ABSTRACT
Using materials obtained from an unusually rich repository of documents pertaining to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, this chapter illustrates both the nature and range of analyses possible in the history of hospitals. At the Edinburgh Infirmary, the admission of cases of venereal diseases declined significantly between the years 1770-1800, in part because proportionately fewer soldiers entered the hospital, but also because other ailments such as typhus fever, malaria, and rheumatism became more frequent. Data cited in the portion of the Edinburgh study were extracted from fourteen separate student casebooks containing a total of 808 complete cases from the years 1771 to 1799. Published statistics or annual reports, official regulations or statutes, and minutes of meetings held by hospital governing boards may be available in many instances. Important additions can be general registers of patients, admission and discharge lists, ward journals, prescription books, and apothecary inventories.
