Regimens and their readers in eighteenth-century England

This chapter focuses on eighteenth-century developments in regimens, a well-established genre of medical writing dedicated to preventing illnesses by advocating temperance in diet and other non-naturals. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century challenges to Galenic medicine in the form of chemical and mechanical medicine also affected regimen texts, resulting in a decline of works offering advice on diet and lifestyle. However, the eighteenth century saw a revival of the genre, which now took into consideration the chemical interpretations of foods and how they affect the human body as well as mechanical explanations of the working of the body. Furthermore, the readership of regimen texts extended from the upper and middling classes to include the bourgeoisie, who now had the wealth and leisure time required to be able to follow the advice laid out in these texts. This chapter exemplifies the new attitudes to preventive medicine through the views of two of the most influential regimen writers of this century, George Cheyne and William Buchan. Buchan in particular also provided recommendations to improve the diet of the poor, thus bringing dietary advice within the reach of the English nation as a whole.