author
Nathaniel Hodges
1629–1688
Best known for staying in London to treat patients during the Great Plague of 1665, this English physician left behind one of the most vivid firsthand accounts of the epidemic. His writing still stands out for its mix of medical observation, practical advice, and personal courage.
1 Audiobook
Loimologia: Or, an Historical Account of the Plague in London in 1665 With Precautionary Directions Against the Like Contagion
by Nathaniel Hodges, John Quincy
About the author
Born in 1629, Nathaniel Hodges was an English physician educated at Westminster School, Trinity College, Cambridge, and Christ Church, Oxford. He built his career in London and became especially known for his work during the Great Plague, when he continued caring for the sick while many others fled the city.
His lasting reputation rests largely on Loimologia, his account of the 1665 outbreak. Drawing on direct experience, the book describes symptoms, treatments, and the fearful atmosphere of plague-stricken London, making it an important historical record as well as a medical one.
Hodges died in 1688, but his name remains closely tied to one of the darkest chapters in London’s history. For readers today, his work offers both a window into seventeenth-century medicine and a striking portrait of duty under pressure.