Roy Porter

Quack Medicine in Georgian England

Roy Porter looks into medicine in Georgian England where sufferers from the 'Glimmering of the Gizzard' the 'Quavering of the Kidneys' and the 'Wambling Trot' could choose their cures from a cornucopia of remedies.

Gibbon, the Secular Scholar

Gibbon may have been a man of his time but he was also master of his craft in deploying facts to show history (through the medium of the Roman Empire) as self-generating and self-explanatory, writes Roy Porter.

'Under The Influence': Mesmerism in England

A rage for Mesmerism gripped society in London at the end of the 18th century, as it had in Paris and Vienna. But it was to be short-lived. The excesses of its devotees soon discredited the 'science' in the eyes of the public and it eventually became a vehicle for unbalanced fringes of society.

Looking Backwards

History may ultimately be story-telling, but one moral that's lost on most historians is that every picture tells a story, says Roy Porter.

William Hunter, Surgeon

Roy Porter on a Scottish doctor who became the fashionable surgeon of choice in 18th century London.