Samuel Johnson In The Medical World: The Doctor And The Patient

Samuel Johnson has become known to posterity in two capacities: through his own works as the great literary essayist of the eighteenth century, and, through Boswell's Life, as a man - notoriously a medical patient with a string of physical and psychological ailments. John Wiltshire brings the two together in this original study of Johnson the writer as 'Doctor' and patient. The subject of modern medical historians' case studies, Johnson also cultivated the acquaintance of doctors in his own day, and was himself a 'dabbler in physic'. Dr Wiltshire illuminates Jonhson's life and work by setting them in their medical context and also examines the importance of medical themes in Johnson's own writings. He discusses the many parts of Johnson's work, touching on doctors, medicine, hospitals and medical experimentation, and analyses the central theme, running throughout, of human suffering - in body and mind - and its alleviation. SAMUEL JOHNSON IN THE MEDICAL WORLD Plaster cast of a bust of Samuel Johnson, incorporating his deathmask (1784). William Cumberland and James Hoskins. National Portrait Gallery, London. SAMUEL JOHNSON IN THE MEDICAL WORLD THE DOCTOR AND THE PATIENT JOHN WILTSHIRE English Department, La Trobe University, Melbourne The right of the University of Cambridge to print and sell all manner of books was granted by Henry VIII in 1534. The University has printed and published continuously since 1584. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE NEW YORK PORT CHESTER MELBOURNE SYDNEY IN MEMORY OF L E O N T I N E DINGA AND NORAH WILTSHIRE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521383264 © Cambridge University Press 1991 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1991 This digitally printed first paperback version 2005 A catalogue recordfor this publication is available from the British Library ISBN-13 978-0-521-38326-4hardback ISBN-10 0-521-38326-9 hardback ISBN-13 978-0-521-02228-6 paperback ISBN-10 0-521-02228-2 paperback CONTENTS Preface A note on references i 2 3 4 5 6 7 page ix x Introduction Johnson's medical history: facts and mysteries The practice of physic Transactions of the medical world Fortune of physicians Charity and cruelty Johnson and vivisection Medicine as metaphor The history of a man of learning Dr Robert Levet Therapeutic friendship 223