Leeming William
Faculty of Liberal Studies, Ontario College of Art and Design, 100 McCaul Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1W1, Canada.
Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci. 2005 Sep;36(3):538-58. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2005.07.004.
The aim of this paper is to understand how evolving ideas about heredity and genetics influenced new medical interests and practices and, eventually, the formation of 'medical genetics' as a medical specialism in Britain. I begin the paper by highlighting the social and institutional changes through which these ideas passed. I argue that, with time, there was a decisive convergence in thought that combined ideas about the familial aspects of heredity and the health needs of populations with an omnibus 'genetic' approach to health and illness that focused on the structures and activities of chromosomes and genes in individuals. I show how this convergence in thought was spurred on, first, by innovations in genetic science and technology in the years after 1960, and, second, by negotiated protocols and standards of medical practice worked out by bodies such as the relevant royal colleges, the linked associations and societies for medical professionals, affected training and research authorities, and the state. The notion of 'medical genetics' in Britain consequently gained a semblance of unanimity over its basic reference points and arrived at a meaning directly tributary to current acceptance of the term in the context of a medical specialism.
本文旨在探讨关于遗传与遗传学的不断演变的观念如何影响了新的医学关注点与实践，并最终促成了“医学遗传学”在英国作为一门医学专科的形成。我开篇将着重介绍这些观念所经历的社会与制度变革。我认为，随着时间的推移，在思想上出现了一种决定性的趋同，即将关于遗传的家族层面以及人群健康需求的观念与一种综合的“遗传学”健康与疾病研究方法结合起来，这种方法聚焦于个体染色体和基因的结构与活动。我将展示这种思想趋同首先是由1960年后遗传科学与技术的创新所推动，其次是由诸如相关皇家学院、医学专业的关联协会和学会、受影响的培训与研究机构以及国家等机构制定的医学实践协商协议和标准所推动。因此，英国的“医学遗传学”概念在其基本参考点上获得了一种表面上的一致性，并在医学专科的背景下形成了一种直接源自当前对该术语接受程度的含义。
