ABSTRACT
Modern medicine is a child of the Renaissance and of that independent study of science which preceded the rediscovery of Greek literature. Traditionalism and medievalism retained much of their influence in medicine during the 17th century and even in the early 18th century. The 18th century doctor has some reason to complain of the historian, whose popular picture of him is of a pompous ass in a large wig, sniffing a knobbed stick, while he tries to look wise and to conceal his ignorance under a flow of meaningless technical terms. Most of the British medical pioneers of the 18th century were of good birth and education, and men of high moral character actuated by a noble zeal for advancing knowledge and benefiting humanity. Gilbert Blane was one of the many medical men who began to deal with the history of diseases and the statistics of public health as likely to throw light on the causes of disease.
