author

Evan Marlett Boddy

d. 1934

Best known today for The History of Salt (1881), this little-documented British writer brought together science, medicine, and everyday life in a lively study of an ordinary substance with an extraordinary past. Surviving records also point to a background in anatomy, hinting at the broad curiosity behind his work.

1 Audiobook

The history of salt : $b with observations on its geographical distribution, geological formation, and medicinal and dietetic properties

The history of salt : $b with observations on its geographical distribution, geological formation, and medicinal and dietetic properties

by Evan Marlett Boddy

About the author

Very little biographical information about Evan Marlett Boddy appears to be readily available online, but surviving catalog and archive records identify him as the author of The History of Salt (1881), a wide-ranging study of salt's geographical distribution, geological formation, and medical and dietary uses.

Archive descriptions connected with Wellcome and the UK archival record also describe Boddy as an anatomist, and note manuscript volumes of anatomy and physiology with detailed drawings dating from the early 1870s. That combination helps explain the practical, scientific tone of his writing.

Because the public record is so sparse, many personal details of his life remain unclear. What does stand out is a nineteenth-century habit of looking at one subject from many angles at once: history, natural science, medicine, and daily life all meet in Boddy's best-known book.