Russia’s position in global intellectual and scientific exchange is a fascinating topic. It has long been held as a historical premise that during the eighteenth century Russia began to undergo a process of internationalization in the form of increasing collaborations and contact with western scientists and growing scientific awareness which was fueled in part by state support through the creation of the Academy of Sciences and other institutions. Matthew Romaniello’s new book is the first to delve deeply into the two-way exchange into medical information, and the result is a fascinating and extremely well detailed global study of the topic that should not be missed.

Romaniello’s study provides a thorough description of European notions about health during early modern times. Russia became an area of medical research interest to many European physicians and researchers of the time. Since many Europeans’ understandings of disease were still rooted in assumptions about temperature and climate conditions as well as humoral theory, Russia’s relatively cold climate became an object of fascination. Much of the medical terminology and assumptions of the time were rooted in cultural biases and stereotypes, a point that Romaniello draws upon repeatedly throughout the book, providing many sometimes ridiculous examples of the pervasiveness of national stereotypes about human health.

The process of informational exchange was a two-way street. Russia’s wealthier populations actively recruited physicians from abroad to work in Russia, numbers that would climb consistently during the eighteenth century, with 131 European physicians hired to work in Russia during the 1790s (52). This infusion of European physicians to Russian territories led to a vibrant exchange of opinions, while also providing many opportunities for European doctors to publish the results of their medical work and research in Russia in journals targeted at western scientists. This type of research was in high demand in part for anticipated future trade, travel, or conflicts in or with Russia.

This study well situates medical research of the time within Russia’s involvement in global exploration and colonization. The book includes scores of important accounts from scientists who attended scientific exploratory missions during the century, including the Second Kamchatka Expedition (1733–43), which included the work of hundreds of academic researchers from Europe. The published works of these individuals, as Romaniello argues, “reflected the structures of knowledge production, in terms of humoral language and the physicians’ professional networks” (72). In Johann Georg Gmelin’s report, Romaniello notes that “much of Gmelin’s text debates his success, or lack thereof, in approaching Indigenous women across Siberia” (83). Gmelin’s text points to the ways that research done for scientific purposes could be in some ways a legitimation of predatory and abusive actions of the expeditionary teams, proving that medical research was not strictly a noble pursuit.

The research base for this volume is very strong. It draws upon extensive archival research carried out by Romaniello in England, Scotland, Sweden, and in careful reading of countless scientific reports by European and Russian physicians and scientists. The overall image which emerges from his study is that assumptions about the Russian climate, health, and science itself were often misguided, but the extensive exchanges that took place during the century went a long way in correcting some of the most misguided opinions.

Scientific discoveries carried out in Russian territory led in part to new conclusions that climate may not be an overriding factor in human health. These ideas became gradually displaced by theories more in line with modern medicine, as evidenced in Dr. Edward Gray’s report on the causes of the deadly Russian catarhh of 1782, which Gray determined was not brought about by climate or temperature, but by contagious infection (170). Further advances came with the research of Alexander Crichton, hired from Scotland by Tsar Alexander I to be his personal physician in 1803. Crichton began researching the causes of consumption (tuberculosis) in St. Petersburg in 1816 and found surprisingly that peasants were less likely to contract the illness than wealthy city dwellers. His research brought into question European assumptions that Russia’s cold climate was inherently dangerous to all (198), opening the door to develop a more nuanced understanding of human health and climate. Despite these findings, myths and misunderstandings about health and climate would persist well into the nineteenth century and beyond. Romaniello’s book offers a thorough dissection of the topic, while also making an important addition to the global history of Russia.