A politics of the senses: the political role of theKing's-Evil in Richard Wiseman's Severall Chirurgicall Treatises.

Written by Richard Wiseman, sergeant-surgeon to King Charles II of England, 'A Treatise on the King's-Evil' within his magnum opus Severall Chirurgicall Treatises (1676), acts as a proto-case series which explores the treatment and cure of 91 patients with the King's-Evil. Working within the confines of the English monarch's ability to cure the disease with their miraculous (or thaumaturgic) touch, Wiseman simultaneously elevates and extends the potential to heal to biomedicine. Wiseman's work on the King's-Evil provides an interesting window through which the political expediency of the monarch's thaumaturgic touch may be explored. The dependence of the thaumaturgic touch on liturgy, theatricality and its inherent political economy in Restoration England allowed Wiseman to appropriate the traditionally monarchical role of healer as his own, by drawing attention to a medical ritual of healing that was as reliant, just as the theatrical ritual of monarchical thaumaturgy was, on symbolic binaries of healer-healed, head-body and touch-sight.

[History of scrofula: from humoral dyscrasia to consumption]. / Historia de la escrófula: de la discrasia humoral a la consunción.

The term “scrofula” was used for a long time to designate a chronic swelling of cervical lymph nodes. This paper outlines the prevalent ideas on the nature, pathogenesis and the treatment of this disorder, from classical Greek medicine up to the 18th century. A Hippocratic treatise regarded scrofula as produced by an accumulation of phlegm, with a consequent imbalance or dyscrasia of the body humors. It was believed that it could heal spontaneously; but it could also soften, open through the skin and have an obstinate course. The treatment consisted mainly on local applications, incision to evacuate the soft content, or extirpation of the abnormal mass. In France and England, crowds of scrofulous patients were touched by the kings who were supposed to have a hereditary miraculous power to cure the disease. A Medieval text mentioned that scrofula could also affect other parts of the body. In the 17th century, scrofula was reputed as a frequent condition and was attributed to blood acrimony which coagulated in spongy organs. It was associated to phthisis or consumption due to the lethal outcome in some patients and to a cheese-like appearance of the pulmonary and the scrofulous lesions.

Historia de la escrófula: de la discrasia humoral a la consunción / History of scrofula: from humoral dyscrasia to consumption

The term “scrofula” was used for a long time to designate a chronic swelling of cervical lymph nodes. This paper outlines the prevalent ideas on the nature, pathogenesis and the treatment of this disorder, from classical Greek medicine up to the 18th century. A Hippocratic treatise regarded scrofula as produced by an accumulation of phlegm, with a consequent imbalance or dyscrasia of the body humors. It was believed that it could heal spontaneously; but it could also soften, open through the skin and have an obstinate course. The treatment consisted mainly on local applications, incision to evacuate the soft content, or extirpation of the abnormal mass. In France and England, crowds of scrofulous patients were touched by the kings who were supposed to have a hereditary miraculous power to cure the disease. A Medieval text mentioned that scrofula could also affect other parts of the body. In the 17th century, scrofula was reputed as a frequent condition and was attributed to blood acrimony which coagulated in spongy organs. It was associated to phthisis or consumption due to the lethal outcome in some patients and to a cheese-like appearance of the pulmonary and the scrofulous lesions.

[The pretended healing of scrofula by the king's touch]. / La pretendida curación de la escrófula por el toque del rey.

From the 11th century up to the beginning of the 19th century a healing rite was performed by the kings of France and England. They were considered to have a hereditary divine power to cure with their hand the scrofula, a tuberculous lymphadenitis that affects mainly cervical lymph nodes. The rite took place regularly over groups of scrofulous patients and a wide audience. The belief in that miraculous power was based on the fact that kings had been annointed and crowned in a religious ceremony, thus acquiring a priestly nature together with their temporal power. The monarchs of France and England would have stimulated their subjects' credulity to strengthen their power over the feudal lords, specially when a change of dynasty took place. Scrofula may have been chosen due to a high incidence, with an evolution that may mimick healing, and also because the concept of scrofula may have included other lesions with episodes of spontaneous remission. The available historical data and the current knowledge of tuberculous lymphadenitis do not support the belief of massive miraculous healings by the king's touch.

The treatment of scrofula in Ferrara (Italy) in the 19th century.

The therapeutic approaches used against scrofula in the 19th Century in Ferrara are discussed. In the manuscripts and treatises of the time treasured in the town's libraries, hygienic and dietetic rules and treatment of this illness were described. In particular, baths and mineral water spas (sulphurous, ferruginous and other mineral waters, such as a bromo-iodine-salt water) and the sea-bathing establishment were recommended. The remedies reported in Campana's Pharmacopoeia ferrarese and the efficacious treatments employed in St Anna Hospital are discussed. The Committee and its President, Marquis Giovanni Manfredini, decided to cure the scrofulous in bathing establishments.

A historical vignette (18). The King's Evil: scrofula, physicians and the Royal Touch.

The King's evil, or scrofula, were the terms used in the past to designate what we now call tuberculous adenitis of the neck. Royalty, including the kings of France, possessed the gift of curing this malady by "Royal Touch". What was the attitude of the physicians towards this miraculous power? There was at least official collusion between the physician and the magical powers of the sovereign. Both sides were well advised to show consideration for one another (Figure 1).

John Browne (1642-1702): anatomist and plagiarist.

In contrast to many other physicians of his age, John Browne (1642-1702), an English anatomist and surgeon, managed to strike a balance in his career that spanned relative obscurity, prestige, and notoriety. Among his more prestigious credits, Browne was Surgeon in Ordinary to King Charles II and William III. He also had numerous publications to his name, some of which are credited as great innovations. His career, however, was tempered by his most important book, which has been critiqued by his contemporaries as well as modern historians as plagiarism. Although Browne undeniably copied the works of others and published them under his name, he was not alone in this practice. Various forms of intellectual thievery were common in Browne's day, and there were many perpetrators. The life of this overlooked figure in the history of anatomy and the stigma attached to him will be examined.

Richard Wiseman 1622-1676.

Wiseman, like Paré, learnt his surgery on the battlefield. On his return to civilian practice in London he became the first consultant surgeon, only treating patients referred to him. Increasing ill-health allowed him time to write and the resulting Severall Chirurgicall Treatises describes over 600 of his own cases. It is a more detailed and personal account than any written by his contemporaries, and his sections on the King's Evil and cancer show a remarkable understanding of disease for his time. Wiseman raised the status of British surgery very considerably, his work having a great influence well into the 18th century.