Image: An ill man being bled by a surgeon. Coloured etching after J. Gillray, 1804, after J. Sneyd. Welcome Collection.
The Good, The Bad and The Deadly
Medicine, but not as we know it, in the 18th century
Throughout the eighteenth century, although there were advances in medicine, engagement with doctors was often far from a good experience and could be deadly!
Medical ethics did not safeguard patient wellbeing and some medical advances relied on practices that would horrify us today.
This talk looks at the strange mixture Georgian medicine was: a system based on erroneous antiquated teaching, superstition, ignorance and dangerous practices. However, it also looks to its successes, from which we still benefit today, and the changing practices which somewhat negate Voltaire’s view that ‘The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.’
Sheelagh James
After working in health, education and the law, I now spend an increasing amount of time in Lichfield’s two Georgian museums – Erasmus Darwin House and the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum, volunteering as a tour guide and researching for fund raising talks on life in the 18th century.
