Literature and Medicine

Abstract:

The early nineteenth century saw a rise in both trained and untrained physicians in the United States. Practitioners such as Samuel Thomson railed against what he viewed as "learned quackery"; trained doctors who were nevertheless incompetent when it came to treatment. Meanwhile, literary output reflected this conflict in the ways in which it depicted medicine and physicians. Notably, Timothy Flint and Catharine Maria Sedgwick both examined approaches to self-care that complicated notions of what it meant to be a trained physician in a rapidly expanding America. Flint and Sedgwick's readership were aware of the fractures in the medical community and read these pieces not only for entertainment, but also as arguments for what might be considered evolving responsible medical practice.