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Sammanfattning

Towards the end of the 1800s, chlorosis was a frequently used diagnosis, in Norway as well as in America and the rest of Europe. The physiological basis for the disease was assumed to be decreased levels of haemoglobin and/or red blood cells. Chlorosis was not synonymous with anaemia, but rather a subcategory with a vague symptom-based picture associated with female puberty. The different opinions on causes of the disease can be divided into three main groups: environmental, moral and biological-constitutional. At the time, it was well known that iron was an effective treatment. In a cultural critical perspective the disease was seen both as a phenomenon of degeneration and as a reaction to modern life with its stress and demands. During the first decades of the 1900s, the chlorotic girl disappeared from medical textbooks and articles. The article points at medical, biological and dietary improvements as explanations for why chlorosis disappeared as a diagnosis, but also considers historical aspects such as new cultural norms for femininity, changed laws and an increasing political understanding of health’s role in society.

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