a reaful heritage interpreting epiemi isease at eyam,：一个可怕的遗产解读传染病在伊姆，.pdfVIP

Working Papers on The Nature of Evidence: How Well Do ‘Facts’ Travel? No. 02/05 A Dreadful Heritage: Interpreting Epidemic Disease at Eyam, 1666-2000 Patrick Wallis © Patrick Wallis Department of Economic History London School of Economics May 2005 “The Nature of Evidence: How Well Do ‘Facts’ Travel?” is funded by The Leverhulme Trust and the ESRC at the Department of Economic History, London School of Economics. For further details about this project and additional copies of this, and other papers in the series, go to: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collection/economichistory/ Series Editor: Dr. Jonathan Adams Department of Economic History London School of Economics Houghton Street London, WC2A 2AE Tel: +44 (0) 20 7955 6727 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7955 7730 A Dreadful Heritage: Interpreting Epidemic Disease at Eyam, 1666-2000.1 Patrick Wallis Suffering has sanctified its claim to notice, and the curious and enquiring traveller feels a melancholy pleasure in tracing out the records of the ravages made in this little village by that depopulating scourge of nations2 Abstract Eyam is an epicentre of Europe’s plague heritage. Every year, tens of thousands of people visit the Derbyshire village, drawn by stories of its catastrophic plague and the heroic response it elicited. The story they are told - of a self-imposed quarantine preventing disease spreading to the surrounding area - is an exemplary narrative of a selfless community under strong, positive leadership. But although the plague of Eyam in 1666 is one of the most famous outbreaks of epidemic disease in British history, the narrative is largely a fiction; produced not by doctors, but