During the great plague of London in 1665, Nathaniel Hodges remained to tend the stricken, while others—physicians and laymen— fled the city from mortal fear. Hodges' description of the clinical symptoms, means of prevention, and modes of treatment from firsthand observations and personal affliction is the best account of the epidemic. He was born at Kensington, the son of a vicar and Dean of Hereford, prepared at Westminster School, and studied at Cambridge and at Oxford, where he received the BA and MA degrees and the MD degree in 1659.1 London was the obvious place for the practice of medicine. He became a member of the College of Physicians just after his 30th birthday and served his College with distinction as Censor and Harveian Orator.
Hodges' great days occurred during the 1665 plague which, according to the Bills of Mortality, killed more than 68,000 persons. For professional services during