William Buchan

author

William Buchan

1729–1805

A Scottish doctor who tried to make medical advice understandable for ordinary families, he became famous for a hugely popular guide to health in the home. His writing helped bring practical medicine to a much wider public in the eighteenth century.

1 Audiobook

Domestic medicine : or, a treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases by regimen and simple medicines. With an appendix, containing a dispensatory for the use of private practitioners

Domestic medicine : or, a treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases by regimen and simple medicines. With an appendix, containing a dispensatory for the use of private practitioners

by William Buchan

About the author

Born in 1729 in Ancrum, Roxburghshire, he was educated in the Borders and later studied at the University of Edinburgh. Although he was first intended for the ministry, he turned to medicine instead and went on to build a career as a physician and medical writer.

He is best known for Domestic Medicine (first published in 1769), a guide written for general readers rather than specialists. The book explained the causes, prevention, and treatment of illness in plain language and became one of the most widely read medical books of its time.

Buchan spent parts of his career in Yorkshire, Sheffield, and London, and he died in 1805. He is often remembered as an early champion of making health information accessible beyond the medical profession.