Tobacco or health 1602: an Elizabethan doctor speaks

Abstract

A few years before the death of Queen Elizabeth I, a booklet entitled Work for Chimny-Sweepers or A Warning for Tabacconists [sic], was published. Written by a doctor who called himself Philaretes, it was the first publication to present the health risks of tobacco use. Using continuum content analysis, which follows each of Philaretes's main messages over the subsequent four centuries, this paper sets his publication in the historical context of the medical and social frame of reference in which it was produced, and charts the development of each theme in later scientific research. In the setting of contemporary Tudor medical theory, based on 'the humours', Philaretes discussed many of the health risks that later research has proven to be true. In common with many early attempts at health education, the principles of Philaretes's approach appear to be what were later to be called the Health Belief Model and the KAP formula. By providing information about serious personal health risks and, thus, increasing the readers' knowledge, he hoped to change their attitude and consequently their behaviour. Overshadowed by King James I's much less scientific Counterblaste to Tobacco, Philaretes's publication deserves more credit than it has been given.

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