Doctors and Slaves: A Medical and Demographic History of Slavery in the British West Indies, 1680–1834

Cover......Page 1
Frontmatter......Page 2
Contents......Page 8
List of tables and figures......Page 12
Preface......Page 16
Acknowledgment......Page 20
The rise of the South Atlantic System......Page 24
The importance of the West Indies......Page 28
Malaria and yellow fever......Page 32
The Army Medical Board's Report......Page 34
Early works on epidemiology......Page 39
The fever books......Page 47
Slave medical manuals......Page 51
Conclusion......Page 63
Recruitment of doctors......Page 65
Medical gentlemen and quacks......Page 69
Efforts to upgrade the profession......Page 71
Medicine in Cuba and North America......Page 75
Diploma holders from Europe......Page 78
Doctor-scientists and authors......Page 85
Jamaican doctor-scientists and authors......Page 87
Conclusion......Page 92
The two medical cultures: Africa......Page 95
The two medical cultures: West Indies......Page 100
Folk medicine......Page 103
Yaws and its treatment......Page 106
Slave medical attendants......Page 112
Conclusion......Page 119
"To buy or to breed"......Page 121
The Atlantic slave trade......Page 123
West Africa and the slave trade......Page 126
The Guinea surgeons......Page 131
Duties on the coast......Page 136
Diseases and their treatment......Page 138
Preserving the health of seamen and slaves......Page 143
Mortality on the Middle Passage......Page 144
Conclusion......Page 148
The sugar plantation......Page 150
Treatment of slaves......Page 153
Seasoning imported slaves......Page 154
Clothing and housing......Page 157
The work force......Page 164
Management of absentees' estates......Page 168
Conclusion......Page 169
Cane hole digging and night work......Page 171
War and famine......Page 177
Hurricanes, wars, and famine......Page 181
Pickled and salted fish......Page 185
Slave provision grounds......Page 187
Calories and protein......Page 192
Provisioning slaves in the eastern Caribbean......Page 197
The punishment of slaves......Page 201
Conclusion......Page 205
"Disorders peculiar to the Negroes"......Page 208
Sickness and accidents......Page 211
Patterns of mortality......Page 217
Malnutrition and diseases of infants and children......Page 223
Diseases of children and adults......Page 230
Conclusion......Page 242
Patterns of reproduction......Page 245
Debate on the population failure......Page 248
"To multiply and rear the human species"......Page 251
Pro-natalist policies frustrated......Page 253
The victimization of black youngsters......Page 257
Black women as "work units" and "breeding units"......Page 262
Conclusion......Page 269
Introduction......Page 272
Variolation or inoculation......Page 273
Inoculation in Jamaica and England......Page 277
The Jamaican vaccine establishment......Page 281
Other campaigns against smallpox......Page 286
Conclusion......Page 288
Introduction......Page 291
The eighteenth-century experience......Page 292
Practical rules for hospital management......Page 299
Slave hospitals in Guyana......Page 302
Slave hospitals in Jamaica......Page 303
Critics of hospital management......Page 307
Slave hospitals in Cuba and the United States......Page 310
Conclusion......Page 313
The "irregular" practitioners......Page 315
Grenada doctors and slaves......Page 318
Doctors in the Leeward Islands and Barbados......Page 322
Doctor Jonathan Troup of Dominica......Page 325
Medical practice in Jamaica......Page 329
Doctor John Williamson of Jamaica......Page 332
Medical practice in Cuba and the United States......Page 336
Costs and benefits......Page 338
Conclusion......Page 341
Slave population attrition......Page 344
Heroic medicine in the West Indies......Page 352
The quality of plantation health care......Page 356
An epilogue......Page 360
Notes......Page 366
Bibliography......Page 425
Index......Page 436