John Wesley (1708

Abstract

John Wesley was a competent physician, quite capable of the diagnosis and care of patients. His Primitive Physic provides a picture of therapy in the eighteenth century but he rejected the bleeding and purging which were common at that time. He was ahead of his time in his emphasis on hygiene, cleanliness and simple living. In this he has been regarded as a pioneer of preventive medicine. He was in the forefront of the philanthropic movement in his provision of Dispensaries for the poor and his care of the sick and elderly. In spite of this he does not seem to have had a direct influence on the physicians of the day. Loudon does not mention him in his Origins and Growth of the Dispensary Movement in England and Clarke only gives him a passing reference in his History of The Royal College of Physicians. He experimented with electrotherapy and it seems likely he was one of those who saw that electricity could be the ‘greatest step forward’ in medicine as a whole.

References

Dictionary of National Biography

Bowmer

Dr John, John Wesley – Physician: Wesley Chapel Magazine October 1969

Hill

Wesley-Introduction to Primitive Physic by John Wesley. London: G. Whitfield, 1960

Porter

The greatest Benefit to Mankind. Harper Collins, 1997: 266

Wesley

Primitive Physic, 23rd edn. London: G. Whitfield, 1792

Hill

Wesley – John Wesley among the Physicians. Epworth Press, 1958

Wesley

Letters: To Vincent Perronet: 1748 No. II p307

Clarke

History of The Royal College of Physicians: Vol. II. Oxford University Press, 1966

Loudon

ISL

. The origins and growth of the Dispensary Movement. Bulletin of the History of Medicine

10.

Newman

An Outline of the Practice of Preventative Medicine. London: HMSO, 1926

11.

Tissot . Aivs au Pauple 1769

12.

Wesley

The Family Physician 1769

13.

Wesley

Desideration or Electricity made Plain and Useful. London: Balliere, Tindall & Cox, 1760

14.

Woodward

One at London. The Story of Wesley's Chapel. London: Tee and Witen, 1966

15.

Hackman

John Wesley and his Electrical Machine. John Wesley House, 2003

16.

Malory

. John Wesley and the Eighteenth Century –Therapeutic Uses of Electricity. Tuiller Theological Seminary 1995

17.

Lovett

The subtil Medium. London, 1756

18.

Rowbottome

Susskind

Electricity and Medicine. History of their Interaction. San Francisco Press, 1984

19.

Watson

A Collection of Electrical Experiments. London: Philosophical Transactions, 1748

20.

Chalstrey

The life and work of John Freke (1688–1756). St Bartholomew's Hospital Journal, 1957

John Wesley (1708–91)

Abstract

References