You're Dead to Me Renaissance Medicine: healthcare and disease in early modern England
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Feb 6, 2026 
Dr Ria Lina, comedian with a PhD in virology, brings humor and scientific flair. Dr Alanna Skuse, historian of medicine in 16th–18th century England, explains practitioners and practices. They explore humoral theory, bleeding and purges, plague-era social distancing, William Harvey’s circulation experiments, barber-surgeons and apothecaries, quacks and popular cures, and midwifery and gendered medical control.
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Quarantine And Distancing For Plague Control
- During the plague officials implemented household quarantine and avoidance of suspicious routes and materials.
- These measures amounted to practical social distancing even without germ theory.
George Thompson's Bizarre Plague Cures
- George Thompson claimed to have survived the plague four times and promoted odd cures like gemstones and dissolved snake flesh.
- He also advised staring at a toad until it dies, then using it as a remedy.
Early Transfusions Were Experimental And Risky
- Experimental transfusion and physiological experiments were active pursuits by Royal Society figures like Christopher Wren.
- Early transfusions used animal blood and often failed, revealing limits of contemporary physiology.
