%0 Journal Article %T An overlooked eighteenth-century scrofula pamphlet: changing forms and changing readers, 1760-1824 %A Hannah Bower %D 2019 %V %N Autumn 2019 %K eighteenth century %K John Morley %K pamphlet %K reading %K Scrofula %X This article tells the story of an eighteenth-century medical pamphlet called An essay on the nature and cure of the King’s Evil, deduced from observation and practice. This was written by John Morley (d. 1776/7), a wealthy Essex landowner who advertised free medical treatments. The pamphlet is one of many short tracts on scrofula produced after the ceremony of ‘the royal touch’ ceased with the death of Queen Anne. However, it merits special attention from historians of medicine and historians of the book because it was edited and reprinted many more times than other surviving scrofula tracts: 42 editions appeared between 1760 and 1824. This suggests significant popularity. The Essay is also of interest because the first fifteen editions display changes and additions completed by Morley before his death in late 1776 or early 1777. Between these versions, Morley consistently refashioned his identity as practitioner and author. He also adjusted his portrayal of the intended readers of the pamphlet: in later editions, readers are recorded using the Essay in increasingly complex and autonomous ways to design their own medical treatments. The pamphlet is therefore testimony to the fluid relationship between practitioner and patient. It shows that seemingly simple, formulaic and easy-to-read forms like pamphlets and case studies could play a variety of complex and shifting roles in eighteenth-century medical encounters and the construction of healing knowledge. %Z The research for this article was supported by the Wellcome Trust [grant no. 213159/Z/18/Z]. %Z Post-1714 texts containing information about natural remedies for scrofula include Boulton (1714), Blackmore (1726), Willan (1746), Scott (1759), Durant (1762), A dissertation on the King’s Evil (1763), Logan (1770), White (1784), Rymer (1790), Hamilton (1791), Crowther (1797), and Brown (1798). I have not included in this list compendiums which discuss scrofula alongside many other ailments. %Z Exceptions include Duarte and Chuaqui (2016) and Lakhtakia (2013), which are summaries of different historical treatments for scrofula. Komorowski and Song (2018) explore how the seventeenth-century physician Richard Wiseman used imagery from the Royal Touch to authorise his own natural methods of curing scrofula. %Z For examples of these commercially motivated physicians, see Furdell, 2002, pp 135–54. %Z See John Morley’s will at the National Archives: PROB 11/1027/277. %Z See James Buckland’s will at the National Archives: PROB 11/1188/227. %Z He published A Catalogue of valuable and useful books, selected from the libraries of several persons deceased (London, 1735) as ‘James Buckland, bookseller in Chelmsford. Who [...] sells new books and Pamphlets as cheap as in London’. %Z For other examples, see Tobin, 1697, p 4 and Boyle, 1694, pp 26–27. The former is a pamphlet and the latter is a scrofula remedy incorporated into a remedy collection published by Robert Boyle. %Z Whilst still considering Boyle’s text outdated, Hunter and Knight (2007) suggest that Boyle did not consider it a definitive statement on the topic but an imperfect contribution intended to stimulate further discussion. %Z This brief reference to Newtonian ideas of attraction occurs in Morley, 1760, pp 27–28, but the authority cited is Francis Bacon (1561–1626): ‘Observe what Lord Bacon says “ As it seemeth Salt draweth Blood, as well as Blood draweth Salt.” That is, they reciprocally attract each other.’ %Z The author of the review misspelt Morley’s name. %Z See, for example, the table of prices for medicines sold at a London shop in Whitehall Evening Post (2 January 1790–5 January 1790). On medical advertising in general, see Furdell (2002), pp 135–54 and Mackintosh (2017). %Z Fissell, 2007, pp 111–112 points out that many similar claims in early modern vernacular medical works were rhetorical. %Z See Nickelsen, 2006, pp 104–48, on eighteenth-century debates about the usefulness of any kind of botanical illustration. %Z Similarly, in Giles Parsons’ short pamphlet A little book of rare receipts for the cure of several distempers (1710?, pp 3–4), a scrofula remedy involves taking pilewort roots and hanging them around the patient’s neck on a piece of string until they drop off. %Z Morley may have added the chemical justification for the ribbon colour to the fourth edition in response to this review. %Z Daniel Roberts, the author of another eighteenth-century pamphlet on scrofula, wrote ‘the author is well aware of the unfavourable light in which the publisher of any specifick medicine may be regarded’ (Roberts, 1792, p 29). %Z I have been unable to consult a surviving copy of the thirteenth edition. %Z See General Evening Post (20 March 1779–23 March 1779), Issue 7057) %Z See the entry on Wilkie in the British Book Trade Index at: http://bbti.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/details/?traderid=75844. James Buckland’s will stipulated that Thomas Longman (1731–1794), another bookseller on Paternoster Row, should advise on the dispersal of stock; he must have passed the Essay on to George Wilkie. See Buckland’s will at the National Archives: PROB 11/1188/227. %Z On the maintenance of high prices for many types of book during the first half of the nineteenth century, see Raven, 2007, p 347. %Z For overviews of changes in medical practices and medical publishing between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, see Foucault, 1973; Jewson, 1976; Topham, 2009; Raven, 2007, 320–50). %Z The National Library of Medicine Unique ID number for this book is 2506005R; it can be accessed online at https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-2506005R-bk. %Z Landmark studies analysing the different ways early modern readers annotated books include Grafton, 1990; Sherman, 1995 and 2008; Blair, 2010; Wall, 2015; Leong, 2018. As stated in the introduction, studies of reading practices often focus on academic and scholarly readers; Leong and Wall’s studies of household recipe book owners are attempts to redress this imbalance. %Z Half a recipe written in this hand also appears on a blank endpaper at the end of the book In all three examples, the following letters are often similarly formed: w, d, y, h and t. %Z There is an extensive body of literature on tacit knowledge, including – but not limited to – Ryle (1945), Polanyi (1958), Polanyi (1967), Oakeshott (1962), and Bourdieu (1977). %I The Science Museum Group %@ 2054-5770 %B eng %U https://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/article/scrofula-pamphlet/ %J Science Museum Group Journal