Knowledge and Practice in English Medicine, 1550-1680

by Andrew Wear

Overview

This is a major synthesis of the knowledge and practice of early modern English medicine, as expressed in vernacular texts set in their social and cultural contexts. The book vividly maps out some central areas: remedies (and how they were made credible), notions of disease, advice on preventive medicine and on healthy living, and how and why surgeons worked on the body. In particular, two of the most high-profile diseases of the age—the pox and the plague—are discussed in detail, and their treatment analyzed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521558273
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/16/2000
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	506
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 1.14(d)
Lexile:	1680L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Setting the scene; 2. Remedies; 3. Diseases; 4. Preventive medicine: healthy lifestyles and healthy environments; 5. Surgery: the handwork of medicine; 6. Plague and medical knowledge; 7. The prevention and cure of plague; 8. Conflict and revolution in medicine; 9. The failure of the Helmontian revolution in the practice of medicine; 10. Changes and continuities.

Editorial Reviews

"[Wear's] discussion of medicine generally in the period after 1665 is always fresh, well-informed, and illuminating. There is much good substance in this intelligent study...a valuable reference for scholars." Albion

From the Publisher