Medicine & Disease

The Torrid Zone

In the 18th century, Europeans in the tropics found themselves beset by an array of unpleasant afflictions. They blamed black women, the climate and the strength of their own masculinity.

Frontispiece from Paul Barbette’s The Practice of the Most Successful Physitian (sic), engraving by Frederick Hendrik van Hove, 1675.

Snuffs and Sneezes Cure Diseases

In the 17th and 18th centuries, patients were encouraged to snuff, snort and sneeze their way out of a whole range of ailments and illnesses.

Alexander Morison by Richard Dadd, 1852.

Finding Keepers: Mental Illness in the 19th century

Caring for the mentally ill in Victorian Britain was hard, unrewarding and dangerously unregulated. Alexander Morison tried to improve things for both the unwell and their carers.

The 17th Century Guide to Sleep

Despite the modern obsession with a good night’s rest, more of us are sleeping less. Perhaps we should pay attention to the advice of early modern doctors.

‘A Change in the Petticoats, or the Years 1780 & 1817’ by William Heath, c. 1817. The posture of fashionable woman of 1817 is reminiscent of the consumptive. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

Consumptive Chic: When Tuberculosis was the Height of Fashion

During the 19th century, the physical effects of tuberculosis became the ideals of beauty for the fashionable woman.

Théodore Tronchin, by Galliard after Liotard, 18th century.

Théodore Tronchin, Doctor to the Stars

In the fashionable female circles of 18th-century Paris, a physician who recommended fresh air, exercise and looser corsets became a celebrated figure.