Anne Hardy
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198203773
- eISBN:
- 9780191675966
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203773.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Scarlet fever was one of the first diseases to have an active preventive policy directed against it, and for some late nineteenth-century observers it came to represent a great triumph of preventive ...
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Scarlet fever was one of the first diseases to have an active preventive policy directed against it, and for some late nineteenth-century observers it came to represent a great triumph of preventive medicine. At the mid-century it accounted for some 10,000 deaths per annum in England and Wales. Its principal incidence was on small children between the ages of one and five; although adults not uncommonly caught it, it was relatively rare in infants. In the 1860s it was ‘the most dreaded, yet the least feared, of all familiar diseases’, and was considered to be more infectious and deadly than any other disease. It was widespread through all social classes, and was often fatal. The early efforts of London's medical officers in disinfecting and isolating cases where possible had little effect, but the opening of the Metropolitan Asylums Board isolation hospitals in the 1870s was accompanied by a decrease in mortality, more pronounced in London than elsewhere.Less
Scarlet fever was one of the first diseases to have an active preventive policy directed against it, and for some late nineteenth-century observers it came to represent a great triumph of preventive medicine. At the mid-century it accounted for some 10,000 deaths per annum in England and Wales. Its principal incidence was on small children between the ages of one and five; although adults not uncommonly caught it, it was relatively rare in infants. In the 1860s it was ‘the most dreaded, yet the least feared, of all familiar diseases’, and was considered to be more infectious and deadly than any other disease. It was widespread through all social classes, and was often fatal. The early efforts of London's medical officers in disinfecting and isolating cases where possible had little effect, but the opening of the Metropolitan Asylums Board isolation hospitals in the 1870s was accompanied by a decrease in mortality, more pronounced in London than elsewhere.
John Henderson
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780300196344
- eISBN:
- 9780300249286
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300196344.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter looks at the role of Lazaretti in Florence in the campaign against plague. In contrast to other cities, such as Venice and Milan, which constructed purpose-built isolation hospitals, ...
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This chapter looks at the role of Lazaretti in Florence in the campaign against plague. In contrast to other cities, such as Venice and Milan, which constructed purpose-built isolation hospitals, Florence relied on adapting existing convents, churches, and patrician villas on the outskirts of the city. The chapter questions how far the epithet ‘more feared than death itself’ can legitimately be applied to these institutions. What makes the Florentine case so remarkable is the survival of the daily correspondence between the hospital directors and the health board. These letters provide a unique and moving insight into the way the Lazaretti were run, the medical and spiritual medicines prescribed, and the challenges thrown up by the admission and treatment of well over 10,000 people, more than 10 percent of the city's population. The chapter then argues that, while mortality may have been high, the extraordinary investment of time, personnel, and finances underlined the belief in the efficacy of these institutions as a way to solve the war against plague.Less
This chapter looks at the role of Lazaretti in Florence in the campaign against plague. In contrast to other cities, such as Venice and Milan, which constructed purpose-built isolation hospitals, Florence relied on adapting existing convents, churches, and patrician villas on the outskirts of the city. The chapter questions how far the epithet ‘more feared than death itself’ can legitimately be applied to these institutions. What makes the Florentine case so remarkable is the survival of the daily correspondence between the hospital directors and the health board. These letters provide a unique and moving insight into the way the Lazaretti were run, the medical and spiritual medicines prescribed, and the challenges thrown up by the admission and treatment of well over 10,000 people, more than 10 percent of the city's population. The chapter then argues that, while mortality may have been high, the extraordinary investment of time, personnel, and finances underlined the belief in the efficacy of these institutions as a way to solve the war against plague.
John Henderson
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780300196344
- eISBN:
- 9780300249286
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300196344.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
Plague remains the paradigm against which reactions to many epidemics are often judged. This book examines how a major city fought, suffered, and survived the impact of plague. Going beyond ...
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Plague remains the paradigm against which reactions to many epidemics are often judged. This book examines how a major city fought, suffered, and survived the impact of plague. Going beyond traditional oppositions between rich and poor, the book provides a nuanced and more compassionate interpretation of government policies in practice, by recreating the very human reactions and survival strategies of families and individuals. From the evocation of the overcrowded conditions in isolation hospitals to the splendor of religious processions, the book analyzes Florentine reactions within a wider European context to assess the effect of state policies on the city, street, and family. It unearths the forgotten stories of doctors and administrators struggling to cope with the sick and dying, and of those who were left bereft and confused by the sudden loss of relatives.Less
Plague remains the paradigm against which reactions to many epidemics are often judged. This book examines how a major city fought, suffered, and survived the impact of plague. Going beyond traditional oppositions between rich and poor, the book provides a nuanced and more compassionate interpretation of government policies in practice, by recreating the very human reactions and survival strategies of families and individuals. From the evocation of the overcrowded conditions in isolation hospitals to the splendor of religious processions, the book analyzes Florentine reactions within a wider European context to assess the effect of state policies on the city, street, and family. It unearths the forgotten stories of doctors and administrators struggling to cope with the sick and dying, and of those who were left bereft and confused by the sudden loss of relatives.
James L. Huffman
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780824872915
- eISBN:
- 9780824877866
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824872915.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Chapter Five looks at the special problems that accompanied poverty, problems made worse by the near total lack of buffers when special difficulties arose. It begins with those who hit rock bottom, ...
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Chapter Five looks at the special problems that accompanied poverty, problems made worse by the near total lack of buffers when special difficulties arose. It begins with those who hit rock bottom, particularly the homeless and juvenile beggars (kojiki kozō). Next, it takes up illnesses that attacked the poor with special frequency and force, including STDs, tuberculosis and cholera. There also is a discussion of the isolation hospitals (actually, dying dumps) to which poor people with contagious diseases often were sent. Then come disasters such as floods and fires, which ravaged hinmin areas more often than other parts of the cities. A section on crime examines police data to show that while petty crimes like pickpocketing were high, other types of crime were no higher in hinmin areas than elsewhere. The chapter concludes with the psychic issues that accompanied poverty, including the tendency toward self-blame and the frequency of suicide.Less
Chapter Five looks at the special problems that accompanied poverty, problems made worse by the near total lack of buffers when special difficulties arose. It begins with those who hit rock bottom, particularly the homeless and juvenile beggars (kojiki kozō). Next, it takes up illnesses that attacked the poor with special frequency and force, including STDs, tuberculosis and cholera. There also is a discussion of the isolation hospitals (actually, dying dumps) to which poor people with contagious diseases often were sent. Then come disasters such as floods and fires, which ravaged hinmin areas more often than other parts of the cities. A section on crime examines police data to show that while petty crimes like pickpocketing were high, other types of crime were no higher in hinmin areas than elsewhere. The chapter concludes with the psychic issues that accompanied poverty, including the tendency toward self-blame and the frequency of suicide.
John Henderson
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780300196344
- eISBN:
- 9780300249286
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300196344.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter details the impact on the population of the policies discussed in the previous chapter. It first analyses the factors underlying the spread of plague, both through Florence and at a more ...
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This chapter details the impact on the population of the policies discussed in the previous chapter. It first analyses the factors underlying the spread of plague, both through Florence and at a more local level in the city's largest parish, S. Lorenzo. Based on records of city and parish, it has been possible to analyse the number of people infected and buried in relation to the topographical and social profiles of individual streets. If this enables one to consider some of the environmental determinants of infection, it is also possible to assess the impact on mortality of the policy of removing the sick from their houses to Lazaretti, through comparing the number of people buried in extra-mural plague pits with those at the isolation hospitals. For contemporaries it was successful, since higher numbers died in Lazaretti, suggesting that they had managed to identify and remove the sick before they got worse. This policy remained in force the next year when a new strategy was introduced, with the imposition from mid-January of a general 40-day quarantine of the inhabitants of both the city and the surrounding countryside. Although this was an extremely expensive operation, since food and drink were being supplied daily to over 34,000 people, the continued drop in mortality led contemporaries to regard this as fulfilling their aims.Less
This chapter details the impact on the population of the policies discussed in the previous chapter. It first analyses the factors underlying the spread of plague, both through Florence and at a more local level in the city's largest parish, S. Lorenzo. Based on records of city and parish, it has been possible to analyse the number of people infected and buried in relation to the topographical and social profiles of individual streets. If this enables one to consider some of the environmental determinants of infection, it is also possible to assess the impact on mortality of the policy of removing the sick from their houses to Lazaretti, through comparing the number of people buried in extra-mural plague pits with those at the isolation hospitals. For contemporaries it was successful, since higher numbers died in Lazaretti, suggesting that they had managed to identify and remove the sick before they got worse. This policy remained in force the next year when a new strategy was introduced, with the imposition from mid-January of a general 40-day quarantine of the inhabitants of both the city and the surrounding countryside. Although this was an extremely expensive operation, since food and drink were being supplied daily to over 34,000 people, the continued drop in mortality led contemporaries to regard this as fulfilling their aims.
