The Germ of an Idea

Contagionism is an old idea, but gained new life in Restoration Britain. The Germ of an Idea considers British contagionism in its religious, social, political and professional context from the Great Plague of London to the adoption of smallpox inoculation. It shows how ideas about contagion changed medicine and the understanding of acute diseases.

Margaret DeLacy is the author of The Germ of an Idea: Contagionism, Religion and Society in Britain, 1660-1730 (Palgrave MacMillan, 2016), Prison Reform in Lancashire, 1700-1850: A Study in County Administration (Stanford University Press, 1986), and articles on medical history. She is an independent scholar in Portland Oregon.

Preface 1. Introduction: Medical Theory In Early Modern Europe 2. Restoration Medicine And The Dissenters 3. Populist Writing On Diseases In The Late Seventeenth Century 4. The Search For Middle Ground: Disease Theory As Natural History 5. Animalcules And Animals 6. English Contagionism And Hans Sloane's Circle 7. An English Treatise On Living Contagion: Benjamin Marten's New Theory Of Consumptions, 1720 8. Smallpox Inoculation And The Royal Society, 1700-1723 9. Contagion And Plague In The Eighteenth Century Conclusion