On the History of Epidemiology in England. Inaugural Address of Session 1893-94

our Society concerns itself. I make no pretension to relating the history of epidemiology, but only wish to bring before you some few episodes illustrating the rise and development of the science in our own country. The conception and even the name of a science of epidemic diseases began long before with Hippocrates, and his treatise bearing the name of the Epidemics has been consciously or unconsciously the model of much that has been written since. The seven books thus named contain, indeed, many things not bearing on epidemics, but we find, especially in the first and third, which are regarded as the only genuine books, the two essential features of epidemic science; firstly, an account of the prevalence of certain diseases in particular seasons and their supposed relation to weather and climatic influences ; and, secondly, clinical histories, as we should now call them, of the illnesses of particular patients. Under the first heading comes the