[Concepts of success in the treatment of tuberculosis in the early 20th century]. / Behandlung ohne Heilung. Zur sozialen Konstruktion des Behandlungserfolgs bei Tuberkulose im frühen 20. Jahrhundert.

This paper deals with the social construction of medical success in various therapies used to treat tuberculosis during the first half of the 20th Century. The three main therapies discussed-Tuberculin treatment, sanatorium therapy and chest surgery-show distinctly different success patterns. For example, the success of sanatorium treatment was evaluated differently during and after treatment: during treatment, quantifiable data such as weight and body temperature were seen as indicators of health. After discharge, however, success was defined as long-term survival. On the other hand, when chest surgery was used, success meant simply that patient was able to survive the surgery itself-long-term effects and patient's survival after discharge were not addressed. Such comparisons illustrate that the definition of medical success rested as much on the dismissal of negative data as on positive empirical results.

[The democratic movement, cholera epidemic and public health reform in the Zurich canton (1867)]. / Demokratische Bewegung, Choleraepidemie und die Reform des öffentlichen Gesundheitswesens im Kanton Zürich (1867).

In the summer of 1867 Zurich, Switzerland, was struck by a severe Cholera outbreak. Recent research suggests that the Cholera epidemic had such an influence on the municipal policy makers that they pushed through a major reform of the public health system, namely of water supply and sewerage. This paper adopts a theoretical conception of crisis and social change to evaluate the plausibility of this hypothesis. The basic idea is that structural change can be usually understood as the consequence of a major social crisis. Exactly this was the case in Zurich during the 1860s. After a decade of economic stability and progress, a severe crisis simultaneously stuck Zurich's agriculture, textile industry and railway companies. The so called Democratic Movement threatened the existing political system; the old political establishment feared a political revolution. On top of all this, Cholera struck Zurich, precipitating a crisis in the public health system. Suddenly, old concepts and institutions were felt to be outdated. The democrats put through political reforms, the economic downswing ended and a large program to reshape the urban environment was initiated. It can be concluded that the Cholera epidemic alone did not cause the public health reform. But together with other crisis phenomena it played a major role in weakening the stability of the old system, and thus contributed to the society's ability to put in place new political, economic, and social structures.

[Not Available]. / Soziale Ungleichheit vor der Cholera und ihre Wahrnehmung durch Zürichs Arzteschaft (1850-1870).

The cholera epidemics of the 19th century have recently received much historiographic attention. One of the major questions raised by that discussion concerns the social stratification of the cholera victims. This paper contributes to that discussion by giving an analysis of the epidemics of 1855 and 1867 in Zürich, Switzerland. Sources are a great problem. Therefore a definite answer to the question of the social status of the cholera victims is only possible for the later, more serious outbreak of cholera. The problem of social stratification is connected with the problem of poverty. How is the usage of this term and its meanings determined by the actual social inequality of the cholera victims? The medical doctors in Zürich were interested in the relationship between poverty and cholera, albeit from different perspectives: the doctors of the 1850s regarded poverty primarily as a moral problem. Their advice on public health measures centered on traditional ideas of quarantine and (moral) education of the poor. In contrast, the doctors of the 1860s thought of poverty as a social problem. They hoped that sanitary reforms would be the answer to the social problems of Zürich.