Peter
Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Posts: 105
Location: Gosport, Hampshire
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 Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 4:44 pm Post subject: The Art of Healing c1700-1800 |
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Guy Williams, The Age of Agony: The Art of Healing C1700-1800, (Constable, London, 1975)
ISBN 0 09 460130 5.
I came upon the very interesting book at a charity shop in near new condition for a small sum. It has thirteen chapters and a bibliography. Chapter Twelve is of particular interest it is entitled, ‘Medical and Surgical Support for the Armed Services in the Eighteenth Century.’
The chapter starts with a graphic description of a Belgian soldier...’I am sick, my feet lame, my legs are soar (sic) my body covered with this tormenting Itch, my clothes are worn out;’ and so on....p.199
Later in the chapter the author describes scurvy and Anson’s fated voyage:
The symptoms of scurvy were inconstant and innumerable, recorded the chaplain, scarcely any two persons ever being found to be suffering in the same way. There were, however, some symptoms more general than the rest which, he thought, deserved particular mention. These included:
...Large discoloured spots, dispersed upon the whole surface of the body, swelled legs, putrid gums, and above all, an extraordinary lassitude of the whole body, especially after any exercise, however inconsiderable; and this lassitude, at last degenerates into a proneness to swoon, and even die, on the least exertion of strength, or even on the last motion. This disease is likewise attended with a strange degeneration of spirits, with shivering, trembling, and a disposition to be seized with the most dreadful terrors on the slightest accident.... p.215.
The book is available at abebooks.co.uk and abebooks.com  |
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