The People's Health, 1830-1910

In this analysis of Victorian medical history, Professor Smith places the patient at the centre of his study. Structuring the text around the progression of human life - childbirth, infancy, childhood and youth, adults and old age - the author recounts in detail the ignorance and malpractice responsible for the very high mortality rates. Numerous medical and lay writings are used to reveal the chaotic state of the 19th-century medicine, and the reader is made very aware that the improvements to the nation's health owed far more to developments in sanitation, better housing and living conditions than to advances in medical science. The study concludes with an examination of the relevance of the Victorian experience to present-day medical care.