Table of Contents

Introduction
The medicalisation of East Kent
The medicalisation of central southern England
The availability and nature of medical assistance
Medical practices
The nature and availability of nursing care
Plague and smallpox
Conclusion
Appendix: Medical indices for East Kent, West Sussex, Berkshire and Wiltshire
Bibliography

About the Author

Hon. Research Fellow, University of Exeter

Reviews

An important book for the social history of medicine.
*ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW*

Mortimer's description and conclusions must inform our understanding of seventeenth-century medical practice.
*JOURNAL OF SOCIAL HISTORY*

Contributes to our understanding of the mechanisms, inspirations, and effects of an important paradigmatic shift which continues to shape societies across the globe today.
*JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND HISTORY*

Chart[s] a remarkable medical revolution taking place throughout seventeenth-century England. Historians of early modern medicine should thank him for that.
*JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND ALLIED SCIENCES*

The results of this meticulous and painstaking research are persuasive and have far-reaching implications for the social history of medical care of the dying.
*SOCIAL HISTORY OF MEDICINE*

Mortimer's book is a feat of statistical organisation. He has deftly and meticulously analysed thousands of probate records, using complex and subtle quantities techniques. [...] It is a valuable contribution to the history of medicine, and succeeds in its aim to draw attention to the hitherto acknowledged rise in the employment of doctors at times of grave illness.
*LOCAL POPULATION STUDIES*

A work of great clarity and elegance, and provides the bedrock on which social history must be based.
*TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT*

A must for any studying the history of science or subjects related to the Renaissance and Industrial Revolutions.
*MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW*