Elizabethan Technology: Thomas Watson’s Steam Bath for the Relief of Gout

Authors

James Alsop, McMaster University Emeritus

Publication Date

10-2022

Keywords

Thomas Watson, technology, Elizabethan Era, gout treatment

Abstract

Thomas Watson (1513-84), Doctor of Divinity and deprived Marian bishop of Lincoln, developed an expertise in the treatment of gout. In his practice of experiential medicine in East Anglia, he used an innovative steam chest: the patient sat in a cut-open empty wine pipe, surrounded by heated bricks, and covered with a sheet. This device, with its method of enclosed steam heat, contrasts sharply with prevailing renaissance therapeutic philosophy.

Recommended Citation

Alsop, James (2022) "Elizabethan Technology: Thomas Watson’s Steam Bath for the Relief of Gout," Quidditas: Vol. 43, Article 9.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rmmra/vol43/iss1/9