Download
the books
Download
Post Peak Medicine
Download Medicinal
Plants of the Isle of Man
Download "The Doctor"
by Manx poet T. E. Brown
Visit
"Manx Reminiscences" by Dr John Clague
Download
extracts from Dr Clague's original notebooks
Download Energy Supply on the Isle of Man
"Post Peak Medicine" is complete.
"Medicinal Plants of the Isle of Man" is still
under construction. It is intended to complement the Herbal
Medicine section of Post Peak Medicine for readers in the Isle of Man. I am attempting to photograph medicinal plants which grow in the Isle of Man, in their natural settings where possible, which means that work on the book stops during the winter months when the plants are dormant.
"The Doctor" is a 115 page poem written in 1887
by Manx poet Thomas Edward Brown (1830-1897). Some readers may find it
hard going because of its length and the fact that it is written in
Manx dialect with extensive footnotes to explain what the words mean.
Still, if you have the time, reading it is rewarding. The main
storyline describes a fictitious family doctor, Dr Bell, in the Isle of
Man in the 1880s who has two love affairs which end in tragedy.
However, I am more interested in the description of the day to day life
of the doctor, for example, how he deals with cholera epidemics,
prepares his own medicines, treats the whole spectrum of illnesses and
injuries, gets drunk frequently, and argues with the local householders
about the dangers of middens (household garbage / compost pits) as
vectors for disease. Despite his faults he is loved and supported
by the community because of his lifelong commitment to the community.
Those times, and those doctors, may come again.
"Manx Reminiscences" is an edited collection of
notes made by Dr John Clague (1842-1908) about Manx music, customs and
beliefs. It is possible that the ficitious "Dr Bell" in the poem
by T.E.Brown may in part be based upon Dr Clague, because the two were
contemporaries. Dr Clague was a well loved and respected doctor
who practised for many years in the Castletown area. He had an
intense interest in Manx customs, including traditional medicine
beliefs, and made notes of many of these in his notebooks.
Interestingly, most of the material he collected about Manx traditional
herbal medicine was omitted from "Manx Reminiscences" when this was
edited and published after his death by his close friends Mr and Mrs
Moore. Perhaps the Moores thought these beliefs to be
superstitions and not worthy of inclusion.
"Energy Supply on the Isle of Man" describes energy supply and use in the Isle of Man from the time of earliest settlement, through the Industrial Age, to the present, and makes some predictions about future energy supply.
The above books are available for free
distribution under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License type Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC
BY-NC-ND. This license allows you to download the books and
share them with others as long as you, and they, credit the original
author. You cannot change the books in any way or use them
commercially. For more information about this and other Creative
Commons licenses please visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
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