Physicians, Pestilence and the Poor

The purpose of the book is to explore several aspects of the history of medicine and social conditions in pre-Confederation Nova Scotia with special emphasis on the impact which pestilent diseases had on both the Halifax and the rural populations. As with my previous book on eighteenth-century medicine, this book is written within the context of general Nova Scotian history identifying the roles played by the Lieutenant-Governor, the Council, the House of Assembly, and the town and city governments of Halifax, in the provision of health care. In addition to providing a very detailed analysis of the education, training, and practise of physicians and surgeons during the period, the book presents the first discussion of the rancorous war of words which raged in Halifax newspapers between regulars and quacks prior to the passage of the Medical Act of 1828. The book also includes the first account of the impact made by the several alternative medical therapies which appeared in Nova Scotia during the first half of the nineteenth-century. Finally, the book contains a comprehensive study of the Halifax Poor House hospital. Letters from inmates in that asylum and from patients in its hospital provide a window into that unpleasant place, the existence of which thwarted Halifax medical practitioners from realizing their desideratum: a general public hospital, all during the pre-Confederation period.