Richard Blackmore and his Treatise on the English Spleen

In 1725, poet and physician Sir Richard Blackmore published A Treatise of the Spleen and Vapours. That workwas dedicated to what he called the “English Spleen”, a mental and bodily disorder, historically linked with melancholy, which according to him had a universal and tyrannical dominion over the...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Gattinoni, Andrés
Formato: Artículo revista
Lenguaje:Español
Publicado: Grupo Prohistoria 2018
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Acceso en línea:https://ojs.rosario-conicet.gov.ar/index.php/prohistoria/article/view/1171
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Sumario:In 1725, poet and physician Sir Richard Blackmore published A Treatise of the Spleen and Vapours. That workwas dedicated to what he called the “English Spleen”, a mental and bodily disorder, historically linked with melancholy, which according to him had a universal and tyrannical dominion over the men and women of England. This article provides a critical edition of the preface of Blackmore’s treatise. The introduction offers a biographical sketch of the physician and contextualizes the document by placing it within two debates of the early 18th century in which Sir Richard was involved: the Quarrel between the Ancients and the Moderns and a lesser-known controversy on the physiological function of the spleen.