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Diagnosing the dead: post-mortem examinations and medical ship culture in the Royal Navy.

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Title: Diagnosing the dead: post-mortem examinations and medical ship culture in the Royal Navy.
Authors: Williams, Manon C.1 (AUTHOR) manoncwilliams@gmail.com
Source: British Journal for the History of Science. Mar2026, Vol. 59 Issue 1, p1-16. 16p.
Subjects: Pathological anatomy, Great Britain. Royal Navy, Medical research, Navies, Naval officers, Autopsy, Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815
Abstract: This article examines the practice of post-mortem examination in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1793–1815). The professional medical logbooks kept by ship's surgeons as part of their mandated practice reveal that they turned to pathological anatomy to diagnose their patients – a technique typically associated with French anatomy during this period. I show that these post-mortem dissections blended medicine and surgery together by correlating clinical signs and symptoms of disease with pathological manifestations of disease in the bodies after death. This article also considers the medical culture that existed on these ships that enabled this research, specifically how captains, officers and crew responded to, and interpreted, such medical enquiry on board. By resituating the naval ship as a site of medical experimentation and enquiry, I explore how naval surgeons participated in medical research within the Royal Navy and used the ship space to engage in pathological anatomy before their British civilian counterparts flocked to French hospitals after the wars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of British Journal for the History of Science is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Engineering Source
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PubType: Academic Journal
PubTypeId: academicJournal
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  Data: Diagnosing the dead: post-mortem examinations and medical ship culture in the Royal Navy.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Williams%2C+Manon+C%2E%22">Williams, Manon C.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> manoncwilliams@gmail.com</i>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Pathological+anatomy%22">Pathological anatomy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Great+Britain%2E+Royal+Navy%22">Great Britain. Royal Navy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Medical+research%22">Medical research</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Navies%22">Navies</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Naval+officers%22">Naval officers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Autopsy%22">Autopsy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Napoleonic+Wars%2C+1800-1815%22">Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815</searchLink>
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  Data: This article examines the practice of post-mortem examination in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1793–1815). The professional medical logbooks kept by ship's surgeons as part of their mandated practice reveal that they turned to pathological anatomy to diagnose their patients – a technique typically associated with French anatomy during this period. I show that these post-mortem dissections blended medicine and surgery together by correlating clinical signs and symptoms of disease with pathological manifestations of disease in the bodies after death. This article also considers the medical culture that existed on these ships that enabled this research, specifically how captains, officers and crew responded to, and interpreted, such medical enquiry on board. By resituating the naval ship as a site of medical experimentation and enquiry, I explore how naval surgeons participated in medical research within the Royal Navy and used the ship space to engage in pathological anatomy before their British civilian counterparts flocked to French hospitals after the wars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of British Journal for the History of Science is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1017/S0007087425101040
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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        PageCount: 16
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    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Pathological anatomy
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Great Britain. Royal Navy
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Medical research
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Navies
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Naval officers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Autopsy
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815
        Type: general
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      – TitleFull: Diagnosing the dead: post-mortem examinations and medical ship culture in the Royal Navy.
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              Text: Mar2026
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              Y: 2026
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