{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/42683"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/42683","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Cyborg Butterflies, Liminal Medicine: Thyroid Hormone Treatment, 1890-1970","abstract":"In this thesis, I develop a history of thyroid hormone treatment (THT) that centers on the bodies of animals and women between 1890 and 1970. This history contextualizes the current debate between two forms of THT, desiccated and synthetic. Drawing on the discourses present in biomedical journals, I trace how medical practitioners used the animals and women to demonstrate and make sense of THT's effectiveness over time. As such, I study what Catherine Waldby terms the \"biomedical imaginary\" or the speculative fabric of scientific thought, to demonstrate how an \"ordinary\" medical technology crosses and reinforces the conceptions of gender and animality. THT emerged in the 1890s as an organotherapy, or a medicine made from animal organs. Like other organotherapies, general physicians used THT for a wide variety of ailments that had not been scientifically proven through the practices of vivisection or animal experimentation. From its emergence, THT served as a site of tension between scientific researchers and general practitioners. This tension only increased when a synthetic form of THT was invented in the 1920s, when scientific researchers embraced synthetic THT and general practitioners continued using desiccated THT. At the center of the controversy were the productive and subversive relationships of animals and women to biomedical meaning-making. Over the twentieth century, methods of defining THT's effectiveness and purity were defined in opposition to these bodies. These chemical measures combined the specialist and physician's measurement of THT's clinical effectiveness, which led to a preference for synthetic THT.","abstract_html":"In this thesis, I develop a history of thyroid hormone treatment (THT) that centers on the bodies of animals and women between 1890 and 1970. This history contextualizes the current debate between two forms of THT, desiccated and synthetic. Drawing on the discourses present in biomedical journals, I trace how medical practitioners used the animals and women to demonstrate and make sense of THT's effectiveness over time. As such, I study what Catherine Waldby terms the "biomedical imaginary" or the speculative fabric of scientific thought, to demonstrate how an "ordinary" medical technology crosses and reinforces the conceptions of gender and animality. THT emerged in the 1890s as an organotherapy, or a medicine made from animal organs. Like other organotherapies, general physicians used THT for a wide variety of ailments that had not been scientifically proven through the practices of vivisection or animal experimentation. From its emergence, THT served as a site of tension between scientific researchers and general practitioners. This tension only increased when a synthetic form of THT was invented in the 1920s, when scientific researchers embraced synthetic THT and general practitioners continued using desiccated THT. At the center of the controversy were the productive and subversive relationships of animals and women to biomedical meaning-making. Over the twentieth century, methods of defining THT's effectiveness and purity were defined in opposition to these bodies. These chemical measures combined the specialist and physician's measurement of THT's clinical effectiveness, which led to a preference for synthetic THT.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Crandell, Allison S."],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Science and Technology Studies","degree_department":"Science and Technology Studies","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Hausman, Bernice L."],"committee_members":["Collier, James H.","La Berge, Ann F."],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-05-03","date_published":"2011-05-03","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:25Z","subjects":["Women","animals","biomedical imaginary","thyroid hormones"],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-05162011-152745"],"render_values":[{"text":"etd-05162011-152745","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10919/42683","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Hausman, Bernice L."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Collier, James H.","La Berge, Ann F."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Science and Technology Studies"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Crandell, Allison S."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2014-03-14T21:36:14Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-03-14T21:36:14Z","2011-06-08"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2011-05-03"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Science and Technology Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Women","animals","biomedical imaginary","thyroid hormones"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-05162011-152745"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/42683"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In this thesis, I develop a history of thyroid hormone treatment (THT) that centers on the bodies of animals and women between 1890 and 1970. This history contextualizes the current debate between two forms of THT, desiccated and synthetic. Drawing on the discourses present in biomedical journals, I trace how medical practitioners used the animals and women to demonstrate and make sense of THT's effectiveness over time. As such, I study what Catherine Waldby terms the \"biomedical imaginary\" or the speculative fabric of scientific thought, to demonstrate how an \"ordinary\" medical technology crosses and reinforces the conceptions of gender and animality. THT emerged in the 1890s as an organotherapy, or a medicine made from animal organs. Like other organotherapies, general physicians used THT for a wide variety of ailments that had not been scientifically proven through the practices of vivisection or animal experimentation. From its emergence, THT served as a site of tension between scientific researchers and general practitioners. This tension only increased when a synthetic form of THT was invented in the 1920s, when scientific researchers embraced synthetic THT and general practitioners continued using desiccated THT. At the center of the controversy were the productive and subversive relationships of animals and women to biomedical meaning-making. Over the twentieth century, methods of defining THT's effectiveness and purity were defined in opposition to these bodies. These chemical measures combined the specialist and physician's measurement of THT's clinical effectiveness, which led to a preference for synthetic THT."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Cyborg Butterflies, Liminal Medicine: Thyroid Hormone Treatment, 1890-1970"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Hausman, Bernice L."],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Collier, James H.","La Berge, Ann F."],"dc:contributor.department":["Science and Technology Studies"],"dc:creator":["Crandell, Allison S."],"dc:date.accessioned":["2014-03-14T21:36:14Z"],"dc:date.available":["2014-03-14T21:36:14Z","2011-06-08"],"dc:date.issued":["2011-05-03"],"dc:description.abstract":["In this thesis, I develop a history of thyroid hormone treatment (THT) that centers on the bodies of animals and women between 1890 and 1970. This history contextualizes the current debate between two forms of THT, desiccated and synthetic. Drawing on the discourses present in biomedical journals, I trace how medical practitioners used the animals and women to demonstrate and make sense of THT's effectiveness over time. As such, I study what Catherine Waldby terms the \"biomedical imaginary\" or the speculative fabric of scientific thought, to demonstrate how an \"ordinary\" medical technology crosses and reinforces the conceptions of gender and animality. THT emerged in the 1890s as an organotherapy, or a medicine made from animal organs. Like other organotherapies, general physicians used THT for a wide variety of ailments that had not been scientifically proven through the practices of vivisection or animal experimentation. From its emergence, THT served as a site of tension between scientific researchers and general practitioners. This tension only increased when a synthetic form of THT was invented in the 1920s, when scientific researchers embraced synthetic THT and general practitioners continued using desiccated THT. At the center of the controversy were the productive and subversive relationships of animals and women to biomedical meaning-making. Over the twentieth century, methods of defining THT's effectiveness and purity were defined in opposition to these bodies. These chemical measures combined the specialist and physician's measurement of THT's clinical effectiveness, which led to a preference for synthetic THT."],"dc:description.degree":["Master of Science"],"dc:identifier.other":["etd-05162011-152745"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/42683"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["Women","animals","biomedical imaginary","thyroid hormones"],"dc:title":["Cyborg Butterflies, Liminal Medicine: Thyroid Hormone Treatment, 1890-1970"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Science and Technology Studies"],"thesis:degree_level":["masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:25Z"}