18th century English pediatric hospital care

Abstract

Until recently, physician-historians of pediatrics have generally assumed that “pediatrics as a specialized branch of medicine had no real existence before the middle of the nineteenth century” (Abt Garrison. History of Pediatrics, WB Saunders: London; 1965. p.1). This may be true if we equate pediatrics with professional organizations and specialized children’s hospitals (Cone TE. History of American Pediatrics, Boston: 1979; Mahnke CB. ‘The growth and Development of a Specialty: The History of Pediatrics’. Clinical Pediatrics. 2000; 12: 705-714). But as a body of knowledge and practices addressing the sick child, pediatrics has a much longer history (Newton H. The Sick Child in Early Modern England, 1580-1720. Oxford University Press, United Kingdom 2012; Levene A. Childhood and Adolescence In Jackson M. (ed) The Oxford Handbook of the History of Medicine. Oxford University Press. United Kingdom 2012 DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199546497.013.0018). Reconstructing the history of what might be called “pediatrics before pediatricians” requires going beyond the rare books and treatises that were long the traditional sources for medical historians. This dataset, compiled from 18th century English hospital admission records, is the first of its kind in this area.