Unguaranteed Remedies

A Material History of Medicines in Seventeenth-Century England

Abstract

This article studies medicines and the medical community in the disease-ridden context of
seventeenth-century England. I chose the seventeenth century as the field of research particularly
because plague eruptions frequently occurred in England throughout this period of time. By
taking a material-culture approach that examines medicines, distinct characters, manufacturing
processes, and retailing circumstances, this article contends that seventeenth-century English
medicines reflected the general stagnation in the development of medical ideas and serious
divisions within the medical community. People’s preoccupation with scents indicated their
reliance on ancient doctrines, and the lack of consensus regarding manufacturing methods
showed rifts within the medical community. The disputes also extended to medicine-selling, as
two prominent professions of the medical industry, the physicians and apothecaries, antagonized
each other due to profit conflicts in the medical market. The unclear ideas, endless disputes, lack
of consensus, and poor effects of medicines reflect a stagnated and chaotic era during which
medicines were a powerful source of controversy.