Abstract
In this survey of the medical allusions made by Charlotte Brontë in her novels and letters, the author, a consultant surgeon, concludes that Charlotte’s knowledge of medicine was extensive, perceptive, generally accurate, and based on her own experience.
Keywords:
Notes
1 E. C. Gaskell, The Life of Charlotte Brontë (London: Smith, Elder, 1914)(first published 1857).
2 J. Maynard, Charlotte Brontë and Sexuality (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984).
3 P. Rhodes, ‘A medical appraisal of the Brontës’, Brontë Society Transactions, 16 (1972), 101–109.
4 L. Dooley, ‘Psychoanalysis of Charlotte Brontë, as a type of woman of genius’, American Journal of Psychology, 31 (1920), 221–72.
5 K. Friedlander, (1943) ‘Charlotte Brontë; a study of a masochistic character’, International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 24 (1943), 45–53.
6 M. Hall, On the Diseases and Derangements of the Nervous System (London: H. Bailliere, 1841).
7 W. Buchan, Domestic Medicine (London: Milner, 1782).
8 T. J. Graham, Modern Domestic Medicine (London: Simpkin & Marshall, 1826).
9 J. Lock. and W. T. Dixon, A Man of Sorrow: The Life, Letters and Times of the Rev. Patrick Brontë, 1777–1861 (London: Nelson, 1965).
10 W. Gérin, Charlotte Brontë: The Evolution of Genius (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967).
11 W. Gérin, Branwell Brontë (London: Hutchinson, 1961).
12 G. E. Harrison, The Clue to the Brontës (London: Methuen, 1948).
13 C. M. Edgerley, ‘Causes of Death of the Brontës’, British Medical Journal, 1 (1932), 619.
14 W. Gérin, Emily Brontë: A Biography (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971).
15 D. Leathes, A Treatise upon the Present Alarming Contagion amongst Dogs … &c. (London: R. Davis, 1760).
16 D. F. Layard, An Essay on the Bite of a Mad Dog (London: J. Rivington, 1762).
17 J. Foot, An Essay on the Bite of a Mad Dog (London: T. Becket, 1788).
18 S. A. Bardsley, Medical Reports of Cases and Experiments with Observations Chiefly Derived from Hospital Practice (London: W. Stratford for R. Bickerstaff, 1807).
19 W. A. Maryan, A Treatise Explaining the Impossibility of the Disease Termed Hydrophobia being Caused by the Bite of any Rabid Dog. (London: E. Cox et al., 1809).
20 J. L. Bardsley, ‘Hydrophohia’, in The Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine, ed. by J. Forbes et al. (London: Sherwood, Gilbert & Piper, 1833–35).
21 J. Vaughan, Cases and Observations on the Hydrophobia. 2nd ed. (London: T. Cadell & G. Robinson, 1778(?)).
22 N. B. Morrison, Haworth Harvest: The Lives of the Brontës (London: Dent, 1969).
23 W. Gérin, Anne Brontë. 2nd ed. (London: Allen Lane, 1976).
24 The Brontës: Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence, ed. by T. J. Wise and J. A. Symington (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1932).
25 A. S. McNalty, ‘The Brontës. A Study in the Epidemiology of Tuberculosis’, British Journal of Tuberculosis, 28 (1934), 4–7.
26 I. Fraser, ‘Disease is good for you’, Ulster Medical Journal, 47 (1978), 141–150.
27 N. Oswald, ‘Secret of the Art of Living’, British Medical Journal, 280.6221(1980), 1080.
28 P. Bentley, The Brontës and their World (London: Thames & Hudson, 1969).