Steering the Seas of Reform: Education, Empirical Science, and Royal Naval Medicine, 1815-1860
STEERING THE SEAS OF REFORM: EDUCATION, EMPIRICAL SCIENCE, AND ROYAL NAVAL MEDICINE, 1815-1860 by Christopher Hamilton Myers Bachelor of Arts in History, Kenyon College, 2009 Master of Arts in History, University of Pittsburgh, 2011 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2016 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH THE DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Christopher Hamilton Myers It was defended on August 2, 2016 before Melanie Hughes, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh Patrick Manning, PhD, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of World History, Department of History, University of Pittsburgh Marcus Rediker, PhD, Distinguish University Professor, Department of History, University of Pittsburgh Dissertation Co-Chair: William Chase, PhD, Professor, Department of History, University of Pittsburgh Dissertation Co-Chair: Seymour Drescher, PhD, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus, Department of History, University of Pittsburgh ii Copyright © by Christopher Myers 2016 iii STEERING THE SEAS OF REFORM: EDUCATION, EMPIRICAL SCIENCE, AND ROYAL NAVAL MEDICINE, 1815-1860 Christopher Hamilton Myers, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2016 ABSTRACT As medical and imperial actors, early-nineteenth-century British naval surgeons navigated the sweeping changes that occurred within the Royal Navy, the medical profession, and British society. They embraced and applied empirical natural and medical scientific approaches between the 1810s and 1850s. Their attempts to employ science as they negotiated naval service’s realities and experiences, pursued their scientific and medical interests and duties, and confronted tropical fevers transformed the naval service.
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