Healing waters: Medicine, Chemistry, Relief and Extraordinary Cures in Britain in the Long Eighteenth Century
This article focuses on the use and theories of mineral waters to explore how healing can be understood as a multifaceted phenomenon by doctors and patients alike. In medical theory and practice around taking the waters, health improvements were expected first and foremost from two main practices: t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Institut du Monde Anglophone
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Etudes Epistémè |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/episteme/20122 |
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| author | Sophie Vasset |
| author_facet | Sophie Vasset |
| author_sort | Sophie Vasset |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article focuses on the use and theories of mineral waters to explore how healing can be understood as a multifaceted phenomenon by doctors and patients alike. In medical theory and practice around taking the waters, health improvements were expected first and foremost from two main practices: the purge provided by drinking the waters, and the expectorations facilitated by the baths. Healing was perceived on a continuum of intensity, from mere relief to global cure, and the mitigation of pain was crucial to measure the impact of treatments. The water cure was inscribed in both a collective time structured around the seasons, and in a more individual experience of the mineral water treatment. Many diseases treated by mineral waters were chronic, and the length of the treatment varied, from short to long-term, with frequent reiterations. Finally, the culture of mineral waters was inherited from a long-lasting Roman Catholic culture of thaumaturgic waters which persisted in various medical and popular forms. Mineral waters are thus a rich entry into the question of caring and healing because they stand at the crossroads of official and popular medicine, of natural history and collective data-gathering, of religious and medical history, and of individual journeys and institutional endeavours. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ea779fd95cf74c06bb1429a8ef07608d |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1634-0450 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Institut du Monde Anglophone |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Etudes Epistémè |
| spelling | doaj-art-ea779fd95cf74c06bb1429a8ef07608d2025-08-20T02:32:42ZengInstitut du Monde AnglophoneEtudes Epistémè1634-04502025-03-014610.4000/13jupHealing waters: Medicine, Chemistry, Relief and Extraordinary Cures in Britain in the Long Eighteenth CenturySophie VassetThis article focuses on the use and theories of mineral waters to explore how healing can be understood as a multifaceted phenomenon by doctors and patients alike. In medical theory and practice around taking the waters, health improvements were expected first and foremost from two main practices: the purge provided by drinking the waters, and the expectorations facilitated by the baths. Healing was perceived on a continuum of intensity, from mere relief to global cure, and the mitigation of pain was crucial to measure the impact of treatments. The water cure was inscribed in both a collective time structured around the seasons, and in a more individual experience of the mineral water treatment. Many diseases treated by mineral waters were chronic, and the length of the treatment varied, from short to long-term, with frequent reiterations. Finally, the culture of mineral waters was inherited from a long-lasting Roman Catholic culture of thaumaturgic waters which persisted in various medical and popular forms. Mineral waters are thus a rich entry into the question of caring and healing because they stand at the crossroads of official and popular medicine, of natural history and collective data-gathering, of religious and medical history, and of individual journeys and institutional endeavours.https://journals.openedition.org/episteme/20122efficiencybody studieschronicitycultural history of healthhistory of chemistrymineral waters |
| spellingShingle | Sophie Vasset Healing waters: Medicine, Chemistry, Relief and Extraordinary Cures in Britain in the Long Eighteenth Century Etudes Epistémè efficiency body studies chronicity cultural history of health history of chemistry mineral waters |
| title | Healing waters: Medicine, Chemistry, Relief and Extraordinary Cures in Britain in the Long Eighteenth Century |
| title_full | Healing waters: Medicine, Chemistry, Relief and Extraordinary Cures in Britain in the Long Eighteenth Century |
| title_fullStr | Healing waters: Medicine, Chemistry, Relief and Extraordinary Cures in Britain in the Long Eighteenth Century |
| title_full_unstemmed | Healing waters: Medicine, Chemistry, Relief and Extraordinary Cures in Britain in the Long Eighteenth Century |
| title_short | Healing waters: Medicine, Chemistry, Relief and Extraordinary Cures in Britain in the Long Eighteenth Century |
| title_sort | healing waters medicine chemistry relief and extraordinary cures in britain in the long eighteenth century |
| topic | efficiency body studies chronicity cultural history of health history of chemistry mineral waters |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/episteme/20122 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sophievasset healingwatersmedicinechemistryreliefandextraordinarycuresinbritaininthelongeighteenthcentury |