Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1172

THOMAS TROTTER (1760-1832) An essay, medical, philosophical, and chemical, on drunkenness, and its effects on the human body. Bradford & Read; and A. Finley, Philadelphia 1813 1st Philadelphia ed. 203 pp. 17.1 cm.

At the age of nineteen, Trotter became a surgeon's mate in the Royal Navy and eventually became chief physician to the fleet under Lord Howe. After the Revolutionary War he returned to Edinburgh and received his M.D. degree. His publications include works on scurvy and nautical medicine. Trotter wrote his dissertation on inebriety and he comments in the Preface that the present work "may be considered as a comment on the thesis, De ebrietate, eiusque effectibus in corpus humanum. Edin. 1788" (p. vi-vii). One of the earliest works on alcoholism, Trotter defines drunkenness, describes its symptoms, discusses the effects alcohol has on the body, lists diseases resulting from alcoholism, and considers methods of treatment.

Cited references: Austin 1927; Garrison-Morton 2071.1 (London ed., 1804)