The Popularization of medicine, 1650-1850
By: edited by Roy Porter.
Contributors: Porter, Roy, 1946-
Series: The Wellcome Institute series in the history of medicine
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1992
Place of publication: London; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 297
Subjects: Medicine, Popular -- History -- 17th century; Medicine, Popular -- History -- 18th century; Medicine, Popular -- History -- 19th century; History of Medicine, 17th Cent; History of Medicine, 18th Cent; History of Medicine, 19th Cent
Description: In the early modern centuries disease was rampant, medicine had few powerful weapons in its armoury, and the provision of professional medical care was patchy. Under such circumstances it is no surprise that a body of popularized medical writings appeared, aiming to explain how ordinary people could best take care of their own health, in the absence of, or by way of supplement to, professional medical care.

The Popularization of Medicine explores the rise of this form of people's medicine, from the early days of printing to the Victorian age, focusing upon the different experiences of Britain and France, more marginal European nations like Spain and Hungary, and upon North America.

It assesses the wider social and cultural history contexts of the tradition: its religious rationales in radical Protestantism, conflicts between elite and popular culture, challenges to medical monopoly and the spread of medical hegemony. It also addresses the problems of the historical interpretation of medical texts that were probably read and used in ways unfamiliar to us nowadays.

The history of the popularization of regular medicine has hitherto been neglected. This pioneering book charts for the first time a major dimension of the history of medicine in culture.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Papers from a conference held at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine in London in Jan. 1991.