‘By Merit Raised to That Bad Eminence’: Christopher Merrett, Artisanal Knowledge, and Professional Reform in Restoration London

Abstract

This article examines the career and reform agenda of Christopher Merrett as a means of evaluating the changing conditions of medical knowledge production in late seventeenth-century London. This period was characterised by increasing competition between medical practitioners, resulting from the growing consumer demand for medical commodities and services, the reduced ability of elite physicians to control medical practice, and the appearance of alternative methods of producing medical knowledge -particularly experimental methods. This competition resulted in heated exchanges between physicians, apothecaries, and virtuosi, in which Merrett played an active part. As a prominent member of both the Royal Society and the Royal College of Physicians, Merrett sought to mediate between the two institutions by introducing professional reforms designed to alleviate competition and improve medical knowledge. These reforms entailed sweeping changes to medical regulation and education that integrated the traditional reliance on Galenic principles with knowledge derived from experiment and artisanal practices. The emphasis Merrett placed on the trades suggests the important role artisanal knowledge played in his efforts to reorganise medicine and improve knowledge of bodily processes.

Educating physicians in seventeenth-century England

“…Since the educational implications in which we are interested are discussed as an incidental (and relatively minor) aspect of this wider crisis, it is necessary to sketch the context to make sense of its educational aspects. There was an ongoing struggle in Restoration London between at least six groups: the London College of Physicians; a rival group of chemical physicians who sought recognition for a Society of Chemical Physicians; other physicians who were not members of the College; the Society of Apothecaries; the Company of Barber-Surgeons; and the burgeoning population of "empirics" offering their medicines and skills to the public (Cook 1986(Cook , 1987(Cook and 1989Mauck 2012;Pelling 2003).…”

Review of periodical literature published in 2012

“…Greteman also provides some information about the actors' wages. Mauck evaluates the career of Christopher Merrett who attempted to reform the medical profession of seventeenth‐century London. Mauck argues that growing consumer demand for medical commodities and services outstripped the supply of elite medical practitioners.…”

“…Mauck evaluates the career of Christopher Merrett who attempted to reform the medical profession of seventeenth‐century London. Mauck argues that growing consumer demand for medical commodities and services outstripped the supply of elite medical practitioners. Merrett was concerned with regulation and medical education, but he was also trying to reduce competition between practitioners.…”

John Bulwer (1606–1656) and Some British and French Contemporaries

“…Like them, he adhered to the Aristotelian-Galenic philosophy while at the same time emphasizing the importance of experimental investigation (cf. Mauck 2012). He shared their enmity to the Paracelsians or 9.…”