Breast Cancer in the Eighteenth Century

Marjo Kaartinen

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Early modern physicians and surgeons tried desperately to understand breast cancer, testing new medicines and radically improving operating techniques. In this study, the first of its kind, Kaartinen explores the emotional responses of patients and their families to the disease in the long eighteenth century.Using a wide range of primary sources, she examines the ways in which knowledge about breast cancer was shared through networks of advice that patients formed with fellow sufferers. By focusing on the women who struggled with the disease as well as the doctors that treated them, much is revealed about early modern attitudes to cancer and how patients experienced – and were considered to experience – the cancerous body.

"'a valuable addition to the cultural history of medicine. Highly recommended.'"

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Breast Cancer in the Eighteenth Century

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv

CONTENTS
pp v-vi

Acknowledgements
pp vii-viii

Preface
pp ix-xii

1 - ‘One of the Most Grievous and Rebellious Diseases’: Defining, Diagnosing and the Causes of Cancer
pp 1-22

2 - ‘But Sad Resources’: Treating Cancer in the Eighteenth Century
pp 23-54

3 - Women's Agency and Role in Choice of Treatment
pp 55-88

4 - ‘So Frightful to the Very Imagination’: Pain, Emotions and Cancer in the Breast
pp 89-124

Epilogue
pp 125-126

Notes
pp 127-170

Works Cited
pp 171-176

Index
pp 177-181

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Breast Cancer in the Eighteenth Century

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