Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-298) and index

Prologue: A hole in the head -- Living and bleeding in London -- The hanged man -- Fear of the knife -- The radical Mr. Parkinson -- The Pop Gun Plot -- Trials and other tribulations -- Dangerous sports -- A pox in all your houses -- the fossil question -- A sublime and difficult science -- 'Tis a mad, mad world in Hoxton -- the name of the father, and of the son -- The shaking palsy -- Reforms and rewards -- Epilogue: A fragment of DNA

A colorful and absorbing portrait of James Parkinson -- after whom Parkinson's disease is named -- and the turbulent, intellectually vibrant world of Georgian London. Author Cherry Lewis examines Parkinson's three seemingly disparate passions: medicine, politics, and fossils. As a political radical, Parkinson was interrogated over a plot to kill King George III, putting himself in danger of being exiled. He helped Edward Jenner set up smallpox vaccination stations across London, saving countless lives. He also wrote the first scientific study of fossils in English, jump-starting a craze for fossil hunting in Britain. Parkinson was truly one of the intellectual pioneers of 'the age of wonder,' forgotten to history -- until now. -- Adapted from book jacket