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Case 3: Guy's Hospital Physical Society and Enlightenment Medicine (1)

Exhibition curator: Brandon High

Extract from: Laws of the Physical Society, held at Guy's Hospital. London: printed by T. Cox, 1800. [Guy's Hospital Physical Society Collection RC19.2 GUY]

Laws of the Physical Society, held at Guy's Hospital. London: printed by T. Cox, 1800.

Guy's Hospital Physical Society Collection RC19.2 GUY

The Guy's Hospital Physical Society (1771-1852) reflected a trend in the eighteenth century: people with scientific and philosophical interests tended to form societies to promote a cause and to exchange ideas. It was (together with John Coakley Lettsom's London Medical Society) one of the first such medical societies in eighteenth century Britain. Such societies also reflected the dearth of medical journals and the absence (except in Edinburgh) of university departments teaching medicine which was not theoretical and abstract. For many medical pupils, the Society compensated for the drawbacks of conventional medical education, particularly the absence of discussion of case histories. The Society did not intend to further the interests of any particular group of doctors : physicians, surgeons and apothecaries and general scientists were all welcome to join. This eclecticism is reflected in the library. As surgeons could participate on an equal footing with physicians, it tended to enhance surgeons' status. Several important surgeons, including Sir Astley Paston Cooper (1768-1841), actively participated in the Society and became officers.

As the section of the Rules on the Library shows, the lending library was regarded as an integral part of the Society's educative function. The deposit that members were required to place with the Librarian when borrowing books shows that the library had a perennial problem of loss of stock.

Foxglove spike: William Withering. An account of the foxglove, and some of its medical uses, with practical remarks on dropsy, and other diseases. Birmingham: printed by M. Swinney, for G. G. J. and J. Robinson, 1785. Guy's Hospital Historical Collection

Guy's Hospital Historical Collection

"Self-medication" was very popular in all classes of society in the eighteenth century, and sometimes, as in the work of Edward Jenner (1749-1823) and William Withering (1741-1799), fed into established medical practice. As a botanist and follower of Linnaeus, Withering was interested in herbal remedies. His experiments on a recipe for herbal tea kept by a Shropshire family, which was useful in treating swollen legs, revealed that the leaves of the foxglove, which yielded digitalis, was the effective element. The stimulant action of digitalis on the heart reduced the oedema that commonly accompanied heart disease. Foxglove was not effective against renal dropsy: this distinction was to be grasped in the nineteenth century by Richard Bright.

In 1780, the poet and physician Erasmus Darwin claimed that he had "discovered" this remedy before Withering: this was a factor which led to the breakdown of their friendship, together with accusations by Withering that Darwin's son had "poached" one of his patients.

Nitrous oxide machine from: Humphry Davy. Researches, chemical and philosophical ... London: printed for Joseph Johnson ... ;by Biggs and Cottle, Bristol, 1800. [Guy's Hospital Physical Society Collection QD651.N5 DAV]

Humphry Davy. Researches, chemical and philosophical& ... London: printed for Joseph Johnson ... by Biggs and Cottle, Bristol, 1800.

Guy's Hospital Physical Society Collection QD651.N5 DAV

Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829) made his reputation through his work with Thomas Beddoes (1760-1808) at the Pneumatic Institution in Bristol with experiments using nitrous oxide (laughing gas), before he became renowned as the inventor of the safety lamp. It was proposed that tuberculosis could be cured using the equipment which was devised by Davy to breathe the gas. Unfortunately, the anaesthetic properties of nitrous oxide were completely overlooked, and patients had to rely for a long time on the heroic skills of an Astley Cooper to avoid unbearable pain.

During the Institute's existence, some eminent intellectual figures were prevailed upon to participate in these experiments, among them the poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) and Robert Southey (1774-1843). The pleasant sensations which they derived from breathing nitrous oxide encouraged Romantic speculation about the relationship between external stimuli and the generation of unconscious ideas and associations.