Bontius, Gerard

, professor in medicine at the university of Leyden in the latter part of the sixteenth century, was a man of profound erudition, and critically versed in the Greek language. He was born at Ryswick, a small village of Guelderland, and died at Leyden, Sept. 15, 1599, sixty-three years old. Bontius is the inventor of a composition of pills, which, from his name, are called Pilulæ tartareæ Bontii. The Dutch for a long time kept this composition a secret; but they have been analysed by the industry of some physicians, and the ingredients are now well known. He wrote some commentaries on Hippocrates, but published no part of them. He left two sons, both eminent in the medical art, James and Reyner. ²