Maladies and Medicine: Exploring Health & Healing, 1540-1740

By Sara Read and Jennifer Evans

Pen & Sword, £12.99, 182 pages

Early modern healthcare was a serious business, with physicians battling a range of conditions to keep their patients alive. Jennifer Evans and Sara Read are experts in the field, and their new book, Maladies & Medicine, focuses on this interesting area of social history.

The book gives a good overview, with each chapter devoted to a specific complaint. Some, such as ‘Greensickness’, which affected virgins, are no longer recognised. Others, smallpox for example, are no longer current. Then there are the conditions that still affect people today: diabetes and epilepsy.

Case studies are provided. The diary of Samuel Pepys is particularly well-used, including information on his agonising kidney stones. Other examples are less familiar, such as Lady Anne Conway, whose skull was drilled to relieve headaches. Some chapters are not for the squeamish. Toothache was believed to be caused by gnawing worms, while parasitic infections were often chronic. A brief introduction provides background to prevailing medical theory, although the thematic approach makes it difficult to get a sense of changing ideas and practices over time. Nonetheless, Maladies & Medicine is engrossing. The authors more than fulfil their stated aim of providing insight into what it meant to be alive, thrive and survive in the era.