Just as one may expect, public health, including medical sciences, was nowhere near the level of advancement it is at today. The scientific knowledge was little and whatever was known was, for the most part, significantly basic. The human body and its functions were still foreign and a mystery to the population.
For as long as they knew, there were particular beliefs about health, inlcuding dogmas that were to be followed. Medicine was a controversial field--there were the tug-of-wars between science and religion about what could be accepted and what couldn't. The lack of advancement in the medical sciences may have partly been attributed to this, as many feared opposing and going up against the widely-accepted principles.
This website will provide information for five of the many influential figures on public health in the 18th century.
