Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Historic medical practices

  • Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones: Feeding fevers

    Sally MetzlerChicago, Illinois, United States For years, physicians and pundits have deliberated the merits of starving or feeding a fever. Even the novel Tom Jones by Henry Fielding (published in 1749) presents a lengthy discourse on the recommended treatment of fever in regard to nutrition.1 As the heroic foundling Jones languishes in bed from a…