Casebooks shine light on early modern medicine
The casebooks of two doctors active at the turn of the 17th century have been made available online. Cambridge University has digitised 80,000 medical reports written by Simon Forman and his protégé Richard Napier, who claimed to be able to diagnose patients’ ailments using astrology. Cases include that of Edward Cleaver, whose “ill thoughts” were attributed to a neighbour’s witchcraft, as well as Joan Broadbrok, who believed her children to be “rats and mice”.