Health of Samuel Johnson

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The health of Samuel Johnson has been a focus of the biographical and critical analysis of his life. His medical history was well documented by Johnson and his friends, and those writings have allowed later critics and doctors to infer diagnoses of conditions that were unknown in Johnson's day.

His health and conditions had "damaging effects on Johnson's personal and professional lives"^[1] likely causing him to lose opportunities to teach at prominent schools, while leading him "towards the invisible occupation of authorship".^[1]