18th Century Fevers

How and why did the Medical Treatment of Fevers in the Eighteenth Century Differ from that of Today?

The meaning of ‘fever’ has changed dramatically in the last few centuries. While nowadays fever is seen as a disturbance that should and would be fixed, three centuries ago people viewed it as a fundamental disorder which might never leave. More often than not, a persistent threat of death invaded their minds and made laypeople think that the end was inevitably near. However, this is far from being the only difference between the medical treatment of fevers in so distinct ages. To understand such a complex problem as fevers and its treatment in the eighteenth century, especially in opposition to its treatment nowadays, it is necessary to evaluate

Physician did not have one certain way to cure the disease. He could have known that it was the fever that attacked the layperson, but no two fevers were the same. Symptoms differed from patient to patient, and they were often accompanied with symptoms that had nothing to do with fever. The eighteenth-century medicine was all about action and reaction. There were almost everyday changes in symptoms and therefore in physician’s treatment strategy as well. Moreover, they lacked the technology that makes medicine more efficient today. The eighteenth-century physician was by many means restricted in his treatment. However, despite the limitations, he proved to be able to solve many cases of fevers and other diseases, and this gradually paved his way to higher social status as well as it accounted to the respect medicine gets

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