Skin as an Epistemic Tool: Wound Care and Social Reform

This chapter examines the epistemic and doxastic role of rhetoric in the news coverage of bedsores, injuries to the skin resulting from prolonged pressure. The findings will show that bedsores gained prominence in news reports about autopsies of individuals who died in workhouses. I argue that rhetoric was used to depict bedsores as a concrete symbol of the failures of the Poor Law System and to channel negative sentiments against the New Poor Law. The linguistic quality of newspaper reports and commentaries contributed to the interweaving of medical science with popular politics, hence reinforcing the image of the news press as a vehicle for social change. After providing a historical overview of the context surrounding the New Poor Law and the study of bedsores, this chapter will delve into a series of case studies, including the use of the Skin and Bone trope, the death of Timothy Daly, allegedly due to bedsores, and the news dissemination of knowledge about remedies for bedsores in popular culture.