1st Edition

Medicine in Modern Britain 1780-1950

By Deborah Brunton Copyright 2019
    196 Pages
    by Routledge

    196 Pages
    by Routledge

    Medicine in Modern Britain 1780–1950 provides an introduction to the development of medicine – scientific and heterodox, domestic and professional – in Britain from the end of the early modern period and through modern times. Divided thematically, each chapter within this book addresses a different aspect of medicine, covering diseases, ideas, practices, institutions, practitioners and the state.

    This book centres on an era of rapid and profound change in medicine and gives students all they need to establish a solid understanding of the history of medicine in Britain, by offering a clear and coherent narrative of the changes and continuities in medicine, including names, dates, events and ideas. Each aspect of medicine discussed within the book is explored and contextualised, providing an overview of the wider social and political background that surrounded them. The chapters are followed by a documents section, containing important primary sources to encourage students to engage with original material.

    With a selection of images, tables, a who’s who of all the key people discussed and a glossary of terms, Medicine in Modern Britain 1780–1950 is essential reading for all students of the history of medicine in Britian.

    List of figures and tables

    Chronology

    Who’s who

    Part I

    1. Introduction

    Part II: Narrative

    2. Disease in modern Britain

    Disease and death

    The epidemiological transition

    Measuring morbidity

    Why did patterns of disease change?

    3. Medical ideas

    The emergence of hospital medicine

    Laboratory medicine

    Laboratory and clinic

    Beyond the biological

    Heterodox medicine

    4. Medical practices

    The pursuit of health

    Domestic medicine

    Medical practitioners

    Consuming medicine

    5. Medical care in institutions

    Voluntary hospitals and dispensaries

    Poor Law hospitals

    Fever hospitals and tuberculosis sanatoria

    Hospitals and dispensaries in Ireland

    Asylums

    6. Medical practitioners

    Making a medical living

    Excluding competitors

    Nursing

    7. Health and the state

    Sanitary reform

    Public health

    Welfare

    Government medical care

    Part Three: Assessment

    8. Medicine in modern Britain: change, continuity, variation

    Part Four: Documents

    Document 1. Description of fevers

    Document 2. Victims of cholera

    Document 3. The Spanish Flu

    Document 4. The increase in cancer

    Document 5. Variations in mortality

    Document 6. The health of working class women

    Document 7. The action of fever

    Document 8. Pathological changes in the lung

    Document 9. The technical language of medicine

    Document 10. The physiology of the kidney

    Document 11: The benefits of physiological research

    Document 12. A holistic view of the body

    Document 13: The benefits of exercise

    Document 14. Health and sunlight

    Document 15: Domestic remedies

    Document 16: Patent medicines

    Document 17. Hydropathic treatment

    Document 18: Treatment of heart disease

    Document 19. The experience of surgery

    Document 20. An appeal for funds

    Document 21. Rules from Huddersfield Infirmary

    Document 22. Hospital design

    Document 23. The patient’s experience

    Document 24. Asylum design

    Document 25: Medical training in London

    Document 26. Setting up in practice

    Document 27. Unity in the profession

    Document 28. Opposition to the Colleges

    Document 29. Opposition to homeopaths

    Document 30. Opposition to women doctors

    Document 31. Nurse training

    Document 32. Insanitary conditions in cities

    Document 33. Public health in central and local government

    Document 34. Health education

    Document 35 The work of the Medical Officer of Health

    Document 36. The cause of infant mortality

    Document 37. The new National Health Service

    References

    Glossary

    Further Reading

    Index

     

     

    Biography

    Deborah Brunton was a senior lecturer in the History of Medicine at The Open University. Her previous publications include Health and Wellness in the Nineteenth Century (2014), The Politics of Vaccination. Practice and Policy in England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland, 1800–1874 (2008), Medicine Transformed: Health, Disease and Society in Europe 1800–1930 (2004) and Health, Disease and Society in Europe 1800–1930: A Sourcebook (2004).

    'This easy to read and engaging book offers a comprehensive overview of the history of medicine in modern Britain, including the various approaches, sources and terminology used by medical historians. I enthusiastically recommend this book to students as an up-to-date introduction to the history of medicine that identifies geographical variations in British experiences of health and medicine, and that touches upon recent research themes such as ‘health’ and ‘domestic’ medicine'.

    Kathryn Woods, University of Warwick, UK