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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2009

Mary J. Dobson
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

Man is not born, does not live, suffer, die in the same way in all parts of the world. Birth, life, sickness and death, all change with the climate and the soil … with race and nationality. These varied manifestations of life and death, of health and sickness, these incessant changes in space and according to the origin of man, constitute the special object of medical geography. Its domain embraces meteorology and physical geography, statistical population laws, comparative pathology of different races, the geographical distribution and migration of diseases.

(Boudin, 1848, vol. 1, p. xxxv)

‘I'M FEELING UNDER THE WEATHER!’ – THE SEARCH FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ASSOCIATIONS IN TIMES AND PLACES OF DISEASE AND DEATH

The search for associations between disease, death and atmospheric, environmental and geographical influences has fascinated and perplexed physicians and their patients for many thousands of years. For at least five millennia, men and women have observed and recognised that patterns of sickness vary according to locality and season, and that certain attributes of the weather or the environment might be related to fluctuations and variations in ill-health and well-being. Over the centuries, people have expressed these beliefs using such aphorisms as ‘I'm feeling under the weather’ or ‘You'll catch your death of cold’, while the sick might be recommended to try ‘a change of air’ or a trip to the spas and seaside to ‘take the waters’ and ‘breathe in the ozone’. The airs and waters of the earth have been viewed both as a source of disease and as a therapy for the sick.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1997

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  • Introduction
  • Mary J. Dobson, University of Oxford
  • Book: Contours of Death and Disease in Early Modern England
  • Online publication: 18 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511581847.001
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  • Introduction
  • Mary J. Dobson, University of Oxford
  • Book: Contours of Death and Disease in Early Modern England
  • Online publication: 18 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511581847.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Mary J. Dobson, University of Oxford
  • Book: Contours of Death and Disease in Early Modern England
  • Online publication: 18 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511581847.001
Available formats
×