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Scholars of Dickens have shown that the author suffered from a range of illnesses throughout his life, yet the medical background to some of his ailments has often proved elusive.1 He carried a medicine chest with him when he went to America in 18422, Italy and Switzerland in 18533 and America in 1867.4 Dickens wrote over 14,000 letters,5 which provide a valuable insight into his medical history. In this article, I propose some new diagnoses gleaned from his correspondence and provide more detail on other medical conditions suffered by Dickens. Unfortunately, we do not have access to the letters Dickens received as he burnt them when he was living at Gad's Hill Place.
Colds and Influenza
Dickens suffered with numerous colds throughout his life, recording a total 47 episodes in his correspondence between 1832 and 1868. He sometimes had more than one attack a year: in 1844, for example, he had five episodes and in 1851, four. Naturally Dickens was not lost for words in describing his suffering. He used as many as 20 different adjectives6 to describe his colds, such as deplorable,7 intolerable,8 oppressive,9 hideous,10 villainous,11 dreadful,12 indescribable13 and monstrous 14. On his second visit to America he called his persistent cold his 'true American'15 and later refers to it as 'My "true American catarrh" (the people seem to have a national pride in it)'.16
One example of how these colds affected him comes from a letter in 1835 to his future wife Catherine: 'My cold I am sorry to say is very bad indeed this morning, accompanied by a head-ache, and all the unpleasantries which usually follow in its train. If it should be a damp night, and the fog should continue, would you advise me to stay at home, take some gruel, try hot water for my feet, and go to bed early?'17 He was plainly looking for sympathy from his future bride. The treatments Dickens tried included mustard poultices to the chest and neck, foot baths, camphor liniment to the back and drinking barley water. The complications he suffered following these colds included sinus infection, chest infection, wheezing and ear infections.
Dickens suffered two episodes of influenza, in January 185518 and in December 185719, and fortunately recovered without any complications such...