This thesis examines the medical institutions and practitioners of Shropshire during the nineteenth century. Topics include the market-orientated attitude of society; the medical practitioners; competition to the medical profession from advertised medicines and retail sales; the Salop Infirmary and other voluntary institutions; the statutory systems of the Poor Law and Lunatic Asylum; and conflicting attitudes to water in public health and as a therapeutic agent The research shows that though Shropshire practitioners vigorously participated in demands for reform and protective legislation they dissented from opinions voiced in the metropolis. Like their provincial colleagues elsewhere. Shropshire practitioners saw themselves as surgeons whose practices involved much 'medical' work. They called for broadly-based education for their profession, and demanded protection from untrained competitors through medical registration. They pressed their claims in memorials to government and medical corporations and by combining in professional and social groups, especially the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association. Using Shropshire as a medical microcosm. it is postulated that the notions of 'medical practitioner' and 'medical orthodoxy' evolved in the manner described by Charles Darwin in 'The Origin of Species', rather than according to Lamarck's theory of the inheritance of acquired characteristics.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:627716 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Moore, Richard Maurice Armstrong |
| Publisher | University of Birmingham |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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