs at NYAM. Members of The Malloch Circle are invited to dinner events featuring presentations of historical and bibliographic interest, exhibitions of relevant notable rare books, and private behind the scenes tour of the Rare Book Room.

Medicine and miracles are not ordinarily thought of as linked, but their histories are closely entwined. In fact, medical judgement and the testimony of physicians have been central to the adjudication of miracles for more than four hundred years. The Catholic Church recognizes saints through canonization based on evidence that they worked miracles; overwhelmingly the miracles cited in canonizations between 1588 and 1999 have been healings, and the majority entail medical care and the reports of physicians. Dr. Duffin has examined Vatican sources on 1400 healing miracles from six continents spanning four centuries, and has shown that, while medicine and its science have evolved very considerably, it remains a central feature of the canonization process. In Dr. Duffin’s study, as one reviewer has commented, medicine and religion emerge as parallel endeavors aimed at deriving meaningful signs from particular instances of human distress–signs to explain, alleviate and console in confrontation with suffering and mortality.

The Friends of the Rare Book Room is a special group of contributors who for sixty years have supported public programs in the history of medicine, the acquisition and cataloging of historical scholarly material, and activities that make the Malloch Rare Book Room a center for scholarship in the history of medicine and public health and for the study of books and printing. The Malloch Circle is composed of special Friends of the Rare Book Room who support this work at a level of $1,000 annually. The Malloch Circle is named for Archibald Malloch, a protege of William Osler, who served as the Academy's Librarian from 1926 to 1949. The continuing support of the Malloch Circle will dramatically improve the library's efforts to enhance its collections through full cataloguing and archival processing, digitization, and conservation treatment. The Malloch Circle meets several times a year for dinner and conversation, with special presentations of bibliographical and historical interest, and for private tours of notable rare book collections.

About the Speaker(s)

Jacalyn Duffin is a distinguished Canadian historian and hematologist. She holds the Hannah Chair in the History of Medicine at Queen’s University and is a past president of the Canadian Society for the History of Medicine and the American Association for the History of Medicine. Between 1993 and 1995 she served as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies and Education at Queen's University. She holds an MD from the University of Toronto and a PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science from the Sorbonne. She is widely known for providing medical evidence that was used in the canonization of Marie-Marguerite d'Youville, an experience that led her to extensive studies of medical opinions in the canonization process.

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Cost: $50
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