RSPH

Our Chair, Dr Selwyn Hodge, introduced the meeting, speaking of a ‘loss of chronology in history’, mostly due to the way history is taught in schools as separate events. There are fewer stories in the history that is taught these days and as a result children have a less well rounded view of history.

Dr Stanwell-Smith began with telling us that the first medical exams were in the eighteenth century; there were no uniform standards before then – hence the prevalence of ‘quacks’.

The origins of the expression ‘Ps and Qs’ have been debated, but it is most likely to originate from the 1700s and the printing presses, where those letters could be easily mixed up. There are Dutch origins to the word ‘quack’; quackery quickly took on wide usage for the medical profession.

Thomas Beddoes was one of the first people to coin the phrase and disparage ‘quacks’ but he advertised medicine, which would have had debatable effectiveness. There are, of course, strict rules nowadays on the advertising of medicines. When apothecaries were established they had rules for the importing of medicines and standards developed quite quickly. In 1617 a charter was established for the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. People would train as doctors and then continue their training attached to an apothecary.

Shedding blood was a common treatment and as barbers were skilled with a knife, an increasing number became surgeons. In 1745 surgeons became recognised in their own right. Bodies of criminals were often used for dissections and training. John of Arderne was one of the earliest surgeons, practising in around the 14th and 15th centuries. He was famed for one of his treatments – anal fistula- from which, remarkably, only half of his patients died.

Henry VIII had his leg cut regularly and in 1518 gave a charter to the Royal College of Physicians. In 1869, the RCP created an international standard for the classification of diseases.

The Bawdy Hospital of St Thomas was established in 1106 on the South Bank, and was so called because it provided beds for young women ‘of disrepute’. Amusingly, the bill for a bed at the hospital has been found on the expense claims of quite a few gentlemen.

Plagues began in 1348, spreading easily across the island of Great Britain, due to the low exposure to disease and subsequent low immunity. Monks often all died together as they were a small community on a small island. 1665 was of course the year of the great plague which killed 20% of the population. The benefit of the plague was the beginning of the documentation of disease and ways to control it.

However, quack remedies and cures quickly came to the fore. They suggested killing cats and dogs – this was done, but of course the then homeless fleas jumped to human hosts and the problem increased.