Category Archives: Uncategorized

On this day (24 September) in 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower deploys the legendary 101st Airborne Division (based out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky) to Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, after the Arkansas Guard (under orders of the Governor, … Continue reading →

Did Adam Smith’s direct experiences with some of the most celebrated doctors of his age motivate his remark in The Wealth of Nations regarding the “absurd prescriptions” of doctors? How could they not have! From his Oxford and Glasgow days … Continue reading →

(Continued from yesterday’s post) Adam Smith’s next direct experience with doctors would occur in October 1766 in Paris. Duke Henry’s younger brother, Hew Campbell Scott (pictured below), contracted some kind of illness in the City of Light. Although Hew would … Continue reading →

Act III: Compiègne and Paris (1766) [Parts I and II are available here, here, and here] Adam Smith’s next first-hand experience with medical quackery occurs during the last part of his travels in France. By way of background, Smith had accompanied Henry … Continue reading →

(Continued from yesterday’s post) Adam Smith’s private pupil at Glasgow, Thomas Petty-Fitzmaurice, became ill yet again in the fall of 1760. In a letter (dated November 11, 1760) to Fitzmaurice’s father, Lord Shelburne, Smith writes: “Mr Fitzmaurice being at present … Continue reading →

Act II: Glasgow College (1760) [*] The next direct evidence of Smith’s encounters with the “absurd prescriptions” of doctors are two pieces of private correspondence–one dated March 10, 1760 (Corr. 45); the other, Nov. 11, 1760 (Corr. 52)–both of which … Continue reading →

Act I: Balliol College, Oxford (1744) [*] Adam Smith was enrolled in Balliol College at Oxford University from July 1740 until August 1746. During his Oxford years, the young scholar wrote to his mother on several occasions.[1] Although most of … Continue reading →

By my count, the word “absurd” appears 36 times in Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, but for me the most memorable use of this word is when Smith refers to “the absurd prescriptions” of doctors in Book II, Chapter 3 … Continue reading →

Starting tomorrow (16 Sep), I will begin sharing the details of two new scholarly projects that I have been working on these past few weeks. One of my projects explores Adam Smith’s own personal experiences with doctors and the health … Continue reading →