The nine essays here examine what pre-modern societies thought about the spread of disease and how it could be controlled. They study the extent to which concepts familiar to modern epidemiology were present and what the pre-modern terminology tells us about the conceptions of those times.
Contagion - even today the word conjures up fear of disease and plague and has the power to terrify. The nine essays gathered here examine what pre-modern societies thought about the spread of disease and how it could be controlled: to what extent were concepts familiar to modern epidemiology present? What does the pre-modern terminology tell us about the conceptions of those times? How did medical thought relate to religious and social beliefs?
