{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T00:43:49Z","timestamp":1777855429089,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":70,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2014,1,27]],"date-time":"2014-01-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1390780800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["J Med Biogr"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2015,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>John Armstrong, the first honours graduate of the University of Edinburgh School of Medicine, was famous in his day for a lengthy didactic poem entitled The Art of Preserving Health (1744). He is now obscure except to scholars specializing in the 18th century and, when discussed at all, often dismissed as a failed physician who wrote mediocre poetry in a quest for money and fame. A new exegesis by Adam Budd exhumes Armstrong as an original voice who offered timely and reassuring advice to Britons as they braced for another epidemic of plague; who depicted illness through the lens of a vulnerable and sympathetic physician, and who was perhaps above all else a leveller of medical knowledge. Elaborating on Budd's thesis, it would seem that Armstrong, a complicated man, has frequently been misread and was in some ways ahead of his time.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/0967772013479273","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2014,1,27]],"date-time":"2014-01-27T23:11:53Z","timestamp":1390864313000},"page":"196-204","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["\u2018The chearful haunts\u2019: John Armstrong (1709\u20131779), physician, poet, satirist and leveller of medical knowledge"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"23","author":[{"given":"Charles S","family":"Bryan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Heyward Gibbes Distinguished Professor of Internal Medicine, Emeritus, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, SC, USA"},{"name":"Research Fellow for Scottish Collections and Distinguished Professor of English, Emeritus, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Patrick","family":"Scott","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Heyward Gibbes Distinguished Professor of Internal Medicine, Emeritus, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, SC, USA"},{"name":"Research Fellow for Scottish Collections and Distinguished Professor of English, Emeritus, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2014,1,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-0967772013479273","first-page":"73","volume-title":"Aequanimitas with other addresses to medical students, nurses and practitioners of medicine","author":"Osler W","year":"1932","edition":"3"},{"key":"bibr2-0967772013479273","first-page":"127","volume-title":"Collection of Lt.-Cl. Ralph Isham","volume":"1","author":"Boswell J","year":"1928"},{"key":"bibr3-0967772013479273","volume-title":"The poetical works of Armstrong, Dyer, and Green, with memoirs and critical dissertations","author":"Gilfillan G","year":"1878"},{"key":"bibr4-0967772013479273","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Petras K, Petras R. Very bad poetry, New York: Vintage, 1997, pp. 3\u20134.","DOI":"10.1023\/A:1018858407839"},{"key":"bibr5-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Budd A. John Armstrong\u2019s The Art of Preserving Health. Eighteenth-century sensibility in practice. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate, 2011, pp. 39\u201339."},{"key":"bibr6-0967772013479273","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dunn PM. Dr George Armstrong (1719\u221289) and his biographer, William Maloney, MD (1882\u22121952).\n                      Journal of Medical Biography\n                      2013; 21: 49\u201354.","DOI":"10.1258\/jmb.2011.011027"},{"key":"bibr7-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Wilkinson A. Lions in the way: a discursive history of the Oslers, Toronto: The MacMillan Company of Canada, 1956, pp. 103\u2013129."},{"key":"bibr8-0967772013479273","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/fn.87.3.F228"},{"key":"bibr9-0967772013479273","volume-title":"George and John Armstrong of Castleton: two eighteenth-century medical pioneers","author":"Maloney WJ","year":"1954"},{"key":"bibr10-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Pearn J. Pioneers of paediatrics: the pivotal roles of John (1709\u221279) and George Armstrong (1719\u221289.\n                      Journal of Medical Biography\n                      (in press)."},{"key":"bibr11-0967772013479273","volume-title":"The Scottish enlightenment, 1730\u20131790: a hotbed of genius","author":"Daiches D","year":"1986"},{"key":"bibr12-0967772013479273","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.1908.25310450033003"},{"key":"bibr13-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Budd A. (op. cit. ref. 5): p.8."},{"key":"bibr14-0967772013479273","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5871\/bacad\/9780197263303.003.0008"},{"key":"bibr15-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Budd A. (op. cit. ref. 5): p.15 (n. 63)."},{"key":"bibr16-0967772013479273","first-page":"212","volume":"43","author":"Wilmot E","journal-title":"Philosophical Transactions (1683\u20131775) 1744\u20131745"},{"key":"bibr17-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Pearn J. (op. cit. ref. 10)."},{"key":"bibr18-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Kunitz SJ, Haycraft H. British authors before 1800, A biographical dictionary, New York: HW Wilson Company, 1952, pp. 12\u201313."},{"key":"bibr19-0967772013479273","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/459326"},{"key":"bibr20-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Stafford F. Diets in poetry (Review of Adam Budd,\n                      John Armstrong\u2019s \u2018The Art of Preserving Health\u2019\n                      ).\n                      Times Literary Supplement\n                      , 25 November 2011:24."},{"key":"bibr21-0967772013479273","first-page":"582","volume":"2","author":"Anonymous","year":"1933","journal-title":"British Medical Journal"},{"key":"bibr22-0967772013479273","first-page":"498","volume":"166","author":"Hill B","year":"1951","journal-title":"The Practitioner"},{"key":"bibr23-0967772013479273","first-page":"2711","volume":"65","author":"Ober W","year":"1965","journal-title":"New York State Journal of Medicine"},{"key":"bibr24-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Budd A. (op. cit. ref. 5): p.16."},{"key":"bibr25-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Ibid.: p.23."},{"key":"bibr26-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Knapp LM. (op. cit. ref. 19)."},{"key":"bibr27-0967772013479273","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9780203210758_chapter_1"},{"key":"bibr28-0967772013479273","first-page":"401","volume-title":"The lives of the most eminent English poets; with critical observations on their works","volume":"2","author":"Johnson S","year":"1803"},{"key":"bibr29-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Budd A. (op. cit. ref. 5): pp. ix\u2013xvii."},{"key":"bibr30-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Scott MJW.\n                      James Thompson, Anglo-Scot\n                      . Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 1988, pp.106\u2013108, pp.301\u2013306."},{"key":"bibr31-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Havens RD. The influence of Milton on English poetry, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1922, pp. 364\u2013364."},{"key":"bibr32-0967772013479273","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1094-348X.1998.tb00605.x"},{"key":"bibr33-0967772013479273","first-page":"58","volume":"19","author":"Hart C","year":"1996","journal-title":"Eighteenth-Century Life"},{"key":"bibr34-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Crawford R. Scotland\u2019s books: a history of Scottish literature, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 262\u2013262."},{"key":"bibr35-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Hart C and Stevenson KG (op. cit. ref. 33)."},{"key":"bibr36-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Osler W.\n                      Bibliotheca Osleriana: a catalogue of books illustrating the history of medicine and science\n                      . Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1929, pp. 175, 235, 253, 294, 336, 349, 390, 391\u2013392, 428\u2013429, 435\u2013436, 441, 450\u2013451, 454, 463\u2013464, 475, 483, 488, 601, 691, 694, 699."},{"key":"bibr37-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Armstrong J. Medical essays, London: T. Davies, 1773, pp. 37\u201338."},{"key":"bibr38-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Ibid: pp. 39\u201340."},{"key":"bibr39-0967772013479273","first-page":"218","volume-title":"The popularization of medicine, 1650\u20131850","author":"Porter R","year":"1992"},{"key":"bibr40-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Budd A. (op. cit. ref. 5): pp. ix\u2013xvii."},{"key":"bibr41-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Stafford F. (op. cit. ref. 20)."},{"key":"bibr42-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Armstrong J.\n                      Essay on abridging the study of physick.\n                      London: J Wilford, 1735, p.10."},{"key":"bibr43-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Armstrong J. (op. cit. ref. 42): p.39."},{"key":"bibr44-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Armstrong J. (op. cit. ref. 42): pp.10, 11."},{"key":"bibr45-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Armstrong J. (op. cit, ref. 42): pp. 11, 19, 21."},{"key":"bibr46-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Armstrong J. (op. cit. ref. 42): p.1."},{"key":"bibr47-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Armstrong J. (op. cit. ref. 42): p.2."},{"key":"bibr48-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Armstrong J. (op. cit. ref. 42: p.6."},{"key":"bibr49-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Armstrong J. (op. cit. ref. 42): pp. 13, 15."},{"key":"bibr50-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Osler W. (op. cit. ref. 36): p.391."},{"key":"bibr51-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Hart C and Stevenson KG (op. cit. ref. 33)."},{"key":"bibr52-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Cruickshank D. The secret history of Georgian London 2009; Vol. x, London: Random House, pp. 135\u2013135."},{"key":"bibr53-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Pearn J. (op. cit. ref. 10)."},{"key":"bibr54-0967772013479273","first-page":"365","volume-title":"The history of paediatrics. The progress of the study of diseases of children up to the end of the XVIIIth century","author":"Still GF","year":"1931"},{"key":"bibr55-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Budd A. (op. cit. ref. 5): p.3."},{"key":"bibr56-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Armstrong J.\n                      The art of preserving health.\n                      London: A. Millar, 1744, book 4, lines 57\u201358."},{"key":"bibr57-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Ibid: book 4, lines 320\u2013321."},{"key":"bibr58-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Ibid: book 2, line 446."},{"key":"bibr59-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Ibid: book 3, lines 39\u201340."},{"key":"bibr60-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Ibid: book 3, line 290."},{"key":"bibr61-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Ibid: book 56, lines 309\u2013311."},{"key":"bibr62-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Ibid: book 3, lines 515\u2013516."},{"key":"bibr63-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Budd A. (op. cit., ref. 5): pp. 126\u2013127 (n. 217)."},{"key":"bibr64-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Armstrong J. (op. cit., ref. 56):481\u20135."},{"key":"bibr65-0967772013479273","unstructured":"Milton J. Comus. In: Carey J and Fowler ADS (eds)\n                      The poems of John Milton\n                      . 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