18. Tuberculosis (I): The Era of Consumption

Epidemics in Western Society Since 1600 (HIST 234)

An ancient disease, tuberculosis experienced a major upsurge in Western Europe in the nineteenth century, corresponding with increasing industrialization and urbanization. Poor air quality and cramped living conditions increased susceptibility to the disease. Tuberculosis also had a significant impact on European culture. In this respect, the modern career of the disease can be divided into two eras: the first associated with artistic romanticism and the idealized image of the beautiful and brilliant consumptive, the second, following the germ theory of disease, linking tuberculosis with social fears of poverty and contagion.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Tuberculosis: Epidemic or Endemic?
10:14 - Chapter 2. A Social Disease
16:54 - Chapter 3. Symptoms
25:09 - Chapter 4. Era of Consumption

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Spring 2010.