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Article ID	#18935
Title	The era of uncertainty with genetics in medicine, 1900 to 1910
URL
Journal	Chiropr Hist. 2005 Winter;25(2):69-76
Author(s)	Mirtz A Greene L
Subject(s)	Genetics / history
Peer Review	Yes
Publication Type	Article
Abstract/Notes	The historical application of genetics to medicine has a rich and varied history. Yet, research looking into how genetics has been presented in medicine has not been systematically performed. The purpose of this examination is to detail and document the development of genetics in medicine during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A period in the development of genetics in medicine, specifically in America, suffered from what the authors believe to have been an era of genetic uncertainty. It is argued that the period between 1900 and 1910 serves as a crucial era in the history of genetics in which medicine faced a difficult decision. With the rediscovery of Mendelian-based genetics, medicine had to shed many outdated concepts of disease causation and to look to this new science. However, the struggle with other theories as well as the prevailing Victorian concepts of the time would also play an important role. Although notable figures have contributed to the early body of genetic science, it appears that this new science did not become immediately adopted into medical thinking until it was considered popular by medicine en masse. This abstract is reproduced with the permission of the publisher. Full text is available by subscription.

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