Household Medicine in Seventeenth-century England

How did 17th-century families in England perceive their health care needs? What household resources were available for medical self-help? To what extent did households make up remedies based on medicinal recipes?

Drawing on previously unpublished household papers ranging from recipes to accounts and letters, this original account shows how health and illness were managed on a day-to-day basis in a variety of 17th-century households. It reveals the extent of self-help used by families, explores their favourite remedies and analyses differences in approaches to medical matters. Anne Stobart illuminates cultures of health care amongst women and men, showing how 'kitchin physick' related to the business of medicine, which became increasingly commercial and professional in the 18th century.

Introduction: Household Health Care Matters
Section 1: Information about Health and Health Care
1. 'The danger is over': News From, to and About the Sick
2. Medicines or Remedies: Recipes for Health and Illness
Section 2: Resources for Health Care and Household Variations
3. Early Modern Spending on Health Care
4. Animal, Vegetable and Mineral: Medicinal Ingredients and Prepared Remedies
5. 'For to make the ointment': Kitchen and Garden Physick
Section 3: Health Care Practices and Therapeutic Determination
6. Therapeutics in the Family
7. 'I troble noe body with my Complaints': Chronic Disorders
8. Self-help and Making Medicines at Home
Conclusion
Appendix of Household Accounts
Glossary of Ingredients
Bibliography
Index

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