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  • Book Notes

Denis Gibbs and Philip K. Wilson, eds. "Advice to a Young Physician" by Sir John Floyer MD (1649–1734) of Lichfield in Staffordshire. York: William Sessions Ltd., 2007. xviii + 156 pp. Ill. £15.00 (978-1-85072-363-9).

The editors of this small book tell us that "for over half a century, Sir John Floyer (1649–1734) practised as the only physician in the small cathedral city of Lichfield in the English midlands" (p. 1). Floyer is best known for his treatises on asthma, cold bathing, feeling the pulse, and preserving health in the aged, but the collection of his works in the Library of The Queen's College, Oxford, also includes essays of advice to physicians and prospective physicians. [End Page 504]

This book contains editions of the following essays: "Directions for the Education of my grandchild John Floyer in the Study of Physic"; "God is the Author of the Art of Physic"; "Concerning the Physician's Industry in the Study of Physic and those Arts which are Useful and the Method of Obtaining a Perfect Knowledge in his Art"; "Concerning the Physician's Charity, Compassion on the Sick and his Fees"; "Concerning the Physician's Prudence in Managing his Practice and in his Discourse and Conversation amongst his Patients and in his Prognostication concerning the Event or Changes of Diseases"; "The Character of an Ill Physician and some Errors in Physic are Censured"; "Concerning the Evidence which a Physician has from the Fabric and the Actions of a Human Body that there is a God and that there is in the Body a Substance distinct from it"; "Devotions Made Out of Epictetus's Morals, and Simplicius's Comment."

The texts are accompanied by a preface, a selective chronology of Sir John Floyer's life and times, an Introduction, and fifty-one illustrations that were chosen to both enhance the text and provide "small glimpses of the contemporary scene" (p. vii). The eight chapters of the treatise are followed by Notes, a glossary, and an index of names and places.

The Editors

Herbert C. Covey. African American Slave Medicine: Herbal and Non-Herbal Treatments. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2007. vii + 207 pp. $85.00 (ISBN-10: 0-7391-1644 4, ISBN-13: 978-0-7391-1644-9).

This book considers medicine as experienced and provided by slaves in the United States before and during the Civil War. "It focuses on plant (herbal) and alternative medical practices employed by African Americans, enslaved and free, to address illness and injury. By studying these folk medical practices and the corresponding materia medica, one can gain insight into the complex nature of human relationships under slavery" (pp. 1–2).

The Introduction ("Medical Care and Slaves") is followed by chapters entitled, "White Medical Care of Slaves," "Slave Folk Practitioners," "Conjuring and Hoodoo," "Slave Herbal and Plant Treatments," and "Enslaved African American Non-Herbal Treatments and Materia Medica." Following "Closing Observations" are three Appendices ("Plant and Herb Treatments," "Unknown Plant / Herbal Treatments," and "Non-Plant or Herbal Treatments").

The Editors [End Page 505]

Sally Sheard and Sir Liam Donaldson. The Nation's Doctor: The Role of the Chief Medical Officer, 1855–1998. Oxford: Radcliffe, 2006. xxi + 238 pp. Ill. £40.00 (paperbound, 1-84619-001-0).

The office of Chief Medical Officer (CMO) in the United Kingdom has been "actively restructured" (p. xi) by each of the fourteen officers (all men) who have held the post. This book discusses their tenures thematically, not strictly chronologically, in eight chapters: "A Doctor at the Heart of Government," "The Line of Succession," "Navigating the Corridors of Power," "Making Advice Count," "A Doctor's Doctor?" "Engaging External Expertise," "The Nation's Doctor," and "Reflections: A Job Is What you Make It." The book concludes with profiles of each CMO, lists of Secretaries of State for Health, Ministers of Health, and Permanent Secretaries in the Ministry of Health, the Department of Health and Social Security, and the Department of Health.

The Editors [End Page 506]

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