William Pulteney Alison : activist philanthropist and pioneer of social medicine

[摘要] The thesis looks in detail at three inter-related aspects ofAlison's life. It examines, firstly, his role in the developmentof Edinburgh's rudimentary 'health' network, achieved through theexpansion of the existing medical charity structure and theintroduction of a more interventionist and coordinated approach tothe city's health problems. It traces, secondly, the developmentof Alison's social thought - in 1820 he believed that medical andpractical relief for the poor could and should be supplied throughthe voluntary charities and only when that proved unsatisfactorythrough the poor law, whereas by 1840 he argued that public healthshould be the responsibility of government and that the excessiveincrease in poverty and disease in Scotland, which he believed hadoccurred, was proof that the charitable and legal relief providedwas inadequate. Finally, Alison's influence on the passage ofScottish poor law and public health legislation in the 1840s and1850s is examined - the latter involving an assessment of how farhe was responsible for the legislative delay. The poor law debate,1840-1845, which reveals the forces shaping the reform and theprevailing attitudes to poverty, highlights the challenge whichAlison's opinions represented and the resulting turmoil in Scottishsocial thinking, while his reasons for opposing health legislation,which established London control are of great importance. Theyreveal differences in the rationale behind, and way in which, theconcept of public health was developed in Scotland and England.Unlike Chadwick and his supporters, Alison emphasised povertyamelioration and sanitary reform. Part of the explanation for thediffering opinions lay in their respective miasmatic andcontagionist theories for fever generation, but it also reflects,perhaps more significantly, the impact of European medical policeideas on Scottish medical opinion - Alison's view of public healthclosely resembled that of the French hygienists.

[发布机构] University:University of St Andrews;Department:Medicine (School of)

[效力级别] Public health administration--Scotland

[关键词] Alison, William Pulteney;Public health administration--Scotland