Fatal thirst : diabetes in Britain until insulin / by Elizabeth Lane Furdell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Furdell, Elizabeth Lane.

Series:

History of science and medicine library ; v. 9.

History of science and medicine library, 1872-0684 ; v. 9

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Diabetes--Great Britain--History.

Diabetes.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (207 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Although ancient and medieval doctors knew of the disorder called diabetes, the disease they treated was rare and largely confined to young sufferers. By the late Renaissance, however, the increasing incidence of diabetes in older adults required a re-examination of what caused the malady and how to cure it. Led by English healers, such as controversial apothecary Nicholas Culpeper and elite physician Thomas Willis, the study of diabetes produced significant debate in print over the locus of the disease and remedies for its treatment. These debates paralleled the growing schism in English medical circles over contradictory iatric theories and professional jurisdiction. On the eve of insulin's discovery, diabetologists still quarrelled over what diets might alleviate its symptoms. Including perspectives from patients and drawing on myriad sources, this book examines changing approaches to diabetes and its victims within the context of medical and scientific progress.

Contents:

Introduction : the "biography" of a disease and its sufferers

The early history of diabetes from classical times to the Renaissance : diagnoses and descriptions

Renaissance diabetics and their doctors : changing treatments for revolutionary times

Early modern medicine in print and diabetes : published advice and imagery

Diabetes and seventeenth-century medical controversy

Reconstructing diabetic life in early modern England

Diabetic specialists and their patients in the long nineteenth century : competition for a cure

After insulin : the lingering effects of an incurable disease.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [169]-190) and index.

ISBN:

1-282-40072-X

9786612400728

90-474-2597-9

OCLC:

586143153

Publisher Number:

10.1163/ej.9789004172500.i-195 DOI