The Apothecary's Wife : The Hidden History of Medicine and How It Became a Commodity.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gevirtz, Karen Bloom.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Medicine--History.

Medicine.

Traditional medicine--History.

Traditional medicine.

Women in medicine--History.

Women in medicine.

Physicians--History.

Physicians.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (266 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, 2024.

Summary:

A groundbreaking genealogy of for-profit healthcare and an urgent reminder that centering women's history offers vital opportunities for shaping the future. The running joke in Europe for centuries was that anyone in a hurry to die should call the doctor. As far back as ancient Greece, physicians were notorious for administering painful and often fatal treatments--and charging for the privilege. For the most effective treatment, the ill and injured went to the women in their lives. This system lasted hundreds of years. It was gone in less than a century. Contrary to the familiar story, medication did not improve during the Scientific Revolution. Yet somehow, between 1650 and 1740, the domestic female and the physician switched places in the cultural consciousness: she became the ineffective, potentially dangerous quack, he the knowledgeable, trustworthy expert. The professionals normalized the idea of paying them for what people already got at home without charge, laying the foundation for Big Pharma and today's global for-profit medication system. A revelatory history of medicine, The Apothecary's Wife challenges the myths of the triumph of science and instead uncovers the fascinating truth. Drawing on a vast body of archival material, Karen Bloom Gevirtz depicts the extraordinary cast of characters who brought about this transformation. She also explores domestic medicine's values in responses to modern health crises, such as the eradication of smallpox, and what benefits we can learn from these events.

Contents:

Cover

About the Author

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

Introduction

Part One

1. Kitchen Physic Is the Best Physic

2. The Countess of Kent's Recipe Book

3. Chicken Soup and Viper Wine

4. Proscriptions, Prescriptions, and Poetry

Color Plates

5. "Was Once a Science, Now's a Trade

6. The Laboratory on Cheesewell Street

7. The Doctoress's Cure for the Stone

Part Two

Ripples and Reflections

Bibliography

Acknowledgements

Image Credits

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780520409927

0520409922

OCLC:

1456763407