Clean: a history of personal hygiene and purity

470 Pages·2007·4.28 MB·English

by  Virginia Smith

clean
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clean
a history of
personal hygiene
and purity
virginia smith
1
3
GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp
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Thisbookisdedicatedto
Roy Porter
(1946–2002)
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acknowledgements
Iwouldhereliketoacknowledgeandsincerelythankallthose
people who have listened, given advice, answered endless
strange questions, responded to letters and telephone calls,
lent books, read chapters and papers, put up with harangues
or monologues and shown kind interest generally, with
patience and curiosity, over the years. They know who they
are. They certainly include all my supportive friends, and my
family.Inparticular,IwouldliketothankmysupervisorsBrian
Abel-Smith(in memoriam) and Charlotte Erikson, both at the
London School of Economics, where the project began; and
aboveall,toRoyPorter(inmemoriam) attheWellcomeInsti-
tute for the History of Medicine, who gave such support and
encouragementthroughoutmyPh.D.andwellbeyond,andwas
so close to actually seeing it all in print. Especially grateful
thanksgotoPeterBurke,RogerCooter,LogieBarrow,Margaret
Pelling,PeregrineHorden,AndrewDarnell,SusanJames,Hannah
Charlton, Jane Hutchings, Will Sulkin and Jo¨rg Hensgen for
commenting on manuscript drafts; and to Barry Lewis for the
photograph. Very great thanks go to Virginia Berridge and all
at the Centre for History in Public Health, London School of
Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, for their support and comra-
deship;alsototheWellcomeTrustforgivingmeearlyfinancial
assistance to browse and work my way through their library’s
viii acknowledgements
extensive popular health collection, and later towards costs for
completingtheproject.Finally,IcannotthankLucianaO’Flaherty
andMatthewCottonatOxfordUniversityPressenough,forhelp-
ingtoturnitallintoabook.Theawardforsheerpatience,how-
ever, goes to my dear husband, John Cumming, who has very
rarely complained; and to our darling daughter Kate, who has
hadtosuffertwoobsessedparentsunderoneroof.
contents
ListofIllustrations xi
Introduction 1
1. Bio-physicality 8
2. TheCosmeticToilette 45
3. GreekHygiene 74
4. RomanBaths 102
5. Asceticism 126
6. MedievalMorals 144
7. ProtestantRegimens 185
8. CivilCleanliness 224
9. HealthCrusaders 264
10. TheBodyBeautiful 307
Notes 353
SelectBibliography 433
AcknowledgementsofSources 437
Index 439