Document Detail


Making medicines in the early modern household.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  18344588     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
This article is a study of household medicine production and consumption through an examination of the papers of Elizabeth Freke (1641-1714) and a wider survey of around nine thousand medical recipes in printed and manuscript collections from seventeenth-century England. It investigates the sorts of medicines that may have been produced in early modern households and the production methods, ingredients, and equipment used. Focusing on three inventories of medicines compiled by Freke between 1710 and 1712 as well as her manuscript recipe collection and medical reading notes, I contend that she kept on hand a number of cure-alls and medicines for general weaknesses, while holding onto recipes for more-specific ailments; the recipes, in these cases, would be the "just-in-case" medicine cabinet. I also argue for a close relationship between commercial and domestic medicine, and present the idea that household practitioners purchased not only ingredients (both processed and unprocessed) and equipment, but also medical knowledge.
Authors:
Elaine Leong
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Biography; Historical Article; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Bulletin of the history of medicine     Volume:  82     ISSN:  0007-5140     ISO Abbreviation:  Bull Hist Med     Publication Date:  2008  
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2008-03-17     Completed Date:  2008-04-30     Revised Date:  2009-11-11    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0141233     Medline TA:  Bull Hist Med     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  145-68     Citation Subset:  IM; Q    
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK. e.leong@warwick.ac.uk
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
England
Herbal Medicine / history*
History, 17th Century
History, 18th Century
Humans
Pharmacies / history*
Residence Characteristics
Self Medication*
Grant Support
ID/Acronym/Agency:
//Wellcome Trust
Personal Name Subject
Personal Name Subject:
Elizabeth Freke

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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