A Tom Cat’s Tail
James Woodforde was a rather ordinary man living in the eighteenth century. He was a Church of England clergyman working as a curate in Somerset before he was offered his own living in Norfolk in...
View ArticleA Diet for Old Age
Cake or Boiled Sparrow? by Amie Bolissian McRae Last week newspaper headlines urged the over-65s to ‘Eat butter and cakes to keep … healthy’.[i] The president of the British Association for Parenteral...
View ArticleMince Pies and Pottage
A short while ago Sara and I headed to the 1620s house at Donington le Heath to whip up a seventeenth-century mice pie recipe, and accompanying pottage. We have blogged about mince pies before and the...
View ArticleFrom the Garden
It is often said that seventeenth-century men and women used plants that could be found in the garden or the hedgerow to make their own medicines. This sometimes provides a distorted picture of how...
View ArticleHoarse Chestnuts
It is that time of year when children up and down the country start looking out for conkers, and about the time of year when schools start banning them from the playground. They are a sign that autumn...
View ArticleFox Flesh
The self-styled ‘Professor of Physick’ and prolific publisher of medical texts William Salmon (1644-1713) was described by some as the ‘King of the Quacks’.1 While I’m sure he did not see himself in...
View ArticleThe Benefits of Juniper Berries
Today pubs and bars are filled to the brim with wondrous varieties of Gin. The spirit has been resurgent in recent years becoming the fashionable drink of discerning customers. Its varied flavours...
View ArticleManaging Melancholy
In 1621 the scholar Robert Burton published The Anatomy of Melancholy. In this weighty tome Burton presented a medical discussion of the disease Melancholy (what would now cover a range of conditions...
View ArticleSoothing Sunburn
Mary Fleetwood has a recipe for easing sunburn in her manuscript recipe book. ‘A Water for Sun Burning’ Take a still full of snails, put to it 1 quart of Creame, 1 pint of white wine vinegar, 1/2 pound...
View ArticleSnail salves, waters, & syrups
In an old blog post about treating urinary conditions we included a remedy made of snail shells. Mary Fleetwood’s sunburn recipe also contained snail. Snails perhaps because they were easily accessible...
View ArticleHistoric Hostility and the Search for a Smallpox Vaccine.
A guest post by Jo Willett As the Coronavirus crisis continues, seemingly daily we get news of the scramble to find a vaccine and ineffective antibody tests. Today we have a guest blog by Jo Willet...
View ArticlePear Power
Being stuck inside the house on lock-down is certainly very challenging, but it has meant that I have had ample time to enjoy my rather petite pear tree explode into blossom. Eating Fruit Eating fruit...
View ArticleBloodletting and Pleurisy
Writing in his autobiography Sir Simonds D’Ewes explains that on the 22 February 1631 his father, Paul Dewes a barrister and government official, ‘fell sick of a fever, joined with a pleurisy, of which...
View ArticleMaking a Medical Commonwealth
Abigail Harley and Brampton Bryan: Making a Medical Commonwealth By Emma Marshall How were illness and healthcare entangled with power in the past? Abigail Harley (c.1664-1726) of Brampton Bryan,...
View ArticleWomen’s Writing Special Issue
Sara and I are editing a special issue of Women’s Writing! See the details here or head to the Women’s Writing website for more. Women’s Writing on Illness and Disease In light of the current Covid-19...
View ArticleIt cost me a cold
Travelling and bathing In June 1645 John Evelyn travelled from Rome to Venice. The journey left him extremely weary and so he decided to visit the ‘Bagnias’ to take a bath. He described the experience...
View ArticleWeight loss Wonders
Wirtzung’s wonders Christopher Wirtzung’s treatise The General Practice of Physicke (1605) wrote at length of the ‘troublesomnes of Fatnes’. He suggested that those wishing to diet should ‘take everie...
View ArticleGender Concealed: How to get a boy in the early modern era
Gender reveal parties, which started some time in the 2000s, have become increasingly elaborate and Instagram worthy. Some excessive stunts have even caused raging wildfires. When I was younger these...
View ArticleSt. David’s Day Daffodils
1 March is St. David’s Day, Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant celebrating the patron saint of Wales, St. David, who was a bishop of Mynyw in the 6th century. As a part of this celebration social medial has been...
View ArticleStruck upon the Belly
Reading Thomas Chamberlayne's 1656 publication, The Compleat Midwifes Practice, that shared the knowledge and case notes of Louise Bourgeois, a French Royal midwife, there are numerous cases of women...
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