Bibliograph

The mesmerist, the society doctor who held Victorian London spellbound, Wendy Moore

Type

Label

The mesmerist, the society doctor who held Victorian London spellbound, Wendy Moore

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references and index

resource.biographical

individual biography

Illustrations

platesillustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

The mesmerist

Nature of contents

bibliography

Responsibility statement

Wendy Moore

Sub title

the society doctor who held Victorian London spellbound

Summary

At the beginning of the 1800s, surgery was a brutal affair. It was said of one acclaimed surgeon 'His surgical acquirements were very small, his operations generally very badly performed, and accompanied with much bungling, if not worse...It was lucky, therefore, for Lucas at least, that his deafness made him largely immune to his patients' dying groans'. If you needed to have a tumour removed or a leg hacked off, the most surgeons could offer by way of relief was a large swig of brandy. In addition, the medical profession was riddled with nepotism and corruption so that it was who - rather than what - you knew that was more important than knowledge. Into this arena came two ambitious young men. Thomas Wakley, founder of the new Lancet magazine, which aimed to 'lance the boil of corruption and malpractice that he had witnessed in the capital's hospitals and medical schools...but also to shed light on the best medical advances and scientific practice'

Classification