Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of plates
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- PART I Landscapes of the past
- 1 Airs, waters and places
- 2 Regional and local settings
- PART II Contours of mortality
- PART III Environments and movements of disease
- PART IV Contours of death; contours of health
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy and Society in Past Time
1 - Airs, waters and places
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of plates
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- PART I Landscapes of the past
- 1 Airs, waters and places
- 2 Regional and local settings
- PART II Contours of mortality
- PART III Environments and movements of disease
- PART IV Contours of death; contours of health
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy and Society in Past Time
Summary
The salubrite of habitable places is expended chiefly in three things; in purenesse of the ayre, quality of the soyle and situation, and wholesomenesse of the water.
(Venner, 1628, p.1)Historical medical topography seems a highly promising and entirely uncharted field.
(Porter and Wear, 1987, p.5)AIRS, WATERS AND PLACES: THE HIPPOCRATIC HERITAGE
The airs, the waters, the places where we live and work have always been deeply embedded with meaning and significance. To the toiling farmer, the wandering labourer, the country doctor, the parish priest, the city gentleman or the nursing mother, the mood of the air, the supply of the water, the texture of the soil have long been critical components in the daily struggle for survival. As Venner reminded his readers in 1628, the pureness of the air, the quality of the soil and situation, and the wholesomeness of the water are vital features for determining ‘the salubrite of habitable places’.
As we try today to capture a sense of the past, to recreate an image of the sights, the smells, the sounds of the worlds we have lost, we are reminded through pictures and writings, through artefacts and relicts of the powerful influence of the natural world, of the mystery and magic of the ever-changing elements of the atmosphere, of the obsessive concern to monitor, understand and control the airs, the waters and the places of our world.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1997