Privates on parade: soldiers, medicine and the treatment of inguinal hernias in Georgian England.

ABSTRACT

Hernias were prevalent among servicemen, typically recruited from amongst the malnourished. Civilian medical practice deemed the rupture incurable, taking a palliative approach. For the military this was unacceptable wastage rates due to ruptures were high, servicemen were valuable commodities. Examples here are used to illustrate that experimentation was a contentious activity, reliant on the whims of patronage and war-time budgets. Although military hospitals provided a good venue to engage in experimentation it was contested.