it does not appear to have been generally adopted. Towards the close of his life, his practice as a physician is said to have declined which might probably arise from the
On the 16th of November 1713, he began a paper,
printed three times a week, called the “Lay Monk.
”
Only forty numbers of it were published, which, in 1714,
were collected into a volume, under the title of the “Lay
Monastery.
” The Friday’s papers in this collection were
written by Hughes, and the rest by sir Richard. In a letter to Mr. Hughes, he declared that he was not determined to the undertaking by a desire of fame or profit,
hut from a regard to the public good. In 1716, he published in 2 vols. 8vo, “Essays upon several subjects,
” and
in A collection of poems,
” in 1 vol. 8vo. But the
work which procured him the greatest reputation, was his
“Creation, a philosophical poem, demonstrating the Existence and Providence of a God, in seven books.
” This
passed through several editions, and was greatly applauded
by Mr. Addison. Mr. Locke also formed a very favourable opinion of sir Richard Blackmore; although perhaps he
estimated his poetical talents too highly. In 1721, our author
published in 12mo, “A new version of the Psalms of
David, fitted to the tunes used in churches.
” This was
recommended by public authority, as proper to be used in
the churches and chapels of England, but it does not appear to have been generally adopted. Towards the close
of his life, his practice as a physician is said to have declined which might probably arise from the numerous
attempts which were made to lessen his reputation. He
died on the 8th of October, 1729, in an advanced age;
and manifested in his last illness the same fervent piety,
which had distinguished him in his life. He was certainly
a man of considerable learning and abilities, and a most
zealous advocate for the interests of religion and virtue.
He wrote, indeed, too much, and was deficient in point
of taste nor did he take sufficient time to polish his compositions. But he was far from being destitute of genius;
and it is sufficiently manifest, that it was not his dullness,
which excited so much animosity against him. Hardly any
author has ever been more satirized than sir Richard Blackmore, and yet, so far as we can judge from his writings,
there have been few, perhaps none, who have had better
intentions. He had very just ideas of the true ends of
writing and it would have been happy for the world, if
such ideas had been adopted by, and really influenced,
authors of more brilliant genius. And though his historical
and epic poems exposed him to some degree of ridicule,
yet he was far from being a proper object of the extreme
contempt with which he was treated. The merit of his
poem on Creation, and the excellency of his life, might
have procured him better usage. And whatever were
the defects of his compositions, he was justly entitled to
commendation for the morality of their tendency. He
who labours to reform mankind is more deserving of our
esteem, than he who would corrupt them, whatever may
be the powers of genius possessed by the latter, or whatever reputation his wit may have procured him. The
fashion of the times, or the mutual jealousies and animosities of contemporary wits and authors, often occasion great
injustice to be done to worthy men and useful writers.
But time will, generally, in a great degree, remove such
prejudices; and those who form an impartial estimate of
the character and various productions of Blackmore, will
acknowledge, that as a writer, with all his faults, he had
considerable merit; that as a man, he was justly entitled
to great applause. For, numerous as his enemies and opponents were, they seem to have been incapable of fixing
the least imputation upon his character; and those who
personally knew him spoke highly of his virtues. We
think it an act of justice to endeavour to remove from a
worthy man some part of that load of obloquy with which
his memory has been overwhelmed. To this character,
from the Biog. Britannica, we may add, that Dr. Johnson
has increased the number of those liberal-minded men
who have endeavoured to rescue sir Richard Blackmore’s
name from the contempt with which it has been treated,
and to do justice to his abilities as well as his virtues.
To his “Creation
” the doctor has given high praise,
and has drawn the character of it with singular precision
and elegance. From the inaccuracy with which Blackmore in his poems has pronounced the ancient, names
of nations or places, Dr. Johnson has inferred, that the
thirteen years he spent at the university, seem to have
passed with very little attention to the business of the
place. A strong testimony, however, to his diligence
whilst at Edmund-hall, has lately been produced in the
Gentleman’s Magazine, from Turner’s “Book of Providence.
” “Dr. Richard Blackmore,
” says Turner, “my
contemporary and colleague (fellow collegian) at Oxon,
now living, and one of the college in London, was, in his
first years, one of the most eager and diligent students I
ever knew sitting up at his book till twelve, one, two,
and sometimes three o'clock in the morning, and then
lying down only upon his chairs till prayer-time, till his
health broke, and he was constrained by necessity to retire into the country, to repair himself by physic.
”
an of the faculty, a place of considerable importance in the college of Paris. He was also appointed physician to the duke de Longueville, with a salary of 20O pistoles. During
, another brother of the preceding, was born probably about 1526, at Dumfermling
in Fifeshire, and educated at St. Andrew’s. He was also
sent by his uncle, the bishop of Orkney, to Paris, where
in 1551, he taught philosophy. He afterwards applied
himself to the study of physic, became a member of the
college of physicians, and was finally honoured with the
dignity of clean of the faculty, a place of considerable importance in the college of Paris. He was also appointed
physician to the duke de Longueville, with a salary of 20O
pistoles. During the plague at Paris, he had the resolute
humanity to continue in that city, much to his own honour,
and the consolation of the people. He is supposed to have
died in 16 J 3, or 1614. He wrote several medical and philosophical treatises, of which we only know of two that
were printed 1. “Hippocratis quaedam cum Mss. collata,
” Paris, 1625, and 2. “Questio Medica, an visceribus nutritiis aestuantibus aquarum metal licarum potus salubris
” ibid. 4to. He had a son of both his names, likewise a physician of eminence, of whom Moreri gives a
short account.
. Campbell, the author of that article, and had been bought at the sale of the library of an eminent physician near Covent-garden. In the first leaf it was said to be written
, probably a relation of the preceding, was born in the parish of St. Giles, Reading, in
1610, and was a great enthusiast in astrological studies.
He published “An introduction to Astrology,
” An account of
all the Drugs that were sold in the druggists and apothecaries shops, with their dangers and connexions.
” To this
book is subjoined “A new tract of Chirurgery,
” 8vo. He
was also author of “The Astrological practise of Physick,
discovering the true method of curing all kinds of diseases,
by such herbs and plants as grow in our nation,
” 8vo.
In the Biographia Britannica, is an account of a manuscript which had been seen by Dr. Campbell, the author
of that article, and had been bought at the sale of the library of an eminent physician near Covent-garden. In
the first leaf it was said to be written by Mr. J. Blagrave,
and was dedicated to Mr. B. (Backhouse) of Swallowfield.
It appeared, from some mention of the royal society, and
its members, to have been written in 1669, or 1670. The
title was, “A remonstrance in favour of Ancient Learning
against the proud pretensions of the moderns, more especially in respect to the doctrine of the Stars.
” From
the distribution of the several heads, and the extracts from
them, it seems to be the work of an ingenious writer; one
far superior to Joseph Blagrave in style and composition;
and might, possibly, as Mr. Coates conjectures, be an unpublished work of Mr. John Blagrave, the mathematician,
by whose will he inherited an estate in Swallowfield, yet
we know not how to reconcile this with the dates respecting the royal society, which certainly did not exist in the
mathematician’s time. This Joseph Blagrave died in
1679.
, son to the preceding, was an, eminent physician at Franeker, and one of the most voluminous compilers of his
, son to the preceding, was an,
eminent physician at Franeker, and one of the most voluminous compilers of his time. He published large works
on every branch of medicine and surgery, taken from all
preceding and even contemporary authors, without either
judgment or honesty; for while he took every thing good
and bad which he could find, he in general published all
as his own. His “Anatomia practica rationalis,
” Lexicon medicum GraecoLatinum,
” which has gone through a great many editions,
some of which have been improved by more able scholars.
The best, we believe, is that printed at Louvain, 1754,
2 vols. 8vo. An English translation, under the title of the
“Physical Dictionary,
” printed first in
to propagate the one and practise the other in Germany, Poland, and Transylvania. In Polandhe became physician to the queen of Sigismund Augustus, and having insinuated himself
, a man who acquired some
fame in the sixteenth century by the shallow pretence of
free inquiry, was born in the marquisate of Saluzzo in
Italy. He appears to have studied medicine, and for some
time practised with reputation, but the various opinions
which arose out of the reformation from popery in the beginning of the sixteenth century, having excited his curiosity in no common degree, he determined to try them
all, and began with abandoning the principles of popery in
which he had been educated, for those of Luther, which
he quitted soon after for those of Calvin. Not satisfied
with this, he wished to retrace more ancient opinions, embraced those of Arius, then inclined to the doctrines of
Paul of Samosata, and finally struck out of his creed all
belief in the incarnation and the Trinity, maintaining that
Jesus Christ was a mere man, and no more deserving of
religious worship than any other man. Stocked with these
notions, as well as with his professional knowledge, he had
the ambition to propagate the one and practise the other
in Germany, Poland, and Transylvania. In Polandhe
became physician to the queen of Sigismund Augustus, and
having insinuated himself into the good graces of that
prince, began to communicate to him his religious opinions,
and after some time returned to Italy, where the freedom
he took in divulging these occasioned his being shut up in
the prison of the inquisition at Pavia. Having, however,
contrived to make his escape, he went to Geneva, and
became a warm admirer of the opinions of Servetus, who
had recently been put to death for oppugning the doctrine
of the Trinity. On this, Calvin, after having in vain endeavoured to reclaim him by conference and correspondence, gave him up to justice, which Blandrata escaped by
making profession of Calvinism, to which he adhered long
enough to reach Poland, where the imposition was detected. At this time, John Sigismund, prince of
Trausylvania, appointed him his physician and being a man of
skill he found means to insinuate his principles in the families which employed him. In 1566, at Alba Julia, in the
presence of the court, he held a public conference against
the Lutherans, which lasted ten days, and ended in bringing over the prince and the nobles of Transylvania to unitarianism. An account of this conference was printed in
1568, 4to, entitled “Brevis enarratio disputationis Albanæ de Deo trino et Christo duplici.
” On the death of
Sigismund, he came a third time into Poland, and was
appointed physician and counsellor to king Stephen Battori; but as he found this monarch unfriendly to his religious tenets, he withdrew himself from the unitarians, for
which he was severely censured by Socinus, who hoped
to have found him an able assistant, and had invited him
to Poland with that view. This was the last of his many
changes of opinion; for soon after, a nephew whom he had
threatened to disinherit, on account of his attachment to
popery, put him to death in a violent quarrel, which perhaps he had provoked for the purpose. This appears to
have taken place some time between 1585 and 1592.
He gave so little satisfaction to any party, that all considered
his death as a judgment on his apostacy. Blandrata’s works
are in Sandius’s Anti-Trinitarian library.
, a French surgeon, or physician, of the seventeenth century, by uniting the quack and the regular,
, a French surgeon, or physician,
of the seventeenth century, by uniting the quack and the
regular, acquired a considerable degree of reputation, and
belongs to a class, we fear, pretty numerous in other countries as well as France. He began his career as a
trussmaker, and then placed himself at the head of an academy
of his own creation for medical discoveries, the memoirs of
which were published monthly, and we presume there
must have been some papers of consequence among them,
as the celebrated Bonnet translated those of the first three
years into Latin, and published them under the title of
“Zodiacus Medico-Gallicus,
” Mercure savant.
” In the mean time Blegny endeavoured
to make himself famous, and that nothing might be wanting to shew his variety of talents he added to surgery and
pharmacy a course of lectures on wig-making. For some
time he appears to have imposed on the court itself, as
we find that in 1678 he was appointed surgeon in ordinary to the queen; in 1633 surgeon in ordinary to the
duke of Orleans; and in 1687, physician in ordinary
to the king: but in 1693, his real character becoming
more apparent, he was stripped of these honours for having
attempted to establish an order of knighthood, and sent to
prison at the castle of Angers, where he was confined for
eight years. After his release, he retired to Avignon,
where he died in 1722, aged about seventy. He published
various works, now in little estimation.
ry, and received a doctor’s degree at Francfort on the Oder, with which he returned to practise as a physician at Berlin. Here the celebrated naturalist Martini procured him
, an eminent naturalist, and
a Jew hy birth, was born at Anspech, in 1723, of very
poor parents. He began to study very late at the age of
nineteen, he knew neither German or Latin, and had read
only some of the writings of the Rabbis, notwithstanding
which, he was employed as a tutor in the family of a Jew
surgeon at Hamburgh. There he himself was taught
German, and a poor Bohemian Catholic gave him some
instructions in Latin; he picked up also some knowledge
of anatomy. Afterwards he made rapid progress in regaining lost time, and having removed to live with some
relations he had at Berlin, he applied himself with eagerness and success to the study of anatomy and natural history, and received a doctor’s degree at Francfort on the
Oder, with which he returned to practise as a physician
at Berlin. Here the celebrated naturalist Martini procured
him to be elected a member of the society of the “Curious
in nature,
” and he soon became highly distinguished
among the scientific men of his time. He died Aug. 6,
1799, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. His principal
work was his “Natural history of Fishes, particularly those
of the Prussian states,
” four parts, Berlin, Natural history of
foreign Fishes,
” Berlin, The natural history
of German Fishes,
” Ichthyology, or the natural history of
Fishes,
” Berlin, Treatise on the generation of worms in the
intestines, and on the method of destroying them,
” which
gained the prize offered by the royal society of Denmark,
and was printed at Berlin, 1782, 4to, and a “Treatise on
the waters of Pyrmont,
” both in German, Hamburgh,
, an English physician, born in England, of a French family, and a licentiate of the
, an English physician,
born in England, of a French family, and a licentiate of
the college of physicians, about the beginning of the last
century, published in 1727, “The strength of imagination in pregnant women examined, &c.
” This excited a
controversy with Dr. Turner, who, in his work on the diseases of the skin, was a strong advocate for the power of
imagination in producing marks and deformities. Blondel
answered him; and by his humour, as well as argument, contributed much to remove the common prejudices on that
popular subject.
, a Dutchman, and physician to the state in Ireland, in 1649, desesves some notice here,
, a Dutchman, and physician to
the state in Ireland, in 1649, desesves some notice here,
as being the first inquirer into the natural history of Ireland, of which he published an account. He lived to hold
his post of physician to the state only eight months, dying
either in 1649 or 1650, but compiled part of it some years
before he went over, from materials furnished by sir William and sir Richard Parsons, and his own brother, Dr.
Arnold Boate, who practised physic eight years at Dublin,
and spent some months with him at London, in his way to
Paris, in 1644, instructing him how to improve certain
forfeited lands he had purchased in Leinster and Ulster.
The title of his book is “Ireland’s Natural History, &c.
”
published by Samuel Hartlib, esq. “for the common good
of Ireland, and more especially for the benefit of the adventurers and planters therein,
” Lond. 1652, 12mo. Although some of his accounts are imperfect, and his topographical errors numerous, it is wonderful that a stranger
should have accomplished so much, and at least run away
with the honour of laying the foundation of the natural
history of Ireland. He intended a second and a third
book of the vegetables and animals, and a fourth of the
natives, their old fashions, laws, and customs, and the
attempts of their English conquerors to civilize and improve
both them and their country, which his brother, in his
letter to Hartlib, promised to publish. What he published
was afterwards incorporated into a Natural History of Ireland, by several hands, 1736, reprinted 1755, with a new
preface and index of chapters, 4to. Boate’s book was
translated into French by Briot, and published at Paris
1666, 12mo. We have no farther account of his history;
but Weston, in his catalogue of English writers on husbandry, says that his true name was Beats.
“”Demonomanie des Sorciers,“to which was annexed” A refutation of the book, de Lamiis,“of John Wier, physician to the duke of Cleves, who had undertaken to prove that the
In 1576 he was chosen deputy to the states-general of
Blois, by the tiers-etat of Vermandois, and ably contended
for the rights of the people, and particularly opposed
those who would have all the king’s subjects constrained
to profess the Catholic religion, which we can easily suppose effectually prevented the king from being reconciled
to him. He after this appears to have resided at Laon,
where, in 1589, he persuaded that city to declare for the
league, and at the same time wrote to the president Brisson, a letter severely reflecting on Henry III. but this fault
he afterwards repaired by securing the allegiance of Laon
to Henry IV. He died of the plague at Laon, in 1596,
leaving a character more dubious than that of any man in
his time, and the light thrown upon it in his works is
certainly not of the most favourable kind. It may be said,
that although toleration was a word not known in his time,
he appears to have cherished some liberal notions on the
subject, but, as to religious principles, he had so little
steadiness, that he was by turns accounted, perhaps not
always justly, a Protestant, Papist, Deist, Sorcerer, Jew,
and Atheist; D'Aguessau, however, pronounces him a
worthy magistrate, a learned author, and a good citizen.
His first work was a commentary on Oppian’s “Cynogeticon,
” Paris, Methodus ad facilem Historiarum cognitionem,
” Paris, The Republic,
” a
work equally immethodical with the other, and abounding
in digressions and irrelevant matter, yet, for the time, an
extraordinary collection of facts and reflections on political government. It was soon translated into other languages, and was read with much interest in an age when
the principles of government were seldom discussed in
books. When in England with the duke of Alenc,on, we
are told that he found the English had made a Latin translation of it, bad enough, but, bad as it was, the subject
of lectures at London and Cambridge. Bodin reports
thus far himself; but that “it became a classic at Cambridge
” has been supplied by his biographers, who were
probably not aware that lectures on political government
were then no part of Cambridge education, and if his book
was explained and commented on there or at London, it
must have been by individuals. In this work he introduces
the influence of climate on the principles of government;
and as Montesquieu has done the same, La Harpe, the
French critic, terms Bodin’s book the “germ of the Spirit
of Laws,
” but this notion is far more ancient than either,
and not indeed of much consequence, whether old or new.
The first edition of these “Livres de la Republique
” was
printed at Paris, Juris Universi Distributio,
” were printed in to which was annexed
” A refutation of the book, de Lamiis,“of John Wier,
physician to the duke of Cleves, who had undertaken to
prove that the stories of witchcraft and sorcery have chiefly
arisen from imposture or delusions of fancy. The literary
character of Bodin, who defended this kind of superstition,
incurred reproach, and he himself was suspected of being
a magician. A work written by him, but never printed, and
entitled
” Heptaplomeron, sive de abditis rerum sublimium
arcanis,“is said to have been an attack upon religion, and
designed to invalidate the authority of revelation. By the
seeming advantages which he gave in this work to the
Jewish religion, he was suspected of being a convert to it;
but it is more probable that he was a sceptic with regard
to religion, and alike indifferent to all modes of faith. A
little while before his death he published a Latin treatise,
entitled
” Theatrum Universae Naturae," in which he professes to pursue the causes and effects of things to their
principles.
Calvin and Beza on divinity, and had also domestic teachers in the house of Philibertus Saracenus, a physician of that city, with whom he boarded, and where Robert Constantine,
, that illustrious benefactor to literature, from whom the public library at Oxford takes its name, was the son of Mr. John Bodley, of Exeter, and of his wife Joan, daughter and heiress of Robert Home, esq. of Ottery St. Mary, near Exeter. By his father’s side he descended from the ancient family of the Bodleys, or Bodleighs, of Dunscomb, near Crediton, in Devonshire. He was born at Exeter, March 2, 1544, and was about twelve years of age when his father was obliged to leave England on account of his religion, and settle at Geneva, where he lived during the reign of queen Mary. The English church at Geneva consisted, as he himself informs us, of some hundred persons; and here, the university having been newly erected, he frequented the public lectures of Chevalerius on the Hebrew tongue, of Beroaldus on the Greek, and of Calvin and Beza on divinity, and had also domestic teachers in the house of Philibertus Saracenus, a physician of that city, with whom he boarded, and where Robert Constantine, author of the Greek Lexicon, read Homer to him. Under such masters, we cannot doubt his proficiency, although we have no more particular detail of his early studies upon record. Whatever else he learned, he appears to have imbibed an uncommon love of books, to have studied their history, and to have prepared himself, although unconscious of the result, for that knowledge which, it is evident from his correspondence, he was perpetually increasing, and which at length, when the political prospects which once flattered his ambition were closed, enabled, as well as incited him, to re-found the public library at Oxford.
n in our authority. A third son, Philip Adolphus, born at Halle in 1717, and who died in 1789, was a physician, having been admitted doctor in medicine in 1736. As he applied
, a very celebrated German lawyer, was born in 1674 at Hanover. He became professor of law at Halle, and afterwards director of the university and in 1743 was appointed chancellor of the duchy
of Magdeburgh, and chancellor in ordinary of the faculty
oflaw. He died Aug. 11, 1749. His chief study was the
canon law, but he was also equally distinguished for his
knowledge of the civil law and in all his writings displays
profound sense and learning. Among the most approved
of his works, we may enumerate: 1 “Tractatus ecclesiasticus de jure parochiali,
” Halle, Jus
Ecclesiasticum Protestantium,
” ibid. Corpus juris canonici,
”
Halle, De precavenda polyporum generatione.
” His next dissertation, which was published in Situs uteri gravidi, ac foetus, ac sede placentae in utero.
”
In this he has given a critical examination of the midwifery
forceps used in England, which he compares with and
prefers to Leuret’s. These pieces were added by the author to his edition of sir Richard Manningham’s “Compendium artis Obstetricoe,
” published in Institutiones Osteologicse, in usum prelectionum,
” 8vo. Haller particularly commends in this work
the engravings of the embryos, and some foetal skeletons.
His “Observationum Anatomicarum fasciculus primus,
”
folio, was published in
, an illustrious physician and professor at Leyden, born Dec. 31, 1668, at Voorhoot, a
, an illustrious physician and
professor at Leyden, born Dec. 31, 1668, at Voorhoot, a
small village in Holland, about two miles from that city.
His father intended him for divinity, and with this view
initiated him in letters himself. About the twelfth year of
his age, he was afflicted with an ulcer in his left thigh,
which seemed to baffle the art of surgery, and occasioned
such excessive pain, as much interrupted his studies for
some time; but at length, by fomenting it with salt and
wine, he effected a cure himself, and thereupon conceived
his first thoughts of studying physic. In 1682, he was
sent to the public school at Leyden, and at the expiration
of the year got into the sixth and highest class, whence it
is customary, after six months, to be removed to the university. At this juncture his father died, who left a wife
and nine children, with a slender provision of whom Herman, though hut sixteen, was the eldest. Upon his admission into the university, he was particularly noticed by
a friend of his father, Mr. Trigland, one of the professors
of divinity, who procured him the patronage of Mr. Daniel
Van Alphen, burgomaster of Leyden and by the advice
of these gentlemen he attended Senguerd’s lectures on
logic, the use of the globes, natural philosophy, metaphysics, and ethics he likewise attended the learned Jacob Gronovius on Greek and Latin authors, R kius on
Latin classics, rhetoric, chronology, and geography, and
Trigland and Scaafe on the Hebrew and Chaldee languages, in order to understand the sacred writings in
their originals. In 1687, he applied to mathematics,
and found the study so entertaining, that, after having gone
through geometry and trigonometry, he proceeded to algebra, under Voider, in 1689. This year he gave a specimen of his learning in an academic oration, proving,
“That the doctrine of Epicurus concerning the chief good
was well understood by Cicero
” and for this received the
golden medal, which usually accompanies the merit of such
probationary exercise. In 1690 he took a degree in philosophy. In his thesis on this occasion, with great strength
of argument, he confuted the systems of Epicurus, Hobbes,
and Spinosa. After having laid a solid foundation in all
other parts of learning, he proceeded to divinity under
the professors Trigland and Spanheim the first of whom
gave lectures on Hebrew antiquities, the second on ecclesiastical history.
so private a station ever attracted a more universal esteem. He amassed greater wealth than ever any physician in that country from the practice of physic, which was owing
No professor was ever attended in public as well as private lectures by so great a number of students, from such
different and distant parts, for so many years successively
none heard him without conceiving a veneration for his
person, at the same time they expressed their surprise at
his prodigious attainments and it may be justly affirmed,
that none in so private a station ever attracted a more universal esteem. He amassed greater wealth than ever any
physician in that country from the practice of physic,
which was owing as much at least to his cEconomy, as the
largeness of his fees he was falsely accused of penuriousness, for he was liberal to the distressed, but without ostentation his manner of obliging his friends was such, that
they often knew not, unless by accident, to whom they
were indebted. In friendship he was sincere, constant,
and affectionate he was communicative without conceitedness, and zealous though dispassionate in contending
for truth so unmoved was he by detraction, as to sa v
“The sparks of calumny will be presently extinct of them
selves, unless you blow them.
”
As the list of the works of this illustrious physician form no inconsiderable monument to his memory, we shall avail
As the list of the works of this illustrious physician form no inconsiderable monument to his memory, we shall avail ourselves of a more complete detail than has yet appeared in this country. In the revolutions of the medical science, it is true that many of them are no longer read, but by learned inquirers there are few of them which are not occasionally consulted, and the whole may be considered as an index to the history of medicine, under what may be termed his administration.
he imperial academy. By Portal and Blumenbach he is called archiater, or aulic counsellor, and first physician to the empress, confounding him with his brother Herman Kaan
, professor of medicine
in the university of Petersburg, was born at the Hague in
1715. He was the son of James Kaan, and of Margaret, the
daughter of Herman Boerhaave. After receiving a good
classical education, he went to Leyden, where, applying
to the study of medicine under the celebrated Albinus
Gaubius, and other masters, he was admitted to the degree
of doctor in 1738. He iiad before obtained an honorary medal from the university for his discourse “De gaudiis Alcheimstarum,
” though he was more particularly attached to
anatomy, which he cultivated with great success. The year
following he took the name of Ins uncle Boerhaave. In
1740 he went to Petersburgh, where his talents soon procured him the situation of professor in medicine in the
university there, and of one of the members of the imperial academy. By Portal and Blumenbach he is called
archiater, or aulic counsellor, and first physician to the
empress, confounding him with his brother Herman Kaan B.
who about the same time enjoyed that honour. In the
course of a severe and tedious illness, from which he with
difficulty recovered, he lost his hearing. This happened
1749. He died in 1753. His works are: “Perspiratio
dicta Hippocrati, per universum corpus anatomice illustrata,
” Lugd. B. Impetum faciens
dictum Hippocrati per corpus consentiens, philologice et
physiologice illustratum,
” Lugd. Bat.
, a physician of considerable reputation in the seventeenth century, was born
, a physician of considerable reputation in the seventeenth century, was born at
Leipsic in 1640, and began his studies there, and at Jena.
In 1663 he travelled in Denmark, Holland, England, and
France, and returned by the way of Swisserland in 1665.
The following year he took his degree of M. D. and in 1668
was promoted to the anatomical chair at Leipsic. In 1691
he was appointed city-physician, and in 1691 professor of
therapeutics. In 1700 he was dean of the faculty, and
after a prosperous career, both as a physician and writer,
died in 1718. His principal works are, 1. “De Alkali et
Acidi insuificientia pro principiorum corporum naturalium.
munere gerendo,
” Leipsic, Dissertations
chemico-physicic,
” ibid. Meditationes physico-cheuiicte de aerisin sublunaria infiuxu,
”
ibid. De duumviratu hypocliondrioium,
” ibid. Observatio atque experimenta circa usum spiritns vini externum in hainorragiis
” sistendis,“Leipsic, loS.'i, 4to. 6.
” Exercitatioues
physiologicæ, ibid. De
officio medici duplici, clinini nimirum ac forensis,
” Leipsic, De
renunciatione vulnerum lethalium examen,
” ibid.
e facetious authors, furnished him with the means of amusing and of exciting laughter. Citois, first physician to the cardinal de Richelieu, used to say to that minister,
, of the French
academy, to the establishment whereof he contributed
greatly, abbot of Chatilly-sur-Seine, was born at Caen in
1592, and died in 1662. He was remarkably brilliant in
conversation, but with his natural and borrowed powers,
often repeating scraps from many of the tales of Boccace, of Beroald, and especially the “Moyen de parvenir
”
of the Jatter. His imagination, fostered early by the
writings of all the facetious authors, furnished him with the
means of amusing and of exciting laughter. Citois, first
physician to the cardinal de Richelieu, used to say to that
minister, when he was indisposed, “Monseigneur, all our
drugs are of no avail, unless you mix with them a dram of
Boisrobert.
” The cardinal for a long time was never
happy without his company and jokes, and employed him
as his buffoon. When Boisrobert fell into disgrace with
the cardinal, he had recourse to Citois, who put at the
bottom of his paper to the cardinal, as if it had been a prescription, Recipe Boisrobert. This jest had its effect,
by causing him to be recalled. Boisrobert published,
1. Divers poems; the first part 1647, 4to, and the second
1659, 8vo. 2. Letters in the collection of Faret; 8vo.
3. Tragedies, comedies, and tales, which bear the name
of his brother Antoine le Metel, sieur d'Ouville. 4. “Histoire Indienne d‘Anaxandre et d’Orasie;
” Nouvelles heroiques,
” Now,
” added this friend, “when it is known that your
grace has rewarded a paltry piece with six thousand crowns,
every one will applaud your generosity, and will be anxious
to know what you would have given for a good poem.
”
It is most to his honour, however, that he contributed to
the establishment of the French academy, and always employed his interest with cardinal Richelieu in behalf of men
of merit.
hat freely in St. Bartholomew’s church, forsook hiaonier, and fled into Italy, where he set up for a physician, and married; but soon after committed some crime, for which
, a writer, whose whole merit was
inventing abominable lies and absurdities against the first
reformers in the sixteenth century; and, by this means
supplying popish missionaries with matter of invective
against them, he was often quoted, and became respected.
He was a Carmelite of Paris, who, having preached somewhat freely in St. Bartholomew’s church, forsook hiaonier,
and fled into Italy, where he set up for a physician,
and married; but soon after committed some crime, for
which he was driven away. He set up afterwards in
Geneva as a physician; but not succeeding in that
protession, he studied divinity. At first he dogmatized privately on the mystery of predestination, according to the principles of Pelagius; and afterwards
had the boldness to make a public discourse against
the received opinion. Upon this, Calvin went to see
him, and censured him mildly. Then he sent for him
to his house, and endeavoured to reclaim him from his
error; but this did not hinder Bolsec from delivering in
public an insulting discourse against the decree of eternal
predestination. Calvin was among his auditors; but,
hiding himself in the crowd, was not seen by Bolsec,
which made him the bolder. As soon as Bolsec had ended
his sermon, Calvin stood up, and confuted all he had been
saying. “He answered, overset, and confounded him,
”
says Beza, “with so many testimonies from the word of
God, with so many passages, chiefly from St. Augustine
in short, with so many solid arguments, that every body
was miserably ashamed for him, except the brazen-faced
monk himself.
” On this, a magistrate who was present
in that assembly, sent him to prison. The cause was discussed very fully, and at last, with the advice of the Swiss
churches, the senate of Geneva declared Bolsec convicted
of sedition and Pelagian ism; and as such, in 1551, banished him from the territory of the republic, on pain of
being whipped if he should return thither. He retired
into a neighbouring place, which depended on the canton
of Bern, and raised a great deal of disturbance there, by
accusing Calvin of making God the author of sin. Calvin,
to prevent the impressions which such complaints might
make upon the gentlemen of Bern, caused himself to be
deputed to them, and pleaded his cause before them. He
was so fortunate, that though he could not get a
determination upon his doctrine, whether it was true or false,
yet Bolsec was ordered to quit the country.
, an eminent physician and medical writer, was born at Geneva, March 5, 1620, and following
, an eminent physician and medical writer, was born at Geneva, March 5,
1620, and following the steps of his father and grandfather,
early attached himself to the practice of physic. After visiting several foreign academies, he was admitted doctor
in medicine at Bologna, in 1643, and was soon after made
physician to the duke de Longueville. Though he soon
attained to high credit in his profession, and had a large
share of practice, he dedicated a considerable portion of
his time to reading, and to dissecting such subjects as the
hospital afforded him, with a view of discovering the seats
of diseases, minuting every deviation he observed from the
natural structure of the viscera, or other parts of the body,
and thus opening a new road for improving the science he
cultivated. He also appears to have made extracts of every
thing he deemed worthy of notice, from the various works
he read. His hearing from some accident becoming defective, he withdrew from practice, and employed the last
ten or twelve years of his life in arranging the materials he
had collected. The first fruit of his labour, which he gave
to the public in 1668, was “Pharos Medicoru in,
” 2 vols.
12mo. This was printed again, much improved and enlarged, in 1679, in 4to, under the title of “Labyrinthi
Medici, extricati,
” &c. compiled principally from Bellonius
and Septalius. In 1675, “Prodromus Anatomise practicas,
sive de abditis morborum causis,
” fol.; the precursor of
his principal work, “Sepulchretum, seu Anatome practica,
ex cadaveribus morbo denatis proponens historias et observationes,
” &c. Genev. De sedibus et causis Morborum,
” by which
the “Sepulchretum
” is in a great measure superseded.
The author begins with observations on the appearances of
the brain and other parts of the head; then of the contents of the thorax, abdomen, and pelvis; and lastly, of
the extremities; forming an immense body of dissections,
which he has illustrated by many pertinent and ingenious
observations. “Cours de medicine, et de la chirurgie,
”
Medicina
septentrionalis, collectitia,
” Mercurius compilatitius, seu index medico-practicus,
” Epitome operum Sennerti,
” J. D. Turqueti de
Mayerne, de Arthritide,
” Rohaulti tractatus physicus, e Gallico in Latinam versus,
”
ne, he came to England, and was in such estimation for his skill in his profession, that he was made physician to king Charles I. On the death of that prince he settled in
, of a noble family, was
born at Gorcum, in Holland, in 1604. After taking his
degree of doctor in medicine, he came to England, and was
in such estimation for his skill in his profession, that he
was made physician to king Charles I. On the death of
that prince he settled in Dublin, but died soon after, viz.
in 1650. In 1630 he published “Heures de Recreation,
”
4to, in the Dutch language; and in Philosophia
Naturalis reformata,
” which are not, however, much esteemed. His brother Arnold, likewise a physician, was well
versed in the Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Syriac languages.
After taking his degree of doctor in medicine, he came also
to London; but on the breaking out of the troubles here,
he removed to Ireland, where he practised with success
and reputation for some years. Tired at length with the
hurry and confusion incident to civil commotions, and having experienced some losses, he went to Paris, and there
passed the remainder of his life in retirement and study.
He died in 1653. He published, in 1649, “Observationes
Medicae de affcctibus a veteribus omissis,
” 12mo. Haller
gives a particular account of this volume, which contains
many interesting and curious observations.
om the books he wrote; yet he is said to have been a man of great wit and learning, and an “especial physician.” That he was not of consequence eminent enough to rank with
, or as he styles himself in Latin, Andreas Perforatus, was a very singular
character, and the reputation he acquired among his contemporaries must be considered in a great measure as a
proof of the ignorance and credulity of the times. He was
born at Pevensey in Sussex about 1500, and was educated
at Oxford; but before he had taken a degree, entered
among the Carthusians in or near London. He afterwards
left them, and studied physic at Oxford; and then travelled over most parts of Europe and Africa. On his return he settled at Winchester, where he practised physic
with considerable reputation, and in this capacity he is said
to have served Henry VIII. In 1541 and 1542 he was at
Montpellier, where he probably took the degree of doctor,
in which he was soon after incorporated at Oxford. He
lived then for some time at Pevensey, and afterwards returned to Winchester, still observing all the austerities of
the order to which he formerly belonged; though he has
been accused of many irregularities. It is certain that his
character was very odd and whimsical, as appears from the
books he wrote; yet he is said to have been a man of great wit
and learning, and an “especial physician.
” That he was not
of consequence eminent enough to rank with the first of his
profession, may be inferred from his dying insolvent in the
Fleet, April 1549. Bale intimates that he hastened his end
by poison on the discovery of his keeping a brothel for his
brother bachelors. His works are very various in their
subjects; one of the most considerable is intituled, “A
book of the introduction of knowledge,
” black letter, imprinted by William Coplande, without date. He there professes to teach all languages, the customs and fashions of
all countries, and the value of every species of coin. This
is a motley piece, partly in verse and partly in prose; and
is divided into thirty-nine chapters, before each of which is
a wooden cut, representing a man in the habit of some particular country. His well known satire on the Englishman,
who, to express the inconstancy and mutability of his
fashions, is drawn naked with a cloth and a pair of sheers in
his hand, is borrowed from the Venetians, who characterised
the French in that manner. Before the 7th chapter is the
effigies of the author, under a canopy, with a gown, a laurel on his head, and a book before him. The title of this
chapter shews how the author dwelt in Scotland and other
islands, and went through and round about Christendom.
An edition of this singular work was printed in London in
1542. His “Breviary of Health,
” which is a very trifling,
coarse, and weak performance, was published in 1.547, and
is supposed by Fuller to be the first medical piece written
in English. As a specimen of the style, take what follows,
which is the beginning of the Prologue, addressed to physicians: “Egregious doctors and maisters of the eximious
and arcane science of physicke, of your urbanity exasperate
not yourselves against me for making this little volume.
”
This work, with a second part called the “Extravagants,
”
was reprinted in 4to, Compendyouse Regimente, or Dietary of
Healthe made in Mounte Pyllor,
” an edition of which was
printed several years after his death, in 1562. A famous
jest book called the “Merrye tales of the madmen of Gotham;
” “The historye of the miller of Abingdon and the
Cambridge scholars,
” the same with that related by
Chaucer in his Canterbury Tales; a book of “Prognostics,
”
and another of Urines, &c. It is said that the phrase
“Merry Andrew
” is derived from him.
a French physician of considerable eminence, was born at Iseste, in Beam, in 1693.
a French physician of considerable eminence, was born at Iseste, in Beam, in 1693. After being initiated in the study of medicine by his father, he went to Montpellier, where he was admitted doctor in that faculty in 1719. Invited, in 1723, to Pan, the capital of the province, he acquired so much reputation, as to be appointed physician to the military hospital at Bareges, and inspector of the mineral waters there. To the waters he paid great attention, and in 1750, he published a small treatise, shewing the effects he had experienced from them in a variety of diseases. He lived to an advanced age, but the precise time of his death is not known.
re he acquired great reputation. Having taken out his licence in that city in 1754, he was appointed physician to the hopital de la charite. He died of an apoplexy, Nov. 24,
, son to the preceding, was
born Feb. 22, 1722, at Iseste in the valley of Ossan inBearn,
and at the age of twenty, for his degree of bachelor in the
university of Montpellier, where he was then a student, he
held a thesis “De sensu generice considerate,
” which contains
the ground-work of all the publications he afterwards gave.
Such early knowledge determined his professors to dispense
with several acts usual before admission to practice. In>
1743, he was created M. D. at Montpellier, and two years
after succeeded his father, as inspector of the mineral waters, and professor of anatomy. In 1747, he was made
corresponding member of the royal academy of Sciences at
Paris, whither he soon after went, and where he acquired
great reputation. Having taken out his licence in that city
in 1754, he was appointed physician to the hopital de la
charite. He died of an apoplexy, Nov. 24, 1776. A
deep melancholy, occasioned by the flying gout, was the
fore-runner of his end. He was found dead in his bed.
One of the faculty, jealous of his fame, and who had tried
to ruin him by a prosecution, said on the occasion: “I
should never have thought he would have died in a horizontal position.
” But a witty lady retorted by observing
“that death was so much afraid of him, that he was obliged
to catch him napping.
” The facility with which he exercised his profession, his reluctance to give medicines, and
his great confidence in nature, sometimes drew upon him
the reproach that he had not much faith in medicine; but
his doubts were so much the less blameable, as he was continually occupied in rendering the resources of his art more
certain. He never disputed at all towards the latter end of his
life, because probably he had disputed much to no purpose
in his youth. Nobody knew better how to doubt, and he
had little confidence in his own knowledge, and trusted with
difficulty to that of others. Seeing the great number of
courses of lectures in all branches of science, advertised
every day, he observed once to a friend: “Will no one
ever give a course of good sense?
” As he expressed himself at times with rather too much acerbity on the merits
of others, some of his professional brethren have called his
own into question. His works, however, sufficiently attest
his abilities. The principal are, 1. “Chylificationis historia,
” Recherches sur les Glandes.
” He thought he observed a
duct passing from the thyroid gland to the trachaea; an
opinion which he repeats in another of his works, but without sufficient ground. 3. “Dissertatio physiologica de
sensu generice considerate,
” Monspelii, Chylificationis historia.
” 4. “Lettres contenant des essais sur l'histoire des Eaux minerales du Beam,
&c. 1746, 12mo.
” In these he treats of the properties of
the waters, and of the geography of Beam. 5. “Recherches anatomiques sur la position des Glandes, et sur leur
actions,
” Paris, Recherches sur le pouls
par raport aux crises,
” Paris, Recherches sur le tissu mnqueux, et l'organecellulaire,
”
Paris,
, a French physician, naturalist, and chemist, was born at Castres, in Languedoc,
, a French physician, naturalist, and
chemist, was born at Castres, in Languedoc, about 1620.
After studying medicine, he received his doctor’s degree,
as is supposed, in 1641, and began practice at his native
place. He collected a very fine museum of natural curiosities, of which he published a catalogue, “Catalogue des
Raretes de Pierre Borel de Castres,
” ibid. Bibliotheca Chimica,
” that he was not rich, as he there complains that he could not afford to print his works. In 1653,
he came to Paris, and some time after was appointed physician to the king, but it is thought this was merely an honorary title, and we are not certain whether he remained
afterwards at Paris. He was, however, elected in 1674
into the academy of sciences, as a chemist. Niceron says
he died in 1689, but a letter addressed to Bayle in 1678
speaks of him as then just dead. He published, 1. “Les
Antiquites, Raretes, &c. de la ville et comte de Castres,
&c.
” Castres, 164y, 8vo. 2. “Historiarum et observationum Medico-Physicarum, centuria prima et secunda,
”
ibid. Bibliotheea
chimica, sen catalogus librorum philosophicorum hermeticorum, in quo quatuor millia circiter authovum chemicorum, &c. cum eorum editionibus, usque ad annum 1653
continentur,
” Paris, 1654; Heidelberg, 1656, 12mo. In
this work he gives the titles of these chemical works, but
very rarely the dates. 4. “De vero Telescopii Inventore,
cum brevi omnium conspicillorum historia,
” &c. Hague,
Tresor des Recherches et Antiquity’s
Gauloises, reduites en ordre alphabetique, et enrichies de
beaucoup d'origines, epitaphes, et autres choses rares et
curieuses, coin me aussi de beaucoup de mots de la langue
Thyoise ou Theutfranque,
” Paris, Poeme a, la louange de I'lmprimerie.
”
7. “Carmina in laudem regis, reginae, etcardinalis Mazarini,
” 4to. 8. “Auctarium ad Vitam Peirescii,
” in the
Hague edition of that life published in Commentum in antiquum philosophum Syrum,
” Hortus seu Armamentarium simplicium Plantarum et
Animalium ad artem medicam spectantium,
” &c. Castres,
De Curationibus Sympatheticis,
” printed
in the “Theatrum Sympatheticum,
” Nurimberg, Discours nouveau, prouvant la Pluralite des
Mondes,
” Geneva, 8vo, and translated into English by D.
Sashott, Lond. 1658. 13. “Vitae Renati Cartesii compendium,
” Paris,
y and splendid equipage, and took upon him the title of Excellency: people flocked to him, as to the physician who could cure all diseases; and proposals were concerted for
Borri staid some time in the city of Strasburgh, to which he had fled; and where he found some assistance and support, as well because he was persecuted by the inquisition, as because he was reputed a great chemist. But this was not a theatre large enough for Borri: he went therefore to Amsterdam, where he appeared in a stately and splendid equipage, and took upon him the title of Excellency: people flocked to him, as to the physician who could cure all diseases; and proposals were concerted for marrying him to great fortunes, &c. But his reputation began to sink, as his impostures became better understood, and he fled in the night from Amsterdam, with a great many jewels and sums of money, which he had pilfered. He then went to Hamburgh, where queen Christina was, and put himself under her protection: persuading her to venture a great sum of money, in order to find out the philosopher’s stone. Afterwards he went to Copenhagen, and inspired his Danish majesty to search for the same secret; by which means he acquired that prince’s favour so far, as to become very odious to all the great persons of the kingdom. Immediately after the death of the king, whom he had cheated out of large sums of money, he left Denmark for fear of being imprisoned, and resolved to go into Turkey. Being come to the frontiers at a time when the conspiracy of Nadasti, Serini, and Frangipani, was discovered, he was secured, and his name sent to his Imperial majesty, to see if he was one of the conspirators. The pope’s nuncio, who happened to be present, as soon as he heard Borri mentioned, demanded, in the pope’s name, that the prisoner should be delivered to him. The emperor consented to it, and ordered that Borri should be sent to Vienna; and afterwards, having first obtained from the pope a promise that he should not be put to death, he sent him to Rome; where he was tried, and condemned to perpetual confinement in the prison of the inquisition. He made abjuration of his errors in the month of October, 1672. Some years after he obtained leave to attend the duke d‘Estree, whom all the physicians had given over; and the unexpected cure he wrought upon him occasioned it to be said, that an arch-heretic had done a great miracle in Rome. It is said also, that the queen of Sweden sent for him sometimes in a coach; but that, after the death of that princess, he went no more abroad, and that none could speak with him without special leave from the pope. The Utrecht gazette, as Mr. Bayle relates, of the 9th of September, 1695, informed the public, that Borri was lately dead in the castle of St. Arigelo, being 79 years of age. It seems that the duke d’ Estre*e, as a recompence for recovering him, had procured Borri’s prisou to be changed, from that of the inquisition to the castle of St. Angelo.
, or Borch, a very learned physician, son of a Lutheran minister in Denmark, was born 1626, and sent
, or Borch, a very learned physician, son of a Lutheran minister in Denmark, was born 1626, and sent to the university of Copenhagen in 1644, where he remained six years, during which time he applied himself chierly to physic. He taught publicly in his college, and Acquired the character of a man indefatigable in labour, and of excellent morals. He gained the esteem of Caspar Brochman, bishop of Zealand, and of the chancellor of the kingdom, by the recommendation of whom he obtained the canonry of Lunden. He was offered the rectorship of the famous school of Heslow, but refused it, having formed a design of travelling and perfecting his studies in physic. He began to practise as a physician during a most terrible plague in Denmark, and the contagion being ceased, he prepared for travelling as he intended; but was obliged to defer it for some time, Mr. Gerstorf, the first minister of state, having insisted on his residing in his house in the quality of tutor to his children. He continued in this capacity five years, and then set out upon his travels; but before his departure, he was appointed professor in poetry, chemistry, and botany. He left Copenhagen in November 1660, and, after having visited several eminent physicians at Hamburgh, went to Holland, the Low Countries, to England, and to Paris, where he remained two years. He visited also several other cities of France, and at Angers had a doctor’s degree in physic conferred upon him. He afterwards passed the Alps, and arrived at Rome in October 1665, where he remained till March 1666, when he was obliged to set out for Denmark, where he arrived in October 1666. The advantages which Borrichius reaped in his travels were very considerable, for he had made himself acquainted with all the learned men in the different cities through which he passed. At his return to Denmark he resumed his professorship, in the discharge of which he acquired great reputation for his assiduity and universal learning. He was made counsellor in the supreme council of justice in 1686, and counsellor of the royal chancery in 1689. This same year he had a severe attack of 'the stone, and the pain every day increasing, he wss obliged to be cut for it; the operation however did not succeed, the stone being so big that it could not be extracted. He bore this affliction with great constancy and resolution till his death, which happened in October 1690.
, an eminent physician of Piedmont, who flourished about the middle of the 16th century,
, an eminent physician of Piedmont, who flourished about the middle of the 16th century, was a disciple of Fallopius, and took his degree of
doctor in medicine at Padua. It appears by his writings,
that he was a diligent observer, and enjoyed a considerable share of practice. He was in succession physician and
aulic counsellor to Charles IX. Henry II. of France, and
to William prince of Orange. He was also skilled in the
practice of surgery, and published, “De curandis vulneribus sclopetorum,
” Venet. Commentarioli duo, alter
de medici, alter de aegvoti, munere,
” Lion. De curatione per sanguinis missione, de
incidendae venae, cutis scarificandae, et hirudinum arrigendarum modo,
” Antw. Opera Omnia,
” in
, a physician, descended of an illustrious family of Parma, was born at Padua
, a physician, descended of an
illustrious family of Parma, was born at Padua in the beginning of the sixteenth century, and in 1555 became professor of medicine in that city, where he was esteemed for
his talents and success as a practitioner. He died in 1596,
leaving behind him an immense property, an elegant house,
&c. He published, l.“De Vita conservanda,
” Padua,
De morbis muliebribus,
” ibid. Consilia medica,
” Francfort, De modo discurrendi
circa morbos eosdem curandi tractatus,
” ibid. Methodus medicinales duae,
” &c.
, the son of Nicholas Bottom, a celebrated philosopher and physician of Leontini, in Sicily, was born the 6th of October 1641, and
, the son of Nicholas Bottom, a
celebrated philosopher and physician of Leontini, in Sicily, was born the 6th of October 1641, and received his
education under Peter Castello. In 1658, he was admitted
to the degree of doctor, and was soon after made physician
to the marquis De Villa Franca, viceroy of Sicily, physician to the royal hospital of Messina, and superintendant of
the physicians there, with a pension of 50 crowns per
month. He afterwards enjoyed a similar situation under
the viceroy of Naples. In 1697, he was made corresponding jor honorary member of the royal society of London, to
which he had previously sent his “Idea historico-physica
tie magno trinacrisc terras motu,
” which is published in
their transactions. He was the first Sicilian physician who
had received that honour. He wrote also “Pyrologia topograpuica, id est, de igne dissertatio, juxta loca, cum
eorun. doscriptione,
” Neapoli, Febris rheumaticse malignae, historia medica,
” Messina, Preserve salutari contro il contagioso malore,
” Messina,
rites tirees d’une vie manucrite de ce philosophe, fait par un de ses amis,” (Luczs, the atheistical physician), Brussels, 1731, 12mo. The account and defence of Spinosa,
, comte de St. Saire,
where he was born October 21, 1658, of a noble and ancient family, was educated at Juilli, by the rithers of the
oratory, and gave proofs of genius and abilities from his
childhood. His chief study was history, which he afterwards cultivated assiduously. He died January 23, 1722,
at Paris, having been twice married, and left only daughters. He was author of a History of the Arabians, and
Mahomet, 12mo, “Memoires sur l'ancien Governement de
France; ou 14 lettres sur les anciens Parlemens de
France,
” 3 vols. 12mo; “Histoire de France jusqu'a
Charles VIII.
” 3 vols. 12mo; and “l'Etatde la Fiance,
”
6 vols. 12mo, in the Dutch edition, and eight in the edition of Trevoux, “Memoire presente a M. le due d‘Orleans, sur l’Administration des Finances,
” 2 vols. 12mo
“Histoire de la Pairie de France,
” 12mo “Dissertations
sur la Noblesse de France,
” 12mo. Ah his writings on
the French history have been collected in 3 vols. fol. They
Sire riot written (says M. de Montesquieu) with all the free-.
dom and simplicity of the ancient nobility, from which he
descended. M. Boulainvilliers left some other works in
ms. known to the learned, who have, with great reason,
been astonished to find, that he expresses in them his
doubts of the most incontestable dogmas of religion, while
he blindly gives credit to the reveries of juticial astrology
an inconsistency common to many other infjdels. Mosheim
informs us that Boulainvilliers was such an admirer of the
pernicious opinions of Spinosa, that he formed the design
of expounding and illustrating it, as is done wth respect to
the doctrines of the gospel in books of piety, accommodated to ordinary capacities. This design he attually executed, but in such a manner as to set the atheim and impiety of Spinosa in a clearer light than they hid ever appeared before. The work was published by lenglet du
Fresnoy, who, that it might be bought with avdity, and
read without suspicion, called it a Refutation of theErrors of
Spinosa, artfully adding some separate pieces, to which this
title may, in some measure, he thought applicabk. The
whole title runs, “Refutation des Erreurs de Beioit de
Spinosa, par M. de Fenelon, archeveque de Cambay, par
le Pere Lauri Benedictin, et par M. Le Comte de Bulainvilliers, avec la Vie de Spinosa, ecrite par Jean COerus,
minister de l‘Eglise Lutherienne de la Haye, augnsntée
de beaucoup de particularites tirees d’une vie manucrite
de ce philosophe, fait par un de ses amis,
” (Luczs, the atheistical physician), Brussels,
* Dr. Welsted, a physician, was also The primate maintained a son of the of this golden
* Dr. Welsted, a physician, was also The primate maintained a son of the
of this golden election, and when he doctor’s, as a commoner, at Hart-halt
became poor in the latter part of his in Oxford; and would effectually have
life, the archbishop, though he was no provided for him, if the young gentlerelation, gave him, at the least, two man had not died before he had taken
hundred pounds a year, till his death, a degree. Dr. Welsted was one of the
Nor did his grace’s kindness to the editors of the Oxford Pindar, and
doctor’s family end with his decease-, esteemed an excellent Greek scholar.
and some time after he was preferred to the same honour
by Dr. Thomas Tenison, archbishop of Canterbury. In
these stations he was under a necessity of appearing often
at court, where his merit obtained him the patronage of
Charles Spencer, earl of Sunderland, principal secretary
of state, by whose interest he was advanced to the rectory
of St. Olave in Southwark, and to the archdeaconry of
Surrey. The parish of St. Olave was very populous, and
for the most part poor, and required such a liberal and vigilant pastor as Dr. Boulter, who relieved their wants,
and gave them instruction, correction, and reproof. When
king George I. passed over to Hanover in 1719, Dr. Boulter was recommended to attend him in quality of his chaplain, and also was appointed tutor to prince Frederic, to
instruct him in the English tongue; and for that purpose
drew up for his use “A set of Instructions.
” This so recommended him to the king, that during his abode at
Hanover, the bishopric of Bristol, and deanery of Christchurch, Oxford, becoming vacant, the king granted to
him that see and deanery, and he was consecrated bishop
of Bristol, on the fifteenth of November, 1719. In this
last station he was more than ordinarily assiduous in the
visitation of his diocese, and the discharge of his pastoral
duty; and during one of these visitations, he received a
letter by a messenger from the secretary of state, acquainting him, that his majesty had nominated him to the archbishopric of Armagh, and primacy of Ireland, then vacant
by the death of Dr. Thomas Lindsay, on the 13th of July,
1724-, and desiring him to repair to London as soon as
possible, to kiss the king’s hand for his promotion. After
some, consultation on this affair, to which he felt great repugnance, he sent an answer by the messenger, refusing
the honour the king intended him, and requesting the secretary to use his good offices with his majesty, in making
his excuse, but the messenger was dispatched back to him.
by the secretary, with the king’s absolute commands that
he should accept of the post, to which he submitted,
though not without some reluctance, and soon after addressed himself to his journey to court. Ireland was at
that juncture not a little inflamed, by the copper-coin
project of one Wood, and it was thought by the king and
ministry, that the judgment, moderation, and wisdom of
the bishop of Bristol would tend much to allay the ferment.
He arrived in Ireland on the third of November, 1724,
had no sooner passed patent for the primacy, than he
appeared at all the public boards, and gave a weight and
vigour to them; and, in every respect, was indefatigable
in promoting the real happiness of the people. Among
his other wise measures, in seasons of great scarcity in,
Ireland, he was more than once instrumental in averting a
pestilence and famine, which threatened the nation. When
the scheme was set on foot for making a navigation, by a
canal to be drawn from Lough -Neagh to Newry, not only
for bringing coal to Dublin, but to carry on more effectually an inland trade in the several counties of the north
of Ireland, he greatlv encouraged and promoted the design, not only with his counsel but his purse. Drogheda
is a large and populous town within the diocese of Armagh,
and his grace finding that the ecclesiastical appointments
were not sufficient to support two clergymen there, and
the cure over-burthensome for one effectually to discharge,
he allotted out of his own pocket a maintenance for a second curate, whom he obliged to give public service every
Sunday in the afternoon, and prayers twice every day.
He had great compassion for the poor clergy of his diocese, who were disabled from giving their children a proper education, and maintained several of the sons of
such in the university, in order to qualify them for future
preferment, He erected four houses at Drogheda for the
reception of clergymen’s widows, and purchased an estate
for the endowment of them, after the model of primate
Marsh’s charity; which he enlarged in one particular: for
as the estate he purchased for the maintenance of the
widows, amounted to twenty-four pounds a year more than
he had set apart for that use, he appointed that the surplus
should be a fund for setting out the children of such,
widows apprentices, or otherwise to be disposed of for the
benefit of such children, as his trustees should think proper.
He also by his will directed, which has since been performed, that four houses should be built for clergymen’s
widows at Armagh, and endowed with fifty pounds a year.
During his life, he contracted for the building of a stately
market-house at Armagh, which was finished by his executors, at upwards of eight hundred pounds expence. He
was a benefactor also to Dr. Stevens’s hospital in the city
of Dublin, erected for the maintenance and cure of the
poor. His charities for augmenting small livings, and
buying of glebes, amounted to upwards of thirty thousand
pourids, besides what he devised by his will for the like
purposes in England. Though the plan of the incorporated society for promoting English protestant working
schools, cannot be imputed to primate Boulter, yet he
was the chief instrument in forwarding the undertaking,
which he lived to see carried into execution with consider,
able success. His private charities were not less munificent, but so secretly conducted, that it is impossible to
give any particular account of them: it is affirmed by
those who were in trust about him, that he never suffered
an object to leave his house unsupplied, and he often sent
them away with considerable sums, according to the judgment he made of their merits and necessities. With respect
to his political virtues, and the arts of government, when
his health would permit him he was constant in his attendance at the council-table, and it is well known what weight
and dignity he gave to the debates of that board. As he
always studied the true interest of Ireland, so he judged,
that the diminishing the value of the gold coin would be a
means of increasing silver in the country, a thing very
much wanted in order to effect which, he supported a
scheme at the council- table, which raised the clamours of
unthinking people, although experience soon demonstrated
its wisdom. He was thirteen times one of the lords justices,
or chief governors of Ireland; which office he administered
oftener than any other chief governor on record. He embarked for England June 2, 1742, and after two days illness died at his house in St. James’s place, Sept. 27, and
was buried in Westminster-abbey, where a stately monument has been erected to his memory. His deportment
was grave, his aspect venerable, and his temper meek and
humble. He was always open and easy of access both to
rich and poor. He was steady to the principles of liberty,
both in religion and politics. His learning was universal,
yet more in substance than shew; nor would his modesty
permit him to make any ostentation of it. He always preserved such an equal temper of mind that hardly any thing
could ruffle, and amidst obloquy and opposition, steadily
maintained a resolution of serving his country, embraced
every thing proposed for the good of it, though by persons
remarkable for their opposition to him: and when the most
public-spirited schemes were introduced by him, and did
not meet with the reception they deserved, he never took
offence, but was glad when any part of his advice for the
public good was pursued, and was always willing to drop
some points, that he might not lose all; often saying,
“he would do all the good to Ireland he could, though
they did not suffer him to do all he would.
” His life was
mostly spent in action, and therefore it is not to be expected that he should have left many remains of his learning behind him nor do we know of any thing he bath
written, excepting a few Charges to his clergy at his visitations, which are grave, solid, and instructive, and eleven
Occasional Sermons, printed separately. In 1769, however,
were published, at Oxford, in two volumes 8vo, “Letters
written by his excellency Hugh Boulter, D. D. lord primate of all Ireland, &c. to several ministers of state in
England, and some others. Containing an account of the
most interesting transactions which passed in Ireland from
1724 to 1738.
” The originals, which are deposited in the
library of Christ church, in Oxford, were collected by
Ambrose Philips, esq. who was secretary to his grace, and
lived in his house during that space of time in which they
bear date. They are entirely letters of business, and are
all of them in Dr. Boulter’s hand-writing, excepting some
few, which are fair copies by his secretary. The editor
justly remarks, that these letters, which could not be intended for publication, have been fortunately preserved,
as they contain the most authentic history of Ireland, for
the period in which they were written: “a period,
” he
adds, “which will ever do honour to his grace’s memory,
and to those most excellent princes George the first and
second, who had the wisdom to place confidence in so
worthy, so able, and so successful a minister; a minister
who had the rare and peculiar felicity of growing still
more and more into the favour both of the king and of the
people, until the very last day of his life,
” It is much to
be regretted that in some of his measures, he was opposed
by dean Swift, particularly in that of diminishing the gold
coin, as it is probable that they both were actuated by an
earnest desire of serving the country. In one affair, that
of Wood’s halfpence, they appear to have coincided, and
in that they both happened to encourage a public clamour
which had little solid foundation. The writer of archbishop'
Boulter’s Life in the Biog. Brit, seems to doubt whether
he assisted Ambrose Philips in the paper called the
“Freethinker;
” but of this we apprehend there can be no
doubt. It was published while he held the living of St.
Olave’s.
ris, Dudley, &c. having frequently visited England, where he was patronized by Dr. Butts, the king’s physician, and William Boston, abbot of Westminster, an hospitable man,
, a Latin
poet of France, was born in 1503 at Vandeuvrt, near Langres, the son of a rich forge-master. Margaret de Valois
appointed him preceptor to her daughter Jane d'Albret de
Navarre, mother of Henry IV. He retired afterwards to
Conde“, where he had a benefice, and died there about 1550.
Bourbon left eight books of epigrams, and a didactic poem
on the forge entitled
” Ferrarie,“1533, 8vo;
” De puerorum moribus,“Lyons, 1536, 4to, a series of moral distichs, with a commentary by J. de Caures. He was extremely well acquainted with antiquity and the Greek
language. Erasmus praises his epigrams, and he appears
to have been the friend and correspondent of Erasmus,
Scaliger, Latimer, Carey, Harvey, Saville, Norris, Dudley, &c. having frequently visited England, where he was
patronized by Dr. Butts, the king’s physician, and William
Boston, abbot of Westminster, an hospitable man, with
whom he speaks of having passed many pleasant hours in
archbishop Cranmer’s garden at Lambeth. He treats sir
Thomas More with great asperity in one of his epigrams,
from which we may probably conclude that he inclined to
protestantism, although this is not consistent with his
history. His epigrams were published under the title of
” Nugarumlibriocto," Paris, 1533, and often reprinted, particularly by Scaliger, 1577 in 1608 by Passerat, with notes;
and lastly, by the abbe Brochard in 1723, a handsome
quarto edition, printed at Paris.
, nephew to the above, and superior to him as a Greek and Latin poet, was the son of a physician. He taught rhetoric in several colleges at Paris, and cardinal
, nephew to the above, and
superior to him as a Greek and Latin poet, was the son of
a physician. He taught rhetoric in several colleges at
Paris, and cardinal du Perron appointed him professor of
eloquence at the royal college. He was also canon of
Langres, and one of the forty of the French academy. He
retired at last among the fathers of the oratory, where he
died August 7, 1644, aged seventy. Bourbon is justly
considered as one of the greatest Latin poets whom France
has produced. His poems were printed at Paris, 1651,
12mo. The “Imprecation on the Parricide of Henry IV.
”
is his chef-d'ceuvre. He wrote the two beautiful lines
which are upon the gate of the arsenal at Paris, in honour
of Henry the Great:
, nephew to the above, and educated by him, was a very celebrated physician at Paris, where he died Feb. 9, 1685, aged seventy-six. In 1634,
, nephew to the above,
and educated by him, was a very celebrated physician at
Paris, where he died Feb. 9, 1685, aged seventy-six. In
1634, he obtained leave to adopt the name of Bourdelot,
pursuant to his uncle’s desire, who on that condition left
him his library and fortune. He wrote some treatises
on “the Viper,
” on “Mount Etna,
” “La relation des
appartmens de Versailles,
” &c. with three volumes of
“Conferences,
” which were published by M. le Gallois.
, physician in ordinary to Louis XIV. and first physician to the duchess
, physician in ordinary
to Louis XIV. and first physician to the duchess of Burgundy, was sister’s son to the preceding P. Michon Bourdelot, who enjoined him to change his name from Bonnet
to Bourdelot, on the same terms that himself adopted that
name, viz. his library and fortune. P. Bonnet Bourdelot
was a skilful physician, and a man of general literature.
He wrote some useful notes on the “Bibliotheque choisie
de M. Colomies,
” which were added to the Paris edition of
Histoire de la Musique,
”
, physician and doctor regent of the faculty of Paris, and associate-veteran
, physician and doctor
regent of the faculty of Paris, and associate-veteran of the
academy of sciences, was born at Chartres Jan. 11, 1717.
Many of his ancestors having been physicians, he determined on the same profession, which he practised at Paris with so much success that no physician was more consulted; yet this did not prevent his being jealous of Tronchin, Bordeu, and some others, of whom he spoke very
illiberally, but he was a man otherwise of great kindness
and benevolence. One anecdote is recorded as characteristic. A banker, who had experienced some heavy losses,
was taken ill, and Bouvart, who was called in, suspected
that this weighed on his mind, but could not obtain the secret from him. The banker’s wife, however, was more
communicative, and told him that her husband had a payment of twenty thousand livres to make very shortly, for
which he was unprovided. Bouvart, without making any
professions of sorrow or assistance, went immediately home
and sent the money to his patient, who recovered surprisingly. Bouvart wrote only two or three small tracts: one a
critique on Tronchin’s book, “de colica Pictonum,
” 1758,
8vo; a “Consultation sur une naissance tardive,
” against
the anatomists Petit and Bertin, Memou/e au sujet de l'honoraire des medicines,
”
he was introduced to all that gentleman’s friends and acquaintance; and among others to Dr. Goodman ( physician to king George the first), who procured him to be recommended
By Dr. Aspinwall’s means he was introduced to all that gentleman’s friends and acquaintance; and among others to Dr. Goodman (physician to king George the first), who procured him to be recommended to lord Aylmer, who wanted a person to assist him in reading the classics. With this nobleman he continued several years on terms of the greatest intimacy; and was by him made known to all his lordship’s connections, and particularly to the family of lord Lyttelton, who afterwards became his warm, steady, and to the last, when deserted by almost every other person, his unalterable friend.
f the supreme court at Castres, and his mother was Catherine, daughter of Campdomerius, a celebrated physician, circumstances which have been recorded to prove that he was
, a lexicographer and miscellaneous writer, was born June 13, 1667, at the city of Castres in Upper
Languedoc. His great-grandfather and grandfather were
masters of the riding-school at Nismes; his father was
president of the supreme court at Castres, and his mother
was Catherine, daughter of Campdomerius, a celebrated
physician, circumstances which have been recorded to
prove that he was of a good family. He was certainly of a
conscientious one, his relations being exiles for their adherence to the protestant religion. He was first educated
by his mother’s brother, Campdomerius, a noted divine
and preacher of the reformed church, and then was sent to
the protestant school at Puy Laurent, where he applied
assiduously, and excelled all his schoolfellows in Greek
and Latin. In 1685, when the persecution prevailed
against the protestants in France, he followed his uncle to
Holland, and pressed by want, was obliged to enter into
the military service in 1687; but soon, by the advice of
his relations, returned to his studies, and went to the university of Franeker, where he went through a regular course
of education, and added to philosophy, divinity, history,
&c. the study of the mathematics. In 1689 he came over
to England, and the hopes of being able to return to France,
which the protestants in general entertained, being disappointed, he was obliged to have recourse to his pen for a
livelihood. His first employment appears to have been to
transcribe and prepare for the press Camden’s letters from
the Cotton ian library, for Dr. Smith, who afterwards published them. In 1692, he became French and Latin tutor
to Allen Bathurst, esq. eldest son of sir Benjamin Bathurst,
who, being much in favour with the princess Anne of Denmark, afterwards queen of Great Britain, he had hopes of
some preferment at court. With this view he paid great
attention to his pupil’s education (who was afterwards lord Bathurst), and for his use composed two compendious
grammars, the one Latin, the other French; but the latter
only was printed, and to this da,y is a standard book. His
hopes of preferment, however, Appear to have been fallacious, which his biographer attributes to his siding with
a different party from the Bathurst family in the political
divisions which prevailed at that time in the nation, Boyer,
like the rest of his countrymen who had fled hither for religion, being a zealous whig. After this, having made
himself master of the English tongue, he became an author
by profession, and engaged sometimes alone, and sometimes in conjunction with the booksellers, in various compilations, and periodical works of the political kind, particularly a newspaper called the “Post-Boy;
” the “Political
State of Great Britain,
” published in volumes from History of William III.
” 3 vols. 8vo “Annals of the reign of Queen Anne,
” 11 vols. 8vo, and a
“Life of Queen Anne,
” fol. all publications now more
useful than when published, as they contain many state
papers, memorials, &c. which it would be difficult to find
elsewhere; but his name is chiefly preserved by his French
Dictionary, 1699, 4to, and a French Grammar, of both
which he lived to see several editions, and which still continue to be printed. His political principles involved him
with Swift, who often speaks contemptuously of him, and
with Pope, who has given him a place in the Dunciad. He
died Nov. 16, 1729, at a house he had built in Five Fields,
Chelsea, and was buried in Chelsea church-yard.
, a learned French physician, was born at Marseilles, August 5, 1693. His father, intending
, a learned French
physician, was born at Marseilles, August 5, 1693. His
father, intending to bring him up to business, gave him a
suitable education, and afterwards sent him to Constantinople, to his uncle, who was consul there; but rinding
him inclined to literature, and to the study of medicine, he
sent him, on his return from the Levant, to the university
at Montpellier. In 1717, he took the degree of doctor,
and gave for jiis inaugural thesis, “A dissertation on Inoculation of the Small Pox,
” which he had seen practised
at Constantinople. On the plague breaking out at Marseilles, in 1720, he was sent there with five other physicians; and his conduct on that occasion having been approved, he was rewarded by the king with a pension, and
was made physician to a regiment of guards. He was some
years after invited to Hunspruche, a town in the bishopric
of Treves, where an infectious fever was making great ravages, and, in 1742, to Paris, on a similar occasion. His
success at these places occasioned him to be sent for to
Beauvais, in. 1750, where by his judicious management he
prevented -the spreading of an infections fever, infesting
that country. For these services he was honoured' by the
king with letters of nobility, and invested with the order of
St. Michael. He died at Paris, April 2, 1768. His works
are, “Methode indiquee contre la maladie epidemique
convient de regner a Beauvais,
” Paris, 1750, a quarto pamphlet, of only ten pages. “Methode a suivre dans le
traitement de differentes maladies epidemiques qui regnent
le plus ordinairernent dans la generality de Paris,
” Memoir
” on the disease
infesting the cattle at that time, which was sent to the
royal society in London, and procured him a place in
the list of their foreign members. He also gave a nevr
edition of the “Codex medicamentarius,
” seu “Pharmacopoeia Parisiensis,
” 4to, a very useful and well digested
work.
embers of the republic of letters’; so that, in 1651, we find Dr. Nathanael Highmore, a very eminent physician, dedicating to him a book, under the title of “The history of
March 1646, he retired to his manor at Stalbridge,
where he resided for the most part till May 1650. A room
is still shown here, in which our author studied, and where
he is said to have nlade his earliest experiments in natural
philosophy and chemistry. He made excursions, sometimes
to London, sometimes to Oxford and in February 1647,
he went over to Holland but he made no considerable
stay any where. During his retirement at Stalbridge, he
applied himself with incredible industry to studies of various kinds, to those of natural philosophy and chemistry
in particular, and omitted no opportunity of obtaining the
acquaintance of persons distinguished for parts and learning, to whom he was in every respect a ready, useful, generous assistant, and with whom he held a constant correspondence. He was also one of the first members of
that small, but learned body of men, which, when all aca-'
demical studies were interrupted by the civil wars, secreted themselves about 1645; and held private meetings,
first in London, afterwards at Oxford, for the sake of canvassing subjects of natural knowledge, upon that plan of
experiment which lord Bacon had delineated. They styled
themselves then the Philosophical College; and after the
restoration, when they were incorporated and distinguished
openly, took the name of the Royal Society. His retired
course of life, however, could not hinder his reputation
from rising to such a height, as made him be taken notice
of by some of the most eminent members of the republic
of letters’; so that, in 1651, we find Dr. Nathanael Highmore, a very eminent physician, dedicating to him a book,
under the title of “The history of Generation:
” examining the several opinions of divers authors, especially that
of sir Kenelm Digby, in his Discourse upon Bodies.
oyle himself. In 1666, Dr. Wallis addressed to Mr. Boyle his piece upon the Tides; as did the famous physician, Dr. Sydenham, his method of curing fevers, grounded upon his
His excellent character in all respects had procured him
so much esteem and affection with the king, as well as
with every body else, that his majesty, unsolicited, nominated him to the provostship of Eton college in August
1665. This was thought the fittest employment for him
in the kingdom; yet, after mature deliberation, though
contrary to the advice of all his friends, he absolutely declined it, for which he had several reasons. He thought
the duties of that employment might interfere with his
studies: he was unwilling to quit that course of life, which,
by experience, he found so suitable to his temper and
constitution: and, above all, he was unwilling to enter
into orders: which he was persuaded was necessary to qualify himself for it. In this year and the next, he was much
interested in an affair that made a very great noise in the
world; and the decision of which, from the high reputation he had gained, was in a manner universally expected
from him. The case was this: one Mr. Valentine Greatracks, an Irish gentleman, persuaded himself that he had
a peculiar gift of curing diseases by stroking; in which
though he certainly succeeded often, yet he sometimes
failed; and this occasioned a great controversy, in which
most of the parties concerned addressed themselves to Mr.
Boyle. Among the rest, the famous Mr. Henry Stubbe
wrote a treatise upon this subject, entitled “The miraculous Conformist; or, an account of several marvellous
cures, performed by the stroking of the hands of Mr. Valentine Greatracks; with a physical discourse thereupon,
in a letter to the honourable Robert Boyle, esq.
” Mr.
Boyle received this book upon the 8th of March 1666;
and wrote a letter to Mr. Stubbe the next morning, which
shews how extremely tender Mr. Boyle was of religion; and
how jealous of admitting and countenancing any principle
or opinions that he thought might have a tendency to hurt
or discredit it But what is most incumbent on us to
observe at present is, that this letter is certainly one of the
clearest testimonies of Mr. Boyle’s vast abilities and extensive knowledge, that is any where extant. It is a very
long- letter, upwards of twenty pages in 8vo very learned
and very judicious wonderfully correct in the diction and
style, remarkably clear in the method and form, highly
exact in the observations and remarks, and abounding in
pertinent and curious facts to illustrate his reasoning. Yet
it appears from the letter itself, that it was written within
the compass of a single morning <i fact we should have
imagined next to impossible, if it had not been attested
by one whose veracity was never questioned, that is, by
Mr. Boyle himself. In 1666, Dr. Wallis addressed to Mr.
Boyle his piece upon the Tides; as did the famous physician, Dr. Sydenham, his method of curing fevers, grounded upon his own observations. Mr. Boyle likewise published that year, 10. “Hydrostatical paradoxes made out
by new experiments, for the most part physical and easy,
”
8vo, which he printed at the request of the royal society,
those experiments having been made at their desire about
two years before. 11.“The Origin of Forms and Qualities,
according to the Corpuscular philosophy, illustrated by
considerations and experiments,
”
to some kind of order, that they may not remain quite useless. And, 3. That his skilful and friendly physician, sir Edmund King, seconded by Mr. Boyle’s best friends, has
In the month of May this year, our author, though very
unwillingly, was constrained to make his complaint to the
public, of some inconveniences under which he had long
laboured; and this he did by “an advertisement about the
loss of many of his writings addressed to J. W. to be communicated to those of his friends that are virtuosi; which
may serve as a kind of a preface to most of his mutilated
and unfinished writings.
” He complains in this advertisement of the treatment he met with from the plagiaries,
both at home and abroad; and though it might have been
difficult in any other man to have done so, without incurring the imputation of self-conceit and vanity, yet Mr.
Boyle’s manner is such, as only to raise in us an higher
esteem and admiration of him. This advertisement is inserted at length in his life.
He now began to find that his health and strength, notwithstanding all his care and caution, gradually declined,
as he observes in a letter to M. le Clerc, dated May 30,
1689; which put him upon using every possible method of
husbanding his remaining time for the benefit of the
learned. In doing this, as a certain writer says, he preferred generals to particulars; and the assistance of the
whole republic of letters to that of any branch, by what
ties soever he might be connected therewith. It was with
this view, that he no longer communicated particular discourses or new discoveries to the royal society; because
this could not be done, without withdrawing his thoughts
from tasks which he thought of still greater importance.
It was the more steadily to attend to these, that he resigned
his post of governor of the corporation for propagating the
gospel in New England; nay, he went so far as to signifyto the world, that he could no longer receive visits as usual,
in an advertisement, which begins in the following manner.
“Mr. Boyle finds himself obliged to intimate to those of his
friends and acquaintance, that are wont to do him the honour and favour of visiting him, 1. That he has by some
unlucky accidents, namely, by his servant’s breaking a bottle of oil of vitriol over a chest which contained his
papers, had many of his writings corroded here and
there, or otherwise so maimed, that without he himself 'fill
up the lacunae out of his memory or invention, they will not
be intelligible. 2. That his age and sickliness have for a
good while admonished him to put his scattered, and partly
defaced, writings into some kind of order, that they may
not remain quite useless. And, 3. That his skilful and
friendly physician, sir Edmund King, seconded by Mr.
Boyle’s best friends, has pressingly advised him against
speaking daily with so many persons as are wont to visit
him, representing it as what cannot but much waste his spirits,
” &c. He ordered likewise a board to be placed over
his door, with an inscription signifying when he did and
did not receive visits.
into whose hands he put it.” To thiseulogium of the bishop, we will only add that of the celebrated physician, philosopher, and chemist, Dr. Herman Boerhaave; who, after
But that part of his discourse which concerns us most,
is, the copious and eloquent account he has given of this
great man’s abilities. “His knowledge,
” says he, “was
of so vast an extent, that if it were not for the variety of
vouchers in their several sorts, I should be afraid to say
all I know. He carried the study of the Hebrew very far
into the rabbinical writings, and the other oriental tongues,
He had read so much of the fathers, that he had formed a
clear judgment of all the eminent ones. He had read a
vast deal on the scriptures, had gone very nicely through
the various controversies in religion, tind was a true master
of the whole body of divinity. He read the whole compass of the mathematical sciences; and, though he did not
set himself to spring any new game, yet he knew the abstrusest parts of geometry. Geography, in the several
parts of it that related to navigation or travelling; history
and books of novels, were his diversions. He went very
nicely through all the parts of physic; only the tenderness
of his nature made him less able to endure the exactness
of anatomical dissections, especially of living animals,
though he knew these to be most instructing. But for the
history of nature, ancient and modern, of the productions
of allcountries, of the virtues and improvements of plants,
of ores, and minerals, and all the varieties that are in them
jn different climates, he was by much, by very much, the
readiest and' the perfectest I ever knew, in the greatest
compass, and with the nicest exactness. This put him in
the way of making all that vast variety of experiments beyond any man, as far as we know, that ever lived. And
in these, as he made a great progress in new discoveries,
so he used so nice a strictness, and delivered them with so
scrupulous a truth, that all who have examined them have
found how safely the world may depend upon them. But
his peculiar and favourite study was chemistry, in which he
was engaged with none of those ravenous and ambitious
designs that drew many into it. His design was only to
find out nature, to see into what principles things might
be resolved, and of what they were compounded, and to
prepare good medicaments for the bodies of men. He
spent neither his time nor fortune upon the vain pursuits
of high promises and pretensions. He always kept himself
within the compass that his estate might well bear and,
as he made chemistry much the better for his dealing in it,
so he never made himself either worse or the poorer for it.
It was a charity to others, as well as an entertainment to
himself; for the produce of it was distributed by his sister
and others, into whose hands he put it.
” To thiseulogium
of the bishop, we will only add that of the celebrated physician, philosopher, and chemist, Dr. Herman Boerhaave;
who, after having declared lord Bacon to be the father of
experimental philosophy, asserts, that “Mr. Boyle, the
ornament of his age and country, succeeded to the genius
and enquiries of the great chancellor Verulam. Which,
”
says he, “of all Mr. Boyle’s writings shall I recommend?
All of them. To him we owe the secrets of fire, air, water,
animals, vegetables, fossils: so that from his works may be
deduced the whole system of natural knowledge.
” The
reader perhaps recollects, that Mr. Boyle was born the
same year in which lord Bacon died. “Sol occubuitj
nox nulla secuta est.
”
entleman was his mother’s brother, a man of singular capacity and genius, and eminent as a divine, a physician, and a mathematician. In the two former capacities he went to
It appears that thus early in life he had many friends; and it is probable that by some of them he might have risen to eminence in the church, had not his natural inclination led him to pursue other studies, in which he afterwards shone so conspicuously. He received his first rudiments of the mathematics from his uncle Dr. James Pound, who resided at his living of Wanstead in Essex, where our astronomer was some time curate: this gentleman was his mother’s brother, a man of singular capacity and genius, and eminent as a divine, a physician, and a mathematician. In the two former capacities he went to the East-Indies in the company’s service; and was one of those who had the good fortune to escape from the massacre of the factory, on the island of Pulo Condore, in Cochin China. An account of this shocking scene remains amongst Dr. Bradley’s papers, written by Dr. Pound, together with a journal kept by him on board the Rose sloop, until, after many difficulties* and distresses, they arrived at Batavia the 18th of April 1705. The public suffered much in this catastrophe, by the loss of Dr. Pound’s papers, and other valuable curiosities collected by him, which all perished in the conflagration; as he had no time to save any thing but his own life. With this relation, to whom he was dear even more than by the ties of blood, he spent all his vacations from other duties: it was whilst with him at Wanstead, that he first began the observations with the sector, which led to his future important discoveries.
, a noted historian and physician of the seventeenth century, was born in the county of Norfolk,
, a noted historian and physician of
the seventeenth century, was born in the county of Norfolk,
and admitted in Caius college in Cambridge, February 20,
1643. He took his degree of bachelor of physic in 1653,
and was created doctor in that faculty September 5, 1660,
by virtue of the king’s mandatory letters. On the first of
December the same year, he was, in pursuance of king
Charles’s mandate, elected master of his college, upon the
resignation of Dr. Bachcroft. About the year 1670, or as
some think not until 1685, he was appointed keeper of the
records in the Tower of London; in which office he employed himself in perusing those most valuable monuments
in his possession, with a view to his historical works. Some
time after, he was chosen regius professor of physic in the
university of Cambridge. In 1679, he wrote a letter to
Dr. Sydenham, on the influence of the air, &c. which is
published among that learned person’s works. But his
largest and most considerable performance was, “An Introduction to the old English History,
” in which he maintains these three propositions: 1. That the representatives
of the commons in parliament, viz. knights, citizens, and
burgesses, were not introduced till the forty-ninth of
Henry III.; 2. That William, duke of Normandy, made
an absolute conquest of the nation; 3. That the succession
to the crown of England is hereditary (descending to the nearest of blood), and not elective: And “A complete
History of England, from the first entrance of the Romans,
unto the end of the reign of king Richard II.
” in three vols.
fol. about which he was employed several years, and which
was printed 1685 and 1700, usually bound in two volumes.
In the year 1681 he was chosen one of the representatives
for the university of Cambridge, in that parliament which
met at Oxford; and again in 1685, in the parliament of
king James II. He was likewise physician in ordinary to
this king; and, on the twenty -second of October, 1688,
was one of those persons who gave in their depositions concerning the birth of the pretended prince of Wales. He
died on the nineteenth of August, 1700. He was an accurate writer, and a curious and diligent searcher into our
ancient records; but his impartiality has been called in
question, particularly by those who contend for the higher
antiquity of parliaments, and a larger proportion of popular influence in the constitution. Tyrell wrote his “General History of England,
” in opposition to that of Brady.
Dr. Gilbert Stuart, who hated all Scotch historians except himself, maintains that Hume executed his History
on Brady’s principles; allowing Brady to pdssess an excellent understanding and admirable quickness, Dr. Stuart asserts also, that he was the slave of a faction. Dr.
Brady’s other publications were, “An Answer to Mr. Petyt’s Book on Parliaments,
” London, An Historical Treatise of Cities and Burghs or Boroughs,
”
ibid.
, a famous physician, was born at Ferrara, in 1500, of a noble family. His knowledge
, a famous physician,
was born at Ferrara, in 1500, of a noble family. His
knowledge was not confined to medicine. In consequence
of his having maintained at Paris, for three days successively, theses “de omni scibile,
” the surname of Musa
was given him by Francis I. He was physician to that
prince, who made him chevalier of the order of St. Michael; to the emperor Charles V. who bestowed on him
the title of count palatine; and to Henry VIII. of England. He was not of less consequence in his own country.
Successively first physician to the popes Paul III. Leo X.
Clement VII. and Julius III. cherished and favoured by
all the other princes of Italy, and particularly the dukes
of Ferrara, he was proceeding in this brilliant career,
when he died at Ferrara in 1555, at the age of 55, after
having long been a professor of medicine there with universal applause; leaving a great number of works, principally on medicine, and among others, 1. “Commentaries
on the aphorisms of Hippocrates and Galen,
” printed at
Basle, in Index refertissimus in Galeni
libros,
” Venice, opus indefessse elucubrationis & utilitatis
inexplicabilis.
”
, an eminent physician, was son of Augustine Briggs, esq. who was descended of an ancient
, an eminent physician, was son of
Augustine Briggs, esq. who was descended of an ancient
family in Norfolk, and had been four times member of
parliament for the city of Norwich, where this son was
born about the year 1650, although his biographers differ
very widely on this point. At thirteen years of age he
was sent to Bene't-college in Cambridge, and placed under
the care of Dr. Thomas Tenison, afterwards archbishop of
Canterbury, whom he succeeded in his fellowship. He
took both his degrees in arts, and was chosen fellow of his
college, Nov. 1668. His genius leading him to the study
of physic, he travelled into France, where he attended the
lectures of the famous anatomist Mons. Vieussens at Montpelier; and, after his return, published his “Ophthalmographia
” in Theory
of Vision
” was published by Hooke. In Theory of Vision,
” at the
desire of Mr. (afterwards sir) Isaac Newton, with a recommendatory epistle from him prefixed to it. And for completing this curious and useful subject relating to the eye,
he promised, in the preface, two other treatises, one “De
usu partium oculi;
” and the other “De ejusdem affectibus;
” neither of which', however, appears to have been
ever published: but, in 1687, came out a second edition
of his “Ophthalmographia.
” He was afterwards made
physician in ordinary to king William, and continued in
great esteem for his skill in his profession till he died at
Town-Malling in Kent, Sept. 4, 1704, and was there
buried, although a cenotaph is erected to his memory in
the church of Holt in Norfolk. He married Hannah, sole
daughter and heiress of Edmund Hobart, grandson to sir
Henry Hobart, lord chief justice of the common pleas in
the reign of James I. by whom he left three children,
Mary, Henry, and Hannah. Henry died in 1748, rector
of Hoit.
, a physician and divine of eminence of the sixteenth century, took his degree
, a physician and divine of eminence of the sixteenth century, took his degree of doctor
in medicine at Cambridge, and, as we learn from Wood,
he was made rector of Methley, in Yorkshire, in 1591.
He appears by his writings to have had a good share of
practice, and to have been well versed in the doctrines of
the early Greek writers. The work by which he is principally known is his “Treatise of Melancholy,
” containing the causes thereof, and reasons of the strange effects
it worketh in our minds, with the physical cure, and spiritual consolation for such as have thereto adjoined an
afflicted conscience,“London, 1586, 12mo. He excuses
his writing this treatise, contrary to his usual custom, ia
the English language, from its being a practical work,
and to be read-by persons out of the pale of physic. It
was also done, he observes, by the Greek and Roman
writers. He entertained, however, very lofty ideas of
the dignity of the medical character.
” No one,“he says,.
” sho'uid touch so holy a thing that hath not passed the
whole discipline of liberal sciences, and washed himself
pure and clean in the waters of wisdome and understanding.“The cure of melancholy, in his opinion, depends
on bleeding, by purges and vomits. He had before, viz.
in 1583, published
” De Dyscrasia Corporis Humani,“London, 8vo. He was also author of
” Hygieine, sen de
Sanitate tuenda, Medicinae Pars prirna,“1588, -8vo.
” Therajjeutica, hoc est de Sanitate restituenda, Medicinre pars
altera,“1589,' 8vo, which were reprinted in 1598, in ICto r
and
” An Abridgment of Fox’s Acts and Monuments," 1589,
4to. He died in 1615.
, an eminent French physician, was born at Fontenai-le-Comte, in Poitou, 147s, and about 1495
, an eminent French physician, was
born at Fontenai-le-Comte, in Poitou, 147s, and about
1495 was sent to Paris, where he went through a course
of philosophy under Villemar, a famous professor of those
times. By his advice, Brissot resolved to be a physician,
and studied physic there for four years. Then he began
to teach philosophy in the university of Paris; and, after
he had done this for ten years, prepared himself for the
examinations necessary to his doctor of physic’s degree,
which he took in May 1514, Being one of those men
who are not contented with custom and tradition, but
choose to examine for themselves, he made an exact comparison between the practice of his own times and the
doctrine of Hippocrates and Galen and he found that the
Arabians had introduced many things into physic that were
contrary to the doctrine of those two great masters, and to
reason and experience. He set himself therefore to reform physic; and for this purpose undertook publicly to
explain Galen’s books, instead of those of Avicenna, Rhasis, and Mesu'i, which were commonly explained in the
schools of physic; but, finding himself obstructed in the
work of reformation by his ignorance of botany, he resolved
to travel, in order to acquire the knowledge of plants, and
put himself into a capacity of correcting pharmacy. Before, however, he left Paris, he undertook to convince the
public of what he deemed an inveterate error; but which
now is considered as a matter of little consequence. The
constant practice of physicians, in the pleurisy, Was to
bleed from the arm, not on the side where the distemper
was, but the opposite side. Brissot disputed about it in
the physic-schools, confuted that practice, and shewed,
chat it was falsely pretended to be agreeable to the doctrine of Hippocrates and Galen. He then left Paris in
1518, and went to Portugal, stopping there at Ebora,
where he practised physic; but his new way of bleeding
in the pleurisy, notwithstanding his great success, did not
please every body, He received a long and rude letter
about it from Denys, physician to the king of Portugal;
which he answered, and would have published if death had
not prevented him in 1522. It was printed, however, three
years after at Paris, and reprinted at Basil in 1529. Renatus Moreau published a new edition of it at Paris in
1622, with a treatise of his own, “De missione sanguinis
in pleuritide,
” and the life of Brissot; out of which this
account is taken. He never would marry, being of opinion
that matrimony did not well agree with study. One thing
is related of him, which his biographer, rather uncharitably, says, deserves to be taken notice of, because it is
singular in the men of his profession; and it is, that he
did not love gain. He cared so little for it, that when he
was called to a sick person, he looked into his purse; and,
if he found but two pieces of gold in it, refused to go.
This, however, it is acknowledged, was owing to his great
love of study, from which it was very difficult to take him.
The dispute between Denys and Brissot raised a kind of
civil war among the Portuguese physicians. The business
was brought before the tribunal of the university of Salamanca, Where it was thoroughly discussed by the faculty
of physic; but in the mean time, the partisans of Denys
had recourse to the authority of the secular power, and
obtained a decree, forbidding physicians to bleed on the
same side in which the pleurisy was. At last the university of Salamanca gave their judgment; importing, that
the opinion of Brissot was the true doctrine of Hippocrates
and Galen. The followers of Denys appealed to the emperor about 1529, thinking themselves superior both in
authority and number; and the matter was brought before
Charles V. They were not contented to call the doctrine
of their adversaries false; they added that it was impious,
mortal, and as pernicious to the body as Luther’s schism
to the souL They not only blackened the reputation of
their adversaries by private arts, but also openly accused
them of ignorance and rashness, of attempts on religion,
and of being downright Lutherans in physic. It fell out
Unluckily for them, that Charles III. duke of Savoy, happened to die of a pleurisy, after he had been bled according to the practice which Brissot opposed. Had it not
been for this, the emperor, it is thought, would have granted every thing that Erissot’s adversaries desired of him;
but this accident induced him to leave the cause undecided.
“Two things,
” says Bayle, in his usual prattling way,
“occur in this relation, which all wise men must needs
condemn; namely, the base, the disingenuous, the unphilosophic custom of interesting religion in disputes about
science, and the folly and absurdity of magistrates to be
concerned in such disputes. A magistrate is for the most
part a very incompetent judge of such matters; and, as he
Jiiiows nothing of them, so he ought to imitate Gallio in
this at least, that is, not to care for them; but to leave
those whose business it is, to fight it out among themselves.
Besides, authority has nothing to do with philosophy and
the sciences; it should be kept at a great distance from
them, for the same reason that armed forces are removed
from a borough at the time of a % general assize; namely,
that reason and equity may have their full play.
”
, an eminent English physician, the son of Richard Brocklesby, est}. of the city of Cork, by
, an eminent English physician, the son of Richard Brocklesby, est}. of the city of
Cork, by Mary Alloway, of Minehead, Somersetshire, was
born at Minehead, where his mother happened to be on a
visit to her parents, Aug. 11, 1722. There he remained
until he was three years old, at which time he was carried
to Ireland, and privately instructed for some years in his
father’s house at Cork. At a proper age he was sent to
Ballytore school in the north of Ireland, at which Edmund
Burke “was educated, and although they were not exactly
contemporaries^ Dr. Brocklesby being seven years older,
this circumstance led to a long and strict friendship. Having finished his classical education at Ballytore, with diligence and success, his father, intending him for a physician, sent him to Edinburgh, where after continuing the
usual time, he went to Leyden, and took his degree under
the celebrated Gaubius, who corresponded with him for
several years afterwards. His diploma is dated June 28,
1745, and the same year he published his thesis,
” De
Saliva sana et morbosa."
; and diligence, integrity, and œconomy, soon enabled him to surmount the difficulties which a young physician has to encounter, while his father assisted him with 150l. a
On returning home he began practice in Broad-street,
London; and diligence, integrity, and œconomy, soon enabled him to surmount the difficulties which a young physician has to encounter, while his father assisted him with
150l. a year, a liberal allowance at that time. In 1746,
he published “An Essay concerning the mortality of the
horned cattle:
” and in April,
recommendation of Dr. Shaw, favoured by the patronage of the late lord Barrington), he was appointed physician to the army. In this capacity he attended in Germany the best
On the 28th of September 1754, he obtained an honorary degree from the university of Dublin, and was admitted to Cambridge ad eundem the 16th of December following. In virtue of this degree at Cambridge, he became
a fellow of the college of London the 25th of June 1756;
and, on the 7th of October 1758 (on the recommendation of Dr. Shaw, favoured by the patronage of the late lord Barrington), he was appointed physician to the army. In
this capacity he attended in Germany the best part of
what is called “the seven years’ war,
” where he was soon
distinguished by his knowledge, his zeal, and humanity;
and particularly recommended himself to the notice of his
grace the duke of Richmond, the late lord Pembroke, and
others, which with the former mellowed into a friendship,
only terminated by the doctor’s life. On the 27th of October 1760, he was appointed physician to the hospitals
for the British forces, and returned to England some time
before the peace of 1763.
On his return he settled in Norfolk-street, in the Strand, where he was considered as a physician of very extensive experience, particularly in all diseases incident
On his return he settled in Norfolk-street, in the Strand,
where he was considered as a physician of very extensive
experience, particularly in all diseases incident to the
army. His practice spread in proportion to his reputation;
and, with his half-pay, and an estate of about six hundred
pounds per year, which devolved on him by the death of
his father, he was now enabled to live in a very handsome
manner, and his table was frequently filled with some
of the most distinguished persons for rank, learning, and
abilities in the kingdom. In the course of his practice,
his advice as well as his purse was ever accessible to the
poor, as well as to men of merit who stood in need of
either. Besides giving his advice to the poor of all descriptions, which he did with an active and unwearied benevolence, he had always upon his list two or three poor widows, to whom he granted small annuities; and who, on
the quarter day of receiving their stipends, always partook
of the hospitalities of his table. To his relations who
wanted his assistance in their business or professions, he
was not only liberal, but so judicious in his liberalities as
to supersede the necessity of a repetition of them. To his
friend Dr. Johnson (when it was in agitation amongst his friends to procure an enlargement of his pension, the better to enable him to travel for the benefit of his health), he
offered an establishment of one hundred pounds per year
during his life: and, upon doctor Johnson’s declining it
(which he did in the most affectionate terms of gratitude and friendship), he made him a second offer of apartments
in his own house, for the more immediate benefit of medical advice. To his old and intimate friend Edmund Burke,
he had many years back bequeathed by will the sum of
one thousand pounds; but recollecting that this event
might take place (which it afterwards did) when such a legacy could be of no service to him, he, with that judicious
liberality for which he was always distinguished, gave it to
him in advance, “ut pignus arnicitite;
” it was accepted as
such by Mr. Burke, accompanied with a letter, which none
but a man feeling the grandeur and purity of friendship
like him, could dictate.
Passing through a life thus honourably occupied in the
liberal pursuits of his profession, and in the confidence and
friendship of some of the first characters of the age for
rank or literary attainments, the doctor reached his 73d
year; and finding those infirmities, generally attached to
that time of life, increase upon him, he gave up a good
deal of the bustle of business, as well as his half-pay,
on being appointed, by his old friend and patron the duke
of Richmond, physician general to the royal regiment of
artillery and corps of engineers, March, 1794. This was
a situation exactly suited to his time of life and inclinations; hence he employed his time in occasional trips to
Woolwich, with visits to his friends and patients. In this
last list he never forgot either the poor or those few friends
whom he early attended as a medical man gratuitously.
Scarcely any distance, or any other inconvenience, could
repress this benevolent custom; and when he heard by accident that any of this latter description of his friends were
ill, and had through delicacy abstained from sending for
him, he used to say, somewhat peevishly, “Why am I
treated thus? Why was not I sent for?
”
, an Italian physician, was born of wealthy parents, in Abadia, near Rovigo, in the
, an Italian physician, was
born of wealthy parents, in Abadia, near Rovigo, in the
Venetian territory, in 1577. After making great progress
in the study of the belles lettres, philosophy, and astronomy, he was sent to Padua, where he was initiated into
the knowledge of medicine and anatomy, and in 1597, was
made doctor. He now went to Venice, where he practised
medicine to the time of his death, in 1630. His publications are, “De innato calido, et naturali spiritu, in quo
pro veritate rei Galeni doctrina defenditur,
” Disputatio de Principatu Hepatis ex Anatome Lampetrse,
” Patav. 4to. Though from dissecting the liver of this
animal he was satisfied the blood did not acquire its red
colour there, yet he did not choose to oppose the doctrine
of Galen, His observation, however, was probably not
lost, but led the way to a more complete discovery of the
fact, by subsequent anatomists. He published also, “De
Principio Effective Semini insito.
”
, physician in ordinary to Louis XIII. obtained from that king, in 1626,
, physician in ordinary to Louis
XIII. obtained from that king, in 1626, letters patent for
the establishment of the royal garden of medicinal plants,
of which he was the first director. He immediately set
about preparing the ground, and then furnished it with
upwards of 2000 plants. The list of them may be seen in
his “Description du jardin royale,
”
drid, and soon after, Lisbon, to which he had removed. At last he had an opportunity of going out as physician to an embassy which the United States sent to the emperor of
, an eminent
French naturalist, was born at Montpellier, Feb. 28, 1761,
where his father was a reputable schoolmaster, and soon
discovered in him an insatiable thirst of knowledge, which
we may conclude he assisted him in gratifying. At the
early age of eighteen he was appointed by the university
of Montpellier to fill a professor’s chair, and six years after
he was admitted a member of the academy of sciences by
an unanimous vote, a case which had not occurred from
the foundation of that learned body, but their choice appeared amply justified by the several dissertations on natural history, botany, and medicine, which he published. It
was his earnest wish to establish the system of Linnæus more
extensively in France. With this view, as well as for his own
improvement, he went to Paris, and examined the collections and museums, but not finding sufficient materials for
his purpose, he determined to visit the most celebrated
foreign collections, and came first to England, where he
was admitted an honorary member of the royal society, and
where he began his labours on the celebrated work on
fishes. On his return to Paris, he was appointed perpetual
secretary of the society of agriculture, which the intendant
Berthier de Sauvigny resigned for him. In 1789 he was
appointed a member of the electoral college of Paris, and
like the other electors, was to supply such vacancies as
were occasioned by any interruptions in the exercise of the
office of magistracy; and the day it was his turn to go to
the Hotel de Ville, he saw his friend and protector, Berthier, barbarously murdered by the populace. Broussonet
was then ordered to superintend the provisions of the capital, and was frequently“in danger of his life at that turbulent period. In 1791 he had a seat in the legislative
assembly, but quitted Paris the year following for his
native city, from which he was soon obliged to make his
escape, and after many dangers, arrived at Madrid, where
he was gladly received, and liberally assisted by the literati of that city. There, however, the French emigrants
were so enraged at his having filled any office under the
revolutionary government, that they obliged him to leave
Madrid, and soon after, Lisbon, to which he had removed.
At last he had an opportunity of going out as physician to
an embassy which the United States sent to the emperor
of Morocco, and on this occasion, his friend sir Joseph
Banks, hearing of his distresses, remitted him a credit for
a thousand pounds. After his arrival at Morocco, he employed all his leisure hours in extending his botanical
knowledge, and learning that his native country was recovering from its late anarchy, he solicited and obtained
permission to return, when the directory appointed him
consul at the Canaries. In consequence of this he resided
for two years at Teneriffe. In 1796, on his return, he
was admitted a member of the Institute, and again became
professor of botany at Montpellier, with the direction of
the botanical garden. He was afterwards chosen a member of the legislative body, but died July 27, 1807, at
Montpellier, of an apoplectic stroke. It was to him that
France owes the introduction of the Merino sheep, and
Angola goats. His publications are: 1.
” Varise positiones
circa Respirationem,“Montpellier, 1778. 2.
” Ichthyologia, sistens Piscium descriptiones et icones,“London,
1782, containing descriptions of the most rare fishes.
3.
” Essai sur Phistoire naturelle de quelques especes de
Moines, decrites a la maniere de Linnee,“1784, 8vo,
This is the translation only of a Latin satire on the monks,
the original of which appeared in Germany, in 1783.
4.
” Annee rurale, ou calendrier a I'usage des cultivateurs,“Paris, 1787-8, 2 vols. 12mo. 5.
” Notes pour servir a
Thistoire de l‘ecole de medicine de Montpellier pendant
l’an VI.“Montpellier, J 1 9 5, 8vo. 6.
” La Feuille dn
cultivateur," 1788, and following years, 8 vols. 4to, which
he conducted with Messrs. Parmentier, Dubois, and Lefebure. He contributed also a great many dissertations to
the academy of sciences, the society of agriculture, &c.
and left many works in manuscript.
e. “He had now,” he said, “discovered his strength, and was ambitious of riding in his carriage as a physician.” At the opening of the session he addressed Latin letters to
, M. D. author of what has been called
the Brunonian system in medicine, was born in the parish
of Buncle, in the county of Berwick, in the year 1735, of
parents in a mean situation in life, but, in common with
the children of other villagers in Scotland, he received his
education at a grammar-school. As his mind was much
above the rank he was born in, his progress in literature
was proportionably superior to the rest of his school-fellows. He there imbibed a taste for letters, so that when
he was afterwards put apprentice to a weaver, instead of
attending to Ms business, his whole mind was bent on procuring books, which he read with great eagerness. Finding this disposition could not be conquered, his father
took him from the loom, and sent him to the
grammarschool at Dunse, where, under the tuition of Mr. Cruickshanks, he made such progress that he was soon regarded
as a prodigy. He read all the Latin classics with the
greatest facility, and was oo mean proficient in the knowledge of the Greek language. “His habits,
” we are told,
“were sober, he was of a religious turn, and was so
strongly attached to the sect of Seceders, or Whigs as tlrey
are called in Scotland, in which he had been bred, that he
would have thought his salvation hazarded, if he had attended the meetings of the established church. He aspired
to be a preacher of a purer religion.
” An accident, however, disgusted him with this society, before he was of art
age to be chosen a pastor, for which it appears he was intended. Having been prevailed on by some of his schoolfellows to attend divine service at the parish church of
Dunse, he was summoned before the session of the seceding congregation to answer for this offence; but his
high spirit not brooking to make an apology, to avoid the
censures of his brethren, and the ignominy of being expelled their community, he abdicated his principles, and
professed himself a member of the established church.
As his talents for literature were well known, he was
taken, at the age of twenty, to the house of a gentleman
in the neighbourhood of Dunse, as tutor to his son. Here
he did not long reside, but went the same year, 1755, to
Edinburgh, where he applied to the study of divinity, in
which he proceeded so far as to deliver, in the public hall,
a discourse upon a prescribed portion of scripture, the
usual step preliminary to ordination. But here his theological studies appear to have ended, and he suddenly left
Edinburgh, returned to Dunse, and officiated as an usher
in the school where he had been educated. He now exhibited himself as a free-liver and free-thinker, his discourse and manners being equally licentious and irregular,
which accounts for his dereliction of the study of theology.
At Dunse he continued about a year. During this time,
a vacancy happening in one of the classes in the high
school at Edinburgh, Brown appeared as a candidate, but
was not successful. Soon after he was applied to by a
student in medicine, at Edinburgh, to put his inaugural
thesis into, Latin. This he performed in so superior a
manner, that it gained him great reputation; it opened to
him a path which he had not probably before thought of,
for turning his erudition to profit. On the strength of the
character procured him by this performance, he returned
to 'Edinburgh, and determined to apply to the study of
medicine. “He had now,
” he said, “discovered his
strength, and was ambitious of riding in his carriage as a
physician.
” At the opening of the session he addressed
Latin letters to each of the professors, who readily gave
him tickets of admission to their lectures, which he attended
diligently for several years; in the interim, teaching Latin
to such of the pupils as applied, and assisting them in,
writing their theses, or turning them into Latin. The
price, when he composed the thesis, was ten guineas;
when he translated their compositions into Latin, five. If
he had been now prudent, or had not indulged in the most
destructive excesses, he might, it is probable, in a few
years, have attained the eminence he promised himself;
but he marred all by his intemperance. In no long time
after this, his constitution, which had been hardy and robust, became debilitated, and he had the face and appearance of a worn-out debauchee. His bad habits had not,
however, prevented his getting the friendship or assistance
of Dr. Cullen, who, desirous of availing himself of his
talents, employed him as a tutor to his sons, and made
use of him as an assistant in his lectures; Brown repeating
to his pupils in the evening, the lecture they had heard in
the morning, and explaining to them such parts as were
abstruse and difficult. In 1765 he married, and took a
house, which was soon filled with boarders; but, continuing his improvident course, he became a bankrupt at the
nd of three or four years. He now became a candidate
for one of the medical chairs, but failed; and as he attributed his missing this promotion to Dr. Cullen, he very unadvisedly broke off his connection with him, and became the
declared enemy to him and his system; which he had always
before strenuously defended. This probably determined him
to form a new system of medicine, doubtless meaning to annihilate that of his former patron. As he had read but few
medical books, and was but little versed in practice, his
theory must have been rather the result of contemplation
than of experience. That in forming it, he was influenced
by his attachment to spirituous liquors, seems probable
from internal evidence, and from the effects he attributed
to them of diminishing the number as well as the severity
of the fits of the gout, under which he suffered. He always
found them more severe and frequent, he says,
he lived abstemiously. One of his pupils informed Br;
Beddoes, “that he was used, before he began to read his
lecture, to take fifty drops of laudanum in a glass of
whisky; repeating the dose four or five times during the
lecture. Between the effects of these stimulants, and
voluntary exertions, he soon waxed warm, and by degrees
his imagination was exalted into phrenzy.
” His intention
seems to have been to simplify medicine, and to render
the knowledge of it easily attainable, without the labour
of studying other authors. All general or universal diseases were therefore reduced by him to two great families
or classes, the sthenic and the asthenic; the former depending upon excess, the latter upon deficiency of exciting power. The former were to be removed by debilitating, the latter by stimulant medicines, of which the
most valuable and powerful are wine, brandy, and opium.
As asthenic diseases are more numerous y and occur much
more frequently than those from an opposite cause, his
opportunities of calling in the aid of these powerful stimuli
were proportionately numerous. “Spasmodic and convulsive disorders, and even hemorrhages,
” he says, “were
found to proceed from debility; and wine, and brandy,
which had been thought hurtful in these diseases, he found
the most powerful of all remedies in removing them.
”
When he had completed his plan, 'he published his theory
or system, under the title of “Elementa Medicinse,
” from
his preface to which the preceding quotations have been
principally taken. Though he had been eleven or twelve
years at Edinburgh, he had not taken his degree of doctor;
and as he was now at variance with all the medical professors, not thinking it prudent to offer himself there, he
went to St. Andrew’s, where he was readily admitted to
that honour. He now commenced public teacher of medicine, making his “Elementa
” his text book; and convinced, as it seems, of the soundness of his doctrine, he
exultingly demands (preface to a new edition of the translation of his “Elementa,
” by Dr. Beddoes), whether the
medical art, hitherto conjectural, incoherent, and in the
great body of its doctrines false, was not at last reduced to
a science of demonstration, which might be called the
science of life? His method in giving his lectures was, first
to translate the text book, sentence by sentence, and then
to expatiate upon the passage. The novelty of the docfeine procured him at first a pretty numerous class of pupilsj
but as he was irregular in his attendance, and his habits
of drinking increased upon him, they were soon. reduced
in number, and he became so involved in his circumstances, that it became necessary for him to quit Edinburgh; he therefore came to London in the autumn of the
year 1786. Here, for a time, he was received with favour, but his irregularities in living increasing upon him,
he came to his lodgings, in the evening of the 8th of October, in 1788, intoxicated, and taking, as it was his
custom, a large dose of laudanum, he died in the course
of the night, before he had entered on his career of lecturing, for which he was making preparations. He had
the preceding year published “Observations on the Old
Systems of Physic,
” as a prelude to the introduction of his
own; but it was little noticed. His opinions have, however, ' met with patrons in Germany and Italy, as well as
in this country, and several volumes have been Written on
the subject of them; but they are now pretty generally,
and deservedly, abandoned.
, an eminent physician, son of sir Thomas Browne, hereafter mentioned, was born about
, an eminent physician, son of sir
Thomas Browne, hereafter mentioned, was born about
1642. He was instructed in grammar learning at the
school of Norwich, and in 1665 took the degree of bachelor of physic at Cambridge. Removing afterwards to Mertori college, Oxford, he was admitted there to the same
degree in 1666, and the next year created doctor. In
1668, he visited part of Germany, and the year following
made a wider excursion into Austria, Hungary, and Thessaly, where the Turkish sultan then kept his court at Larissa. He afterwards passed through Italy. Upon his return, he practised physic in London; was made physician
first to Charl-es II. and afterwards in 1682 to St. Bartholomew’s hospital. About the same time he joined his name
to those of many other eminent men, in a translation of
Plutarch’s Lives. He was first censor, then elect, and treasurer of the college of physicians; of which in 1705 he
was chosen president, and held this office till his death,
which happened in August 1708, after a very short illness,
at his seat at Northfleet, near Greenhithe in Kent. He
was acquainted with Hebrew, was a critic in Greek, and
no man of his age wrote better Latin. German, Italian,
French, &c. he spoke and wrote with as much ease as his
mother tongue. Physic was his business, and to the promotion thereof all his other acquisitions were referred.
Botany, pharmacy, and chemistry, he knew and practised.
King Charles said of him, that “he was as learned as any
of the college, and as well-bred as any at court.
” He was
married, and left a son and a daughter; the former, Dr.
Thomas Browne, F. R. S. and of the royal college of physicians, died in JiJy 17 Jo. The daughter married Owen
Brigstock, of Lechdenny, in the county of Carmarthen,
esq. to whom the public is indebted for part of the posthumous works of sir Thomas Browne.
, an eminent physician and antiquary, was born in London, in the parish of St. Michael,
, an eminent physician and
antiquary, was born in London, in the parish of St.
Michael, Cheapside, Oct. 19, 1605. His father was a
merchant, of an ancient family at Upton in Cheshire. He lost
his father very early, and was defrauded by one of his
guardians, by whom, however, or by his mother, who soon
after his father’s death married sir Thomas Dutton, he was
placed at Winchester school. In 1623 he was removed
from Winchester to Oxford, and entered a gentlemancommoner of Broadgate-hall. Here he was admitted to his
bachelor’s degree, Jan. 31, 1626-27, being the first person
of eminence graduated from Broadgate-hall, when endowed and known as Pembroke-college. After taking his
master’s degree, he turned his studies to physic, and practised it for some time in Oxfordshire, but soon afterwards,
either induced by curiosity, or invited by promises, he
quitted his settlement, and accompanied his father-in-law,
who had some employment in Ireland, in a visitation of
the forts and castles, which the state of Ireland then made
necessary. From Ireland he passed into France and Italy;
made some stay at Montpelier and Padua, which were then
the celebrated schools of physic; and, returning home
through Holland, procured himself to be created M. D. at
Leyden, but when he began these travels, or when he
concluded them, there is no certain account. It is, however, supposed that he returned to London in 1634, and
that the following year he wrote his celebrated treatise,
the “Religio Medici,
” which he declares himself never
to have intended for the press, having composed it only
for his own exercise and entertainment. He had, however, communicated it to his friends, and by some means
a copy was given to a printer in 1642, and was no sooner
published than it excited the attention of the public by
the novelty of paradoxes, the dignity of sentiment, the
quick succession of images, the multitude of abstruse allusions, the subtlety of disquisition, and the strength of
language.
, a physician of the last century, and a man of a singular and whimsical cast
, a physician of the last century, and a man of a singular and whimsical cast of mind,
was born in 1692, and in 1707 was entered of Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he took the degrees, B. A. 1710,
M, A. 1714, and M. D. 1721, and soon after settled at
Lynn, in Norfolk, where he published v Dr. Gregory’s
“Elements of catoptrics and dioptrics,
” translated from
the Latin original, to which he added: 1. A method for
finding the ibcrof all specula, as well as lenses universally; as also magnifying or lessening a given object by a
given speculum, or lens> in any assigned proportion.
2. A solution of those problems which Dr. Gregory has
left undemonstrated. 3. A particular account of microscopes and telescopes, from Mr. Huygens; with the discoveries made by catoptrics and dioptrics. By an epigram,
many of which he provoked, he appears to have been the
champion of the fair sex at Lynn, in 1748. On one
occasion, a pamphlet having been written against him, he nailed
it up against his house-door. Having acquired a competency
by his profession, he removed to Queen-square, Ormondstreet, London, where he resided till his death, which
happened March 10, 1774, at the age of 82. A great
number of lively essays, both in prose and verse, the production of his pen, were printed and circulated among his
friends. Among these were: 1. “Ode in imitation of
Horace,
” ode 3, lib. iii. addressed to the right hon. sir
Robert Walpole, on ceasing to be minister, Feb. 6, 1741;
designed, he says, as a just panegyric on a great minister,
the glorious revolution, protestant succession, and principles of liberty. To which was added the original ode,
“defended in commentariolo.
” It was inscribed to George
carl of Orford, as an acknowledgement of the favours conferred by his lordship as well as by his father and grandfather. On the first institution of the militia, our author
was appointed one of the earl’s deputy-lieutenants, and
was named in his lordship’s first commission of the peace.
2. Opuscula varia utriusque linguae, medicinam; medicorum collegium; literas, utrasque academias; empiricos,
eorum cultores; solicitatorem, prsestigiatorem; poeticen,
criticen; patronum, patriam; religionem, libertatem,
spectantia. Cum praefatione eorum editionem defendente.
Auctore D. Gulielmo Browne, equite aurato, M. D. utriusque et medicorum et physicorum S. R. S. 175, 4to.
This little volume (which was dated “Ex area dicta reginali, MDCCLXV. in nonas Januarias, ipso Ciceronis et auctoris natali
”) contained, I. Oratio Harveiana, in theatro
collegii medicorum Londinensis habita, 1751. II. A vindication of the college of physicians, in reply to solicitorgeneral Murray, 1753. III. Ode in imitation of Horace,
Ode I. addressed to the duke of Montague. With a new
interpretation, in commentariolo, 1765. IV. The Ode,
above-mentioned, to sir Robert Walpole. Some time before, sir William had published odes in imitation of Horace; addressed to sir John Dolben, to sir John Turner,
to doctor Askew, and to Robert lord Walpole. 3. Appendix altera ad opuscula; oratiuncula, collegii medicorum
Londinensis cathedrae vatedicens. In comitiis, postridie
jdivi Michaelis, MDCCLXXVII. ad collegii administrationem
renovandam designatis; machinaque incendiis extinguendis
apta contra permissos rebelies munitis; habita a D. GuBrowne, equite aurato, praeside? “1768? 4to, This
farewell oration contains so many curious particulars of sir
William’s life, that the reader will not be displeased to see
some extracts from it, and with his own spelling.
” The
manly age and inclination, with conformable studies, I diligently applied to the practice of physic in the country;
where, as that age adviseth, I sought riches and friendships.
But afterwards, being satiated witn friends, whom truth, not
flattery, had procured; satiated with riches, which Galen,
not fortune, had presented; I resorted immediately to this
college: where, in further obedience to the same adviser,
I might totally addict myself to the service of honour.
Conducted by your favour, instead of my own merit, I
have been advanced, through various degrees of honour,
a most delightful climax indeed, even to the very highest
of all which the whole profession of physic hath to confer.
In this chair, therefore, twice received from the elects,
shewing their favour to himself, he confesseth much more
than to the college, your præsident
lely to the college, but, by turns, also to the medicinal springs of his own country; although, as a physician, never unmindful of his duty, yet after his own manner, with
in order to attach himself and the remainder of his life, no longer, as before, solely to the college, but, by turns, also to the medicinal springs of his own country; although, as a physician, never unmindful of his duty, yet after his own manner, with hilarity rather than gravity; to enjoy liberty, more valuable than silver and gold, as in his own right, because that of mankind, not without pride, which ever ought to be its inseparable companion.
ir William Browne sent up his name, and should be glad to kiss my hand. I judged it to be the famous physician, whom I had never seen, nor had the honour to know. When I came
“When you see Dr. Heberden, pray communicate to him.
an unexpected honour I have lately received. The other
day, word was brought me from below, that one sir William Browne sent up his name, and should be glad to kiss
my hand. I judged it to be the famous physician, whom
I had never seen, nor had the honour to know. When I
came down into the drawing-room, I was accosted by a
little, round, well-fed gentleman, with a large muff in
one hand, a small Horace, open, in the other, and a
spying-glass dangling in a black ribbon at his button.
After the first salutation, he informed me that his visit was
indeed to me; but principally, and in. the first place, to
Prior-Park, which had so inviting a prospect from below;
and he did riot doubt but, on examination, it would sufficiently repay the trouble he had given himself of coming
up to it on foot. We then took our chairs; and the first
thing he did or said, was to propose a doubt to me concerning a passage in Horace, which all this time he had
still open in his hand. Before I could answer, he gave me
the solution of this long-misunderstood passage; and, in
support of his explanation, had the charity to repeat his
own paraphrase of it in English verse, just come hot, as
he said, from the brain. When this and chocolate were
over, having seen all he wanted of me, he desired to see
something more of the seat, and particularly what he called
the monument, by which I understood him to mean the
Prior’s tower. Accordingly, I ordered a servant to attend
him thither, and when he had satisfied his curiosity, either
to let him out from the Park above, into the Down, or
from the garden below into the road. Which he chose, I
never asked; and so this honourable visit ended. Hereby
you will understand that the design of all this was to be
admired. And indeed he had my admiration to the full;
but for nothing so much, as for his being able at past eighty
to perform this expedition on foot, in no good weather,
and with all the alacrity of a boy, both in body and mind.
”
This portrait is correct in every thing but the age, sir
William being only then (1767) seventy-five.
ere: and therefore had selected out of the library left by my father (who had himself been a regular physician, educated under the tuition of sir J. Ellis, M. D. afterwards
On a controversy for a raker in the parish where he lived
in London, carried on so warmly as to open taverns for
men, and coffee-house breakfasts for ladies, he exerted
himself greatly; wondering a man bred at two universities
should be so little regarded. (He had been expelled one, and therefore taken degrees at another.) A parishioner
answered: “he had a calf that sucked two cows, and a prodigious great one it was.
” He used to frequent the annual
ball at the ladies’ boarding-school, Queen-square, merely
as a neighbour, a good-natured man, and fond of the company of sprightly young folks. A dignitary of the church
being there one day to see his daughter dance, and finding
this upright figure stationed there, told him he believed he
was Hermippus redivivus, who lived anhelitu puellarum. At
the age of eighty, on St. Luke’s day, 1771, he came to BaU
son’s coffee-house in hisjaced coat and band, and fringed
white gloves, to shew himself to Mr. Crosby, then lord-mayor.
A gentleman present observing that he looked very well,
he replied, “he had neither wife nor debts.
” He next
published, “Fragmentum I. Hawkins completum,
” Appendix ad Opuscula;
” six Odes, A Proposal on our Coin, to remedy all present, and prevent all
future disorders. To which are prefixed, preceding proposals of sir John Barnard, and of William Shirley, esq.
on the same subject. With remarks,
” To the most revered memory of the right honourable
Arthur Onslow, speaker of the house of commons during
thirty-three years; for ability, judgement, eloquence, integrity, impartiality, never to be forgotten or excelled;
who sitting in the gallery, on a committee of the house, the
day of publishing this proposal, and seeing the author
there, sent to speak with him, by the chaplain; and, after
applauding his performance, desired a frequent correspondence, and honoured him with particular respect, all
the rest of his life, this was, with most profound veneration, inscribed.
” 10. A New-Y.ear’s Gift. A problem,
and demonstration on the XXXIX Articles,“1772, 4to.
” This problem and demonstration,“he informs us,
” though
now first published, on account of the present controversy concerning these articles, owe their birth to my
being called upon to subscribe them, at an early period of
life. For in my soph’s year, 1711, being a student at
Peter-house, in the university of Cambridge, just nineteen years of age, and having performed all my exercises
in the schools (and also a first opponency extraordinary to an ingenious pupil of his, afterwards Dr. Barnard, prebendary of Norwich) on mathematical qusestions, at the
particular request of Mr. proctor Laughton, of Clare-hall,
who drew me into it by a promise of the senior optime of
the year), I was then first informed that subscribing these
articles was a necessary step to taking my degree of B. A.
as well as all other degrees. I had considered long before at school, and on my admission in 1707, that the universal profession of religion must much more concern me
through life, to provide for rny happiness hereafter, than
the particular profession of physic, which I proposed to
pursue, to provide for my more convenient existence
here: and therefore had selected out of the library left by
my father (who had himself been a regular physician, educated under the tuition of sir J. Ellis, M. D. afterwards master of Caius college), Chiilingworth’s Religion of a
Protestant; the whole famous Protestant and Popish controversy; Commentaries on Scripture; and such other books
as suited my purpose. I particularly pitched upon three for
perpetual pocket-companions; Bleau’s Greek Testament;
Hippocratis Aphoristica, and Elzevir Horace; expecting
from the first to draw divinity, from the second physic,
and from the last good sense and vivacity. Here I cannot
forbear recollecting my partiality for St. Luke, because
he was a physician; by the particular pleasure I took in
perceiving the superior purity of his Greek, over that of
the other Evangelists. But I did not then know, what I
was afterwards taught by Dr. Freind’s learned History of
Physic, that this purity was owing to his being a physician,
and consequently conversant with our Greek fathers of
physic. Being thus fortified, I thought myself as well
prepared for an encounter with these articles, as so young
a person could reasonably be expected. I therefore determined to read them over as carefully and critically as I
could; and upon this, met with so many difficulties, utterly irreconcileable by me to the divine original, that I
almost despaired of ever being able to subscribe them.
But, not to be totally discouraged, I resolved to re-consider them with redoubled diligence; and then at last had
the pleasure to discover, in article VI. and XX. what appeared to my best private judgement and understanding
a clear solution of all the difficulties, and an absolute
defeazance of that exceptionable authority, which inconsistently with scripture they seem to assume. I subscribe
my name to whatever I offer to the public, that I may be
answerable for its being my sincere sentiment: ever open,
however, to conviction, by superior reason and argument.
, an eminent physician, a native of Cumberland, was born in 1711, and educated in medical
, an eminent physician, a
native of Cumberland, was born in 1711, and educated in
medical science at Leyden, under Albinus, Euler, and
Boerhaave. Having taken his medical degree in 1737, he
returned to his native country, and settled at Whitehaven,
where his practice became very extensive. About twenty
years before his death, he retired to Ormathwaite, where
he died, Jan. 7, 1800, in his eighty-ninth year, regretted
as a man of amiable and endearing virtues, and a most
skilful physician. His principal publications were, 1. His
inaugural thesis, “De Praxi medica ineunda,
” Leyden,
A treatise on the art of making common
Salt,
” Lond. An enquiry concerning the mineral elastic spirit contained in the water of Spa in Germany,
” printed in the Philosophical Transactions, vol. LV.
4. A treatise, “On the means of preventing the communication of pestilent contagion.
” A trip to the Spas of
Germany suggested to him the idea of analizing the properties of the Pyrmont springs, and of some others, and
led him into that train of nice and deep disquisition, which
terminated in the de-elementizing one of our elements,
and fixing its invisible fluid form into a palpable and visible
substance. All this he effected by producing the various
combinations of gases and vapours which constitute atmospheric air, and separating into many forms this long-supposed one and indivisible, whilst he solidified its fluid essence into a hard substance. That Dr. Brownrigg was the
legitimate father of these discoveries was not only known at
the time to his intimate and domestic circle, but also to the
then president of the royal society, sir John Pringle; who,
when called upon to bestow upon Dr. Priestley the gold
medal for his paper of “Discoveries of the Nature and
Properties of Air,
” thus observes, “And it is no disparagement to the learned Dr. Priestley, that the vein of these
discoveries was hit upon, and its course successfully followed up, some years ago, by my very learned, very penetrating, very industrious, but too modest friend, Dr.
Brownrigg.
” To habits, indeed, of too much diffidence,
and to too nice a scrupulosity of taste, the world has to attribute the fewness of his publications. One of his literary
projects was a general history of the county of Cumberland, but it does not appear that he had made much progress. He assisted Mr. West, however, in his entertaining.“Tour to the Lakes,
” forming the plan of that popular work.
s introduced to the acquaintance of Adrian Turnebus and Peter Ramus. Returning to Alost, he was made physician and principal magistrate of the city. As he had become a convert
, son of Gerard, one of the magistrates of Alost, in Flanders, was born in that city in 1531.
Having passed through the usual school education “at
Ghent, under Simon, a celebrated master, and at Paris
and Bruges, at which last place he taught school himself
with much credit, he was sent to Rome, where he taught
the mathematics for some years; then taming his mind to
the study of medicine, he went to Boulogne, and having
completed his studies, and taken his degree of doctor, he
travelled, for his further improvement, over a great part
of France. At Paris, he was introduced to the acquaintance of Adrian Turnebus and Peter Ramus. Returning to
Alost, he was made physician and principal magistrate of
the city. As he had become a convert to Lutheranism, he
readily accepted the invitation of John Albert, duke of
Mecklenburgh, to settle at Rostock, where he might with
safety profess his religion. He was here appointed professor in mathematics, and soon became popular also as a
physician. After residing here 25 years, he was seized
with an apoplexy, of which he died, December 31, 1593, His
writings were, 1.
” De Pritno Motu,“1580, 8vo. 2.
” Institutiones -Spherae,“8vo. 5.
” Propositiones de morbo.
Gallico,“Rostock, 1569, 4to. 4.
” Theses de hydrope
triplici,“ibid. 1587. 5.
” De scorbuto propositiones,“ib,
” 1589, 1591, 8vo, reprinted with Eugalenus’s “Liber
Observationum de Scorbuto,
” Leipsic, 1614. 6. “Epistolae
de variis rebus et argumentis medi^cis,
” printed with
“Smetii Miscellanea,
” Francf.
, a German physician and botanist, was born at Mariensbal, near Helmstadt, Dec. 17,
, a German physician
and botanist, was born at Mariensbal, near Helmstadt, Dec.
17, 1697, and having completed his studies, was created
doctor in medicine there, in the year 1721. As his taste
inclined him to botany, he travelled over Bohemia, Austria,
and a great part of Germany, examining and collecting
plants indigenous to those countries, and other natural
productions. In return for his communications to the
Academia Nat. Curios. and of Berlin, he was made corresponding member of those societies. Having finished
his travels, he settled at Brunswick, where he died March
21st, 1753. When young, and before he had taken the
degree of doctor, he published: 1. “Specimen Botanicum, exhibens fungos subterraneos, vulgo tubera terræ
dictos,
” Helmst. Opuscula Medico botanica,
” Brunswick, Epistolæ Itineraries,
” containing his observations on vegetable and other natural productions, collected during his travels, in which we find a great body of
useful information. 4. “Historia naturalis τȢ ΑσβεσθȢ ejusque preparatorum chartæ lini lintei et ellychniorum incombustibilium,
” Brunsw. 1727, 4to. In this he has
discovered that the asbestos is susceptible of printing, and
he had four copies of the work printed on this species of
incombustible paper. 5. “Magnalia Dei in locis subterraneis,
” a description of all the mines and mineralogical
productions in every part of the world, Brunswick, and
Wolfenbuttel, 1727, and 1730, 2 vols. fol.
, a French physician, was born at Bealivais about the end of the seventeenth century,
, a French physician, was born at Bealivais about the end of the seventeenth century, and after studying medicine, acquired
considerable reputation by his practice and his writings.
He also arrived at the honour of being royal censor of the
college, and a member of the academy or Angers. He
died in 1756, after having written or edited some works of
merit in his profession: 1. “Observations sur le manuel
des Accouchments,
” Paris, La Medicine Raisonnee,
” from Hoffman,
ibid. Caprices d'imagination, on
Lettres sur differens sujets,
” ibid. Memoires pour servir a la vie de M. Silva,
” ibid.
Traite des Fievres,
” from Hoffman, ibid.
La Pohtique du Medicin,
” from
the same, ibid. Traite des Alimens,
”
by Lemery, ibid. Dissertations
surPincertitude des signesde lamort, et Tabus des enterremens et embaumemens precipites,
” ibid.
, a Swiss physician and anatomist of eminence, was born at Diessenhofen, the 16th
, a Swiss physician and anatomist of eminence, was born at Diessenhofen, the 16th of
January, 1653. After passing through the usual school
education, he was sent, at the age of sixteen, to Strasburgh, where, applying assiduously to the study of physic
and anatomy, he was created doctor in medicine in 1672.
For his thesis, he gave the anatomy of a child with two
heads, which he met with. He now went to Paris, and
attended the schools and hospitals there with such assiduity, as to attract the notice, and gain him the intimacy
of Dionis and du Verny, who were present while he made
the experiments on the pancreas, which enabled him, some
years after, to publish a more accurate description of that
viscus, than had been before given, under the title of “Experimenta nova circa Pancreas. Accedit Diatribe de Lympha et genuine Pancreatis usu,
” Leidse, Dissertatio Anatomica de Glandula pituitaria,
” Heidelb. 4to. From
this time he became in such great request for his knowledge and success in practice, that he was, in succession,
consulted by most of the princes in Germany. Among
others, in 1720, he was sent for to Hanover, to attend the
prince of Wales, afterwards king George II. In 1715 he
published at Heidelberg, “Glandula Duodeni sen Pancreas secundum detectum,
” 4to, which was only an improved edition of his “De Glandulis in Duodeno Intestino
detectis,
” which had been before twice printed. There
are some other lesser works, the titles and accounts of
which are given by Haller, in his Bib. Anat. In the latter
edition of Wepfer’s works are given dissections by our author, of the heads of some persons who died of apoplexy,
of whom he had had the care. Though early afflicted with
gravel, and in the latter part of his life with gout, he continued to attend to the calls of his patients, though living
a great distance from his residence. When in his 74th
year, he went in great haste to Munich, to attend the
elector Maximilian Emanuel; on his return, he was seized
with a fever, which, in a few days, put an end to his life,
October 2, 1727.
, a physician of the sixteenth century, and one of the first modern restorers
, a physician of
the sixteenth century, and one of the first modern
restorers of botany, was born at Mentz, and originally brought
up to the church. After his theological studies he took
the habit of the Carthusians of Mentz, but was one of the
earliest converts to Lutheranism, and having made his escape from his monastery, became a zealous preacher of
the reformed religion. This appears to have involved him
with Erasmus, who, in Brunsfeis’ opinion, was rather a
time-server. Having lost his voice, however, by a disorder, he was obliged to give over preaching, and went to
Strasburgh, where the government of the college was committed to his care. During a residence of nine years in
this city he studied medicine, and was created doctor at
Basil in 1530. He was soon after invited to Berne in
Swisserland, where be died six months after, Nov. 23,
1534. Whilst at Strasburgh, he published two small tracts
to facilitate the study of grammar to children, annotations on
the gospels, and on the acts of the apostles, and an answer to
Erasmus’s “Spongia,
” in defence of Hutten. The following are the principal of his botanical and medical works
“Catalogus illustrium Medicorum,
” Herbarum
vivae icones, ad naturae imitationem, summa cum diligentia
*et artificioefficiatae, cum effectibus earundem,
” Theses, seu comounes
loci totius Medicinae, etiam de usu Pharmacorum, Argentinae,
”
university, he first settled in practice at Sheffield, in Yorkshire. He was soon afterwards elected physician to a large branch of the Foundling hospital then established
, a medical writer of great popularity, descended of a respectable family in Roxburghshire,
was born at Ancram in the year 1729. Having passed
through the usual school education, he was sent to the
university at Edinburgh. His inclination leading him to
mathematics, he became so considerable a proficient in
that branch of science, as to be enabled to give private
lessons to many of the pupils. Having made choice of medicine for his profession, he attended the lectures of the
several professors, necessary to qualify him for practice;,
and as he was of a studious turn of mind, his progress ia
knowledge may be supposed to have been equal to his application.
After having passed a period of not less than nine years
at the university, he first settled in practice at Sheffield,
in Yorkshire. He was soon afterwards elected physician to
a large branch of the Foundling hospital then established at
Ackworth. In the course of two years he reduced the annual number of deaths among the children from one half
to one in fifteen; and by the establishment of due regulations for the preservation of health, greatly diminished the
previously burthensome expense of medical attendance.
In this situation, he derived from experience that knowledge of. the complaints, and of the general treatment of
children, which was afterwards published in “The Domestic Medicine,
” and in the “Advice to Mothers;
”
works which, considering their very general diffusion, have
no doubt tended to ameliorate the treatment of children,
and consequently to improve the constitutions of the present generation of the inhabitants of this country. When
that institution was dissolved, in consequence of parliament
withdrawing their support from it, Dr Buchan returned to
Edinburgh, where he became a fellow of the royal college
of physicians, and settled in the practice of his profession,
relying in some measure on the countenance and support
of the relations of the lady he married, who was of a respectable family in that city. On the death of one of the
professors, the doctor offered himself as a candidate for
the vacant chair, but did not succeed.
er of whom, a man of profound and general learning, has been for some years settled in practice as a physician in Percy-street, London.
The doctor had a prepossessing exterior, and was of a mild, humane, and benevolent disposition, which not only embraced all the human race, but was extended to the whole of the animal creation. He was blessed with an excellent constitution, never having experienced sickness till within a year of his decease, when he began sensibly to decline. The immediate cause of his death, of the approach of which he was sensible, and which he met with the same gentleness and equanimity which characterized every action of his life, appeared to be an accumulation of water in the chest. He died Feb. 24, 1805, in the seventy-sixth year of his age, and is buried in the cloisters of Westminster-abbey. Two children survive him, a daughter and a son, the latter of whom, a man of profound and general learning, has been for some years settled in practice as a physician in Percy-street, London.
, an eminent French physician, censor royal, doctor-regent and professor of chemistry in the
, an eminent French
physician, censor royal, doctor-regent and professor of
chemistry in the faculty of medicine at Paris, an adjunct
of the academy of sciences, and an ordinary associate of
the royal medical society, was born at Paris, Feb. 18, 1746.
His father intended him for the bar, but his inclination
stfbn led him to relinquish that profession for the study of
the various sciences connected with medicine, in all which
he made great proficiency, and gave lectures on mineralogy and chemistry. His plan and familiar mode of
teaching soon procured him numerous pupils, and connecting himself with Lavoisier and other eminent chemists, he
instituted a variety of experiments which, while they procured him the notice and honours of his profession, much
impaired his health, and at a very early age, he was so debilitated in body and mind, as to require the use of stimulants to excite a momentary vigour; he is even said to
have taken one hundred grains of opium in a day. By
these means he was enabled to protract his existence until
Jan. 24, 1780, when he died completely exhausted, although only in his thirty-fourth year. Except his papers
in the literary journals, we know of only one publication
of Bucquet’s, “Introduction a Tetude des corps naturels,
tirés du regne vegetal,
”
, a learned English physician and botanist, was descended from an ancient family, and born
, a learned English physician
and botanist, was descended from an ancient family, and
born in the isle of Ely, about the beginning of Henry the
Eighth’s reign. He was bred up at Cambridge, as some
say, at Oxford according to others; but probably both
those nurseries of learning had a share in his education.
We know, however, but little of his personal history,
though he was famous in his profession, and a member of
the college of physicians in London, except what we are
able to collect from his works. Tanner says, that he was
a divine, as well as a physician; that he wrote a book
against transubstantiation; and that in June 1550 he was
inducted into the rectory of Blaxhall, in Suffolk, which
he resigned in November 1554. From his works we learn
that he had been a traveller over several parts of Germany,
Scotland, and especially England; and he seems to have
made it his business to acquaint himself with the natural
history of each place, and with the products of its soil.
It appears, however, that he was more permanently settled
at Durham, where he, practised physic with great reputation; and, among others of the most eminent inhabitants,
was in great favour with sir Thomas Hilton, knight, baron
of Hilton, to whom he dedicated a book in the last year
of queen Mary’s reign. In 1560, he went to London,
where, to his infinite surprise, he found himself accused
by Mr. William Hilton of Biddick, of having murdered his
brother, the baron aforesaid; who really died among his
own friends of a malignant fever. The innocent doctor
was easily cleared, yet his enemy hired some ruffians to
assassinate him, and when disappointed in this, arrested
Dr. Bulleyn in an action, and confined him in prison a
long time; where he wrote some of his medical treatises.
He was a very learned, experienced, and able physician.
He was very intimate with the works of the ancient physicians and naturalists, both Greek, Roman, and Arabian.
He was also a man of probity and piety, and though he
Jived in the times of popery, does not appear to have been
tainted with its principles. He died Jan. 7, 1576, and
was buried in the same grave with his brother Richard
Bulleyn, a divine, who died thirteen years before, in the
church of St. Giles, Cripplegate. There is an inscription
on their tomb, with some Latin verses, in which they are
celebrated as men famous for their learning and piety. Of
Dr. Bulleyn particularly it is said, that he was always as
ready to accommodate the poor as the rich, with medicines for the relief of their distempers. There is a profile
of Bulleyn, with a long beard, before his “Government
of Health,
” and a whole-length of him in wood, prefixed
to his “Bulwarke of defence.
” He was an ancestor of the
late Dr. Stukeley, who, in 1722, was at the expence of
having a small head of him engraved.
Dyke, 1725. 2. “Essays, ecclesiastical and civil,” 1706, 8vo. 3. “Letters between him and Dr. Wood,” physician to the pretender. 4. “Compendium of the crown laws, in three
At eighty he is said to have composed, 1. 185 elegies
and epigrams, all on religious subjects; and before that,
in early life, a poem on the birth of the duke of York, 1721.
2. “Letters to the Earl of Arlington,
” Essays
” on subjects of manners and morals, Memoirs and Reflections upon the reigns and governments of Charles I. and II.
” He appears to have been a
man of talents and considerable learning, and in his political course, able and consistent. His son Whitlocke Buistrode, who published his “Essays,
” enjoyed the office of
prothonotary of the marshal’s court, and published a treatise on the transmigration of souls, which went through
two editions, 1692, 1693, 8vo, and was translated into Latin by Oswald Dyke, 1725. 2. “Essays, ecclesiastical and
civil,
” Letters between him and Dr.
Wood,
” physician to the pretender. 4. “Compendium of
the crown laws, in three charges to the grand jury at
Westminster,
”
to come to Rome; his fever, however, increased, and his nephew not arriving, in the presence of his physician and others who were in his house, whom he ordered into his bed-room,
After this discussion, the time left to Michel Angelo for
the enjoyment of his uncontrolled authority was short,
for in the month of February 1563, he was attacked by a
slow fever, which exhibited symptoms of his approaching
death, and he desired Daniello da Volterra to write to his
nephew Leonardo Buonarroti to come to Rome; his fever,
however, increased, and his nephew not arriving, in the
presence of his physician and others who were in his house,
whom he ordered into his bed-room, he made this short
nuncupative will: “My soul I resign to God, my body to
the earth, and my worldly possessions to my nearest of
kin;
” then admonished his attendants: “In your passage
through this life, remember the sufferings of Jesus Christ,
”
and soon after delivering this charge, he died, Feb. 17,
1563, aged eighty-eight years, eleven months, and fifteen
days, which yet was not the life of his father, who attained
the age of ninety-two. Three days after his death, his
remains were deposited with great funeral pomp in the
church of S. Apostoli, in Rome, but afterwards, at the
request of the Florentine academy, were removed to the
church of Santa Croce at Florence, and again with great
solemnity finally deposited in the vault by the side of the
altar, called the Altare de Cavalcanti.
o injure his health. A dangerous illness ensued, and he resorted for medical advice to Dr. Nugent, a physician whose skill in his profession was equalled only by the benevolence
It is certain, however, that about 1753 he came to London, and entered himself, as already noticed, as a student
of the Middle Temple, where he is said to have studied,
as in every other situation, with unremitting diligence.
Many of his habits and conversations were long remembered at the Grecian coffee-house (then the great rendezvous of the students of the Middle Temple), and they
were such as were highly creditable to his morals and his
talents. With the former, indeed, we should not know
jhow to reconcile a connection imputed to him at this time
with Mrs. Woffington, the actress, if we gave credit to the
report; but it is not very likely, that one in Mr. Burke’s
narrow circumstances would have been admitted to more
than a slight acquaintance with a lady of that description.
Though by the death of his elder brother, he was to have
succeeded to a very comfortable patrimony, yet as his.
father was living, and had other children, it could not be
supposed that his allowance was very ample. This urged
him to draw upon his genius for the deficiency of fortune,
and we are told that he became a frequent contributor to
the periodical publications. His first publication is said to
have been a poem, which did not succeed. There is no
certain information, however, concerning these early productions, unless that he found it necessary to apply with
so much assiduity as to injure his health. A dangerous
illness ensued, and he resorted for medical advice to Dr.
Nugent, a physician whose skill in his profession was
equalled only by the benevolence of his heart. He was,
if we are not mistaken, a countryman of Burke’s, a Roman
catholic, and at one time an author by profession. This
benevolent friend, considering that the noise and various
disturbances incidental to chambers, must retard the recovery of his patient, furnished him with apartments in
his own house, where the attention of every member of
the family contributed more than medicine to the recovery
of his health. It was during this period that the amiable
manners of miss Nugent, the doctor’s daughter, made a
deep impression on the heart of Burke; and as she could
not be insensible to such merit as his, they felt for each,
other a mutual attachment, and were married soon after
his recovery. With this lady he appears to have enjoyed
uninterrupted felicity. He often declared to his intimate
friends, “That, in all the anxious moments of his public
life, every care vanished when he entered his own house.
”
Mr. Burke' s first known publication, although not immediately known, was his very happy imitation of Bolingbroke, entitled “A Vindication of Natural Society,
” The critics knew the turn of his
periods; his style; his phrases; and above all, the matchless dexterity of his nietaphysical pen: and amongst these,
nobody distinguished himself more than the lately departed
veteran of the stage, Charles Macklin; who, with the
pamphlet in his hand, used frequently to exclaim at the
Grecian coffee-house (where he gave a kind of literary law to the young Templars at that time),
” Oh! sir, this must
be Harry Bolingbroke: I know him by his cloven foot."
But much of this account is mere assumption. Macklin,
and such readers as Macklin, might be deceived; but no
man was deceived whose opinion deserved attention. The
public critics certainly immediately discovered the imitation, and one at least of them was not very well pleased
with it. We are told, indeed, that lord Chesterfield and
bishop Warburton were at first deceived; but this proves
only the exactness of the imitation; a more attentive perusal discovered the writer’s real intention.
, a physician of Scotland, of whose birth, life, and death, we find nothing
, a physician of Scotland, of
whose birth, life, and death, we find nothing recorded,
except what the title-pages of his books set forth; namely,
that he was M. D. “medicus regius, et collegii regii medicorum Edinburgensis socius.
” His name deserves to be
preserved, however, for the sake of two useful works which
he has left. One is, “Thesaurus medicinse practice,
”
Lond. Hippocrates
contractus, in quo Hippocratis omnia in brevem epitomen
reducta debentur,
” Edinb. 1685, 8vo. A neat edition of
this was printed at London, 1743, 12mo.
mportant subject of divinity. From this exertion, which he seemed to bear without inconvenience, his physician and friends conceived hopes, though mistaken ones, of his recovery;
When Dr. Burton came to an advanced age, and his
eyes began to fail him, he thought proper to collect together and publish his scattered pieces, under the title of
“Opuscula miscellanea.
” Scarcely had he finished this
task, when he was suddenly attacked by an erysipelous
fever, which disturbed his intellects, and shattered his decaying frame. He seemed however at intervals to recover,
and to be desirous of resuming his studies. The day before his death, on Sunday evening, he sent, as had been
his custom, for five or six promising youths; and after
supper discoursed to them, with more than usual perspicuity and elegance, on some important subject of divinity.
From this exertion, which he seemed to bear without inconvenience, his physician and friends conceived hopes,
though mistaken ones, of his recovery; for after a most
serene sleep, he quietly departed this Jife the next morning, Feb. 11, 1771, aged 76, and was buried at the entrance of the inner chapel at Eton.
“An account of what passed between Mr. George Thomson of York, and doctor John Burton of that city, physician and manmidwife, at Mr. sheriff Jubb’s entertainment, and the
, M.D. and F. R. S. and F. S.A. an
eminent antiquary, of whom our accounts are very scanty,
was born at Rjppon in Yorkshire 1697, and educated hi
Christ church college in Oxford for some time, but took
his degree in some foreign university; and on his settling
at York, became very eminent in his profession. In 1745
it is said that he proposed joining himself to the pretender,
then at Manchester; but that his friends had interest sufficient to dissuade him from a measure which must have terminated in his ruin. His conduct, therefore, appears to
have unjustly exposed him to censure, if his own account
may be relied on, to this purpose, that “going out of
York, with leave of the mayor, &c. to take care of his estates, on the approach of the rebels, he was taken by
them, and in consequence of that was apprehended Dec. 3,
1745, and detained till March 25, 1746—7.
” This is explained in “British liberty endangered, demonstrated by
the following narrative, wherein is proved from facts, that
J. B. has hitherto been a better friend to the English constitution, in church and state, than his persecutors. Humbly dedicated to the most reverend and worthy the archbishop of Canterbury, late of York (Herring). With a
proper preface, by John Burton, of York, M. D.
” London,
3 749. There was afterwards published “An account of
what passed between Mr. George Thomson of York, and
doctor John Burton of that city, physician and manmidwife, at Mr. sheriff Jubb’s entertainment, and the consequences thereon, by Mr. George Thomson,
” London,
A Treatise on the Non-naturals, in which the
great influence they have on human bodies is set forth, and
mechanically accounted for. To which is subjoined, a
short Essay on the Chin-Cough, with a new method of
treating that obstinate distemper,
” York, 1738, 8vo. In
the title of this work, he calls himself “M. B. Cant, and
M. D. Rhem.
” by which it would appear that his bachelor’s
was a Lambeth degree, and that he graduated as doctor at
Rheims. In 1751, he published “An Essay towards a
complete new system of Midwifery,
” 8vo, and in A Letter to William Smellie, M. D. containing critical
and practical remarks upon his Treatise on the theory and
practice of Midwifery,
” 8vo. But the work by which he is
principally known, and for which he was employed in
making collections during his latter years, was, his “Monasticon Eboracense; and the Ecclesiastical History of Yorkshire, &c.
” the first volume of which was published in
ducated at Clare-hall, Cambridge, of which he became fellow. He afterwards settled at Cambridge as a physician, without taking a medical degree. His sagacity in judging of
, one of the greatest physicians, and most capricious humourists of his time, was born at Ipswich, about 1535, and educated at Clare-hall, Cambridge, of which he became fellow. He afterwards settled at Cambridge as a physician, without taking a medical degree. His sagacity in judging of distempers was very great, and his method of cure was sometimes as extraordinary; he was bold and singular in his practice, and the oddity of his manners gave him a very great character among the vulgar, who conceived that he must possess extraordinary abilities. Mr. Aubrey informs us, that it was usual for him to sit among the boys, at St. Mary’s church, in Cambridge; and that when he was sent for to king James at Newmarket, he suddenly turned back to go home, and that the messenger was forced to drive him before him. We find he was consulted along with sir Theodore Mayerne and others in the sickness which proved fatal to prince Henry; and it is said that at the first sight of him, Butler from his cadaverous look made an unfavourable prognostic. The reputation of physic was very low in England before Butler’s time; hypothetical nonsense was reduced into system, not only in medicine, but also in other arts and sciences. Many droll stories have travelled down to us, of some extraordinary cures as strangely performed; for these the reader is referred to Winwood’s Memorials, vol. III. Richardi Parkeri, Sceletos Cantabrigiensis, Fuller, Prax. Mayern. p. 66; and Wood in his account of Francis Tresham, esq. He died Jan. 29, 1618, aged eighty-two, and lies buried in St. Mary’s church, in Cambridge, with an elegant and pompous epitaph over him. He left no writings behind him.
, a French physician of considerable eminence, the son of Mons. Cabanis, an able
, a French physician
of considerable eminence, the son of Mons. Cabanis, an
able agriculturist, was born about 1756 and in his youth
shewed much taste for scientific as well as polite literature,
which he pursued with success; although having caught the
revolutionary phrensy, his studies became interrupted by
his polkical engagements. He is said, however, to have
had no hand in any of the excesses which arose out of the
fury of contending parties. He was connected with Alirabeau, and attended him in his professional capacity on
his death-bed. He was also one of the Council of Five Hundred; and it was in consequence of a motion made by him,
that the Directory was dissolved. His principles, however,
do not appear to have been much more steady and consistent than those of his brethren. He published, 1. “Observations sur les Hopitaux,
” Paris, Journal
de la maladie et de la mort de Mirabeau,
” ibid. Travail sur I'education publique,
” a posthumous work of
Mirabeau, edited by Cabanis, 1791, 8vo. 4. “Melanges de
Litterature Allemande,
” Dudegrede certitude
delamedecine,
”Quelques considerations sur l'organization sociale en generale,
” &c. Des rapports du physique et du morale de Pnomme,
”
Coup d'ceil sur les revolutions
et la reforme de la medicine,
” Observations
sur les affections Catarrhales,
” &c. Magazin Encyclopedique;
”
and in the Moniteur for
, a physician of considerable note in London, was educated at Oriel college,
, a physician of considerable note
in London, was educated at Oriel college, Oxford, where
he took his degree of master of arts in 1755; and the same
year was made bachelor and doctor in medicine. He had
previously, viz. in 1750, published a small treatise on the
nursing and management of children, which was much esteemed, and contributed toward abolishing some improper
treatment, both in feeding and dressing infants. His rules
on this subject were first adopted by the managers of the
Foundling hospital, and by degrees became general. His
next publication was “Dissertations on the Gout, and all
Chronical diseases,
”
, or, as some have called him, Lucius Cælius Arianus, an ancient physician, and the only one of the sect of the methodists of whom we have
, or, as some have called him,
Lucius Cælius Arianus, an ancient physician, and the only
one of the sect of the methodists of whom we have any
remains, is supposed to have been a native of Sicca, a
town of Numidia, in Africa. This we learn from the elder
Pliny; and we might almost have collected it, without any
information at all, from his style, which is very barbarous,
and much resembling that of the African writers. It is
half Greek, half Latin, harsh, and difficult; yet strong,
masculine, and his works are valuable for the matter they
contain. He is frequently very acute and smart, especially
where he exposes the errors of other physicians and always nervous. What age Cælius Aurelianus flourished in
we cannot determine, there being so profound a silence
about it amongst the ancients; but it is very probable that
he lived before Galen, since it is not conceivable that he
should mention, as he does, all the physicians before him,
great as well as small, and yet not make the least mention
of Galen. Le Clerc places him in the fifth century. He
was not only a careful imitator of Soranus, but also a
strenuous advocate for him. He had read over very
diligently the ancient physicians of all the sects and we are
obliged to him for the knowledge of many dogmas, which
are not to he found but in his books “De celeribus et
tardis passionibus.
” The best edition of these books is
that published at Amsterdam, 1722, in 4to. He wrote, as
he himself tells us, several other works; but they are all
perished. This, however, which has escaped the ruins of
time and barbarism, is highly valued, as being the only
monument of the Medicina methodica which is extant. He
is allowed by all to be judicious in the history and description of diseases
, an eminent botanist and physician, was born at Arezzo, in the district of Florence, in 1519. He
, an eminent botanist and
physician, was born at Arezzo, in the district of Florence,
in 1519. He was educated under Luke Ghinus, superintendant of the public garden at Pisa, where he appears
to have acquired his taste for botanical pursuits. There
also he was appointed first professor of physic and botany
in the university, and afterwards first physician to pope
Clement VIII. a promotion which required his residence at
Home, where he died in 1603. He described, says Dr.
Pulteney, with exquisite skill, the plants of his own country, and left an herbarium of 768 species. He extended
Gesner’s idea, and commenced the period of systematic
arrangement. In his “Libri XVI de Plantis,
” published
in 1583, at Florence, he has arranged upwards of 800
plants into classes, founded, after the general division of
the trees from herbs, on characters drawn from the fruit
particularly, from the number of the capsules and cells;
the number, shape, and disposition of the seeds; and from
the situation of the corculum, radicle, or eye of t]ie seed,
which he raised to great estimation. The orders, or subdivisions, are formed on still more various relations. On
the other hand, the biographer of Linnceus remarks, that,
though his genius was inventive, his knowledge of botany
was neither original nor universal. He missed both leisure
and opportunity. Clusius had discovered more fresh plants
than he ever was acquainted with. His herbal did not contain nine hundred species, a fact fully proved by the Florentine botanist Micheli, who had it in his possession. A
provision of this kind was too small to give a comprehensive view of botany, and the knowledge which Ca?salpinus
acquired of the internal structure of plants was too defective
to point out the most perfect order. He was only directed
by the fruit, and mostly by that part on which tlui shoots or
germins repose. This system had its defects, but it brought
CiEsalpinus much nearer to the truth, and he discovered more
real similarities, more natural classes, than all the botanists
who preceded, and many who followed him. His speculations in anatomy are still more ingenious. He describes
very clearly the circulation of the blood through the heart,
and was acquainted with the uses of the valves. Douglas
thinks him entitled to equal praise with Harvey, who only completed what he had nearly achieved. He clearly, Douglas
says, describes the contraction and dilatation of the heart,
which is shewn from the following passage from his fourth
book “Question um Peripateticarum.
” “The lungs,
” he
says, “drawing the warm blood through a vein (the pulmonary artery) like the arteries, out of the right ventricle
of the heart, and returning it by an anastomosis to the
venal artery (the pulmonary vein) which goes to the left
ventricle of the heart, the cool air being in the mean time
let in through the canals of the aspera arteria, which are
extended along the venal artery, but do not communicate
with it by inosculations, as Galen imagined, cools it only
by touching. To this circulation of the blood out of the
right ventricle of the heart through the lungs into its left
ventricle, what appears upon dissection answers very well:
for there are two vessels which end in the right ventricle, and
two in the left: but one only carries the blood in, the other
sends it out, the membranes being contrived for that purpose.
” His works on the practice of medicine have also
their portion of merit. “Questionum Medicarum Libri
ii.;
” “De Facultatibus Medicamentorum Libri duo,
” Venet.
Speculum Artis Medicae Hippocraticae, exhibens dignoscendos curandosque morbos, in quo multa visuntur, quae a prjcclarissimis medicis intacta relicta erant,
”
Lyons,
, a learned civilian, was born near Tottenham, in Middlesex, in 1557. His father was Cæsar Adelmar, physician to queen Mary and queen Elizabeth lineally descended from Adelmar
, a learned civilian, was born near
Tottenham, in Middlesex, in 1557. His father was Cæsar
Adelmar, physician to queen Mary and queen Elizabeth
lineally descended from Adelmar count of Genoa, and admiral of France, in the year 806, in the reign of Charles
the Great. This Cæsar Adelmar’s mother was daughter to
the duke de Cesarini, from whom he had the name of
Cæsar which name Mary I. queen of England, ordered
to be continued to his posterity and his father was Peter
Maria Dalmarius, of the city of Trevigio in Italy, LL. D.
sprung from those of his name living at Cividad del Friuli.
Julius, who is the subject of this article, had his education in
the university of Oxford, where he took the degree of B. A.
May 17, 1575, as a member of Magdalen hall. Afterwards
he went and studied in the university of Paris where, in
the beginning of 1581, he was created D. C. L. and had
letters testimonial for it, under the seal of that university,
dated the 22d of April, 1531. He was admitted to the
same degree at Oxford, March the 5th, 1583; and also
became doctor of the canon law. In the reign of queen Elizabeth, he was master of requests, judge of the high court
of admiralty, and master of St. Catherine’s hospital near
the Tower. On the 22d of January, 1595, he was present
at the confirmation of Richard Vaughan, bishop of Bangor,
in the church of St. Mary-le-Bow, London. Upon kingJames’s accession to the throne, having before distinguished
himself by his merit and abilities, he was knighted by that
prince, at Greenwich, May 20, 1603. He was also constituted chancellor and under- treasurer of the exchequer
and on the 5th of July, 1607, sworn of his majesty’s privy
council. January 16th, in the eighth of king James I. he
obtained a reversionary grant of the office of master of the
rolls after sir Edward Phillips, knight; who, departing this
life September 11, 1614, was succeeded accordingly by
sir Julius, on the 1st of October following; and then he
resigned his place of chancellor of the exchequer. In
1613 he was one of the commissioners, or delegates employed in the business of the divorce between the earl of
Essex and his countess; and gave sentence for that divorce.
About the same time, he built a chapel at his house, <on
the north side of the Strand, in London, which was consecrated, May 8, 1614. As he had been privy-counsellor
to king James I. so was he also to his son king Charles I.;
and appears to have been custos rotulorum of the county
of Hertford. We are likewise informed by one author,
that he was chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. After
having thus passed through many honourable employments,
and continued in particular, master of the rolls for above
twenty years, he departed this life April 28, 1636, in the
seventy-ninth year of his age. He lies buried in the church
of Great St. Helen’s within Bishopgate, London, under
a fair, but uncommon monument, designed by himself;
being in form of a deed, and made to resemble a ruffled
parchment, in allusion to his office as master of the rolls.
With regard to his character, he was a man of great gravity and integrity, and remarkable for his extensive bounty
and charity to all persons of worth, or that were in want:
so that he might seem to be almoner-general of the nation.
Fuller gives the following instance of his uncommon charity
“A gentleman once borrowing his coach (which was as well known to poor people as any hospital in England)
was so rendezvouzed about with beggars in London, that
it cost him all the money in his purse to satisfy their importunity, so that he might have hired twenty coaches on
the same terms.
” He entertained for some time in hisr
house the most illustrious Francis lord Bacon, viscount
St. Alban’s. He made his grants to all persons double
kindnesses by expedition, and cloathed (as one expresses it) his very denials in such robes of courtship, that it was
not obviously discernible, whether the request or denial
were most decent. He had also this peculiar to himself,
that he was very cautious of promises, lest falling to an
incapacity of performance he might forfeit his reputation,
and multiply his certain enemies, by hisoiesign of creating
uncertain friends. Besides, he observed a sure principle
of rising, namely, that great persons esteem better of such
they have done great courtesies to, than those they have
received great civilities from; looking upon this as their
disparagement, the other as their glory.
, of Verona, an eminent physician, was first lecturer in that faculty at Rome in the sixteenth
, of Verona,
an eminent physician, was first lecturer in that faculty at
Rome in the sixteenth century, under the popes Clement
VIII. and Paul V. He studied at Padua under Zabarella,
and was a man of great learning, and considered as the
head of his profession. His distinguished merit procured
him an invitation to Rome, where he taught philosophy
and medicine in the college, and was honoured with some
considerable appointments. As he was an excellent Greek
and Latin scholar, and conversant with the historians in.
both languages, his lectures acquired a particular interest
from the quotations he occasionally made in them from
these writers. He wrote two books on the manner of preserving health, on diet, exercise, &c. Rome 1591, and
Padua, 1605. He wrote also on the inundations of the
Tiber, the salubrity of the air at Rome, epidemic disorders,
the 24th aphorism of Hippocrates, which he thought had
been long misunderstood, and on the cure of fevers as
practised at Rome. His knowledge appeared also in his
four books of “Observations,
” Rome, Thesaurus Criticus,
” Dissertations
” on various medical topics.
He died in
, or Chaldwell, an English physician, was born in Staffordshire about 1513, and was admitted into
, or Chaldwell, an English physician, was born in Staffordshire about 1513, and was admitted into Brazen-nose college in Oxford, of which he
was in due season elected fellow. In 1539 he took his
degree of M. A. and became one of the senior students of
Christ Church in 1547, which was a little after its last
foundation by king Henry VIII. Afterwards he studied
physic and took the degrees in that faculty, and became
so highly esteemed for his learning and skill, that he was
examined, approved, admitted into, and elected censor
of, the college of physicians at London in the same day.
Six weeks after, he was chosen one of the elects of the said
college, and in 1570 made president of it. Wood tells
us, that he wrote several pieces upon subjects relating to
his profession; but does not say what they were. He mentions a book written by Horatio Moro, a Florentine physician, and called “The Tables of Surgery, briefly comprehending the whole art and practice thereof;
” which
Caldwall translated into English, and published at London
in 1585. We learn from Camden, that Caldwall founded
a chirurgical lecture in the college of physicians, and endowed it with a handsome salary. He died in 1585, and
was buried at the church of St. Bennet near Paul’s wharf.
aking out in his neighbourhood, he was removed to his friend Heather’s house, and by the care of his physician Dr. Giffard, he, though slowly, recovered his health, retired
Not, however, to neglect the leisure he now enjoyed, he
began in 1608 to digest the matter which he had been
years collecting towards a history of the reign of queen
Elizabeth, to which he had been first incited by his old
patron the lord treasurer in 1597, ten years before, and
solicited by other great personages. But the death of
Burleigh next year, the queen’s decease soon after, and
the difficulty of the task, obliged him to defer it. While he
was meditating this great work, he was seized on his birthday, 1609, with a dangerous illness, and the plague breaking out in his neighbourhood, he was removed to his friend
Heather’s house, and by the care of his physician Dr. Giffard, he, though slowly, recovered his health, retired to
Chiselhurst Aug. 15 of that year, and returned Oct. 23.
This year upon the passing of the act to erect a college at
Chelsea, for a certain number of learned men, who were
to be employed in writing against popery, on a plan proposed by Dr. Sutcliffe, dean of Westminster, consisting of
a dean or provost, seventeen fellows and two historians,
Mr. Camden was appointed one of the latter. But this
design failing, as we have more than once had occasion to
notice, he received from it only the honour of being
thought qualified to fill such a department. From this time
his history of Elizabeth employed his whole attention, and
when the first part was ready, which reached to the year
1589, he obtained the king’s warrant to sir Robert Cotton
and himself to print and publish it. It was accordingly
published in 1615, folio, under the title of “Annales
rerum Anglicarum et Hibernicarum regnante Elizabetha ad
ann. salutis 1589,
” Lond.
, an eminent physician and surgeon, the son of Florence Camper, a minister of the reformed
, an eminent physician and surgeon, the son of Florence Camper, a minister of the reformed church, was born at Leyden May 11, 1722, and was first taught design and painting, which enabled him in his future studies to draw his anatomical preparations. He afterwards studied medicine under Boerhaave, and the other eminent professors of Leyden, and in 1746 took his degree of M. D. In 1748, he attended the hospitals and anatomical lectures in London, and afterwards at Paris. In 1749, he was appointed professor of philosophy, medicine, and surgery at Franeker; and in 1755 taught these sciences at Amsterdam, which he quitted in 1761. After two years’ residence at his country-house in Friesland, he was appointed professor of medicine, surgery, anatomy, and botany at Groningen, where he resided until June 1773, when he settled at Franeker, in order to superintend the education of his sons* In 1762, he had been appointed a representative in the assembly of the province of Friesland; but in 1787, he was nominated one of the council of state, and was therefore obliged to reside at the Hague, where he died in April 1789, in the sixty- seventh year of his age. The immediate cause of his death was a pleurisy, but his eulogist seems to attribute it remotely to his patriotic exertions, and the grief which oppressed him when he saw the independence of his country attacked. Whichever account be true, he was lamented as a learned and ingenious promoter of science, and an ornament to his country. He was at the time of his death a member of the royal society of London, and of the academies of Petersburg!), Berlin, Edinburgh (the college of physicians), Gottingen, Manchester, Haerlem, Rotterdam, &c. and other learned societies in various parts of Europe.
, a French physician, was born at Paris in 1722, and died in the same city in 1772,
, a French physician, was born
at Paris in 1722, and died in the same city in 1772, at 50
years of age. He practised medicine there with great success, and wrote, 1. “Medicine de l'esprit,
” Paris, Abdeker,
” or the art of preserving beauty, Memoires sur divers sujets de
medicine,
” 1760, 8vo. 4. “Memoire sur Tetat actuel de la
Pharmacia,
” Projet d'aneaniirla Petiteverole,
” Medicine pratique,
” 3 vols.
12mo, and 1 vol. 4to. 7. “Amphitheatrum poeticum,
”
a poem, Journal
Economique,
” from Dissertations sur le
bois de charpente,
” Paris, Le Genie d'Architecture,
” ibid. Traite de la force de
bois,
” Le guide de reux qui veulent
batir,
” 2 vols. 8vo. He died July 24, 177.9. Another
brother, Armand Gaston Camus, who died in 1804, was
a very active agent in all the revolutionary measures of the
different French assemblies, and being sent to arrest Dumourier in 1793, was delivered by him to the Austrians,
and afterwards exchanged for the daughter of Louis XVI.
His political conduct belongs to the history of those turbulent periods. In 1800 he was commissioned to inspect the
libraries and collections of the united departments, and
particularly examined the library of Brussels, which is rich
in Mss. He was a man of some learning, and extensive
knowledge of books; and published, 1. “Observations sur
la distribution et le classement des livres d'une bibliotheque.
” 2. “Memoire sur un livre Allemand,
” the famous
Tewrdannckhs. 3. “Memoire sur Thistoire et les procédés du Polytypage et de la Stereotype.
” 4. “Rapport
sur la continuation de la collection des Historiens de la
France, et de celle des Chartres et Diplomes.
” 5. “Notice d'un livre imprim6 a Bamberg in 1462,
” a very curious memoir of a book, first described in the Magasin Hist.
Litt. Bibliog. 1792. 6. “Memoire sur la collection des
grands et petits voyages,
” Notices
des Mss. de la Bibl. Nationale,
” vol. VI. is an interesting
memoir by him, relating to two ancient manuscript bibles,
in 2 vols. fol. adorned with 5152 pictures, each of them
having a Latin and French verse beautifully written and
illuminated beneath.
medicine, that he was invited to Rome by pope Julius III. who made him archiator, and his principal physician. On the death of the pope he returned to Ferrara, and pursued
, one of the restorers and
improvers of anatomy, was born at Ferrara, in Italy, in
1515, where he acquired so much reputation for his skill in
medicine, that he was invited to Rome by pope Julius III.
who made him archiator, and his principal physician. On
the death of the pope he returned to Ferrara, and pursued
his anatomical researches. He first discovered the valves of
the veins, which were afterwards more completely described
by Vesalius. The work by which he is known, of which
only four complete copies are said to be in existence, is
“Musculorum humani corporis picturata dissectio,
” 4to,
printed, Haller thinks, in
, an Italian physician, mathematician, and philosopher, was born at Pa via, Sept. 24,
, an Italian physician, mathematician, and philosopher, was born at Pa via,
Sept. 24, 1501. It appears that his father and mother
were not married, and the latter, a woman of violent passions, endeavoured to destroy him by procuring abortion.
He was, however, safely born, and his father who was a
lawyer by profession, at Milan, and a man well skilled in
what were then called secret arts, instructed him very early
in the mysteries of numbers, and the precepts of astrology,
He taught him also the elements of geometry, and was
desirous to have engaged him in the study of jurisprudence. But his own inclination being rather to medicine
and mathematics, at the age of twenty he went to the university of Pavia, where, two years after, he explained
Euclid. He then went to Padua, and, in 1524, was admitted to the degree of master of arts, and in the following year to that of doctor in medicine. In 1529, he returned to Milan, where although he obtained little fame as
a physician, he was appointed professor of mathematics,
for which he was better qualified; and in 1539, he became
one of the medical college in Milan. Here he attempted
to reform the medical practice by publishing his two first
works, “De malo recentiorurn medicorum medendi usu,
”
Venice, Contradicentium Medicorum libri
duo,
” Lyons,
In 1547, an offer was made to him of the honourable post of physician to the king of Denmark, with an annual salary of eight hundred
In 1547, an offer was made to him of the honourable
post of physician to the king of Denmark, with an annual
salary of eight hundred crowns, and a free table, which he
refused on account of the climate and the religion of the
country. This offer, which was made by the advice of
Vesalius, is a proof that his medical reputation was considerably high; and we find that it was likewise very extensive, for in 1552, he was invited into Scotland by Hamilton, archbishop of St. Andrew’s, who had consulted the
most eminent physicians in Europe without effect. Of
his disease, which was of the asthmatic kind, he began to
recover from the time that Cardan prescribed for him; and
in less than two months Cardan left him with fair prospects of recovery, and gave him some prescriptions, which
in two years effected a complete cure. For this he was
amply rewarded by his patient, and great offers were made
to persuade him to reside in Scotland. These, however,
he rejected, and took an opportunity to visit France and
Germany, from which he passed into England, and' at
London he exercised his astrological knowledge in calculating the nativity of Edward VI. The most remarkable
part of it was, that the young monarch should die a violent
death; for which reason, he says, he left the kingdom for
fear of further danger which might follow on it. He drew
a very favourable character of Edward, which was probably just and sincere, because it was afterwards published
in one of his works, in Italy, where Edward was detested
as a heretic, and where Cardan could have no motive for
flattering his memory. While at the English court Edward was solicitous to retain him in England, and appears
to have honoured him with frequent conferences; but Cardan refused sril his offers, and returned to Milan, after an
absence, in all, of only ten months, and resided there until 1559, practising physic and teaching the mathematics.
He then went to Pavia, where he filled the chair of professor of medicine until 1562, when he removed to Bologna, and there likewise became professor of medicine
until 1570. About this time he was, for some reason with
which we are unacquainted, thrown into prison, which was
exchanged soon after for a milder confinement in his own
house. On his release, he was invited to Rome, and admitted into the college of physicians there, with a pension
from the pope. Here he died Sept. 21, 1576, “more,
”
says Brucker, “like a maniac than a philosopher.
” Thuanus and Scaliger both are of opinion that he starved himself, in order to verify his own prediction of his death.
aplain to the bishop of Durham, and F. R. S. E. was born at Carlisle in 1759, where his father was a physician, and after receiving his early education at the grammar-school
, B. D. vicar of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, chancellor of Carlisle, professor of Arabic in the university of Cambridge, chaplain to the bishop of Durham, and F. R. S. E. was born at Carlisle in 1759, where his father was a physician, and after receiving his early education at the grammar-school of his native city, was in 1775 entered of Christ’s-col'ege, Cambridge, whence after two years he removed to Queen’s, took his bachelor’s degree in 1779, and was elected a fellow. Besides an industrious and successful application to the usual branches of study, he entefed upon that of the Arabic language with unusual avidity, availing himself of a very fine collection of Arabic writings in the university library, and assisted by David Zamio, who, Mr. Carlyle informs us, was born at Bagdad, and resided with him some time at Cambridge. Mr. Carlyle, after taking his master’s degree in 1783, left college, married, and obtained some church preferment in his native city. In 1793 he took his degree of B. D. and succeeded Dr. Paley (by resignation) in the chancellorship of Carlisle. In 1794 he was elected Arabic professor in the university of Cambridge.
in Oxford, when he was given over for dead, by a chemical preparation administered to him by a young physician: in his wonderful preservation from drowning, when overset in
, son of the preceding, was born
at Geneva, August 14, 1599, and had the name of Meric
from Meric de Vicq, a great friend and benefactor to his
father. His first education he received at Sedan, but
coming to England with his father, in the year 1610, he
was instructed by a private master till 1614, when he was
sent to Christ Church, Oxford; and being put there under
a most careful tutor, Dr. Edward Meetkirk (afterwards Regius Hebrew professor), was soon after elected a student
of that house. He took the degree of bachelor of arts,
May 8, 1618, and that of master, June 14, 1621, being
even then eminent for his extensive learning; and the
same year, though he was but two and twenty, he published a book in defence of his father, against the calumnies of certain Roman catholics, entitled “Pietas contra
maledicos, &c.
” Loud. Vindicatio Patris, &c.
” Exercitations against Baronius’s Annals,
” but was diverted
by some accident. At length, when he came to maturity
of years for such a work, and had acquainted archbishop
Laud, his great friend and patron, with his design, who
was very ready to place him conveniently in Oxford or
London, according to his desire, that he might be furnished
with books necessary for such a purpose, the rebellion
broke out in England. Having now no fixed habitation, he
was forced to sell a good part of his books; and, after
about twenty years’ sufferings, became so infirm, that he
could not expect to live many years, and was obliged to
relinquish his design. Before this, however, in June
1628, he was made prebendary of Canterbury, through
the interest of bishop Laud; and when that prelate was
promoted to the archbishopric of Canterbury, he collated
him, in Oct. 1634, to the vicarage of Minster, in the Isle
of Thanet; and in the same month, he was inducted into
the vicarage of Monckton, in that island. In August 1636,
he was created doctor in divinity, by order of king
Charles I. who was entertained at the same time, with his
queen, by the university of Oxford. About the year 1644,
during the heat of the civil wars, he was deprived of his
preferments, abused, fined, and imprisoned. In 1649,
one Mr. Greaves, of Gray’s inn, an intimate acquaintance
of his, brought him a message from Oliver Cromwell, then
lieutenant-general of the parliament forces, desiring him to
come to Whitehall, on purpose to confer with him about
matters of moment; but his wife being lately dead, and
not, as he said, buried, he desired to be excused. Greaves
came again afterwards, and Dr. Casaubon being somewhat
alarmed, desired him to tell him the meaning of the matter; but Greaves refusing, went away the second time.
At length he returned again, and told him, that the lieutenant-general intended his good and advancement; and
his particular errand was, that he would make use of his
pen to write the history of the late war; desiring withal,
that nothing but matters of fact should be impartially set
down. The doctor answered, that he desired his humble
service and hearty thanks should be returned for the great
honour done unto him; but that he was uncapable in several respects for such an employment, and could not so
impartially engage in it, as to avoid such reflections as
would be ungrateful, if not injurious, to his lordship.
Notwithstanding this answer, Cromwell seemed so sensible
of his worth, that he acknowledged a great respect for him;
and, as a testimony of it, ordered, that upon the first demand there should be delivered to him three or four hundred pounds, by a bookseller in London, whose name was
Cromwell, whenever his occasions should require, without
acknowledging, at the receipt of it, who was his benefactor.
But this ofter he rejected, although almost in want. At
the same time, it was proposed by Mr. Greaves, who belonged to the library at St. James’s, that if our author
would gratify him in the foregoing request, Cromwell
would restore to him all his father’s books, which were then
in the royal library, having been purchased by king James;
and withal give him a patent for three hundred pounds a
year, to be paid to the family as long as the youngest sou
of Dr. Casaubon should live, but this also was refused.
Not long after, it was intimated to him, by the ambassador
of Christiana, queen of Sweden, that the queen wished
him to come over, and take upon him the government of
one, or inspection of all her universities; and, as an encouragement, she proposed not only an honourable salary
for himself, but offered to settle three hundred pounds a
year upon his eldest son during life: but this also he
waved, being fully determined to spend the remainder of
his days in England. At the restoration of king Charles II.
he recovered his preferments; namely, his prebend of
Canterbury in July 1660, and his vicarages of Monckton
and Minster the same year: but, two years after, he exchanged this last for the rectory of Ickham, near Canterbury, to which he was admitted Oct. 4, 1662. He had a
design, in the latter part of his days, of writing his own
life; and would often confess, that he thought himself
obliged to do it, out of gratitude to the Divine Providence,
which had preserved and delivered him from more hazardous occurrences than ever any man (as he thought) besides
himself had encountered with; particularly in his escape
from a fire in the night-time, which happened in the house
where he lived, at Geneva, while he was a boy: in his recovery from a sickness at Christ Church, in Oxford, when
he was given over for dead, by a chemical preparation administered to him by a young physician: in his wonderful
preservation from drowning, when overset in a boat on the
Thames near London, the two watermen being drowned,
and himself buoyed up by his priest’s coat: and in his
bearing several abuses, fines, imprisonments, &c. laid
upon him by the republicans in the time of his sequestration: but this he did not execute. He died July 14, 1671,
in the seventy-second year of his age, and was buried in the
south part of the first south cross aile of Canterbury cathedral. Over his grave was soon after erected a handsome
monument with an inscription. He left by will a great
number of manuscripts to the university of Oxford. His
character is thus represented. He was a general scholar,
but not of particular excellence, unless in criticism, in
which probably he was assisted by his father’s notes and
papers. According to the custom of the times he lived in,
he displays his extensive reading by an extraordinary mixture of Greek and Latin quotations and phrases. He was
wont to ascribe to Descartes’s philosophy, the little inclination people had in his time for polite learning. Sir William Temple very highly praises his work, hereafter mentioned, on “Enthusiasm;
” and unquestionably it contains
in any curious and learned remarks; buthisbeingamaintainer
of the reality of witches and apparitions, shews that he was
not more free from one species of enthusiasm than most of
his contemporaries. In his private character he was eminent for his piety, charity to the poor, and his courteous
and affable disposition towards scholars. He had several
children, but none made any figure in the learned world;
one, named John, was a surgeon at Canterbury .
, M. D. a physician and philosopher of Oxford, was born at Woodstock in that county,
, M. D. a physician and philosopher of
Oxford, was born at Woodstock in that county, and educated in New college, Oxford, where, as well as in Christ
Church, he was some time chorister. In 1564 he was
elected scholar of St. John’s college, proceeded M. A. was
made fellow of the house, and was accounted one of the
most acute disputants of his time. He forsook his fellowship, as supposed, on account of his inclination to the
Koman catholic religion, but appears to have concealed
this, as we find him in 1589 made prebendary of North
Aulton, in the church of Salisbury. In the mean time he
was reckoned so able an instructor, that he was permitted
to keep a sort of private academy in St. Mary Magdalen’s
parish, where he held declamations, disputations, and exercises, as in the other colleges and halls, and his auditors
were numerous, particularly of young men of popish principles; and several men of eminence came from his school.
His printed works were also held in considerable estimation. His learning was various, but he inclined most to
medicine, and was admitted to his doctor’s degree in that
faculty in 1589. In 1574 he married Elizabeth, the widow of one Dobsou, keeper of the Bocardo prison. By
his lectures, and by his medical practice he acquired a
considerable fortune, much of which he bestowed on pious
uses. He was a man, says Wood, “of an innocent, meek,
religious, and studious life, of a facete and affable conversation; a lover of scholars, beloved by them again, and
had in high veneration.
” Pits gives nearly the same character. Dodd only laments that he hurt his conscience by
occasional conformity to the reformed religion, and says
that he never made a candid confession of his faith till he
lay in his last sickness, when he was assisted by a priest of
the Roman catholic communion. He died at his house in
Oxford, Jan. 23, 1600, and was interred in the chapel of
St. John’s college, where a monument was afterwards
erected to his memory. He was one of the benefactors to
this college.
, an Italian physician, who flourished about the end of the sixteenth century and the
, an
Italian physician, who flourished about the end of the sixteenth century and the commencement of the seventeenth,
published two works which have been often reprinted, and
long held in high estimation; the first was “Totius artis
medicae, methodo divisa, compendium et synopsis,
” Messana, Lexicon medicum Groeco-Latinum,
” first published at Venice in
, an eminent French physician and surgeon, was born at Blerancourt, between Noyon and Coucy,
, an eminent French physician and surgeon, was born at Blerancourt, between Noyon and Coucy, Sept. 6, 1700. If chirurgical skill be hereditary, his claims were considerable, as he was descended both by the father’s and mother’s side from eminent practitioners. His parents, however, first intended him for the church; but after completing his philosophy course, he applied himself to the study of medicine, not altogether with his inclination. From his infancy he had amused himself with making geometrical figures, and without the aid of a master, used to make drawings of military architecture with considerable accuracy, and at one time seems to have had an inclination for the bar, but at last he had no alternative but the church, or the profession of his ancestors, and having determined in favour of the latter, he went to Paris for education in the different branches of the healing art. The first publication by which he was known, was a curious dissertation, which he printed in his twenty-fourth year, on the mechanism of the buttresses of the church of St. Nicaise at Rheuns: these buttresses have always been an object of curiosity, as a motion is perceptible in them, which has never affected their solidity. la 1729, he was appointed surgeon and physician to M. de Tressan, archbishop of Rouen. He did not take his degree, however, until 1732, when he took it at Rheims, to avoid the heavy expence of 6000 livres, which it would have cost at Paris. In 1733, he settled at Rouen, and began to give a course of anatomical lectures, and there first he established a high reputation for his dextrous method of operation for the stone. In 1731 he obtained the reversion of the place of surgeon-major to the hospital at Rouen; and when the royal academy of surgery was established, he gained the first prize, and continued to gain all the prizes of that academy to the year 17:58 inclusive, when they paid him the high compliment of requesting that he would no longer become a candidate, but leave to others a chance of obtaining these rewards. Flattering as this seemed, M. Le Cat was aware that the academicians had it in their power to prevent his contending for prizes in a more effectual way, by electing him one of their body, and accordingly stood for the prize of 1739 with his usual success: about the end of the year, however, he was elected into the academy, and pursued his career of fame by those numerous publications on which it was so justly founded.
is services by creating him a baron of the Russian empire, and appointed him counsellor of state and physician to her imperial majesty, with a pension of 500l. a year, to
In 1764, when the throne of Poland had become vacant by the death of Augustus III. in the October of the preceding year, Catherine displayed her political talents and influence in the advancement of her early favourite count Poiu'atowsky to that dignity. At this time she made a tour through Esthonia, Livonia, and Courland; but during her absence on this expedition, an insurrection broke out in the prison of the dethroned Ivan, which threatened the stability of her own throne. But this was soon quelled by the murder of that unhappy prince. What share the empress had in this affair is not very clear, but the event was certainly in her favour, and she now proceeded in her improvements, and in the establishment of useful institutions, endeavouring to soften the manners of her subjects by instruction. She also seemed determined to be at once both conqueror and legislatrix, and it is certain that the laws of the Russian empire were much simplified under her reign, and the administration of justice rendered milder and more impartial. Her purpose was to form a solid, and not an arbitrary legislation. Her whole plan was directed to prevent all those who governed under her from exercising a capricious and cruel authority, by subjecting them to invariable laws, which no authority should be able to infringe, but in this, when they were at a distance, she was not always successful. She also continued to cultivate and encourage the arts and sciences; to make her empire an asylum to the learned and ingenious and the transit of Vqihis, which happened in 1769, afforded an opportunity of exhibiting as well the munificence of Catherine as the attention she paid to astronomy. About the middle of the year 1767, the empress conceived the useful project of sending several learned men to travel into the interior of her immense territories, for the purpose of determining the geographical position of the principal places, of marking their temperature, and of examining into the nature of their soil, their productions, their wealth, as well as the manners and characters of the several people by whom they are inhabited. The selection of the learned travellers destined for this expedition, the helps that were granted them, and the excellent instructions that were given them, will be a lasting honour to the academy of sciences, by which they were appointed. About this time, viz. in 1768, the court of Catherine became the asylum of the sciences, to which she invited learned men from every part of Europe. She encouraged artists and scholars of all denominations; she granted new privileges to the academy of sciences, and exhorted the members to add the names of several celebrated foreigners to those which already conferred a lustre on their society. Nor was she less attentive to the academy of arts, by increasing the number of its pupils, and adding such regulations as tended more than ever to the attainment of the end for which it was endowed. For the further encouragement of the fine arts in her dominions, the empress assigned an annual sum of 5000 rubles for the translation of foreign works into the Russian language. The improvement of the state of physic was another important object of her concern; and in order to give the highest possible sanction to the salutary practice of inoculating for the small pox, she herself submitted to the operation under the care of an English practitioner, and she persuaded the grand duke to follow her example. In 1768, Dr. T Dimsdale, of Hertford, was invited to Russia for the purpose of introducing inoculation:. upon the recovery of trie grand duke, Catherine rewarded his services by creating him a baron of the Russian empire, and appointed him counsellor of state and physician to her imperial majesty, with a pension of 500l. a year, to be paid him in England; besides 10,000l. sterling, which he immediately received; and she also presented him with a miniatnre picture of herself, and another of the grand duke, as a memorial of his services. Her majesty likewise expressed her approbation of the conduct of his son, by conferring on him the same title, and ordering him to be presented with a superb gold snuff-box, richly set with diamonds. On December 3, 1768, a thanksgiving service was performed in the chapel of the palace on account of her majesty’s recovery and that of the grand duke from the small-pox: and the senate decreed, that this event should be solemnized by an anniversary festival, which has been regularly observed ever since.
, an ingenious philosopher, was the son of an eminent physician of Naples, where he was born in 1749. His original destination
, an ingenious philosopher, was
the son of an eminent physician of Naples, where he was
born in 1749. His original destination was to be initiated
at London in mercantile pursuits, and he came to England with that view, in 1771, but the study of nature displaying superior attractions, he was seduced from the
accompting-house, to embrace the leisure of a philosophical retreat; and acquired a well -merited reputation as
a digester and elucidator of philosophical discoveries. In
1779, he was admitted a member of the Neapolitan academy of sciences, as well as of the royal society of London.
To the latter he contributed many ingenious papers and
was the author of the following separate publications 1.
“A complete Treatise of Electricity in theory and practice, with original experiments,
” An Essay on the theory and practice of Medical Electricity,
” A Treatise
on the nature and properties of Air, and other permanently elastic fluids, with an Introduction to Chemistry,
”
The History and Practice of Aerostation,
” Mineralogical Tables,
” folio, accompanied with an 8vo explanatory pamphlet, 1785.
6. “A Treatise on Magnetism, in theory and practice,
with original experiments,
” Description
and use of the Telescopical Mother-of-Pearl Micrometer,
invented by T. C.
” a pamphlet, An
Essay on the Medicinal properties of Factitious Airs, with
an Appendix on the nature of Blood,
”
the beginning of the fourteenth century, and studied at Montpellier under Raymond de Moliere. He was physician to the popes Clement VI. and Urban V. In 1363 he published a
, an anatomical author of France,
was born in the beginning of the fourteenth century, and
studied at Montpellier under Raymond de Moliere. He
was physician to the popes Clement VI. and Urban V. In
1363 he published a much esteemed body of surgery, under
the title of “Chirurgix tractatus septem cum antidotario,
”
printed Venet.
atter, suggested the idea of it; and he availed himself of the friendship and skili of M. Majault, a physician in Paris, and an excellent chemist; and by repeated experiments,
But nothing seemed more flattering to him than his discovery of encaustic painting. A description of Pliny’s, but too concise to give him a clear view of the matter, suggested the idea of it; and he availed himself of the friendship and skili of M. Majault, a physician in Paris, and an excellent chemist; and by repeated experiments, found out the secret of incorporating wax with differents tints and colours, of making it obedient to the pencil, and thus rendering paintings immortal. M. Muntz afterwards made many experiments to bring this art to perfection, and published in English a work entitled " Encaustic, or Count Caylus’s method of painting in the manner of the ancients. To which is added, a sure and easy method of fixing of Crayons, London, 1760, 8vo. The experience and practice of artists since have, however, proved that the discovery of the encaustic is more curious than useful where wax is employed.
t of Dante and Guido Cavalcanti, in his poem entitled “Acerba.” This provoked the malice of a famous physician, named Dino del Garbo, who never desisted until he procured
, is the adopted name of Francis,
or Francesco Stabili; a native of Ascoli, in the march of
Ancona, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, whg
acquired considerable reputation, unfortunately for himself,
as a critic and poet. Among the many anachronisms and
contradictions in the accounts given of his life, which Tirabotchi has endeavoured to correct, we find that when
young, he was professor of astrology in the university of
Bologna, that he published a book on that science, which
being denounced to the Inquisition, he escaped by recanting what was offensive but that the same accusations
being afterwards renewed at Florence, he was condemned
to be burnt, and suffered that horrible deatb in 1327, in
the seventieth year of his age. We have already seen,
in former lives, that it was no uncommon thing for enraged
authors to apply to the secular arm for that revenge which
they could not otherwise have inflicted on one another.
The pretence for putting this poor man to death, was his
“Commentary on the Sphere of John de Sacrabosco,
” in
which, following the superstition of the times, he asserted
that wonderful things might be done by the agency of certain demons who inhabited the first of the celestial spheres.
This was foolish enough, but it was the prevalent folly of
the times, and Cecco probably believed what he wrote.
That he was not an impostor wiser than those whom he
duped, appears from his conduct to Charles, duke of Calabria, who appointed him his astrologer, and who, having
consulted him on the future conduct of his wife and daughter, Cecco, by his art, foretold that they would turn out
very abandoned characters. Had he not persuaded himself into the truth of this, he surely would have conciliated
so powerful a patron by a prediction of a more favourable
kind; and this, as may be supposed, lost him the favour of
the duke. But even the loss of his friend would not have
brought him to the stake, if he had not rendered himself
unpopular by attacking the literary merit of Dante and
Guido Cavalcanti, in his poem entitled “Acerba.
” This
provoked the malice of a famous physician, named Dino
del Garbo, who never desisted until he procured him to be
capitally condemned. This poem “Acerba,
” properly
“Acerbo,
” or “Acervo,
” in Latin Acervus, is in the
sesta rima divided into five books, and each of these into
a number of chapters, treating of the heavens, the elements, virtues, vices, love, animals, minerals, religion,
&c. The whole is written in a bad style, destitute of harmony, elegance, or grace; and, according to a late author, much of the plan, as well as the materials, are taken
from the “Tresor
” of Brunetto Latini. It is, however, a
work in demand with collectors, and although often
printed, most of the editions are now very scarce. The
first was printed at Venice in 1476, 4to, with the commentary of Nicolo Massetti, and was reprinted in 1478.
Haym (in the edition of his Biblioteca, 1771) speaks of a
first edition as early as 1458, which we apprehend no bibliographer has seen.
, a learned physician in the sixteenth century, noted chiefly for being one of the
, a learned physician in the sixteenth century, noted chiefly for being one of the founders of the college of physicians, London, was educated in Merton college in Oxford, of which he was fellow. He took his degree of master of arts about the year 1502; after which, travelling into Italy, he studied physic at Padua, and there took his degree of doctor in that faculty. After his return, he became physician to Henry VIII.; and with Thomas Linacre and others, founded the college of physicians. Henry VHIth’s charter, for the foundation of this college, bears date at Westminster, September 23, 1518, and is said to have been obtained at the request of Dr. John Chamber, Thomas Linacre, Fernandez de Victoria, his physicians; and of Nicolas Halsewell, John Fraunces, and Robert Yaxley, of the same faculty: but especially through the intercession and interest of cardinal Wolsey. The first college of this society was in Knight Rider-street, being the gift of Dr. Linacre. Afterwards they removed to Amen-corner, where they bought an house and ground but the house being burnt down in 1666, the fellows purchased a large piece of ground in Warwick-lane, upon which they erected the present college. The number of fellows at first was but thirty. Charles II. at their request, augmented the number to forty. And James II. in their new charter, was pleased to increase the number to eighty, and not to exceed. To the college belong, at present, a president, four censors, and twelve electors.
Italian into English, “A Treasure of Health,” London, 1686, 8vo, written by Castor Durant de Gualdo, physician and citizen of Rome. 3. “The Arguments of the books and chapters
, son to the preceding, was
admitted into Trinity college, Oxford, 1685; but it does
not appear that he took any degree. He continued his
father’s “Angliae Notitia,
” or “Present State,
” as long
as he lived, and it was continued after his death until 1755,
which, we believe, is the last edition. He translated, 1.
from French and Spanish, “The manner of making Tea,
Coffee, and Chocolate, London,
” A Treasure of Health,
” London,
The Arguments of the books
and chapters of the Old and New Testament, with practical observations written originally in French, by the rev.
Mr. Ostervald, professor of divinity, and one of the ministers of the church at Neufchatel in Swisserland, and by
him presented to the society for promoting Christian
knowledge,
” Lond. The Lives of
the French Philosophers, translated from the French of M.
de Fontenelle, republished since in 1721, under the title
of
” Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris,
epitomized, with t[ie lives of the late members of that society,“8vo. 5.
” The Religious Philosopher; or, the
right use of contemplating the works of the Creator, &c.
translated from the original Dutch of Dr. Nieuwentyt,“Lond. 1713, &c. 3 vols. 8vo, reprinted several times since
in 8vo, and once in 4to. 6.
” The History of the Reformation in and about the Low Countries, translated from the
Dutch of Gerrard Brandt,“Lond. 1721, &c. 4 vols. fol.
7.
” The Lord’s Prayer in Dissertations historical, critical, theological, and moral, on the most memorable events of the
Old and New Testaments; wherein the spirit of the sacred
writings is shewn, their authority confirmed, and the sentiments of the primitive fathers, as well as the modern,
critics, with regard to the difficult passages therein, considered and compared; vol. I. comprising the events related
in the Books of Moses to which are added, chronological
tables, fixing the date of each event, and connecting the
several dissertations together,
” one Chamberlayne, secretary to the
reformers, and to the committee for propagating religion
in the Indies.
” There are some of tylr. Chamberlayne’s
letters in bishop Nicolson’s “Epistolary Correspondence
”
lately published. The bishop wrote a preface to Mr. Chamberlayne’s “Lord’s Prayer in 100 Languages.
”
, a native of Mans, and king’s physician in ordinary. He was received into the French academy 1635, afterwards
, a native of Mans,
and king’s physician in ordinary. He was received into
the French academy 1635, afterwards into that of sciences.
Chancellor Sequier and cardinal Richelieu gave him public
testimonies of their esteem; and he acquired great reputation by his knowledge in physic, philosophy, and the
belles-lettres. He died November 29, 1669, at Paris,
aged seventy-five, and left many works, the principal oif
which are: “Les Characteres des Passions,
” 4 vols. 4to;
or Amsterdam, 1658, 5 vols. 12mo. “L'Art de connoitre
les Hommes.
” “De la Connoissance des Betes.
” “Conjectures sur la Digestion.
” “De l'Iris.
” “De la Lumiere.
” “Le Systeme de l'Ame.
” “Le Debordement
du Nil,
” each 1 vol. 4to. Peter de la Chambre, his second son, was curate of St. Bartholomew, and one of the
forty members of the French academy, and died 1693,
leaving several panegyrics, printed separately in 4to.
yed in 1533, on returning from Italy, whither he had accompanied Anthony duke of Lorrain as his army physician, and by whom he was knighted for his bravery as well as skill.
, a most
voluminous medical and historical writer, was born in 1472.
After studying medicine he took his degree of doctor at
Pavia in 1515, and in 1520 was made consul at Lyons, an
honour which he again enjoyed in 1533, on returning
from Italy, whither he had accompanied Anthony duke of
Lorrain as his army physician, and by whom he was
knighted for his bravery as well as skill. He died in 1539
or 1540, after having founded the college of physicians at
Lyons. His works amount to twenty-four volumes, mostly
quarto, of which a list may be seen in our authorities, but
there is not one of them that can be noticed for excellence
either of matter or style. Perhaps the best of his historic
cal compilations is, “Les Grandes Chroniques des dues
jde Savoie,
” Paris,
, a very learned physician, and voluminous writer, the son of the rev. Walter Charleton,
, a very learned physician,
and voluminous writer, the son of the rev. Walter Charleton, M. A. some time vicar of Ilminster, and afterwards
rector of Shepton Mallet, in the county of Somerset,
was born at Shepton Mallet, February 2, 1619, and was
first educated by his father, a man of extensive capacity,
though but indifferently furnished with the goods of fortune. He was afterwards sent to Oxford, and entered of
Magdalen Hall in Lent term 1635, where he became the
pupil of the famous Dr. John Wilkins, afterwards bishop
of Chester, under whom he made great progress in logic
and philosophy, and was noted for assiduous application
and extensive capacity, which encouraged him to aim at
the accomplishments of an universal scholar. But as his
circumstances confined him to some particular profession,
he made choice of physic, and in a short time made as
great a progress in that as he had done in his former studies.
On the breaking out of the civil war, which brought the
king to Oxford, Mr. Charleton, by the favour of the king,
had the degree of doctor of physic conferred upon him in
February 1642, and was soon after made one of the physicians in ordinary to his majesty. These honours made
him be considered as a rising character, and exposed him
to that envy and resentment which he could never entirely
conquer. Upon the declension of the royal cause, he came
up to London, was admitted of the college of physicians,
acquired considerable practice, and lived in much esteem
with the ablest and most learned men of the profession;
such as sir Francis Prujean, sir George Ent, Dr. William
Harvey, and others. In the space of ten years before the
Restoration, he wrote and published several very ingenious
and learned treatises, as well on physical as other subjects,
by which he gained great reputation abroad as well as at
home; and though they are now less regarded than perhaps they deserve, yet they were then received with almost universal approbation. He became, as Wood tells
us, physician in ordinary to king Charles II. while in exile,
which honour he retained after the king’s return; and,
upon the founding of the royal society, was chosen one of
the first members. Among other patrons and friends were
William Cavendish, duke of Newcastle, whose life Dr.
Cliarleton translated into Latin in a very clear and elegant
style, and the celebrated Hobbes, but this intimacy, with:
his avowed respect for the Epicurean philosophy, drew
some suspicions upon him in regard to his religion, notwithstanding the pains he had taken to distinguish between
the religious and philosophical opinions of Epicurus in his
own writings against infidelity. Few circumstances seem
to have drawn more censure on him than his venturing to
differ in opinion from the celebrated Inigo Jones respecting
Stonehenge, which Jones attributed to the Romans, and
asserted to be a temple dedicated by them to the god Coelus, or Coelum; Dr. Charleton referred this antiquity to
later and more barbarous times, and transmitted Jones’s
book, which was not published till after its author’s death,
to Olaus Wormius, who wrote him several letters, tending
to fortify him in his own sentiment, by proving that this
work ought rather to be attributed to his countrymen the
Danes. With this assistance Dr. Charleton drew up a
treatise, offering many strong arguments to shew, that this
could not be a Roman temple, and several plausible reasons why it ought rather to be considered as a Danish monument; but his book, though learned, and enriched with
a great variety of curious observations, was but indifferently
received, and but coldly defended by his friends. Jones’s
son-in-law answered it with intemperate warmth, and many
liberties were taken by others with Dr. Charleton’s character, although sir William Dugdale and some other eminent antiquaries owned themselves to be of our author’s
opinion; but it is now supposed that both are wrong.
Notwithstanding this clamour, Dr. Charleton’s fame was
advanced by his anatomical prelections in the college
theatre, in the spring of 1683, and his satisfactory defence
of the immortal Harvey’s claim to the discovery of the
circulation of the blood, against the pretence that was set
up in favour of father Paul. In 1689 he was chosen president of the college of physicians, in which office he continued to the year 1691. A little after this, his circumstances becoming narrow, he found it necessary to seek a
retreat in the island of Jersey; but the causes of this are not
explained, nor have we been able to discover how long he
continued in Jersey, or whether he returned afterwards to
London. All that is known with certainty is, that he died
in the latter end of 1707, and in the eighty-eighth year
of his age. He appears from his writings to have been a
man of extensive learning, a lover of the constitution in
church and state, and so much a lover of his country as to
refuse a professor’s chair in the university of Padua. In
his junior years he dedicated much of his time to the study
of philosophy and polite literature, was as well read in
the Greek and Roman authors as any man of his time, and
he was taught very early by his excellent tutor, bishop
Wilkins, to digest his knowledge so as to command it readily
when occasion required. In every branch of his own
profession he has left testimonies of his diligence and his
capacity; and whoever considers the plainness and perspicuity of his language, the pains he has taken to collect
and produce the opinions of the old physicians, in order
to compare them with the moderns, the just remarks with
which these collections and comparisons are attended, the
succinctness with which all this is dispatched, and the
great accuracy of that method in which his books are
written, will readily agree that he was equal to most of his
contemporaries. As an antiquary, he had taken much pains
in perusing our ancient historians, and in observing their
excellencies as well as their defects. But, above all, he
was studious of connecting the sciences with each other,
and thereby rendering them severally more perfect; in
which, if he did not absolutely succeed himself, he had at
least the satisfaction of opening the way to others, of showing the true road to perfection, and pointing out the
means of applying and making those discoveries useful,
which have followed in succeeding times. There is also
good reason to believe, that though we have few or none
of his writings extant that were composed during the last
twenty years of his life, yet he was not idle during that
space, but committed many things to paper, as materials
at least for other works that he designed. There is now a
large collection of his ms papers and letters on subjects of
philosophy and natural history in the British Museum.
(Ayscough’s Catalogue.) His printed works are, 1 . “Spiritus
Gorgonicus vi sua saxipara exutus, sive de causis, signis,
et sanatione Lithiaseos,
” Leyden, The darkness
of Atheism discovered by the light of nature, a physicotheological treatise,
” London, The Ephesian and Cimmerian Matrons, two remarkable examples of
the power of Love and Wit/ 7 London, 1653 and 1658, 8vo.
4.
” Physiologia Epicuro-Gassendo-Charletoniana: or a
fabric of natural science erected upon the most ancient
hypothesis of atoms,“London, 1654, in fol. 5.
” The Immortality of the human Soul demonstrated by reasons natural,“London, 1657, 4to. 6.
” Oeconomia Animalis novis Anatomicorum inventis, indeque desumptis modernorum Medicorum Hypothesibus Physicis superstructa et
mechanice explicata,“London, 1658, 12mo; Amsterdam,
1659, 12mo; Leyden, 1678, 12mO; Hague, 1681, 12mo.
It is likewise added to the last edition of
” Gulielmi Cole
de secretione animali cogitata.“7.
” Natural history of
nutrition, life, and voluntary motion, containing all the
new discoveries of anatomists,“&c. London, 1658, 4to.
8.
” Exercitationes Physico-Anatomicse de Oeconomia Animali,“London, 1659, 8vo printed afterwards several
times abroad. 9.
” Exercitationes Pathologicæ, in quibus
morborum pene omnium natura, generatio, et causae ex
novis Anatomicorum inventis sedulo inquiruntur,“London,
160, and 1661, 4to. 10.
” Character of his most sacred
Majesty Charles II. King of Great Britain, France, and
Ireland,“London, 1660, one sheet, 4to. 11.
” Disquisitiones duae Anatomico-Physica? altera Anatome pueri de
ccelo tacti, altera de Proprietatibus Cerebri humani,“London, 1664, 8vo. 12.
” Chorea Gigantum, or the most
famous antiquity of Great Britain, vulgarly called Stonehenge, standing on Salisbury Plain, restored to the Danes,“London, 1663, 4to. 13.
” Onomasticon Zoicon, plerorumque animalium differentias et nomina propria pluribus
linguis exponens. Cui accedunt Mantissa Anatomice, et
quiedam de variis Fossilium generibus,“London, 1668 and
1671, 4to; Oxon. 1677, fol. 14.
” Two Philosophical
Discourses the first concerning the different wits of men
the second concerning the mystery of Vintners, or a discourse of the various sicknesses of wines, and their respective remedies at this day commonly used, &c. London, 1663, 1675, 1692, 8vo. 15. “De Scorbuto Liber
singularis. Cui accessit Epiphonema in Medicastros,
”
London, Natural
History of the Passions,
” London, Enquiries into Humane Nature, in six Anatomy-prelections in
the new theatre of the royal college of physicians in London,
” London, Oratio Anniversaria habita in Theatro inclyti Collegii Medicorum Londinensis 5to
Augusti 1680, in commemorationem Beneficiorum a
Doctore Harvey aliisque præstitorum,
” London, 1680, 4to.
19. “The harmony of natural and positive Divine Laws,
”
London, Three Anatomic Lectures concerning, l.The motion of the blood through the veins and
arteries. 2. The organic structure of the heart. 3. The
efficient cause of the heart’s pulsation. Read in the 19th,
20th, and 21st day of March 1682, in the anatomic theatre
of his majesty’s royal college of Physicians in London,
”
London, Inquisitio Physlca de causis
Catameniorum, et Uteri Rheumatismo, in quo probatur
sanguinem in animali fermentescere nunquam,
” London,
Gulielmi Ducis Novicastrensis vita,
”
London, A Ternary of Paradoxes, of the
magnetic cure of wounds, nativity of tartar in wine, and
image of God in man,
” London, The
errors of physicians concerning Defluxions called Deliramenta Catarrhi,
” London, Epicurus his Morals,
” London, The Life
of Marcellus,
” translated from Plutarch, and printed in the
second volume of “Plutarch’s Lives translated from the
Greek by several hands,
” London,
ne at Paris, where he took his doctor’s degree in 1608, and was afterwards professor of surgery, and physician to the king. He is principally known as the editor of a very
, a native of Vendome, studied medicine at Paris, where he took his doctor’s degree in 1608, and was afterwards professor of surgery, and physician to the king. He is principally known as the editor of a very splendid edition of the works of Hippocrates and Galen, on which he expended all his fortune. It was printed in 13 vols. fol. usually bound in nine, the dates of which appear to be from 1639 to 1649, and that of the supplementary volumes about 1672. We have no account of his death, but he appears to have died before 1639.
scendants, who long flourished both in Old and New England. One of them was the late Dr. Chauncy the physician, who died in 1777, well known for his skill and taste in pictures,
, an eminent nonconformist,
and great uncle to the historian of Hertfordshire, was the
fifth and youngest son of George Chauncy, esq. of Yardley-bury and New-place in Hertfordshire, by Agnes, the
daughter of Edward Welch, and widow of Edward Humberstone, and was born in 1592. He was educated at
Westminster school, from which he went to Trinity college,
Cambridge, where he was admitted to his several degrees,
till he became bachelor of divinity. His reputation for
learning was such as gained him the esteem and friendship
of the celebrated Dr. Usher, archbishop of Armagh. In
consequence of his distinguished skill in Oriental literature, he was chosen, by the heads of houses, Hebrew professor; but Dr. Williams, the vice-chancellor, preferring
a relation of his own, Mr. Chauncy resigned his pretensions, and was appointed to the Greek professorship. He
was the author of the sTriKpuris which is prefixed to Leigh’s
“Critica Sacra' 7 upon the New Testament. When Mr.
Chauncy quitted the university, he became vicar of Ware
in Hertfordshire. Being of puritanical principles, he was
jnuch offended with the
” Book of Sports;“and opposed,
although with less reason, the railing in of the Communion
table. Besides this, he had the indiscretion to say in a
sermon, that idolatry was admitted into the church; that
much Atheism, Popery, Arminianism, and Heresy had
crept into it; and that the preaching of the gospel would
be suppressed. Having by these things excited the indignation of the ruling powers, he was questioned in the high
commission; and the cause being referred, by order of
that court, to the determination of his ordinary, he was
imprisoned, condemned in costs of suit, and obliged to
make a recantation; which, as it had been extorted from
him through fear, lay heavy on his mind. He continued,
indeed, some years in his native country, and officiated at
Marston Lawrence, in the diocese of Peterborough; but
at length retired to New England, where he made an
open acknowledgment of his crime in signing a recantation contrary to the dictates of his conscience. For some
considerable time succeeding his arrival at New England
in 1637, he assisted Mr. Reyner, the minister of that
place; after which he removed to a town at a little distance, called
” Scituate," where he continued twelve
years in the discharge of his pastoral office. When the
republican party became predominant in England, Mr.
Chauncy was invited, by his old parishioners at Ware, to
return back to his native country, and had thoughts of
complying, but was so earnestly pressed by the trustees of
Harvard college, in Cambridge, which then wanted a president, to accept of the government of that society, that
he could not resist their solicitations. This event took
place in 1654; and from that time to his death, which
happened on the 19th of February, 1671-2, in the 80th
year of his age, Mr. Chauncy continued with great reputation at the head of the college, discharging the duties of
his station with distinguished attention, diligence, and
ability. So high was the esteem in which he was held,
that when he had resided about two years in Cambridge,
the church of that town, to whom he was united, and
among whom he preached, kept a whole day of thanksgiving to God, for the mercy they enjoyed in their connection
with him. Mr. Chauncy, by his wife Catherine, whose
life was published, had six sons, all of whom were brought
up for the ministry. Isaac the eldest of them, became
pastor of a nonconformist society in London, and wrote
several treatises . Mr. Charles Chauncy had a number of
descendants, who long flourished both in Old and New
England. One of them was the late Dr. Chauncy the physician, who died in 1777, well known for his skill and
taste in pictures, and for his choice collection of them,
afterwards in the possession of his brother, Nathaniel
Chauncy, esq. of Castle-street, Leicester-fields, who died
in 1790.
, called also Quercetanus, lord of La Violette, and physician to the French king, was born at Armagnac, about the middle of
, called also Quercetanus, lord
of La Violette, and physician to the French king, was born
at Armagnac, about the middle of the sixteenth century.
After having passed a considerable time in Germany, and
being admitted to the degree of M. D. at Basle, 1573,
he practised his art in Paris, and was made physician to
Henry IV. He had made great progress in the study of
chemistry, to which he was particularly devoted. The
success that attended his practice in this science, excited
the spleen of the rest of the physicians, and especially
that of Guy Patin, who was continually venting sarcasms
and satires against him, but experience has since shewn
that Du Chesne was better acquainted with the properties
of antimony than Patin and his colleagues. This learned
chemist, who is called Du Quesne by Moreri, died at Paris,
at a very advanced age, in 1609. He wrote in French
verse, “The Folly of the World,
” The
great Mirror of the World,
” Pharmacopoeia Dogmaticorum restituta, pretiosis, selectisque Hermeticorum Floribus illustrata,
” Giesse Hess.
, a physician of considerable eminence and singular character, was descended
, a physician of considerable eminence and singular character, was descended from a good
family in Scotland, ' where he was born in 1671. He
received a regular and liberal education, and was at first
intended by his parents for the church, though that design
was afterwards laid aside. He passed his youth, as he himself informs us, in close study, and in almost continual application to the abstracted sciences; and in these pursuits
his chief pleasure consisted. The general course of his
life, therefore, at this time, was extremely temperate and
sedentary; though he did occasionally admit of some relaxation, diverting himself with works of imagination, and
“rousing nature by agreeable company and good cheer.
”
But upon the slightest excesses he found such disagreeable effects, as led him to conclude, that his glands were
naturally lax, and his solids feeble: in which opinion he
was confirmed, by an early shaking of his hands, and a disposition to be easily ruffled on a surprize. He studied
physic at Edinburgh under the celebrated Dr. Pitcairne, to
whom he was much attached, and whom he styles “his
great master and generous friend.
” Having taken the
degree of doctor of physic, he repaired to London to practise as a physician, when he was about thirty years of age.
On his arrival in the metropolis, he soon quitted the regular
and temperate manner of life to which he had been chiefly
accustomed, and partly from inclination, and partly from,
a view to promote his practice, he passed much of his time
in company, and in taverns. Being of a cheerful temper,
and having a lively imagination, with much acquired
knowledge, he soon rendered himself very agreeable to
those who lived and conversed freely. He was, as he says,
much caressed by them, “and grew daily in bulk, and in
friendship with these gay gentlemen, and their acquaintances.
” But, in a few years, he found this mode of living
very injurious to his health: he grew excessively fat, shortbreathed, listless, and lethargic.
, a nonconformist of some note, the son of John Cheynell a physician, was born at Oxford in 1608; and after he had been educated
, a nonconformist of some note, the son of John Cheynell a physician, was born at Oxford in 1608; and after he had been educated in grammar learning, became a member of the university there fri 1623. When he had taken the degree of B. A. he was, by the interest of his mother, at that time the widow of Abbot, bishop of Salisbury, elected probationer fellow of Merton college in 1629. Then he went into orders, and officiated in Oxford for some time; but when the church began to be attacked in 1640, he took the parliamentarian side, and became an enemy to bishops and ecclesiastical ceremonies. He embraced the covenant, was made one of the assembly of divines in 1643, and was frequently appointed to preach before the members of parliament. He was one of those who were sent to convert the university of Oxford in 1646, was made a visitor by the parliament in 1647, and the year after took possession by force of the Margaret professorship of that university, and of the presidentship of St. John’s college. But being found an improper man for those places, he was forced to retire to the rectory of Petworth in Sussex, to which he had been presented about 1643, where he continued an useful member to his party till the time of the restoration, when he was ejected from that rich parsonage.
onomer and philosopher, was born at Cesena in the province of Romagna in June 1565. His father was a physician at Cesena. He studied at Perugia and Ferrara, and became distinguished
, in Latin Claramontius,
an eminent Italian astronomer and philosopher, was born
at Cesena in the province of Romagna in June 1565. His
father was a physician at Cesena. He studied at Perugia
and Ferrara, and became distinguished for his progress in
philosophy and mathematics;, the former of which he
taught for some time at Pisa. He passed, however, the
greater part of his long life at Cesena, and in his history
of that place, which he published in 1641, he informs us,
that for fifty -nine years he had served his country in a public capacity. He was, in particular, frequently deputed to
Rome, either to offer obedience to the pope in the name
of his countrymen, or on other affairs. He had married a
Jady whom he calls Virginia de Abbatibus, but becoming
a widower at the age of eighty, he went into the church,
received priest’s orders, and retired with the priests of the
congregation of the oratory, for whom he built a church at
Cesena, and there he died Oct. 3, 1652, in his eightyseventh year. He established at Cesena the academy of
the Oifuscati, over which he presided until his death. His
works, written partly in Italian and partly in Latin, are
very numerous, and filled a considerable space in the literary history of his time: 1. “Discorso della Cometa pogonare dell' anno 1618, &c.
” Venice, Anti-Tycho, in quo contra Tychonem Brahe,
et nonnullos alios, &.c. demonstrator Cometas esse sublunares,
” Venice, De conjectandis cuj usque moribus et
latitantibus animi affectibus semeiotice moralis, seu de signis libri decem,
” ibid. Notse in moralem suam
semeioticam, seu de signis,
” Cesena, Apologia pro Anti-Tychone suo adversus Hypcraspiten Joannis Kepleri,
” Venice, De tribus novis stellis, quse annis 1572, 1600, et 1604, comparuere,
” Cesena, Difesa di Scipioni
Chiaramonti, &c.
” Florence, Delia ‘ragione di stato libri tre, nel quale trattato da primi priticipii dedotto si suo prona la natura, le massime, e le specie
cle’ governi buoni, cattivi e mascherati,
” Florence, Examen ad censuram Joannis Camilli Gloriosi in hbrum
de tribus novis stellis,
” ibid. De sede
sublunari Cometarum, opuscula tria,
” Amst. 1636, 4to. If.
“Castigatio J. Camilli Gloriosi adversus Claramontium
castigata ab ipso Claramontio,
” Cesena, De methodo ad doctrinam spectante, libri quatuor, &c.
”
ibid. Csesense Historia libris sexdecim,
ab initio civitatis ad haec tempera,
” with a sketch of the
general history of Italy during the same period, Cesena,
1641, 4to. 14. “De atrabile, quoad mores attinet,
” Paris, Anti-Philolaus, in quo Philolaus redivivus de
terrse motu et solis ac fixarum quiete impugnalur,
” &c.
Cesena, Defensio ab oppugnationibus Fortunii Liceti de sede Cometarum,
” Cesena, De Universo, libri
sexdecim,
” Cologne, De altitudine Caucasi liber unus, cura Gab. Naudasi editus,
” Paris, Philosophia naturalis methodo resolutiva tradita, &c.
” Cesena,
Opuscula varia mathematica,
” Bologna,
Commentaria in Aristotelem de iri.de,
&c.
” ibid. In quatuor meteorum Aristotelis librum commentaria,
” Venice, Delle,
scene, e theatri opera posthuma,
” Cesena,
, counsellor of state, and first physician to the French king, was born at Montpellier in 1672. Having
, counsellor of state, and
first physician to the French king, was born at Montpellier
in 1672. Having obtained his doctor’s degree, though no
more than twenty years old, he was sent to stop the progress of the plague then raging at Marseilles, by the duke
of Orleans, regent of the kingdom. The boldness and
confidence with which he entered that city, where every
one seemed only waiting for death, had a striking effect on
their fears. He encouraged the inhabitants, and quieted
their alarms by his presence; and his success was beyond
expectation. His services were rewarded by marks of
honour and a pension from the king. In 1731 he was
called to court to be physician to the royal children, by
the interest of Chirac, whose daughter he had married;
and after whose death he was made first physician to the
king, counsellor of state, and superintendent of the mineral waters of the kingdom. He died at Versailles in 1752,
aged near 80. The most curious of his works is that
wherein he maintains that the plague is not contagious,
entitled “Observations et reflexions touchant la nature,
les evenements, et le traitement de la Peste de Marseilles,
”
Paris, Traitedes causes, &c. de la Peste,
” Paris,
, a physician and politician, was born at Besanon, a town of Franche Comte,
, a physician and politician,
was born at Besanon, a town of Franche Comte, in 1588.
He was descended from a family distinguished by literary
merit, as well as by the services it had done its country.
He was educated at Besanc/ni, and then travelled through
several parts of Europe, where he became acquainted with
all the men of letters, and in every place made his way
into the cabinets of the curious. At his return he applied
himself to the practice of physic; but being sent by the
town of Besan^on, where he had been consul, on an embassy to Elizabeth Clara Eugenia, archduchess of the Low
Countries, that princess was so pleased with him, that she
prevailed with him to continue with her in quality of physician in ordinary. Afterwards he became physician to
Philip IV. of Spain, who honoured him very highly, and
treated him with great kindness. Chifflet imagined, that
these bounties and honours obliged him to take up arms
against all who were at variance with his master; and accordingly wrote his book entitled “Vindiciae Hispanicse,
”
against the French. He wrote several pieces in Latin,
which were both ingenious and learned, and were collected
and published at Antwerp, 1659, fol.
mmand of the governor of Chichester; that at first he refused the assistance of sir William Waller’s physician, but afterwards was persuaded to admit his visits, though there
In the mean time he had refused preferment, which was
offered him by sir Thomas Coventry, keeper of the great
seal, because his conscience would not allow him to subscribe the thirty-nine articles. Considering that, by subscribing the articles, he must not only declare, willingly,
and ex animo, that every one of the articles is agreeable
to the word of God, but also that the book of common
prayer contained nothing contrary to the word of God;
that it might lawfully be used; and that he himself would
use it: and conceiving at the same time that, both in the
articles and in the book of common prayer, there were
some things repugnant to the scripture, or which were
not lawful to be used, he fully resolved to lose for ever all
hopes of preferment, rather than comply with the subscriptions required. One of his chief objections to the
common prayer related to the Athanasian dreed, the
damnatory clauses of which he lodked upon as contrary to
the word of God. Another objection concerned the fourth
corttmantlmentj which, by the prayer subjoined to it,
f; Lord, have mercy updn us,“&c. appeared to him to be
mfcde a part of the Christian law, and consequently to bind
Christians to the observation of the Jewish sabbath. These
scruples of but authoi'j about subscribing the articles, furnished his antagonist Knott with an objection against him,
as an improper champion for the protestant caw&e. To
which he answers in the close of his preface to the
” Religion of Protestants.“He expresses here not only his
readiness to subscribe, but also what he conceives to be
the sense and intent of such a subscription; that is, a subscription of peace or union, and not of belief or assent, as
he formerly thought it was. This was also the sense of
archbishop Laud, with which he could not then be unacquainted; and of his friend Sheldon, who laboured to
convince him of it, and was, no doubt, the person that
Brought him at last into it. For there is in Des Maizeaux’s
Account, a letter which he wrote to Sheldon upon this occasion; and it seems there passed several letters between
them upon this subject. Such at least is the apqjqgy which
his biographers have offered for his ready subscription,
after it had appeared to every impartial person that his objections were insurmountable. The apology we tiring as
weak, as his subscription was strong and decisive, running
in the usual language,
” omnibus hisce articulis et singulis
in iisdem contentis volens, et ex animo subscribe, et conspnsum meum iisdem praebeo.“The distinction, after such
a declaration, between peace and union, and belief and
assent, is, we fear, too subtle for common understandings.
When, by whatever means, he had got the better of his
scruples, he was prompted to the chancellorship of Salisbury, with the prebend of Bri$wqrth, in Northamptonshire,
annexed and, as appears from the subscription-book of
the church of Salisbury, upon July 20, 1638, complied
with the usual subscription, in the manner just related.
About the same time he was appointed master of Wigston’s
hospital, in Leicestershire
” both which,“says Wood,
” and perhaps some other preferments, he kept to his
dying day.“In 1646 he was deputed by the chapter of
Salisbury their proctor in convocation. He was likewise
deputed to the convocation which met the same year with
the new parliament, and was opened Nov. 4. In 1642 he
was put into the roll with some others by his majesty, to
be created D. D.; but the civil war breaking out, he never
received it. He was zealously attached to the royal party,
and at the siege of Gloucester, begun Aug. 10, 1643, was
present in the king’s army, where he advised and directed
the making certain engines for assaulting the town, after
the manner of the Roman testudines cum pluteis, but which
the success of the enemy prevented him from employing.
Soon after f having accompanied the lord Hopton, general
of the king’s forces ip the west, to Arundel castle, in Sussex,
and choosing to repose himself in that garrison, on account
of an indisposition, occasioned by the severity of the season, he was taken prisoner Dec, 9, 1643, by the parliament forces under the command of sir William Waller,
when the castle surrendered. But his illness increasing,
and not being able to go to London with the garrison, he
obtained leave to be conveyed to Chichester; where he
was lodged in the bishop’s palace; and where, after a short
illness, he died. We have a very particular account of
his sickness and death, written by his great adversary, Mr.
Cheynell, in his
” Chillingworthi Novissima, or the
sickness, heresy, death, and burial, of William Chillingworth, &c.“London, 1644, 4to. Cheynell accidentally
met him at Arundel castle, and frequently visited him at
Chichester, till he died. It was indeed at the request of
this gentleman, that our author was removed to Chichester;
where Cheynell attended him constantly, and behaved to
him with as much compassion and charity as his bigotted
and uncharitable principles would suffer him. There is no
reason, however, to doubt the truth of Cheynell’s account,
as to the most material circumstances, which prove that
Chillingworth was attended during his sickness, and provided with all necessaries, by one 1 lieutenant Golledge,
and his wife Christobel, at the command of the governor
of Chichester; that at first he refused the assistance of sir
William Waller’s physician, but afterwards was persuaded
to admit his visits, though there were no hopes of his recovery; that his indisposition was increased by the abusive
treatment he met with from most of the officers who were
taken prisoners with him in Arundel castle, and who looked
upon him as a spy set over them and their proceedings;
and that during his whole illness he was often teased by
Cheynell himself, and by an officer of the garrison of Chichester, with impertinent questions and disputes. And on
the same authority we may conclude that lord Clarendon
was misinformed of the particulars of his death for, after
having observed that he was taken prisoner in Arundel
castle, he adds
” As soon as his person was known, which
would have drawn reverence from any noble enemy, the
clergy that attended that army prosecuted him with all
the inhumanity imaginable; so that by their barbarous
usage, he died within a few days, to the grief of all that
knew him, and of many who knew him not, but by his
book, and the reputation he had with learned men."
From this it appears that the noble historian did not know,
or had forgot, that he was sent to Chichester, but believed
that he died in Arundel castle, and within a few days after
the taking of it by sir William Waller. Wood tells us
also, that the royal party in Chichester looked upon the
impertinent discourses of Cheynell to our author, as a
shortening of his days. He is supposed to have died Jan.
30, though the day is not precisely known, and was buried, according to his own desire, in the cathedral church
of Chichpster, Cheynell appeared at his funeral, and gave
that instance of bigotry and buffoonery which we have related
already under his article.
, an eminent French physician, was born 1650, at Conques in ^anguedoc. M. Chicoineau entrusted
, an eminent French physician, was born 1650, at Conques in ^anguedoc. M. Chicoineau entrusted him with the education of his two sons, and perSuaded him to study physic. Chirac became a member of the faculty at Montpellier, and in five years time taught physic there, which he afterwards practised, taking M. Barbeyrac for his model, who then held the first rank at Montpellier. In 1692 he was appointed physician to the army of Roussillon; the year following a dysentery became epidemical among the troops, and ipecacoanha proving unsuccessful, Chirac gave miHt mixed with lye, made of vine branches, which cured almost all the sick. Some years after he returned to his situation of professor and physician at Montpellier, and was engaged in two disputes, which were the subjects of much conversation; one with M. Vieussens, an eminent physician at Montpellier, on the discovery of the acid of the blood; the other with M. Sorazzi, an Italian physician, on the structure of the hair. He attended the duko of Orleans into Italy 1706, whom he cured of q. wound in the arm, by putting it into the water of Balaruc, which was sent for on purpose. In 1707, he accompanied the s^me prince into Spain, and was appointed his first physician 1713; admitted a free associate of the academy of sciences the following year, and succeeded M. Fagon as superintendant of the king’s garden, 1718. In 1728 he received letters of nobility from his majesty; and in 1730, the place of first physician, vacant by the death of M. Dodart, was conferred upon him. He died March 11, 1732, aged 52. He left 30,000 livres to the university of Montpellier for the purpose of founding two anatomical professorships. M. Chirac was skilful in surgery, and sometimes performed operations himself. He gained great honour during the epidemical disorder which prevailed at Ilochefort, and was called the Siam sickness. When there was danger of an inflammation on the brain in the small-pox, he advised bleeding in the foot. His Dissertations and Consultations, are printed with those of Silva, 3 vols. 12mo.
, in the preface which introduces Mr. ChishulPs Dissertation on the Smyrnxan Coins. The same eminent physician testified his regard to the memory of his learned friend, by
One of his, first publications in these sciences appeared in
1721, and was entitled, “Inscriptio Sigæa antiquissima
Βουστροφηδον exarata. Commentario earn HistoricoGrammatico-Critico illustravit Edmundus Chishull, S.T.B.
regiae majestati à sacris,
” folio. This was followed by
“Notarum ad inscriptionem Sigaeam appendicula; addita
a Sigaeo altera Antiochi Soteris inscriptione,
” folio, in
fifteen pages, without a date. Both these pieces were
afterwards incorporated in his “Antiquitates Asiaticae.
”
When Dr. Mead, in Dissertatio de Nummis quibusdam a Smyrnseis in Medicorum honorem percussis,
” which gave rise to a controversy very interesting to the professors of the medical art,
and amusing to the learned world in general. The question was, whether the physicians of ancient Rome were not
usually vile and despicable slaves, or whether there were
not some, at least, among them, who enjoyed the privileges
of a free condition, and the respect due to their services.
The history of this controversy will be found in the articles of
Mead and Middleton; but Mr. Chishull has not been deemed
happy in all his explanations of the Smyrnsean inscriptions.
In 1728 appeared in folio, his great work, “Antiquitates Asiaticoe Christianam Æram antecedentes ex primariis Monumentis Graecis descriptae, Latine versae, Notisque et Commentariis illustratae. Accedit Monumentum
Latinum Ancyranum.
” Dr. Mead contributed fifty-one
guineas, Dr. William Sherard twenty, and Dr. Lisle five
guineas towards this book, which was published by
subscription, at one guinea the common copy, and two o-uineas the royal paper. The work contains a collection of
inscriptions made by consul Sherard, Dr. Picenini, and
Dr. Lisle, afterwards bishop of St. Asaph, which was deposited in the earl of Oxford’s library, and is now in the
British Museum. Mr. Chislmll added to the “Antiquitates
Asiatics;
” two small pieces which he had before published,
viz. “Conjectaneade Nummo Ckhiii inscripto,
” and “her
Asite Poeticum,
” addressed to the rev. John Horn. Our
author not having succeeded in his explication of an inscription to Jupiter Ourios, afterwards cancelled it, and
substituted a different interpretation by Dr. Ashton, which
was more satisfactory; but our author did not submit in,
this case with so good a grace as might have been wished,
and was reasonably to be expected. He added also, at the
same time, another half sheet, with the head of Homer, of
which only fifty copies 'were printed. He had formed the
design of publishing a second volume, under the title of
“Antiquitates Asiatics? pars altera diversa, diversarum
Urbium inscripta Marmora complectens,
” and the printing
was begun; but the author’s death put a stop to the progress of it, and the manuscript was purchased at Dr. Askew’s sale in 1785 for the British Museum, for about 60l.
It is to be regretted that the learned Thomas Tyrwhitt declined being the editor of this second volume. Mr. ChishulPs printed books were sold by a marked catalogue by
Whiston in 1735. In 1731, Mr. Chishull was presented
to the rectory of South-church in Essex. This preferment
he did not long live to enjoy; for he departed the present
life at Walthamstow, on the 18th of May, 1733. Mr.
Clarke, of Chichester, writing to Mr. Bowyer, says, “I was
very sorry for Mr. Chishull' s death as a public loss.
” That
our author sustained an excellent character, as a clergyman and a divine, cannot be doubted. Two letters, written by him to his friend Mr. Bowyer, and which Mr.
Nichols has preserved, are evident proofs both of the piety
and benevolence “of his disposition. With respect to his
literary abilities, Dr. Taylor styles him
” Vir celeberrimus
ingenii acumine et literarum peritia, quibus excellebat
maxime;“and Dr. Mead has bestowed a high encomium
upon him, in the preface which introduces Mr. ChishulPs
Dissertation on the Smyrnxan Coins. The same eminent
physician testified his regard to the memory of his learned
friend, by publishing in 1747 our author’s
” Travels in
Turkey, and back to England," fol. They were originally
published at a guinea, in sheets, and in 1759, the remaining copies, which were numerous, were advertised by the
proprietors at fourteen shillings bound.
, a French physician, was the son of Noel Chomel, an agriculturist, and the author
, a French physician, was
the son of Noel Chomel, an agriculturist, and the author of
the “DictionTiaire œconomique,
” of which we have an
English translation by Bradley, 1725, 2 vols. folio. He was
born at Paris towards the end of the seventeenth century,
and studied medicine at Montpellier, where he took his
degree of doctor, in 1708. Returning to his native city,
he was appointed physician and counsellor to the king.
The following year he published “Universal Medicince
Theoricse pars prima, seu Physiologia, ad usum scholae accommodata,
” Montpellier, Traite des Eaux Minerales, Baines et Douches de Vichi,
”
Memoirs
”
sent to the academy of sciences, and his “Defence of
Tournefort,
” published in the Journal des Savans, he published “Abrege de L'Histoire des Pi antes usuelles,
” Paris,
1712, 12mo. This was in 1715 increased to two, and in
1730, to three volumes in 12mo, and is esteemed an useful
manual. His son, John Baptiste Lewis, was educated also
at Paris, and took his degree of doctor in medicine in
1732. He was several years physician in ordinary to the
king, and in November 1754 was chosen dean of the
faculty. He died in 1765. He published in 1745, 1. “An
account of the disease then epidemic among cattle,
” and
boasts of great success in the cure, which was effected, he
says, by using setons, imbued with white hellebore. 2.
“Dissertation historique sur la Mai de Gorge Gangreneaux, qui a regne parmi les enfans, en 1748:
” the malignant sore throat, first treated of in this country by Dr.
Fothergill, about ten years later than this period. 3. “Essai historique sur la Medicine en France,
” Vie de M. Morin,
” and “Eloge historique
de M. Louis Duret,
”
e preserved the attachment of his friends, and the general esteem of the public. William his father, physician -to Francis I. and Henry II. translated some medical works into
, or as he was called Quintus
Septimus Florens Christianus, a French poet, was born at
Orleans Jan. 26, 1541. He was called Quintus, because
he was his father’s fifth child, and Septimus, because he
was born in the seventh month of his mother’s pregnancy.
He was well skilled in languages and in the belles lettres;
and was tutor to Henry IV. whom he educated in the reformed religion; but he himself returned to the Roman
catholic church before his death, which happened in 1596.
He was author of some satires against Ronsard, under the
name of “La Baronnie,
”
y, or as a discriminating patroness of literature. She was much under the influence of Bourdelot the physician, who gained his ascendancy by outrageous flattery: and her inattention
, queen of Sweden, one of the few sovereigns whose history is entirely personal, was the only child of the great Gustavus Adolphus, by Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg. She was born Dec. 18, 1626, and succeeded to the throne of her father when she was only five years of age. During her minority, the long war with the German empire, in consequence of the invasion of Gustavus, as supporter of the protestant league, was carried on by able men, and particularly Oxentiern. Her education was conducted upon a very liberal plan, and she possessed a strong understanding, and was early capable of reading the Greek historians. Thucydides, Polybius, and Tacitus, were her favourite authors; but she as early manifested a distaste for the society and occupations of her sex, and delighted in manly sports and exercises. She affected likewise an extraordinary love of letters, and even for abstract speculations. When at the age of eighteen she assumed the reins of government, she was courted by several princes of Europe, but rejected their proposals from various motives, of which the true one appears to have been a conceited sense of superiority, and a desire to rule uncontrouled. Among her suitors were the prince of Denmark, the elector Palatine, the elector of Brandenburgh, the kings of Portugal and Spain, the king of the Romans, and Charles Gustavus, duke of Deux Ponts, her first cousin. Him the people, anxious for her marriage, recommended to her; but she rejected the proposal, and to prevent its renewal, she solemnly appointed Gustavus her successor. In 1650, when she was crowned, she became weary and disgusted with public affairs, and seemed to have no ambition but to become the general patroness of learning and learned men. With this view, she invited to her court men of the first reputation in various studies among these were Grotius, Descartes, Bochart, Huet, Vossius, Paschal, Salmasius, Naude, Heinsius, Meibom, Scudery, Menage, Lucas, Holstenius, Lambecius, Bayle, and others, who did not fail to celebrate her in poems, letters, or literary productions of some other kind, the greatest part of which are now forgotten. Her choice of learned men seems to have been directed more by general fame, than by her own judgment, or taste for their several excellencies, and she derived no great credit either as a learned lady, or as a discriminating patroness of literature. She was much under the influence of Bourdelot the physician, who gained his ascendancy by outrageous flattery: and her inattention to the high duties of her station disgusted her subjects. She was a collector of books, manuscripts, medals, and paintings, all which she purchased at such an enormous expence as to injure her treasury, and with so little judgment, that having procured some paintings of Titian at a most extravagant price, she had them clipped to fit the pannels of her gallery.
, a physician at Florence, where he was born in 1625, had not only great skill
, a physician at Florence, where he
was born in 1625, had not only great skill in his profession,
but very extensive literary knowlege, and few men were
better acquainted with books of rarity and curiosity. He
was a member of the academy of Apatisti at Florence, and
of the academy of Parma, and of other learned societies.
But he had, unfortunately, the art of creating enemies by
the severity of his censures and personal remarks; and
having taken some liberties of this kind in his “Biblioteca
volante
” with Dr. Moniglia, first physician to Cosmo III.
he was sent to prison, and released only on condition of
retracting what he had so imprudently advanced. After
this, he quitted the dominions of the grand duke, and
having travelled over most part of Italy, settled at Loretto,
where he practised physic, and where he died in 1706. In
1677 he published the first two parts of his “Biblioteca
volante,
” or fugitive library; a curious and useful collection of remarks and information respecting rare books, in
which he was assisted by the learned Magliabechi, who
was his intimate friend. The third, fourth, and fifth parts
he published at Naples about the year 1686. The whole
was reprinted, with additions by Sancassani, at Venice,
4 vols. 4to, 1734—1747. He had a design of publishing
an account of Tuscan authors, which we are sorry to find
was prevented by his poverty and want of encouragement.
The only other publication we know of Cinelli’s, was a new
edition, with improvements, of “Bocchi’s Curiosities of
Florence,
”
, nephew to Nicolas Cirillo, a Neapolitan physician of considerable eminence, was born at Naples in 1730, and liberally
, nephew to Nicolas Cirillo, a Neapolitan physician of considerable eminence, was born at
Naples in 1730, and liberally educated. His principal
study was medicine, as a profession but his inclination
led him more particularly to natural history and at the
age of thirty he was appointed botanical professor at Naples. In 1761, he published his “Introductio ad Botanicam,
” which in the then state of botany was considered as
a useful book. In the mean time, his knowledge of the
English language made him be consulted by all visitors
from that nation, and among others by lady Walpole, who
engaged him to accompany her to England, as her travelling physician; and here he attended Dr. Hunter’s, and
probably other medical lectures. On his return he published his “Nosologiae methodicse rudimenta,
” De essentialibus nonnullarum
plantarum characteribus,
” which was followed by other botanical treatises, learned, but badly written, his Latin and
Italian style being both ungrammatical and uncouth. His
most splendid work was an account of the “Papyrus,
”
printed by Bodoni in
, a learned physician, was born of reputable parents, at Granton, in the parish of
, a learned physician, was born
of reputable parents, at Granton, in the parish of Crammond, near Edinburgh, on the 13th of December 1716.
His father died in 1719, and left a widow and five children.
George, who was the youngest son, received the rudiments of his education in the grammar-school of Crammond, and in 1728 was sent to Edinburgh to be further
instructed in the Latin, Greek, and French; where, to a
singular proficiency in these languages, he added a
considerable stock of mathematical knowledge. In the beginning of 1731 he resolved to study physic and surgery,
and had the happiness of being placed under the tuition
of the late Dr. Alexander Monro, and under his roof. In
one of his letters his pupil appeared to dwell with peculiar
pleasure upon this circumstance; observing, that “his
amiable manners and unremitting activity in promoting the
public welfare, endeared him to all his acquaintance, but
more particularly to those who lived under his roof, and
had daily opportunities of admiring the sweetness of his
conversation, and the invariable benignity of his disposition.
” For five years he continued to profit by the instruction and example of his excellent master, visiting patients in company with him, and assisting at the dissections
in the anatomical theatre; at the same time he attended in
their turn the lectures in botany, materia medica, chemistry, and the theory and practice of medicine; and by extraordinary diligence he attracted the notice of all his preceptors. On Dr. Fothergill’s arrival from England at this
university in 1733, Dr. Cleghorn was introduced to his
acquaintance, and soon became his inseparable companion.
These twin pupils then studied together the same branches
of science under the same masters, with equal ardour and
success; they frequently met to compare the notes they
had collected from the professors, and to communicate
their respective observations. Their moments of relaxation, if that time can be called relaxation which is devoted to
social studies, were spent in a select society of fellowstudents, of which Fothergill, Russel, and Cuming, were
associates; a society since incorporated under the name of
The Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh.
, the son of Stephen Le Clerc, a physician and Greek professor at Geneva, was born Feb. 4, 1652, at that
, the son of Stephen Le Clerc, a
physician and Greek professor at Geneva, was born Feb. 4,
1652, at that place, and educated in his father’s profession.
After studying at Montpellier and Paris, he took his doctor’s degree at Valentia in 1672, then returned to his own
country, and practised physic with great success. He was
also an excellent Greek and Latin scholar and antiquary,
and distinguished for his knowledge of medals. He published a “Bibliotheque Anatomique
” in conjunction with
Manget, in History of Medicine,
” which extends to the time of
Galen, was published at Geneva in 1696, but the best edition is that of Amsterdam, 1723, 4to. This work is much
praised by Dr. Freind, except the continuation to the sixteenth century. In 1704 he succeeded his father as counsellor of state in the republic of Geneva, after which he
practised very little. In 1715, the king of Sardinia, then
king of Sicily, being at Thonon in Savoy, consulted him
on his own health and that of his queen. The same year
he published his “Historia latorum lumbricorum,
” which
was afterwards published in English, 8vo. He died June
8, 1728.
nsisted of four children. About the year 1750, he was first noticed by Dr. Kirwan Wright, an eminent physician, and a man of learning, who encouraged him to direct his mind
, an ingenious professor of the veterinary art, was born at Norwich, Aug. 12, 1725. His father was a blacksmith, in humble life, and could only afford to allow his son a short time for instruction, in the elements of reading, writing, and arithmetic. He was taken from school before he had made much progress in his education; and when he was seventeen years old, he was obliged, by the death of his father, to carry on the business for the benefit of his mother and her family, which consisted of four children. About the year 1750, he was first noticed by Dr. Kirwan Wright, an eminent physician, and a man of learning, who encouraged him to direct his mind to the investigation and treatment of the diseases of horses. To this pursuit he devoted his attention with great zeal and success. Through the same friend he was induced to acquire a knowledge of the Latin and French languages, in. order to make himself acquainted with the best authors on farriery and medicine, but particularly Vegetius and La Fosse. His Latin teacher was a Mr. Pagan, under whose tuition he made a rapid progress: and in French he instructed himself without the help of any master. He was much assisted in his Latin studies by acting as an amanuensis, and sometimes read in^ Latin books, to Dr. Wright, who had the misfortune to be deprived of his sight. During this time he was a hard worker as well as a hard student. He used to work at the forge, the regular hours, from sixo'clock in the morning until eight at night, and then frequently got ready the nails requisite for his men the next day. To his labours as a blacksmith, a veterinary practitioner, a student of Latin and French, he added others, as a student of mathematics. He became a member of a society established in Norwich, among men of original minds and small incomes, for improvement in mathematics and experimental philosophy, under the direction of Mr. Peter Bilby. Here ho associated with John Fransham, with Mr. Arderon, F. 11. S. a friend and correspondent of Baker, whose inquiries with the microscope excited general interestat that time, and with other working and thinking men. Mr. Clover had a greater quickness of apprehension, and excelled Fransham in mathematics; but the latter had made a greater proficiency in the classics, and was therefore qualified to become his master. After his return from his eccentric excursion to Newcastle, Mr. Clover employed Fransham occasionally to ride the horses home after they were shod, and whilst the iron was heating, they used both to be employed in Latin exer^ses and mathematical problems, worked upon a slate hung against the forge. Thus the tutor assisted in all the labours of his pupil, and, ' after correcting an exercise, or discussing the properties of a circle, he earned his frugal meal by conducting home the horses which his pupil had shod. Natural philosophy, natural history, and botany, engaged much of this little Bilbean society’s attention. Mr. Clover demonstrated at several of their meetings the origin and progress of the bots found in the stomach and intestines of horses, so early as 1753. He discovered the manner in which the larvae of these insects f&strus equij are conveyed from the coat of the horse, where they are deposited by the fly, into the animal’s stomach; and he illustrated, by many experiments, the whole progress of their transformation, which has been since so well described by Mr. B. Clarke, in the Linnean Transactions for 1796. In 1765, Mr. Clover’s reputation had increased so much that he relinquished working at the forge, and devoted himself wholly to the veterinary art. In this he was assisted by the most eminent medical practitioners of those days, particularly Mr. Gooch, who has inserted in the second volume of his surgical cases, a letter from Mr. Clover, giving a description and a drawing of an ingenious machine invented by him for the cure of ruptured tendons and fractured legs in horses. For many years Mr. Clover was severely afflicted with giddiness and pain in his head, which obliged him to decline business in 178!. He continued, however, to interest himself in every improvement that was made, and always took delight in recounting the results of his extensive experience. One of his greatest amusements was to talk with those who studied physic and surgery; and he continued to read the new medical publications, and to deliver short private lectures on the theory and practice of the healing art, with a lively interest, until the very day of his death. It is to be regretted that he never could be prevailed upon to extend the usefulness of his knowledge and experience in the diseases of animals, by any publication of his observations; but he felt a diffidence and fastidiousness in writing that could never be overcome, though his readiness to communicate information was universally acknowledged. The latter end of his life was cheered by the amusement of gardening, in which he excelled. He marked the gradual decay of his bodily organs with perfect tranquillity and composure, and watched his declining pulse when he expired Feb. 19, 1811, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. With an understanding vigorous and acute, and n. power of discrimination and discernment peculiar to himself, Mr. Clover possessed the external advantage of a strong muscular frame of body, which was tall and well proportioned.
This was published by his son, Raymond Cocchi, who succeeded his father as professor of anatomy, and physician to the public hospital at Florence.
, of Florence, professor of physic
at Pisa, afterwards of surgery and anatomy at Florence,
was born there in 1693, and died in 1758, at the age of
sixty-two. In the course of his travels he became the intimate friend of Newton, Boerhaave, and Dr. Mead. The
emperor made him his antiquary. He was esteemed both
for his theoretical and practical knowledge. He wrote:
1. “Grsecorum Chirurgici Libri; Sorani unus de Fracturarum signis, Oribasii duo de Fractis, et Luxatis, ex
Collectione Nicetse, Florent.
” O ratio de
Usu Artis Anatomicse, Florent.
” Medicinae laudatio in Gymnasio Pisis habita,
” Del vitto Pythagorico,
” Flor. On
the Baths at Pisa, and Sopra Asclepiadea.
” This was
published by his son, Raymond Cocchi, who succeeded
his father as professor of anatomy, and physician to the
public hospital at Florence.
ved extremely injurious to her health. This occasioned Dr. Denton Nicholas, an ingenious and learned physician of her acquaintance, to advise her by a letter, dated October
Mrs. Trotter still continued in the communion of the church of Rome; and the sincerity of her attachment to it, in all its outward severities, obliged her to so strict an observance of its fasts, as proved extremely injurious to her health. This occasioned Dr. Denton Nicholas, an ingenious and learned physician of her acquaintance, to advise her by a letter, dated October 19, 1703, to abate of those rigours of abstinence to which she addicted herself; which he represented as insupportable to a constitution naturally infirm: and he desired her to shew his letter to her friends and confessor for their satisfaction. What effect this remonstrance had, we are not told.
, a learned and ingenious physician, was born at Hildesheim, in Lower Saxony, towards the end of
, a learned and ingenious
physician, was born at Hildesheim, in Lower Saxony, towards
the end of the seventeenth century. Being educated to the
practice of medicine, after taking the degree of doctor, he
went to M.unster, where he soon distinguished himself by
his superior skill and abilities. His works, which are numerous, bear ample testimony to the vigour of his intellects, and
of his application to letters. His last work, “If ermippus
Redivivus,
” in which he professes to shew the practicability of prolonging the lives of elderly persons to 115 years,
by receiving the breath and transpirations of healthy young
females, was written, or first published, when he was in
his seventy-seventh year. This was translated into English,
and published, with additions and improvements, by the
late Dr. John Campbell, under the title of “Hermippus
liedivivus, or the Sage’s triumph over old Age and the
Grave.
” A vein of humour runs through this, and indeed
through most of the productions of this writer, which gave
them great popularity when first published, though they
are now little noticed, excepting, perhaps, the work ju$t
mentioned, in which the irony is extremely delicate; in
his rhapsody against the prevailing passion of taking snuff,
he affects to consider a passion for taking snuff as a disease of the nostrils, similar to that affecting the stomach
of girls in chlorosis, and therefore calls it the pica nasi.
The title of this production is, “Dissertatio satyrica,
physico-medico-moralis, de Pica Nasi sive Tabaci sternutatorii moderno abusu, et noxa,
” Amstelodami,
, or Colomesius, a learned French protestant, was born at Rochelle in 1638, where his father was a physician, and where he was probably educated. His application to various
, or Colomesius, a learned French
protestant, was born at Rochelle in 1638, where his father
was a physician, and where he was probably educated.
His application to various reading must evidently have
been very extensive, and although he has no decided
claims to originality, his works ranked in his own day, and
some of them may still, as ably illustrating the history of
learning and learned men. He faithfully treasured what
he found in old, scarce, and almost unknown authors, and
knew how to render the reproduction of learned curiosities
both agreeable and useful. His great intimacy and high
regard for Vossius, induced him to visit England, where
Vossius was then canon of Windsor, and by his interest or
recommendation he was appointed librarian at Lambeth,
with a competent salary. This, however, he lost at the
revolution, when his patron, archbishop Bancroft, was deprived for not taking the oaths to the new government.
After this it is said that he fell into poverty, and died in
Jan. 1692; and was buried in St. Martin’s church-yard.
His principal works are, 1. “Gallia Orientalis,
” reprinted
at Hamburgh, Hispania &
Italia Orientalis,
” giving an account of the Spanish and
Italian Oriental scholars. 3. “Bibliotheque Choisie;
”
reprinted at Paris, Theologorum Presbyterianorum Icon,
” in which he shews his
attachment to episcopacy; and for which he was attacked
by Jurieu (who had not half his candour and impartiality)
in a book entitled “De P esprit d'Arnauld.
” 5. “Des
opuscules critiques & historiques,
” collected and published
in Melanges Historiques,
” &c.
7. “La vie du pere Sirmond,
” &c. His “Colomesiana,
”
make a volume of the collection of Anas.
esteemed, but become scarce, was reprinted at Kiel, 1675, 4to, with notes by Daniel Major, a German physician. The first edition is of 1616, 4to.
, an eminent botanist, was born at Naples in 1567, the son of Jerome, who
was the natural son of the cardinal Pompeio Colonna. He
devoted himself from his youth to the pursuit of natural
history, and particularly to that of plants, which he studied
in the writings of the ancients; and, by indefatigable application, was enabled to correct the errata with which the
manuscripts of those authors abounded. The languages,
music, mathematics, drawing, painting, optics, the civil
and canon law, filled up the moments which he did not
bestow on botany, and the works he published in this last
science were considered as master-pieces previous to the
appearance of the labours of the latter botanists. He wrote,
1. “Plantarum aliquot ac piscium historia,
” Minus cognitarum rariorumque stirpium descriptio; itemque de aquatilibus,
aliisque nonnullis animalibus libellus,
” Rome, A Dissertation
on the Glossopetrae,
” in Latin, to be found with a work of
Augustine Sciila, on marine substances, Rome, 1647, 4to.
4. He was concerned in the American plants of Hernandez, Rome, 1651, fol. fig. 5. A Dissertation on the Porpura, in Latin; a piece much esteemed, but become
scarce, was reprinted at Kiel, 1675, 4to, with notes by
Daniel Major, a German physician. The first edition is of
1616, 4to.
ia, must infallibly be discovered. In 1474, he communicated his ideas on this subject to one Paul, a physician in Florence, a man eminent for his knowledge in cosmography,
After this disaster he went to Lisbon, where he married a daughter of Bartholomew Perestrello, one of the captains employed by Prince Henry in his early navigations, and who had discovered and planted the islands of Porto Santo and Madeira, and by getting possession of his journals and charts, Columbus was seized with an irresistible desire of visiting unknown countries. He first made a voyage to Madeira; and continued during several years to trade with that island, the Canaries, Azores, the settlements in Guinea, and all the other places which the Portuguese had discovered on the continent of Africa. By these means he soon became one of the most skilful navigators in Europe. At this time the great object of discovery was a passage by sea to the East Indies, which was at last accomplished by the Portuguese, by doubling the Cape of Good Hope. The danger and tediousness of the passage, however, induced Columbus to consider whether a shorter and more direct passage to these regions might not be found out; and at length he became convinced that, by sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, directly towards the West, new countries, which probably formed a part of the vast continent of India, must infallibly be discovered. In 1474, he communicated his ideas on this subject to one Paul, a physician in Florence, a man eminent for his knowledge in cosmography, who suggested several facts in confirmation of the plan, and warmly encouraged Columbus to persevere in an undertaking so laudable, and which must redound so much to the honour of his country and the benefit of Europe. Columbus, fully satisfied of the truth of his system, was impatient to set out on a voyage of discovery, and to secure the patronage of some of the considerable powers of Europe, capable of undertaking such an enterprize. He applied first to the republic of Genoa; afterwards to the courts of Portugal, Spain, and England, successively, but met with a variety of mortifying interruptions. At last his project was so far countenanced by Ferdinand of Spain and queen Isabella, that our adventurer set sail with three small ships, the whole expence of which did not exceed 4000l. During his voyage he met with many difficulties from the mutinous and timid disposition of his men. He was the first who observed the variation of the compass, which threw the sailors into the utmost terror. For this phenomenon Columbus was obliged to invent a reason, which, though it did not satisfy himself, yet served to dispel their fears, or silence their murmurs. At last, however, the sailors lost all patience; and the admiral was obliged to promise so r lemnly, that in case land was not discovered in three days, he should return to Europe. That very night, however, the island of San Salvador was discovered, and the sailors were then as extravagant in the praise of Columbus as they had before been insolent in reviling and threatening him. They threw themselves at his feet, implored his pardon, and pronounced him to be a person inspired by heaven with more than human sagacity and fortitude, in order to accomplish a design so far beyond the ideas and conception of all former ages. Having visited several of the West India islands, and settled a colony in Hispaniola, he again set sail for Spain; and after escaping great dangers from violent tempests, arrived at the port of Palos on the 15th of March 1493.
, a physician and learned writer, was descended of an ancient family in Ireland,
, a physician and learned writer, was descended of an ancient family in Ireland, and born in the county of Kerry about 1666. His family being of the popish religion, he was not educated regularly in the grammar-schools or university, but was assisted by private tutors, and when he grew up, applied himself to the study of physic. About 1686 he went to France, and resided for some time in the university of Montpelier; and from thence to Paris, where he distinguished himself in his profession, particularly in the branches of anatomy and chemistry. He professed himself desirous of travelling; and as there were two sons of the high chancellor of Poland then on the point of returning to their own country, it was thought expedient that they should take that long journey under the care and inspection of Connor. He accordingly conducted them very safely to Venice, where, having an opportunity of curing the honourable William Legge, afterwards earl of Dartmouth, of a fever, he accompanied him to Padua; whence he went through Tyrol, Bavaria, and Austria, down the Danube, to Vienna; and after having made some stay at the court of the emperor Leopold, passed through Moravia and Silesia to Cracow, and thence in eight days to Warsaw. He was well received at the court of king John Sobieski, and was afterwards made his physician, a, very extraordinary preferment for a young man of only twenty-eight. But his reputation in the court of Poland was raised by the judgment he made of the duchess of Radzevil’s distemper, which the physicians of the court pronounced to be an ague, from which she might easily be recovered by the bark; and Connor insisted, that she had an abscess in her liver, and that her case was desperate. As this lady was the king’s only sister, his prediction made a great noise, more especially when it was justified by the event; for she not only died within a month, but, upon the opening of her body, the doctor’s opinion of her malady was fully verified. Great as Connor’s fame was in Poland, he did not propose to remain longer there than was requisite to finish his inquiries into the natural history, and other curiosities of that kingdom; and foreseeing the king’s decease, and that he had no prospects of advantage afterwards, he resolved to quit that country, and to return to England, for which a very advantageous opportunity occurred. The king had an only daughter, the princess Teresa Cunigunda, who hud espoused the Elector of Bavaria by proxy in August 1694. As she was to make a journey from Warsaw to Brussels, of near 1000 miles, and in the midst of winter, it was thought necessary that she should be attended by a physician. Connor procured himself to be nominated to that employment; and, after reaching Brussels, took leave of the princess, set out for Holland^ and thence to England, where he arrived in Feb. 1695.
, called by Melchior Adam, Henry Urban, a physician and poet, was a native of Simmershuys in Hesse. To assist himself
, called by Melchior Adam, Henry Urban,
a physician and poet, was a native of Simmershuys in Hesse. To assist himself in the prosecution of
his studies, he undertook the business of private tutor, and
while thus employed, had the good fortune to attract the
notice of Erasmus, but his openness of character is said to
have procured him enemies among men of less liberal
minds. In 1521 he went to Italy, where he attached himself in a particular manner to the study of botany collecting and examining a number of rare plants, and diligently
comparing them with the descriptions of them left by
Dioscorides. At Ferrara he took the degree of doctor in
medicine, which he afterwards taught at Erfurt and Marpurg. In 1535 he went to Bremen, where he remained
until his death, in 1533. He was author of several, and
some very valuable, works. His “Treatise on the English
Sweating Sickness
” was published at Fribourg, in Botanologicon,
sive Colloquium de Herbis,
” was printed at Colonna, in
De Abusu Uroscopirc,
” in Deliciae Poet. Germ.
”
In the list of examiners there appear a prince, an archbishop, three monsigneurs, the pope’s physician, abati, avocati, all of high rank in literature and criticism.
In the list of examiners there appear a prince, an archbishop, three monsigneurs, the pope’s physician, abati, avocati, all of high rank in literature and criticism. These, severally, gave her subjects, which, besides a readiness at versification in all the measures of Italian poetry, required science, reading, and knowledge of every kind. In all these severe trials, she acquitted herself to the satisfaction and astonishment of all the principal personages, clergy, literati, and foreigners then resident at Rome; among the latter was our sovereign’s brother, the duke of Gloucester. Near fifty sonnets by different poets, with odes, canzoni, terse rime, ottave, canzonette, &c. produced on the subject of this event, are inserted at the end of this narrative and description of the order and ceremonials of this splendid, honourable, and enthusiastic homage, paid to poetry, classical taste, talents, literature, and the fine arts.
, orHAGUENBOT (John), a celebrated German physician, was born at Zwickaw in Saxony in 1500. His preceptor made him
, orHAGUENBOT (John), a celebrated German physician, was born at Zwickaw in Saxony in 1500. His preceptor made him change his name of Haguenbot, or Haubut, to that of Cornarius, but such changes were frequently voluntary. In his twentieth year, he taught grammar and explained the Greek and Latin poets and orators to his scholars, and two years after was admitted licentiate in medicine. He found fault with most of the remedies provided by the apothecaries; and observing, that the greatest part of the physicians taught their pupils only what is to be found in Avicenna, Rasis, and the other Arabian physicians, he carefully sought for the writings of the best physicians of Greece, and employed about fifteen years in translating them into Latin, especially the works of Hippocrates, Aetius, Eginetes, and a part of those of Galen. Meanwhile he practised physic with reputation at Zwickaw, Francfort, Marpurg, Nordhausen, and Jena, where he died of an apoplexy, March 16, 1558. He also wrote some medical treatises; published editions of some poems of the ancients on medicine and botany; and translated some of the works of the fathers, particularly those of Basil, and a part of those of Epiphanius. His translations are now little consulted, but they undoubtedly contributed to lessen the difficulties of his successors in the same branch of useful labour.
, an English physician, poet, and amiable man, was born in 1707, but in what county,
, an English physician, poet, and amiable man, was born in 1707, but in what county, or of what family, is not known. He studied physic under the celebrated Boerhaave, at Leyden, and is supposed to have taken his degree at that university, which was then the first medical school in Europe, and the resort of all who wished to derive honour from the place of their education. On his return he endeavoured to establish himself as a general practitioner, but circumstances leading him more particularly to the study of the various species of lunacy, he was induced to become the successor of a Dr. Crawley, who kept a house for the reception of lunatics at Dunstable, in Bedfordshire: and having engaged the housekeeper, and prevailed on the patients’ friends to consent to their removal, he opened a house for their reception at St. Alban’s. Here he continued for some years, adding to his knowledge of the nature of mental disorders, and acquiring considerable fame by the success and humanity of his mode of treatment. When his patients began to increase, he found it necessary to hire a larger house, where he formed a more regular establishment, and dignified it by the name of The College. His private residence was in St. Peter’s street in the town of St. Alban’s, and was long known as the only house in that town defended from the effects of lightning by a conductor.
friendships, with doctor, afterwards sir Hans Sloane, with doctor, afterwards sir Tancred Robinson, physician in ordinary to George I. with doctor Martin Lister, with Mr.
It appears that Mr. Courten was one of the select friends
among whom Locke practised physic, of which he had
taken a bachelor’s degree at Oxford. That Mr. Courten
attended particularly to Locke’s prescription, and derived
benefit from it, is evident from his answer, and from the
following entries in a Saunders’s almanac for 1698, in
which there is a ms diary, not by Dr. Walter Charleton, as it is entitled in the Museum, and the catalogue of
Mss. but relative solely to Mr. William Courten, being
his own hand-writing, which is sufficiently distinguishable,
and moreover vouched as his by the information itself.
“July 27, 1698, being distressed with my headach and
giddiness, I left off entirely taking tobacco in snuff, having
only taken it but four times a day, for several days before,
and never after seven at night.
” “Aug. 20, 1698, must
shew my things [meaning his Museum] but seldom, never
two days consecutively for the future.
” Certainly Mr.
Courten cultivated medallic science with pleasure, avidity,
and considerable success, as is evident in the British Museum, both in the coins he collected, and in the accounts
he has given of them. It appears likewise from many of
his papers in the same repository, that as a general scholar
he was far from being contemptible, and that he was not
unskilled in making experiments. Mr. Courten’s intimacies, correspondences and friendships, with doctor, afterwards sir Hans Sloane, with doctor, afterwards sir Tancred
Robinson, physician in ordinary to George I. with doctor
Martin Lister, with Mr. L. Plukenet, with Mr. Edward
Llwyd, &c. were certainly founded on congenial taste, and
argue no inferior degrees of proficiency in the various
branches of natural history. Mr. Courten' s own museum
remains to this day, though improved, as may well be supposed, and now arranged for the most part to greater advantage, according to the Linnaean system. Of his curious collection it is now impossible to ascertain the exact
catalogues or precise value. Swelled with short histories
and accounts of their contents, they amount, it is said, in
all, to thirty-eight volumes in folio, and eight volumes in
quarto. It remained for about half a century after the
death of Mr. Courten, in the possession of his executor
and residuary legatee, who certainly added very much to
it, and was then purchased in 1753, for the use of the
public, without so much as the mention of the name of its
first and most scientific collector and proprietor, so far as
appears in the whole course of the transaction, for 20,000l.
though the coins and precious stones alone were said to be
of that value. It is now preserved in the British Museum.
Mr. Courten passed the last fourteen or fifteen years of
his life in chambers at the Temple, promoting the knowledge of natural history, and exhibiting his collection gratis in an instructive way. Latterly the declining state of
his health obliged him to practise more abstemiousness than
was agreeable to his convivial turn; and for several years
he was^ under the necessity of abstaining almost entirely
from wine and all spirituous liquors, in which, from a companionable disposition, and in compliance with a fashion
then much more prevalent than at present, it seems that
he indulged at times rather too freely. He died at Kensington gravel-pits, on the 26th of March 1702, aged 63,
and was buried in the church-yard of that parish.
Dr. Hans Sloane, dated May 2ti, 1706, it appears that he was in habits of intimacy with this eminent physician and naturalist. Dr. Sloane carried his friendship so far as
From a letter of our author to Dr. Hans Sloane, dated
May 2ti, 1706, it appears that he was in habits of intimacy
with this eminent physician and naturalist. Dr. Sloane
carried his friendship so far as take upon himself the supervisal of the “Oplulialrniatria.
” As the letter to Dr. Sloane
is dated from the Green Bell, over against the Castle tavern, near Holborn, in Fetter-lane, there is reason to believe that Dr. Coward had quitted London, and was now
only a visitant in town, for the purpose of his publication.
Indeed the fact is ascertained from the list of the college
of physicians for 1706, where Dr. William Coward, who
stands under the head of candidates, is then for the first
time mentioned as residing in the country. The opposition he had met with, and the unpopularity arising from his
works, might be inducements with him for leaving the metropolis. It does not appear, for twelve years, to what
part of the kingdom he had retired nor, from this period,
do we hear more of Dr. Coward as a medical or metaphysical writer. Even when he had been the most engaged
in abstruse and scientific inquiries, he had not omitted the
study of polite literature; for we are told, that in 1705 he
published the “Lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
” an
heroic poem, which was little noticed at first, and soon
sunk in total oblivion. Another poetical performance by
Dr. Coward, and the last of his writings that has come to
our knowledge, was published in 1709, and is entitled,
“Licentia poetica discussed; or, the true Test of Poetry:
without which it is difficult to judge of or compose a correct
English poem. To which are added, critical observations
on the principal ancient and modern poets, viz. Homer,
Horace, Virgil, Milton, Cowley, Dryden, &c. as frequently
liable to just censure.
” This work, which is divided into
two books, is dedicated to the duke of Shrewsbury, and
introduced by a long and learned preface. Prefixed are
three copies of commendatory verses, signed A. Hill, J.
Gay, and Sam. Barklay. The two former, Aaron Hill and
John Gay, were then young poets, who afterwards, as is
well known, rose to a considerable degree of reputation.
Coward is celebrated by them as a great bard, a title to
which he had certainly no claim; though his “Licentia,
”
considered as a didactic poem, and as such poems were
then generally written, is not contemptible. It is not so
correct as lord Roscommon’s essay on translated verse; but
it is little, if at all, inferior to the duke of Buckingham’s
essay on poetry, which was so much extolled in its day.
The rules laid down by Dr. Coward for poetical composition are often minute, but usually, though not universally, founded on good sense and just taste; but he had
not enough of the latter to feel the harmony and variety of
Milton’s numbers. Triplets, double rhymes, and Alexandrines, are condemned by him; the last of which, however, he admits on some great occasion. The notes, which
are large and numerous, display no small extent of reading; and to the whole is added, by way of appendix, a
political essay, from which it appears that our author was
a very zealous whig.
y to remove him to St. Alban’s, where he resided a considerable time, under the care of that eminent physician Dr. Cotton.”
Unfit as he was, from extreme diffidence, to advance in
his profession, his family interest procured him a situation
which seemed not ill adapted to gratify his very moderate
ambition, while it did not much interfere with his reluctance to public life. In his 34th year he was nominated
to the offices of reading clerk and clerk of the private
committees of the house of lords. But in this arrangement
his friends were disappointed. It presented to his
the formidable danger of reading in public, which was next
to speaking in public: his native modesty, therefore, recoiled at the thought, and he resigned the office. On this
his friends procured him the place of clerk of the journals
to the house of lords, the consequence of which is thus
related by Mr. Hayley: “It was hoped, from the change
of his station, that his personal appearance in parliament might not be required; but a parliamentary dispute
made it necessary for him to appear at the bar of the
house of lords, to entitle himself publicly to the office.
Speaking of this important incident in a sketch, which
he once formed himself, of passages in his early life, he
expresses what he endured at the time, in these remarkable words: ‘ They, whose spirits are formed like mine,
to whom a public exhibition of themselves is mortal poison,
may have some idea of the horrors of my situation; others
can have none.’ His terrors on this occasion arose to such
an astonishing height, that they utterly overwhelmed his
reason: for although he had endeavoured to prepare himself for his public duty, by attending closely at the office
for several months, to examine the parliamentary journals,
his application was rendered useless by that excess of diffidence, which made him conceive, that, whatever knowledge he might previously acquire, it would all forsake
him at the bar of the house. This distressing apprehension increased to such a degree, as the time for his
appearance approached, that when the day, so anxiously
dreaded, arrived, he was unable to make the experiment.
The very friends who called on him for the purpose of
attending him to the house of lords acquiesced in the cruel
necessity of his relinquishing the prospect of a station so
severely formidable to a frame of such singular sensibility.
The conflict between the wishes of just affectionate ambition, and the terrors of diffidence, so entirely overwhelmed
his health and faculties, that after two learned and benevolent divines (Mr. John Cowper, his brother, and the celebrated Mr. Martin Madan, his first cousin), had vainly
endeavoured to establish a lasting tranquillity in his mind,
by friendly and religious conversation, it was found necessary to remove him to St. Alban’s, where he resided a considerable time, under the care of that eminent physician
Dr. Cotton.
”
up his manor-house of Beckesburn in Kent. He formed it indeed into a complete hospital; appointing a physician, a surgeon, nurses, and every thing proper, as well for food
Among other instances of the archbishop’s charity, we have one recorded which was truly noble. After the destruction of monasteries, and before hospitals were erected, the nation saw no species of greater misery, than that of wounded and disbanded soldiers. For the use of such miserable objects, as were landed on the southern coasts of the island, the archbishop fitted up his manor-house of Beckesburn in Kent. He formed it indeed into a complete hospital; appointing a physician, a surgeon, nurses, and every thing proper, as well for food as physic. Nor did his charity stop here. Each man, on his recovery, was furnished with money to carry him home, in proportion to the distance of his abode.
ollowing whimsical tarif of expences is attributed to him: To a cook should be given two minae, to a physician a drachma, to a flatterer five talents, to an adviser smoke,
, the most distinguished philosopher of the
Cynic sect after Diogenes, was by birth a Theban, and
flourished about the 113th olympiad, B. C. 328, and died
after the year 287 B. C. He was honourably descended,
and inherited a large estate; but when he devoted himself
to philosophy, that he might be free from the dominion
of those passions which are fostered by wealth, he distributed his whole properly among the poorer citizens. Leaving his native city, where he had been a disciple of Bryso,
he went to Athens, and hecame a zealous disciple of Diogenes adopting all the singularities of his master. In his
natural temper, however, he was not, like Diogenes, morose and gloomy, but cheerful and facetious. The following whimsical tarif of expences is attributed to him: To a
cook should be given two minae, to a physician a drachma,
to a flatterer five talents, to an adviser smoke, a talent to
a courtezan, and three oboles to a philosopher. Being
asked of what use philosophy was to him? “To teach me,
”
returned he, “to be contented with a vegetable diet, and
to live exempt from care and trouble.
” Alexander, curious to see this Cynic, offered to rebuild Thebes, the
place of his nativity; “To what purpose?
” interrogated
Crates; “Another Alexander will destroy it afresh. The
contempt of fame, and my complacency with poverty
stand me in stead of a country: these are comforts that are
above the reach of fortune.
” Patient under injuries, he
took no other revenge for a blow he had received from a
certain Nicodromus, than by writing under the mark of it
on his cheek, “Nicodromus fecit.
” This disposition attached to him many friends, and procured for him access
to the houses of the most wealthy Athenians, and he frequently became an arbiter of disputes and quarrels among
relations. His influence in private families is said to have
had a great e fleet in correcting the luxuries and vices which
prevailed at that time in Athens. His wife, Hipparchia,
who was rich and of a good family, and had many suitors,
preferred Crates to every other, and when her parents opposed her inclination, so determined was her passion, she
threatened to put an end to her life. Crates, at the request of her parents, represented to Hipparchia every circumstance in his condition and manner of -living, which
might induce her to change her mind. Slill she persisted
in her resolution, and not only became his wife, but adopted
all the Cynic peculiarities. Disgraceful tales have been
circulated concerning Crates and his wife; but since they
do not appear in any writings of the period in which they
lived, and are neither mentioned by Epictetus, who wrote
an apology for the Cynic philosophy, nor by Lucian or
Athenxus, who were so industrious in accumulating calumnies against philosophers, Brucker thinks they must be
set down among the malicious fictions of later writers, who
were desirous to bring the Cynic and Stoic sects into discredit. Had either Diogenes or Crates been the beasts
which some have represented them, it is wholly incredible
that Zeno and the Stoics would have treated their memory
with so much respect.
, a physician and voluminous writer, was born at Breslaw in 15iy. He received
, a physician and voluminous writer, was born at Breslaw in 15iy. He received his first instruction under Philip Melancthon, and being intended for the church, he afterwards studied for six years under Martin Luther at Wittenburgh, but being more inclined to the practice of medicine, he was sent to Padua, and placed under professor Monti. He here took the degree of doctor, and returned and settled at Breslaw, whence, at the end of a few years, he was called to Vienna, and made physician and aulic counsellor to the emperor, Ferdinand I. He tilled the same post under the two succeeding emperors, Maximilian and Rodolph, which he notices in an epigram he composed a short time before his death:
ister of Lincoln’s-inn; his mother’s name was Margery, the daughter of Dr. Thomas Doylie, an eminent physician in London. He was educated at a grammar-school at Wakefield,
,
a celebrated popish writer, descended from an ancient and
honourable family, seated formerly in Nottinghamshire,
but before his time it had removed into Yorkshire, in which
county he was born, at Wakefield, in 1605. His father
was Hugh Cressey, esq. barrister of Lincoln’s-inn; his
mother’s name was Margery, the daughter of Dr. Thomas
Doylie, an eminent physician in London. He was educated at a grammar-school at Wakefield, and about the
age of fourteen, in Lent term 1619, he was removed to
Oxford, where he studied with great vigour and diligence,
and in the year 1626 was admitted fellow of Merton college, in that university. After taking the degrees of B. A.
and M. A. he entered into holy orders, and became chaplain
to Thomas lord Wentworth, then lord president of the north,
with whom he lived some years. About 1638, he went over
to Ireland with Lucius Carey, lord viscount Falkland, to
whom he was likewise chaplain; and by him, when he was
secretary of state, Cressey was, in 1642, promoted to a canonry in the collegiate church of Windsor, and to the dignity of dean of Laughlin, in the kingdom of Ireland, but
through the disturbances of the times, he never attained the
possession of either of these preferments. After the unfortunate death of his patron, who was killed in the battle of
Newbury, he found himself destitute of subsistence, and
therefore readily accepted a proposal that was made him, of
travelling with Charles Bertie, esq. afterwards created earl
of Falmouth, a great favourite of king Charles II. who was
unhappily killed in a battle at sea in the first Dutch war
after the restoration. Cressey quitted England in 1644,
and making the tour of Italy with his pupil, moved by the
declining state of the church of England, he began to
listen to the persuasion of the Romish divines, and in
1646 made a public profession at Rome of his being reconciled to that church. He went from thence to Paris,
where he thought fit to publish what he was pleased to
style the motives of his conversion, which work of his, as
might reasonably be expected, was highly applauded by
the Romanists, and was long considered by them as a very
extraordinary performance. It is entitled, “Exomologesis,
or a faithfal narration of the occasions and motives of his
conversion to Catholic Unity,
” Paris, 1647, and 1653, 8vo.
To the last edition is an appendix, “In which are cleared
certain misconstructions of his Exomologesis, published by
J. P. author of the preface to the lord Falkland’s discourse
of Infallibility.
” As soon as this was finished, he sent it
over to his friend Dr. Henry Hammond, as to one whose
sincerity he had experienced, and for whose judgment he
had a high esteem. That learned person wrote him a
kind letter of thanks for his book, but at the same time
told him there was a vein of fallacy ran through the whole
contexture of it; adding, “we are friends, and I do not
propose to be your antagonist.
” At the close of this
epistle, he invited him into England, assuring him that he
should be provided with a convenient place to dwell in,
and a sufficient subsistence to live comfortably, without
being molested by any about his religion and conscience.
This offer, though our author did not accept, yet he returned, as became him, an answer full of respect and gratitude to the kind friend who had made it.
s own play. Among the rest, he acted the divine, the philosopher, the lawyer, the mathematician, the physician, and the soldier, with such inimitable grace, that every time
The next account we have of Crichton, and which appears to have been transmitted, through sir Thomas Urquharr, to later biographers, is of an extraordinary instance of bodily courage and skill. It is said, that at Mantua there was at this time a gladiator, who had foiled, in his travels, the most famous fencers in Europe, and had lately killed three persons who had entered the lists with him. The duke of Mantua was much grieved at having granted this man his protection, as he found it to be attended with such fatal consequences. Crichton, being informed of his highness’s concern, offered his service, not only to drive the murderer from Mantua, but from Italy, and to fight him for fifteen hundred pistoles. Though the duke was unwilling to expose such an accomplished gentleman to so great a hazard, yet, relying upon the report he had heard of his warlike achievements, he agreed to the proposal; and, the time and place being appointed, the whole court attended to behold the performance. At the beginning of the combat, Crichton stood only on his defence; while the Italian made his attack with such eagerness and fury, that, having over-acted himself, he began to grow weary. Our young Scotchman now seized the opportunity of attacking his antagonist in return; which he did with so much dexterity and vigour, that he ran him through the body in three different places, of which wounds he immediately died. The acclamations of the spectators were loud and extraordinary upon this occasion; and it was acknowledged by all of them, that they had never seen art grace nature, or nature second the precepts of art, in so lively a manner as they had beheld these two things accomplished on that day. To crown the glory of the action, Crichton bestowed the prize of his victory upon the widows of the three persons who had lost their lives in fighting with the gladiator. It is asserted, that, in consequence of this, and his other wonderful performances, the duke of Mantua made choice of him for preceptor to his son Vincentio di Gonzaga, who is represented as being of a riotous temper and a dissolute life. The appointment was highly pleasing to the court. Crichton, to testify his gratitude to his friends and benefactors, and to contribute to their diversion, framed, we are told, a comedy, wherein he exposed and ridiculed all the weaknesses and failures of the several employments in which men are engaged. This composition was regarded as one of the most ingenious satires that was ever made upon mankind. But the most astonishing part of the story is, that Crichton sustained fifteen characters in the representation of his own play. Among the rest, he acted the divine, the philosopher, the lawyer, the mathematician, the physician, and the soldier, with such inimitable grace, that every time he appeared upon the stage he seemed to be a different person . From being the principal actor in a comedy, Crichton soon became the subject of a dreadful tragedy. One night, during the time of carnival, as he was walking along the streets of Mantua, and playing upon his guitar, he was attacked by half a dozen people in masks. The assailants found that they had no ordinary person to deal with; for they were not able to maintain their ground against him. In the issue, the leader of the company, being disarmed, pulled off his mask, and begged his life, telling him that he was the prince his pupil. Crichton immediately fell on his knees, and expressed his concern for his mistake; alleging, that what he had done was only in his own defence, and that if Gonzaga had any design upon his life he might always be master of it. Then, taking his own sword by the point, he presented it to the prince, who immediately received it, and was so irritated by the affront which he thought he had sustained in being foiled with all "his attendants, that he instantly ran Crichton through the heart. Various have been the conjectures concerning the motives which could induce Vincentio di Gonzaga to be guilty of so ungenerous and brutal an action. Some have ascribed it to jealousy, asserting that he suspected Crichton to be more in favour than himself with a lady whom he passionately loved; and sir Thomas Urqnhart has told a story upon this head which is extravagant and ridiculous in the highest degree. Others, with greater probability, represent the whole transaction as the result of a drunken frolic; and it is uncertain, according to Imperiaiis, whether the meeting of the prince and Crichton was by accident or design. However, it is agreed on all hands, that Crichton lost his life in this rencontre. The time of his decease is said, by the generality of his biographers, to have been in the beginning-of July 1583; but lord Buchan, most likely in consequence of a more accurate immiry, fixes it to the same month in the preceding year. There is a difference likewise with regard to the period of life at which Crichton died. The common accounts declare that he was killed in the thirty-second year of his age; but Imperialis asserts that he was only in his twenty-second when that calamitous event took place; and this fact is confirmed by lord Buchan. Criehton’s tragical end excited a very great and general lamentation. If the foolish ravings of sir Thomas Urquhart are to be credited, the whole court of Mantua went three quarters of a year into mourning for him; the epitaphs and elegies that were composed upon his death, and stuck upon his hearse, would exceed, if collected, the bulk of Homer’s works; and, for a long time afterwards, his picture was to be seen in most of the bed-chambers and galleries of the Italian nobility, representing him on horseback, with a lance in one hand and a book in the other. From all this wonderful account we can only infer, with any degree of confidence, that Crichton was a youth of such lively parts as excited great present admiration, and high expectations with regard to his future attainments. He appears to have had a fine person, to have been adroit in his bodily exercises, to have possessed a peculiar facility in learning languages, to have enjoyed a remarkably quick and retentive memory, and to have excelled in a power of declamation, a fluency of speech, and a readiness of reply. His knowledge likewise was probably very uncommon for his years; and this, in conjunction with his other qualities, enabled him to shine in public disputation. But whether his knowledge were accurate or profound, may justly be questioned; and it may equally be doubted whether he would have arisen to any extraordinary degree of eminence in the literary world, which, however, his early and untimely death prevented from being brought to the test of experiment.
, a divine and physician, was born June 11, 1600, at Trapani, a town in Sicily, and received
, a divine and physician, was born
June 11, 1600, at Trapani, a town in Sicily, and received
the early part of his medical education under his father,
whom he succeeded in his practice, and became one of the
most popular physicians of his time. Some years before
his death, which happened in 1683, he united the office of
priest to that of physician, and retired altogether from
business. Among his publications are: “In lethargum
febri supervenientem acutæ, Commentarii duo,
” Panorini,
De sputo sanguinis a partibus corporis
infirmis, supervenientis cum Tussi, &c.
”
t it.” Sir Philip Warwick tells us, that he was very well acquainted with one Dr. Simcot, Cromwell’s physician in the earlier part of his life, who assured him, that he was
Cromwell was born in the parish of St. John, Huntingdon, where his father mostly lived, April 25, 1599, and
baptized 29th of the same month; and educated in grammar-learning at the free-school in that town, under Dr.
Beard, a severe disciplinarian. We have very different
accounts of his behaviour while he remained at school:
some say that he shewed very little propensity to learning;
others, that he made a great proficiency in it. It is very
probable that berth are wrong; and that he was not either
incorrigibly dull, or wonderfully bright; but that he was
an unlucky boy, and of an uneasy and turbulent temper,
is reported by authors of unsuspected veracity. Many
stories are told of his enthusiasm in this early part of his life;
one of which we shall mention: lying melancholy upon his
bed, in the day-time, he fancied he saw a spectre, which
told him, that he should be the greatest man in the kingdom. His father, being informed of this, was very angry,
and desired his master to correct him severely, which,
however, had no great effect; for Oliver was still persuaded
of the thing, and would sometimes mention it, notwithstanding his uncle Stewart told him, “it was too traitorous
to repeat it.
” Sir Philip Warwick tells us, that he was
very well acquainted with one Dr. Simcot, Cromwell’s
physician in the earlier part of his life, who assured him,
that he was a very fanciful man, and subject to great
disorders of imagination: and it is. certain, that he was not
altogether free from these fits during his whole life, not
even in the height of his prosperity.
impossible to have a better account of his last sickness, than that given by Dr. Bates, who was his physician. After mentioning the circumstance of making his will, he tells
It is impossible to have a better account of his last sickness, than that given by Dr. Bates, who was his physician.
After mentioning the circumstance of making his will, he
tells us, that the next morning early, when one of his physicians came to visit him, he asked him, “why he looked
so sad?
” and, when answer was made, that so it became
any one, who had the weighty care of his life and health
upon him; “Ye physicians,
” said he, “think I shall die:
I tell you, I shall not die this time; I am sure of it. Do
not think,
” said he to the physician, looking more attentively at him on these words; “do not think that I am
mad; I speak the words of truth upon surer grounds than
Galen or your Hippocrates furnish you with. God Almighty himself hath given that answer, not to my prayers
alone, but also to the prayers of those who entertain a
stricter commerce and greater interest with him. Go on
cheerfully, banishing all sadness from your looks; and
deal with me as you would do with a serving-man. Ye may
have a skill in the nature of things, yet nature can do
more than all physicians put together; and God is far
more above nature.
” He was then desired to take his rest,
because he had not slept the greatest part of the night;
and this physician left him. But as he was coming out of
the chamber, he accidentally met another; to whom said
he, I am afraid our patient will be light-headed. “Then
(replied the other) you are certainly a stranger in this
house. Do not you know what was done last night? The
chaplains, and all who are dear to God, being dispersed
into several parts of the palace, have prayed to God for his
health: and have brought this answer, he shall recover.
”
Nay, to such a degree of madness they came, that a public fast heing for his sake kept at Hampton-court, they did
not so much pray to God for his health, as thank him for
the undoubted pledges of his recovery; and they repeated
the same at Whitehall. These oracles of his deluded chaplains were the cause that the physicians spake not a word
of his danger. Being removed to London, he became
much worse, grew first lethargic, then delirious; and after
recovering a little, but not enough to give any distinct directions about public affairs, he died Sept. 2, 1658, aged
somewhat more than 59 years. A little before his death,
the physicians awakened the privy-council, by representing
the danger he was in; and at an appointed time he was
urged to name his successor. But when in a drowsy fit he
answered out of purpose, they again asked him, if he did
not name Richard his eldest son for his successor To
which he answered, Yes. Then being asked where his will
was, which heretofore he had made concerning the heirs of
the kingdom, he sent to look for it in his closet and other
places; but in vain for he had either burnt it, or somebody had stolen it. It has been imagined that Cromwell
was poisoned, but without any reason. Dr. Bates gives us
the following account of his disorder: “His body being
opened, in the animal parts the brain seemed to be overcharged in the vitals the lungs a little inflamed but in
die natural, the source of the distemper appeared the
spleen, though sound to the eye, being within filled with
alter like to the lees of oil. Nor was that inconsistent
the disease he had for a long time been subject to;
since, for t least thirty years, he had at times complained
of hypochondriaeal indispositions. Though his bowels
were taken out, and his body filled with spices, wrapped
in a fourfold cere-cloth, put first into a coffin of lead, and
then into one of wood, yet it purged and wrought through
all, so that there was a necessity of interring it before the
solemnity of the funeral.
” A very pompous funeral was
ordered at the public ex pence, and performed from Somerset-house, with a splendour superior to any that has
been bestowed on crowned heads. Some have related,
that his body was, by his own particular order, secretly
buried in Naseby field; others that it was wrapped in lead,
and sunk in the deepest part of the Thames, to prevent
any insult that might be offered to it; others that it was
taken from the gallows after the restoration, and deposited
in the family-vault of the Claypoles, at Narborough near
Peterborough. From the account of what passed upon,
the order to disinter him after the restoration, it seems that
his body was interred at Westminster. “In the middle
aile of Henry VII's chapel,at the east end, in a vault,
was found his corpse. In the inside of the coffin, and upon
the breast of the corpse, was laid a copper-plate finely
gilt, inclosed in a thin case of lead; on the side whereof
were engraven the arms of England, impaled with the arms
of Oliver; and on the reverse the following legend: Oli
verius protector reipublicæ Angliæ, Scotiæ, & Hiberniæ,
uatus 25 April 1599, inauguratus 16 Decembris 1653,
mortuus 3 Septembris ann. 1658. Hic situs est.
” But
this in some writers is considered as a delusion; and that
some other, if not the body of Charles I. was inclosed in
this coffin, which is still a greater delusion and absurdity,
as a very recent discovery proves. It has also been said,
that the body of his daughter Claypole was found at the
same time and place, with a silver plate with an inscription; but the workmen quarrelling about this plate, it was
thrown into the vault again. The inscription on it, however, was shewn to the Society of Antiquaries, 1738, by
Dr. Cromwell Mortimer, whose father married to his first
wife a daughter of Richard Cromwell. The plate on Oliver’s coffin was in 1773 in the possession of the hon. George
Hobart, of Nocton, in Lincolnshire, and shewn to the
same society by Mr. Wills, and is engraved in Mr. Noble’s
Memoirs .
, an eminent physician and benefactor to the science, was born in London, and educated
, an eminent physician and benefactor to the science, was born in
London, and educated at Emanuel college, Cambridge,
where he was admitted a pensioner May 13, 1647, and
took the degree of B. A. in 1650. In 1651 he was elected
a fellow, and commenced M. A. in 1654. In 1659, being
now settled as a physician in London, he was chosen rhetoric professor in Gresham college, and at the first meeting
of the royal society, Nov. 28, 1660, was (though absent)
appointed their register, whose business was to make minutes of what passed at their meetings. In this office he
remained till the grant of their charter, when Dr. Wilkins
and Mr. Oldenburg were nominated joint secretaries. On
Oct. 7, 162, he was created M. D. at Cambridge, by royal
mandate; and in May 1663 was chosen one of the first fellows of the royal society, and frequently afterwards was
one of the council. The same year he was admitted a
candidate of the college of physicians. In 1665 he travelled into France, and became acquainted with several
eminent and learned men of that nation. In August 1670,
he was chosen by the company of surgeons their lecturer
on anatomy, which he held to his death; but this year he
resigned his Gresham professorship, which could be held
only by a bachelor, and soon after married Mary, daughter
of John Lorimer, of London, esq. In 1674 and 1675 he
read his “Theory of Muscular Motion,
” in the theatre of
Surgeous’-hall, an abstract of which was afterwards published by Mr. Hooke in his “Philosophical Collections.
”
In July De ratione motus musculorum,
” Lond.
him to exaggeration, he was cruelly treated. Once indeed he brought his action against a respectable physician, and other persons connected with him; the cause was tried,
, author of an excellent “Concordance of the Bible,
” was born in A complete Concordance of the Holy Scriptures of
the Old and New Testament.
” We can scarcely conceive
any literary work that required more patient labour than
this, and few have been executed with greater accuracy.
He had nearly executed the whole before he looked for
public remuneration. The first edition was published in
1737, and dedicated to queen Caroline, who had led the
editor to expect her patronage but her majesty unfortunately died a few days before the work could be got
ready. The author’s affairs were now embarrassed; he
had none to look to for assistance, and in a fit of despondence he gave up his trade, and became a prey to melancholy. Shortly after this, he assumed the title of “Alexander the Corrector,
” maintained that he was divinely
commissioned to reform the manners of the age, and restore the due observance of the sabbath, appealing to prophecy, in which he fancied he saw his own character delineated. He sought, however, for earthly honours, and
requested of his majesty the dignity of knighthood, and
earnestly solicited his fellow-citizens to elect him member
for the city of London. Both were deaf to his entreaties,
and he turned from public offices to duties for which he
was better qualified. He laboured almost incessantly,
sometimes in works of pure benevolence, and at others as
corrector of the press, and seldom allowed himself more
than four or five hours for sleep. In 1770, after paying a
visit to Aberdeen, he returned to London, and took lodgings at Islington, where he died November the first. In
private life Mr. Cruden was courteous and affable, ready
to assist all that came within his reach, as well with his
money as with his advice, and most zealous in serving the
distressed. One of his boldest efforts of this kind was in
the case of Richard Potter, a poor ignorant sailor, who was
condemned at the Old Bailey for uttering a forged seaman’s will, and who, in Mr. Cruden’s opinion, was so
justly an object of the royal clemency, that he never
ceased his applications to the secretary of state until he
had obtained a pardon. The following year, 1763, he
published a very interesting account of this affair, under
the title of “The History of Richard Potter,
” 8vo. His
other publications were, “An Account of the History and
Excellency of the Scriptures,
” prefixed to a “Compendium of the Holy Bible,
” 24-mo; and “A Scripture Dictionary, or Guide to the Holy Scriptures,
” Aberdeen, 2
vols. 8vo; printed a short time after his death. He also
compiled that very elaborate Index which belongs to bishop
Newton’s edition of Milton, an undertaking inferior only
to that of his “Concordance,
” and which he undertook at
the request of auditor Benson. Of his Concordance an
edition was published in 1810, which may be justly pronounced the most correct that has appeared since the
author’s time, every word with its references having been
most carefully examined by Mr. Deodatus Bye, formerly a
respectable printer in St. John’s gate, who voluntarily employed some years in this arduous task, for which he is
richly entitled to the thanks of the public.
among the farmers and country people, and then removed to Hamilton, intending to practise there as a physician. While he resided near Shotts, Archibald duke of Argyle made
, one of the most eminent physicians of the last century, was born Dec, 11, 1712, of respectable though indigent parents in Lanarkshire. Hav^ ing served a short apprenticeship to a surgeon and apothecary in Glasgow, he obtained the place of a surgeon in one of the merchant’s vessels from London to the West Indies. Not liking his employment, he returned to his own county, where he practised a short time in the parish of Shotts, among the farmers and country people, and then removed to Hamilton, intending to practise there as a physician. While he resided near Shotts, Archibald duke of Argyle made a visit to a gentleman in that neighbourhood. His grace was engaged in some chemical researches which required elucidation by experiments, for which he then wanted the proper apparatus. The gentleman, recollecting young Cullen, mentioned him as the person who could most probably supply his wants. He was consequently invited to dinner, and presented to the duke, with whom he commenced an acquaintance, to which he was probably indebted for all his future fortune. The name of Cullen having thus become known, his reputation as a practitioner was soon established in the neighbourhood. The duke of Hamilton likewise happened then to be for a short time in that part of the country, and having been suddenly taken ill, was induced by the character which he had heard of Cullen to send for his assistance, and was not only benefited by his skill, but amply gratified xvith his conversation. He accordingly obtained for him a place in the university of Glasgow, where his talents soon became more conspicuous. It was not, however, solely to the favour of these two great men that Cullen owed his literary fame. He was recommended to the notice of men of science in a way still more honourable to himself. The disease of the duke of Hamilton having resisted the effect of the first applications, Dr. Clarke was sent for from Edinburgh; and he was so much pleased with every thing that Cullen had done, that he became his eulogist upon every occasion. Cullen never forgot this; and when Clarke died, gave a public oration in his praise in the university of Edinburgh; which, it is believed, was the first of the kind in that kingdom.
public, he consoled himself lor the contumely he met with from a few individuals. His practice as a physician increased from day to day; and a vacancy having occurred in
In the year 1716, Cuilen, who had now taken the degree of doctor in physic, was appointed a lecturer in chemistry in the university of Glasgow; and in the month of October began his lectures in that science. His singular talents for arrangement, his distinctness of enunciation, his vivacity of manner, and his knowledge of the science he taught, rendered his lectures interesting to the students to a degree that had been till then unknown at that university. He became, therefore, in some measure, adored by the students. The former professors were eclipsed by the brilliancy of his reputation: and he had to experience all those little rubs that envy and disappointed ambition naturally threw in his way. Regardless, however, of these, he pressed forward with ardour in his literary career; and, supported by the favour of the public, he consoled himself lor the contumely he met with from a few individuals. His practice as a physician increased from day to day; and a vacancy having occurred in the year 1751, he was then appointed by the king professor of medicine in that university. This new appointment served only to call forth his powers, and to bring to light talents that it was not formerly known he possessed; so that his fame continued to increase.
he university of Edinburgh having proved fruitless, his fame as a professor, and his reputation as a physician, became more and more respected every day. Nor could it well
During this time of public ferment, Cullen went steadily forward, without taking any part himself in these disputes. He never gave ear to any talcs respecting his colleagues, nor took any notice of the doctrines they taught. That some of their unguarded strictures might at times come to his knowledge, is not impossible; but if they did, they seemed to make no impression on his mind. These attempts of a party of students to lower the character of Cullen on his first outset in the university of Edinburgh having proved fruitless, his fame as a professor, and his reputation as a physician, became more and more respected every day. Nor could it well be otherwise: Culien’s professional knowledge was always great, and his manner of lecturing singularly clear and intelligible, lively and entertaining; and to his patients, his conduct in general as a physician was so pleasing, his address so affable and engaging, and his manner so open, so kind, and so little regulated by pecuniary considerations, that it was impossible for those who had occasion to call once for his medical assistance, ever to be satisfied on any future occasion without it. He became the friend and companion of every family he visited; and his future acquaintance could not be dispensed with.
not equal to their merit and industry. It was also a constant rule with him never to take fees as a physician from any student at the university; yet when called in, he attended
Nor was it in this way only that he befriended the students at the university of Edinburgh. Possessing a benevolence of mind that made him ever think first of the wants of others, and recollecting the difficulties that he himself struggled with in his younger days, he was at all times singularly attentive to their pecuniary concerns. From his general acquaintance among the students, and the friendly habits he was in with many of them, he found no difficulty in discovering those among them who were rather in low circumstances, without being obliged to hurt their delicacy in any degree. To such persons, when their habits of study admitted of it, he was peculiarly attentive. They were more frequently invited to his house than others; they were treated with more than usual kindness and familiarity; they were conducted to his library, and encouraged by the most delicate address to borrow from it freely whatever books he thought they had occasion for: and as persons in these circumstances were usually more shy in this respect than others, books were sometimes pressed upon them with a sort of constraint, by the doctor insisting to have their opinion of such or such passages they had not read, and desiring them to carry the book home for that purpose. He in short behaved to them rather as if he courted their company, and stood in need of their acquaintance, than they of his. He thus raised them in the opinion of their acquaintance to a much higher degree of estimation than they could otherwise have obtained, which, to people whose minds were depressed by penury, and whose sense of honour was sharpened by the consciousness of an inferiority of a certain kind, was singularly engaging. Thus were they inspired with a secret sense of dignity, which elevated their minds, and excited an uncommon ardour of pursuit, instead of that melancholy inactivity which is so natural in such circumstances, and which too often leads to despair. Nor was he less delicate in the manner of supplying their wants, than attentive to discover them. He often found out some polite excuse for refusing to take payment for a first course of lectures, and never was at a loss for one to an after-course, and by other delicate expedients he befriended those young men whose circumstances were not equal to their merit and industry. It was also a constant rule with him never to take fees as a physician from any student at the university; yet when called in, he attended them with the same assiduity as if they had been persons of the first rank, who paid him most liberally. This gradually induced others to adopt a similar practice; so that it became a general rule for medical professors to decline taking any fees when their assistance was necessary to a student. For this useful reform, with many others, the students of the university of Edinburgh are solely indebted to the liberality of Dr. Cullen.
ton, his intimate friend and acquaintance, a very learned and pious divine; Dr. Hollings, an eminent physician at Shrewsbury; sir Samuel Moreland, admired for his skill in
, a very learned divine, and
bishop of Peterborough, the son of an honest citizen of
London, who by his industry acquired a competent, though
not a great fortune, was born in the parish of St. Anne, near
Aldersgate, July 15th, 1632. He was educated at St.
Paul’s school, under the care of Mr. John Langley, and was
moved from thence to Magdalen-college, in Cambridge,
probably in 1649, where he was contemporary with some
very worthy and learned persons; such as Dr. Hezekiah
Burton, his intimate friend and acquaintance, a very
learned and pious divine; Dr. Hollings, an eminent physician at Shrewsbury; sir Samuel Moreland, admired for
his skill in the mathematics; the celebrated Mr. Pepys,
secretary to the admiralty; and the lord keeper Bridgeman, to whom himself, and his friend Dr. Burton, were
chaplains at the same time. He was very remarkable,
while fellow of his college, for his diligent application to
his studies, as well as for the unaffected piety and unblemished probity of his life. He took his degree of B. A.
in 1653, and in 1656 he became M. A. at which time he
had thoughts of applying himself to physic, which he actually studied for some time. He was incorporated M. A.
in the university of Oxford, July 14th, 1657, and went
out B. D. at a public commencement at his own university,
A. D. 1663, with universal applause. His first preferment
was the rectory of Brampton, in the deanery of Haddon,
in the archdeaconry and county of Northampton, which
was given him by sir John Norwich, a gentleman who descended of a most ancient and noble family, and was advanced to the dignity of a baronet by king Charles the
First. Mr. Cumberland was admitted December 3d, 1658,
upon the demise of the reverend Mr. John Ward; and
after the restoration, having never had the least scruple to
the authority of the church, he had a legal institution, and
read the Thirty-nine Articles, as directed by law, November 24th, 1661, and was the same year appointed one
of the twelve preachers in the university of Cambridge.
This, however, was a temporary avocation only, owing to
the high character he had raised by the masterly manner
in which he had performed all academical exercises, and
from which he quickly returned to the duties of his parochial charge. In this rural retirement he minded little else
than the duties of his function, and his studies. His relaxations from these were very few, besides his journies
to Cambridge, which he made frequently, to preserve a
correspondence with his learned acquaintance in that place.
Here he might probably have remained during the course
of his whole life, if his intimate friend and kind benefactor,
sir Orlando Bridgeman, upon his receiving the seals in
1667, had not sent for him up to London, made him his
chaplain, and soon after bestowed upon him the living of
Alhallows, in Stamford. He discharged the functions of
his ministry in that great town with indefatigable diligence;
for, besides the duties incumbent upon him by his parochial charge, he accepted of the weekly lecture, and
then preached three times every week in the same church,
and at the same time cultivated his philosophical, mathematical, and philological studies. He gave a noble proof
of this, and one which equally demonstrated the soundness
of his morals and the solidity of his parts, in publishing
his work “De Legibus Naturae Disquisitio philosophica,
”
Lond. A brief Disquisition of the Law of Nature, according to the principles
and method laid down in the reverend Dr. Cumberland’s
(now lord bishop of Peterburgh’s) Latin treatise on that
subject, &c.
” London,
manners, his learning, and his probity, as they were more generally known, rendered him not only the physician, but the confidential friend of some of the best families into
, born Sept. 30, 1714, was the
son of Mr. James Cuming, an eminent merchant in Edinburgh. Alter a suitable education in the high-school of
that city, and under the particular tuition of Mr. Alexander
Muir, formerly professor of philosophy at Aberdeen, he
applied himself to the study of physic four years in the
university of Edinburgh, and became connected with some
of the most eminent students in that science. In 1735 he
spent nine months at Paris, improving himself in anatomy
and the French language: and he passed some time at
Leyden the following year; but returned immediately
before the death of his father. In 1738 he quitted
Edinburgh for London: and while his friends were meditating
a settlement for him at Lynne in the room of the late sir
William Browne, his friend Dr, Fothergill found out a
more promising situation at Dorchester; where he remained to the last, notwithstanding the most pressing invitations from Dr. Fothergill to succeed Dr. Russel in London. In the space of a few years after his establishment at
Dorchester, he came to be employed in many, and in process of time, with an exception of three or four at most, in
all the families of distinction within the county, and frequently in the adjacent ones. At length his chaste manners, his learning, and his probity, as they were more generally known, rendered him not only the physician, but
the confidential friend of some of the best families into
which he was introduced. His warm and friendly attention to the interests of the late Mr. Hutchins, author of
the History of Dorset, in advancing the publication of that
well written and well arranged work, cannot better be expressed than in the grateful language of its author: “One
of the gentlemen to whom my acknowledgments are eminently due, permitted part of that time which is so beneficially employed to far better purposes, and is so precious
to a gentleman of his extensive practice, to be diverted to
the work in hand; the publication of which he patronised
and promoted with great zeal and assiduity: nor did his
success fall short of his zeal. Without his friendly assistance my papers might yet have remained undelivered to
the press; or, if they had been committed to the public, would
have wanted several advantages and embellishments with
which they now appear.
” The doctor bequeathed his interleaved copy of this work to Mr.Gough, his friend and coadjutor
in its publication. In 1752 he received a diploma from the
university of Edinburgh; and was soon after elected a fellow of the royal college of physicians there, of which he
died senior fellow. He was elected in 1769 fellow of the
society of antiquaries of London; and in 1781 of that of
Scotland. The tenderness of his eyes was, through life,
the greatest misfortune he had to struggle with; and, considering the many obstacles which the complaints in those
organs have occasioned in the pursuit of knowledge, it is
wonderful how he attained the degree of erudition which
he was well known to possess. In his retreat from the
more busy pursuits of this world, the surviving companions
of his youth continued the friends and correspondents of
his advanced years; and he enjoyed to the last the singular satisfaction of being visited by the most respectable
persons in the county for probity, rank, and fortune. We
cannot but regret that the doctor, who lias been the means
of so many valuable performances being laid before the
public, and some of them improved by his pen, had not
himself stood forth, to give that information for which he
was so well qualified, both in point of classical learning
and elegant composition. He died of a dropsy, in the 7 kh
year of his age, March 25, 1788.
, was a physician in London, who resided in Coleman-street some years of his life.
, was a physician in London, who resided in Coleman-street some years of his life.
About 1556 1559 he lived at Norwich, and in 1563 he
was a public lecturer in surgeons’-hall, London. Bishop
Bull applauded him much for his knowledge in astronomy
and physic. He was certainly a man of considerable
learning, and much admired for his ingenuity in the art
of engraving on copper. In 1559 he published his “Cosmographical Glass, conteyning the pleasant principles of
Cosmographie, Geographic, Hydrographie, or Navigation,
” fol. He executed several of the cuts in this book
himself. The map of Norwich, Mr. Granger thinks, is
curious and fine. He wrote also a Commentary on Hippocrates, “De Acre, Aquis et Regionibus,
” and a “Treatise on the French Disease.
”
, M. D. an eminent physician of Liverpool, was born at Kirkpatrick-Flemming, in Dumfriesshire,
, M. D. an eminent physician of Liverpool, was born at Kirkpatrick-Flemming, in Dumfriesshire, on May 31st, 1756, where his father was the established minister, but afterwards removed to that of Middlebie. He received the rudiments of learning at the parish school of his native place, whence he was removed to the grammar-school of Dumfries. His original destination was for a commercial life, and he passed some years of his youth in Virginia, in a mercantile station. Disliking this profession, and unwilling to be a witness of the impending troubles in the American colonies, he quitted that country in 1776, and in the following year commenced a course of medical study at the university of Edinburgh, which occupied him almost without interruption for three years. A prospect of an appointment in the medical staff of the army, which would not admit of the usual delay of an Edinburgh graduation, induced him to take the degree of doctor of physic at Glasgow. He arrived, however, in London, too late for the expected place; but still determining to go abroad, he had taken his passage in a ship for Jamaica, when a severe indisposition prevented his sailing, and entirely changed his lot in life. He renounced his first intention; and, after some consideration respecting an eligible settlement, he fixed upon the commercial and rapidly-increasing town of Liverpool, which became his residence from 1781, and where he soon rose into general esteem. Indeed, it was not possible, even upon a casual acquaintance, for a judge of mankind to fail of being struck by his manly urbanity of behaviour, by the elegance and variety of his conversation, by the solid sense and sagacity of his remarks, and by the tokens of a feeling heart, which graced and dignified the qualities of his understanding. No man was ever more highly regarded by his friends; no physician ever inspired more confidence and attachment in his patients.
arance from the press was on occasion of the lamented death of his intimate friend Dr. Bell, a young physician of great hopes, settled at Manchester. His elegant and interesting
His first appearance from the press was on occasion of
the lamented death of his intimate friend Dr. Bell, a
young physician of great hopes, settled at Manchester.
His elegant and interesting tribute to the memory of
this person was published in 1785, in the first volume
of the Transactions of the Manchester Philosophical
and Literary Society, of which they were both members.
He was elected a member of the London Medical Society
in 1790, and communicated to it a paper “On Tetanus and Convulsive Disorders,
” published in the third
volume of its memoirs. In Account of the remarkable effects of a shipwreck,
” communicated by him to that body, was published in the Philosophical Transactions of that year. Soon after this, having
with many other men of political study, viewed the war with
France consequent to its great revolutionary struggle with
disapprobation, with respect as well to its principles, as to
its probable effect on the happiness of both countries, he
wrote a pamphlet. This appeared in 1793, under the title
of “A Letter Commercial and Political, addressed to the
right hon. William Pitt; by Jasper Wilson, esq.;
” it soon
attained a second edition, and various answers attested the
degree of importance attached to it in the public estimation. In the mean time, he was far from being neglectful
of the duties of his profession. To those who employed
him he was abundantly known as a skilful and sedulous
practitioner; and the medical papers he had already published gave him reputation among his brethren. This reputation was widely extended and raised to an eminent
degree by a publication which first appeared in October
1797, entitled “Medical Reports on the Effects of Water
Cold and Warm, as a Remedy in Febrile Diseases; with
observations on the nature of Fever, and on the effects of
opium, alcohol, and inanition.
” The practice of affusion
of cold water in fevers, which is the leading topic in this
work, was suggested to the author by Dr. Wright’s narrative, in the London Medical Journal, of his successful
treatment of a fever in a homeward-bound ship from Jamaica. Dr. Carrie copied and greatly extended it, and
investigated the principles by which its use should be directed and regulated. He discovered that the safety and
advantage of the application of cold was proportionate to
the existing augmentation of the animal heat; and he found
the thermometer a very valuable instrument to direct the
practitioner’s judgment in febrile cases. He may therefore be considered as the principal author of a practice
which has already been attended with extraordinary success in numerous instances, and bids fair to prove one of
the greatest medical improvements in modern times. The
work, which contained many ingenious speculations and
valuable observations, was generally read and admired. A
new volume was added to it in 1804, consisting of much
interesting matter on different topics, especially in confirmation of the doctrine and practice of the former volume
respecting cold arYusion. The free and successful employment of this remedy in the scarlatina, was one of its most
important articles. The author had the satisfaction of receiving numerous acknowledgments of the benefit derived
from his instructions, both in private and in naval and military practice. He himself was so much convinced of the
utility of the methods he recommended, lhat a revision of
the whole work for a new edition, was one of the latest labours of his life.
heir discoveries and their experience for the benefit of the agriculturist, the manufacturer, or the physician.
Mr. Curtis was very early led to combine the study of
insects and thtir metamorphoses with that of plants, and
his various gardens were furnished with accommodations
for this pursuit. Hence he became an author; his first
publication being a pamphlet, entitled “Instructions for
collecting and preserving Insects; particularly Moths and
Butterflies, illustrated with a copper plate,
” printed in Fundamenta Entomologist
” of Linnæus, entitled “An
Introduction to the Knowledge of Insects,
” many valuable
additions being subjoined to the original treatise. These
two pamphlets have contributed more than any similar works,
to diffuse a knowledge of scientific entomology in England,
and to engraft on the illiterate illiberal stock of mere collectors, a race of enlightened and communicative observers of
nature; who no longer hoard up unique specimens, and selfish acquisitions, but contribute their discoveries and their
experience for the benefit of the agriculturist, the manufacturer, or the physician.
g of 1802, his constitution began to break; and, notwithstanding all the attention of his friend and physician, Michaelis, his health declined rapidly. In the last twelve
In 1758 he was invested with the dignity of privy-counsellor; and in 1795 became principal of the faculty of philosophy. He twice held the office of pro-rector of the university, in which he gave universal satisfaction. During a period of thirty-four years, he taught, with indefatigable diligence, all the branches of history, statistics, and geography; explained the Roman antiquities, the imitative arts, natural and experimental philosophy, rural economy, &c. and gave introductory lessons on the formation of a good Latin style. At the same time, he fulfilled all his other college-duties with the most scrupulous fidelity, till the few last weeks of his active life. His health was tolerably good, excepting that he was sometimes attacked with a paralytic affection, and symptoms of the stone. In the spring of 1802, his constitution began to break; and, notwithstanding all the attention of his friend and physician, Michaelis, his health declined rapidly. In the last twelve or fourteen days of his life, his memory was considerably impaired. He had been particularly distinguished by the strength of that faculty; and has frequently been known to write down in his lectures, whole tables, containing dates of years, and other figures, merely from recollection, and without a single error. This alteration, and the anxiety he felt hecause he was prevented from attending his official duties, preyed on his mind, and weakened him more than his disorder. On the 22d of August, 1802, this venerable man expired, aged seventy-eight years and four days.
at Sweinfurt, in Franconia, and became distinguished as a philosopher, historian, orator, poet, and physician, although his historical works only have survived. He was educated
, whose German name was Speishammer, an eminent historian, was born in 1473, at
Sweinfurt, in Franconia, and became distinguished as a
philosopher, historian, orator, poet, and physician, although
his historical works only have survived. He was educated
at Vienna, where his studies were confined to medicine
and poetry, and soon became in high favour with the emperor Maximilian I. who made him his librarian, and afterwards employed him in various important negociations in
Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland, and for many years admitted him to his presence as a confidential adviser, and placed
him at the head of the senate of Vienna. When Cuspinian
meditated his historical writings, the emperor ordered the
libraries and archives to be thrown open to him. He died
in 1529. His biographer, Gerbelius, describes him as a
man of elegant person, address, and manners; and his
works attest his learning and diligence in historical research.
In this branch he wrote: 1. “De Cicsaribus et Imperatoribus Romanorum,
” Austria, sive Commentarius de rebus Austrice Marchionum, Ducum, &c.
” Basil, Commonefactio ad Leonem X. papam, ad Carolum V.
imperatorem, &c. de Constantinopoli capta a Turcis, &c.
”
Leipsic, Commentarius in Sexti Rufi libellum de regia, consulari, imperialique dignitate, &c.
”
Basil, De origine Turcorum,
” Antwerp, Panegyric! variorum Auctorum,
”
Vienna,
her even conceived such an affection for M. Daille, that he used his utmost endeavours with a French physician of the protestant religion, and one of his intimate friends,
Daillé, having lived seven years with so excellent a master, set out on his travels with his pupils in the autumn of 1619, and went to Geneva; and from thence through Piedmont and Lombardy to Venice, where they spent the winter. During their abode in Italy, a melancholy affair happened, which perplexed him not a little. One of his pupils fell sick at Mantua; and he removed him with all speed to Padua, where those of the protestant religion have more liberty, but here he died; and the difficulty was, to avoid the observation of the inquisitors, and remove the corpse to France, to the burial-place of his ancestors. After much consideration, no more eligible plan presented itself than to send him under the disguise of a bale of merchandize goods, or a cargo of books; and in this manner the corpse was conveyed to France, under the care of two of his servants; not, however, without the necessary safe-conduct and passports, which were procured for him from the republic by the celebrated father Paul. He then continued his travels with his other pupil, visiting Switzerland, Germany, Flanders, Holland, England; and returned to France towards the end of 1621. The son relates, that he had often heard his father regret those two years of travelling, which he reckoned as lost, because he could have spent them to better purpose in his closet; and, it seems, he would have regretted them still more, if he had not enjoyed the privilege at Venice of a familiar acquaintance with father Paul, the only fruit which he said he had reaped from that journey. M. du Plessis, with whom that father corresponded by letters, had recommended to him in a very particular manner both his grandsons and their crovernor; so that M. Daille was immediately admitted into his confidence, and there passed not a day without his enjoying some hours discourse with him. The good father even conceived such an affection for M. Daille, that he used his utmost endeavours with a French physician of the protestant religion, and one of his intimate friends, to prevail with him to stay at Venice. This circumstance of Daille’s life, among many others, has been thought no inconsiderable proof, that father Paul concealed, under the habit of a monk, a temper wholly devoted to protestantism and its professors.
t the time above-mentioned, Dr. Dale is supposed to have settled at Bocking, where he practised as a physician until his decease June 6, 1739, in the eightieth year of his
, M. D. an antiquary and botanist, was
originally an apothecary at Braintree in Essex, until about
1730, when he became a licentiate of the college of physicians, and a fellow of the royal society, according to
Pulteney, but his name does not appear in Dr. Thomson’s
list. About the time above-mentioned, Dr. Dale is supposed to have settled at Bocking, where he practised as a
physician until his decease June 6, 1739, in the eightieth
year of his age. He was buried in the dissenters’ burying
ground at Bocking. His separate publications are, 1.
“Pharmacologia, seu Manuductio ad Materiam Medicam,
”
The Antiquities of Harwich and Dover Court,
”
, a learned French physician and indefatigable botanist, was born at Caen in 1513, studied
, a learned French physician
and indefatigable botanist, was born at Caen in 1513, studied
medicine and botany at Montpelier, xvas admitted doctor in
medicine in 1547, and died at Lyons, where he had long
practised physic, in 1538. He published several elaborate
translations, particularly of the fifteen books of Athenseus
into Latin, in 1552, in 2 vols. fol. illustrated with notes
and figures; and some of the works of Galen and Paul
Egineta into French. In 1556 he published a translation
of “Ccelius Aurelianus de Morbis acutis
” and in Chirurgie Franchise, avec plusieurs figures d'instrumens,
”
8vo, which has been several times reprinted. He principally followed the practice of Paree, from whose work he
borrowed the figures of the instruments; but he has added
a translation into French of the seventh book ol' Paree, with
annotations, and some curious cases occurring in his own
practice. He was also the editor of an edition of Pliny
with notes, published in 1537. His first work, according
to Ilaller, was an 8vo edition of Iluellius’s Commentary on
Dioscorides, which appeared at Lyons in 1552, enriched
by Dalechamp with thirty small figures of plants, at that
time but little known. But his principal performance in
this branch was an universal history of plants, in Latin,
with above two thousand five hundred wooden cuts, besides repetitions, published after his death in two folio volumes. The publisher, William Uouille, seems to take
upon himself the chief credit of collecting and arranging
the materials of this great work, though he allows that
Dalechamp laid its first foundations. Haller says the latter
was engaged in it for thirty years; his aim being to collect
together all the botanical knowledge of his predecessors,
and enrich it with his own discoveries. He employed John
Bauhin, then a young man, and resident at Lyons, to assist him; but Bauhin being obliged on account of his
religion to leave France for Switzerland, like many other
good and great men of that and the following century, the
work in question was undertaken by Des Moulins, and
soon afterwards Dalechamp died. It is often quoted by
the title of“Historia Lugdunensis,
” and hence the merits
of its original projector are overlooked, as well as the faults
arising from its mode of compilation, which are in many
instances so great as to render it useless. A French translation was published in 1615, and again in 1653. Besides
these Dalechamp published, 1. “Caelius Aurelianus de
morbis chronicis,
” Lond.
their native bard is told by the author of the “Memoires de Petrarque.” Ceno de Ascoli, a celebrated physician and astrologer, had the boldness to write parodies on the poem
The very high estimation in which this work was held in,
Florence appears from a very singular institution. The
republic of Florence, in 1373, assigned a public stipend
to a person appointed to read lectures on the poem of
Dante. Boccaccio was the first person engaged in this
office; but his death happening two years after his appointment, his comment extended only to the first seventeen cantos of the “Inferno.
” Another very terrible instance of their veneration for their native bard is told by
the author of the “Memoires de Petrarque.
” Ceno de
Ascoli, a celebrated physician and astrologer, had the
boldness to write parodies on the poem of Dante. This
drew on him the animadversion of the inquisition. Charles,
duke of Calabria, thought to protect him, but in vain.
The bishop of Aversa, his chancellor, declared it was
highly impious to entertain a sorcerer as a physician, and
Ascoli was accordingly burnt at Florence, about three
years after the death of the poet whom he had maligned.
, a physician at Amsterdam, who died in 1690, gained some reputation in the
, a physician at Amsterdam, who died in 1690, gained some reputation in the seventeenth century, by the descriptions he published from 1668 to 1680, in Dutch, of Malabar, Coromandel, Africa, Asia, Syria, Palestine, and America, in as many folio volumes. These were the fruits of very accurate and laborious compilation, for he had never seen one of those countries. The description of Africa, and that of the Archipelago, were translated into French.
, a physician and poet, was a native of Elton, near Newark, Nottinghamshire,
, a physician and poet, was a native of Elton, near Newark, Nottinghamshire, where he was born December 12, 1731. After going through the usual school education, under the Rev. Mr. Burrows, at the grammar-school at Chesterfield, with credit, he was sent to St. John’s college, at Cambridge. There he only continued until he took his bachelor’s degree in medicine, when he went to Edinburgh to complete his studies; which being finished, and having taken the degree of doctor in medicine, a profession to which he was aUvays attached, he went to Lichfield, and there commenced his career of practice. Being sent for, soon after his arrival, to Mr. Inglis, a gentleman of considerable fortune in the neighbourhood, who was ill with fever, and in so dangerous a state that the attending physician had given up the case as hopeless, the doctor had the good fortune to restore him to health. This gave him so high a degree of reputation at Litchfield, and in the neighbouring towns and villages, that his competitor, who was before in considerable practice, finding himself neglected, and nearly deserted, left the place. Dr. Darwin soon after married miss Howard, the daughter of a respectable inhabitant of Lichfield, by which he strengthened his interest in the place. By this lady he had three sons, who lived to the age of manhood; two of them he survived; the third, Dr. Robert Waring Darwin, is no.v in considerable practice as a physician at Shrewsbury. In 1781, our author, having married a second wife, removed to Derby, where he continued to reside to the time of his death, which happened on Sunday the 18th of April, 1802, in the seventieth year of his age. Six children by his second lady, with their mother, remain to lament the loss of him.
printed, “Dictionarium Latino-Britannicum,” which was begun and greatly advanced by Thomas Williams, physician, before 1600. It was afterwards completed and published by Dr.
, D. D. an eminent writer and antiquary, was born in the latter part of the sixteenth century
in Denbighshire, and educated by William Morgan, afterwards bishop of St. Asaph. He was admitted a student of
Jesus-college, Oxford, in 1589, where he took one degree
in arts, and afterwards became a member of Lincoln-college in the same university. He was rector ol Malloyd, or
Maynlloyd in Merionethshire, and afterwards a canon of
St. Asaph, to which dignity he was promoted by Dr. Parry,
then bishop, whose chaplain he was. He commenced
doctor in 1616, and was highly esteemed by the university,
says Wood, as well versed in the history and antiquities of
his own nation, and in the Greek and Hebrew languages;
a most exact critic, and indefatigable searcher into ancient
writings, and well acquainted with curious and rare authors. The time of his death is not known. His works
are, 1. “Antiques Linguae Britannicse nunc communiter
dictae Cambro-Britannicoe, a suis Cymrascae vel Cambricee,
ab aliis Wallicoe rudimenta,
” &c. Dietionarium Latino-Britannicum,
” Dictionarium Latino-Britannicum,
” which was
begun and greatly advanced by Thomas Williams, physician, before 1600. It was afterwards completed and
published by Dr. Davies. 3. “Aclagia Britannica, authorum
Britannicorum nomina, & quando floruerunt,
” Adagiorum Britannicorum specimen,
” ms. Bibl. Bodl. He
also assisted W. Morgan, bishop of Landaff, and Richard
Parry, bishop of St. Asaph, in translating the Bible into
Welsh, in that correct edition which came out in 1620.
He also translated into the same language (which he had studied at vacant hours for 30 years) the book of “Resolution,
” written by Robert Parsons, a Jesuit.
, the son of a physician who practised in Wales, was born at Shrewsbury, and educated
, the son of a physician who practised
in Wales, was born at Shrewsbury, and educated at Eton,
whence he removed to King’s college, Cambridge, and
regularly took the degrees of A. B. 1732, A. M. 1737, and
D. D. 175y. He was early noticed by his school-fellow,
Cornwallis, archbishop of Canterbury, when bishop of
Lichfield and Coventry, who appointed him his chaplain,
and collated him to a canonry of Lithfield, and in 1751
presented him to the mastership of St. John’s hospital,
Lichfield. He was also archdeacon of Derby, and rector
of Kingsland, in Herefordshire, in the gift of his family.
He died Feb. 6, 1769, much esteemed for his learning and
amiable disposition; and his numerous poems, both printed
and manuscript, bear ample testimony to his talents. He
wrote several of the anonymous imitations of Horace in
Buncombe’s edition, 1767, and at the end of vol. IV. is
given the character of the ancient Romans from a poem
by him, styled “The Progress of Science.
” He has many
poems in Dodsley’s and Nichols’s collections, and one, in
Latin, preserved in the “Alumni Etonenses.
” Mr. Pennant also, in his “Tour in Wales,
” vol. II. p. 422, has
preserved some animated lines by Dr. Davies on Caractacus,
which he says were delivered almost extempore at one of
the annual meetings held on Caer Caradoc some years
ago by gentlemen from different parts, to celebrate the
name of that renowned British chieftain, in prose or verse.
of his own mind, that he became an ingenious mechanic, a wellinformed chemist, a learned theoretical physician, 'and an expert constitutional lawyer. But though his comprehensive
In the very flattering, and by no means just or discriminative, character of Mr. Day, given in the Biographia
Britannica, his life is represented to have been “one uniform system of exertions in the cause of humanity. He
thought nothing mis-spent or ill-bestowed, which contributed, in any degree, to the general sum of happiness. In
his pursuit of knowledge, though he deemed it highly
valuable as a private and personal acquisition, he had a
particular view to the application of it to the purposes of
philanthropy. It was to be able to do good to others, as
well as to gratify the ardent curiosity and activity of his
own mind, that he became an ingenious mechanic, a wellinformed chemist, a learned theoretical physician, 'and an
expert constitutional lawyer. But though his comprehensive genius embraced almost the whole range of literature,
the subjects to which he was the most attached, and which he
regarded as the most eminently useful, were those that are
comprehended in historical and ethical science. Indeed,
every tiling was important in his eyes, not merely as it
tended to advance the individual, but in proportion to its
ability in disclosing the powers, and improving the general
interests, of the human species.
”
he applied for a licence, he went to Russia, and, on the recommendation of king James, was appointed physician to the czar, an office he continued to hold for fourteen years.
, son of the preceding, was born at Mortlake, in Surry, July 1 4th, 1579, and educated at Westminster school under Camden, and at the university of Oxford. He accompanied his father in his travels over France,
Germany, and Poland, and was early initiated by him in
the same mysteries which he himself had so unfruitfully followed. Returning to England, he settled in Westminster,
intending to practise medicine there; but, being rejected
by the college of physicians, to whom he applied for a
licence, he went to Russia, and, on the recommendation
of king James, was appointed physician to the czar, an
office he continued to hold for fourteen years. He now
returned to England, when he soon lost the money he had
acquired in Russia, in search of the grand elixir, the
reality of the existence of which he never doubted. He is
said to have died at Norwich in extreme poverty, in September 1651. He suffered the censures of the college of
physicians, Goodall says, for hanging out a table at his
door, exposing to sale several medicines, by which he
professed to cure diseases. While at Paris he published,
in 1631, “Fasciculus chymicus, abstrusoe scientix Hermeticae, ingressum, progressum, coronidem, explicans,
”
12mo.
, or Doering, an ingenious but unfortunate physician, was a native of Saxony, who took his degrees in physic at Leyden,
, or Doering, an ingenious
but unfortunate physician, was a native of Saxony, who
took his degrees in physic at Leyden, and came to England, according to Mr. Martyn, in the train of a foreign
ambassador; but another account pays, that soon after he
came to London he was appointed secretary to the British
ambassador at the Russian court. Both accounts may probably be true. Dr. Pulteney thinks he settled in London
about 1720, where he practised physic and midwifery,
and having a strong bias to the study of botany, became
one of the members of the society established by Dr. Dillenius and Mr. Martyn, which subsisted from 17*1 to 1726.
In 1736 he removed to Nottingham, tinder the recommendation of sir Hans Sloane, and was at first well received, and very successful in his treatment of the smallpox, which disease was highly epidemical at that place
soon after his arrival; but he incurred the censure of the
faculty by his pretensions to a nostrum. In 1737 he published “An Account of an improved method of treating
the Small-pox, in a letter to sir Thomas Parkyns, bart.
”
8vo. By this it appears, that his medicine was of the antiphlogistic kind, and that he was one of the first who introduced the cool regimen.
and was admitted one of the foreign members of the royal society of London. In 1732, being appointed physician to the galleys, he quitted Montpellier, and went to Marseilles,
, a voluminous writer on almost
every branch of medicine, was the son of a surgeon of
Montpellier. In 1691 he was made M. D. and in 1697,
professor of chemistry. He was also honoured with the
ribbon of the order of St. Michael, and was admitted one
of the foreign members of the royal society of London.
In 1732, being appointed physician to the galleys, he
quitted Montpellier, and went to Marseilles, where he died
on the 3d of April, 1746. Of his works, the following
have been most noticed: “Experiences sur la Bile, et les
cadavres des pestiferes, faites par M. D.; accompagnees
des Lettres, &c.
” Zurich, Chymie raisonnee, ou Ton tache de decouvrir
la nature et la maniere d'agir des remedes chymiques les
plus en usage en medicine et en chirurgie,
” Lyon,
, a French physician, but better known as an oculist, was born in 1702, and was the
, a French physician, but better
known as an oculist, was born in 1702, and was the son of
Anthony Demours, an apothecary at Marseilles, under
whom he received the early part of his education, which
was continued at Avignon, where he resided, until he had
taken the degree of doctor, in 1728. He then removed to
Paris, and was placed for two years under M. Du Verney,
for the study of anatomy. On the death of Du Verney, he
was associated with M. Chirac in the care of the cabinet of
natural history, in the royal garden at Paris. Having bestowed niHch attention and many experiments on the structure of the eye, in 1741 he sent to the royal academy of
sciences a memoir on the subject, in which he shews that
the vitreous humour is of a cellular texture, and that the
cells comii unicate with each other, circumstances which
bad not been before observed. He now employed himself,
almost exclusively, in attending to the diseases of the eye,
and soon attracted so much notice as to be appointed
oculist to the king. In 1767, he published “Retire q.
M. Petit,
” on the subject of a disease in the eyes, occurring in a patient who had been inoculated with the
small-pox. As he had acquired a competent knowledge of
the English language, he translated into French the Edinburgh medical essays, which he published at Paris, in
eleven volumes, 12 mo, Baker’s Natural History of the
Polypus, Hales’s account of a Ventilator, Ranby’s treatise
of Gunshot Wounds, and several volumes of essays on
medicine, and on natural history, taken frqm the Philosophical Transactions, which procured him to be elected one
of the foreign members of the royal society. He had been
before associated with the royal academy of sciences at
Paris. Demours died June 26, 1795, aged ninety-three.
enry Ashworth. In 1634 he took his degree of doctor, and going to reside in London, he was appointed physician to the king Charles I. in 1636, and attended his majesty to
, the youngest son of sir T. Denton, of Hillesden, in Buckinghamshire, was born at Stow,
in April 1605. He received his education at Magdalenhall, in Oxford, where he was initiated into the practice of
medicine, under Dr. Henry Ashworth. In 1634 he took
his degree of doctor, and going to reside in London, he
was appointed physician to the king Charles I. in 1636,
and attended his majesty to Scotland in 1639. During
the troubles which succeeded, he continued to practise in
London, without interfering in the factions of the time;
and on the restoration of Charles II. was made one of his
physicians in ordinary, and was soon after admitted fellow
of the college of physicians. He lived to the accession of
king William and queen Mary, to whom, in 168D, he dedicated “Jus Regiminis,
” being a jnsiiticntion of defensive arms in general, shewing that the revolution was the
just right of the kingdom. He died at his house in Coventgarden, on the yth of May, 1691, and was buried at Hillesden. His daughter was married to George Nicholas, son of
sir Edward Nicholas, sometime secretary of state under the
kings Charles I. and II. His works are all on political subjects 1. “Horie Subseciva?, or a treatise shewing the original, grounds, reasons, and provocations, necessitating our
sanguinary Laws against Papists, made in the days of queen
Elizabeth,
” The Burnt Child dreads the
Fire, or an examination of the merits of the Papists, relating
to England, mostly from their own pens, in justification
of the late act of parliament for preventing dangers which
may happen from popish recusants,
” London, Jus Cassaris et Ecclesiae vere dicta?,
” An Apology for the
Liberty of the Press
”
that Dr. Derham was very well skilled in medical as well as physical knowledge; and was constantly a physician to the bodies as well as souls of his parishioners.
This great and good man having thus spent his life, making all his researches subservient to the cause of religion and virtue, died, in his 78th year, April 5, 1735, at Upminster, where he was buried. He left behind him a valuable collection of curiosities; among the rest, a specimen of insects, and of most kinds of birds in this island, of which he had preserved the male and female. It may be necessary just to observe, that Dr. Derham was very well skilled in medical as well as physical knowledge; and was constantly a physician to the bodies as well as souls of his parishioners.
, a French physician, was born at Arsac, in Chalosse, in 1675, and died at Bourdeaux,
, a French physician, was born at
Arsac, in Chalosse, in 1675, and died at Bourdeaux, in
1737, where he acquired great reputation as a practitioner,
and was author of several useful practical works, which are
still sought for, on the gout, and on the venereal disease,
which latter he professed to cure without salivation. In.
his “Dissertation sur la Pierre des reins et de la vessie,
”
Nouvelles dccouvertes en medicine,
”
, physician to the king of France, and corresponding member of the royal
, physician to the king of France, and corresponding member
of the royal academy of sciences at Paris, was a native of
Vitre, a town in Bretagne, where he was born Sept. 28,
1704, and was the fifth of his family who had distinguished
themselves in the medical art. After practising with great
reputation for some years at Paris, he was appointed physician to the island of Domingo, where he died, after a
residence of about ten years, in 1748. He left an interesting and curious work, “Histoire des Maladies de
Saint Domingue,
” which was printed in
, an eminent physician, born at Amsterdam in 1510, was sent first to Lou vain, where
, an eminent physician, born
at Amsterdam in 1510, was sent first to Lou vain, where
he soon distinguished himself by his acquirements in classical literature. Declaring at length for the practice of
medicine, he went to Bologna, in Italy, and in 1538 he
took his degree of doctor in that faculty. A vacancy happening soon after at Groningen, he accepted the office of
professor of the practice of medicine, which he taught with
reputation for nine years. From thence, invited by Echtius, professor in medicine there, he went to Cologne,
where he was admitted member of the college of physicians, and received a considerable pension from the government. This he retained to the time of his death, in
1574. He was author of several useful works. His “De
Compositione Medicamentorum,
” De Peste, commentarius, preservatio,
et curatio,
” Col.
, a learned physician, and voluminous writer on medicine and natural philosophy, was
, a learned physician, and
voluminous writer on medicine and natural philosophy, was
born at Meurs, in the duchy of Juliers, October 16th,
4612. After studying the classics and the Arabic and
Persian languages, he went to Leyden, where he completed his education by taking the degree of M. D. in
1634; and three years after was appointed professor in
mathematics at Meurs. In 1639, he was called to succeed
Isaac Pontanus in the chair of natural philosophy and mathematics; and in 1642 to that of medicine, at Hardenvick,
to which was added the office of physician to the city.
From Harderwick he went to Groningen, where he was not
only professor of medicine, but rector of the university,
and ancient of the church. Amid the business which such
accumulated duties heaped upon him, he found leisure to
write a greater number of treatises on the different parts of
medicine and philosophy than have fallen from the pen.
of almost any other man. Haller and Manget have given
a list of fifty-four, but a small number of these are on practical subjects, many of them being metaphysical and
controversial. Those relating to his controversy with Silvius, are written with great acrimony; though the subjects, which are mostly physiological, do not seem calculated to excite so much rancour as we see infused into
them. Among these are, “Joannes Cloppenburgius,
Heautontimorumenos, seu retorsio injuriarum de libello
falsidico, cui titulus, Res judicata, cumulatarum,
”
ioned by taking a long journey, in very severe weather, to visit the count of Nassau, to whom he was physician.
“Canticum Avicennas de Medicina, ex Arab. Lat. reddit.
”
Dissertationes duae, prior de motu cordis
et sanguinis, altera de lacte ac nutrimento foetus in utero,
”
Synopsis Medicine universali?,
”
, bart. of Prestonfield, an eminent physician, the third son of sir William Cunningham, of Caprington, by
, bart. of Prestonfield, an eminent physician, the third son of sir William Cunningham,
of Caprington, by dame Janet Dick, the only child and
heiress of sir James Dick, of Prestonfield, near Edinburgh,
was born Oct. 23, 1703. While his two elder brothers
succeeded to ample fortunes, the one as heir to his father,
and the other to his mother, the provision made for a
younger son was not sufficient to enable him to live in a
manner agreeable to his wishes without the aid of his own
exertions. After, therefore, receiving a classical education at Edinburgh, he studied medicine at Leyden under
the celebrated Boerhaave, and obtained the degree of
M. D. from that univer c; Aug. 31, 1725. On this occasion he published an i“, > -,gural dissertation,
” De Epilepsia," which did him much credit. Not long after this
he returned to Scotland, and had the honour of receiving
a second diploma for the degree of M. D. conferred upon
him by the university of St. Andrew’s, Jan. 23, 1727, and
Nov. 7 of the same year, was admitted a fellow of the royal
college of physicians of Edinburgh. But after Dr. Cunningham (for at that time he bore the name of his father)
had received these distinguishing marks of attention at
home, he was still anxious to obtain farther knowledge of
his profession by the prosecution of hi-, studies abroad.
With this intention he made the tour of Europe; and although medicine was uniformly his first and principal object, yet other arts and sciences were not neglected.
ntimate friendship, and who possessed a large fortune in Pembrokeshire, persuaded him to settle as a physician in that country, where for several years he practised with great
On his return to Britain, Mr. Hooke, a gentleman with
whom he had formed an intimate friendship, and who possessed a large fortune in Pembrokeshire, persuaded him
to settle as a physician in that country, where for several
years he practised with great reputation and success. But
his immediate elder brother, sir William Dick, dying without issue, he succeeded to the family estate and title, assuming from that time the name and arms of Dick; and
very soon after fixed his residence at the family-seat of
Preston-field. Although he now resolved to relinquish
medicine as a lucrative profession, yet, from inclination,
he still continued to cultivate it as an useful science. With
this view he supported a friendly and intimate correspondence with the physicians of Edinburgh, and paid particular attention to the business of the royal college, among
the list of whose members his name had been enrolled at a
very early period of his life. In 1756 he was unanimously
chosen president of the college, and was afterwards elected
to that office for seven years successively. He not only
contributed liberally towards the building of a hall for their
accommodation, but strenuously exerted himself in promoting every undertaking in which he thought the honour
or interest of the college was concerned. He was also
long distinguished as a zealous and active member of the
philosophical society of Edinburgh, and when the present
royal society of Edinburgh received its charter, the name
of sir Alexander Dick stood enrolled as one of the first in
the list. For many years he discharged the duties of a
faithful tfnd vigilant manager of die royal iniirinnrj of
Kdinburgh; and took on all occasions an active share in
promoting every public and useful undertaking. When
the seeds of the true rhubarb were first introduced into
Britain by the late Dr. Mounsey of Petersburg!), he not
only bestowed great attention on the culture of the plant,
but also on the drying of the root, and preparing it for the
market. His success in these particulars was so great,
that the society in London for the encouragement of arts
and commerce, presented him, in 1774, with a gold medal,
which is inscribed “To sir Alexander Dick, bart. for the
best specimen of British rhubarb.
” While steady in the
pursuit of every object which engaged his attention, his
conduct in every transaction through life was marked with
the strictest honour and integrity. This, disposition, and
this conduct, not only led him to be constant and warm in
his friendship to those with whom he lived in habits of
intimacy, but also procured him the love and esteem of
all who really knew him. Notwithstanding the keenness
and activity of his temper, yet its striking features were
mildness and sweetness. He was naturally disposed to put
the most favourable construction on the conduct and actions of others, which was both productive of much happiness to himself, and of general benevolence to mankind.
And that serenity and cheerfulness which accompanied his
conduct through life, were the attendants even of his last
moments for on Nov. 10, 1785, he died with a smile
upon his countenance, lamented as a great loss to society.
, a celebrated physician and chemist, was son of William Dickinson, rector of Appleton
, a celebrated physician and
chemist, was son of William Dickinson, rector of Appleton in Berkshire, and born there in 1624. He acquired
his classical learning at Eton, and from thence, in 1642,
was sent to Merton-college in Oxford. Having regularly
taken the degrees in arts, he entered on the study of medicine, and took both the degrees in that faculty. In 1655
he published his “Delphi Phcenicizantes, *kc.
” a very
learned piece, in which he attempts to prove that the
Greeks borrowed the story of the Pythian Apollo, and all
that rendered the oracle of Delphi famous, from the holy
scriptures, and the book of Joshua in particular *. His
work procured him much reputation both at home and
abroad; and Sheldon (afterwards archbishop of Canterbury) is said to have had so high a sense of its value, that
he would have persuaded the author to have applied himself to divinity, and to have taken orders; but he was
already fixed in his choice. To this treatise were added,
1. “Diatriba de Nore in Italiam adventu; ejusque nominibus ethnicis.
” 2. “De origine Druidum.
” 3. Oratiuncula pro philosophia liberanda,“which had been spoken,
by him in the hall of Merton college, July 1653, and was
the first tiling which made him known among the learned.
4.
” /acharias Bogan Edmundo Dickinson;“a letter filled
with citations from the most ancient authors in support of
his opinions, and the highest commendations of his learning, industry, and judgment. The
” Delphi Phoenicizantes,“&c. came out first at Oxford in 1655, 12mo, and was
reprinted at Francfort, 1669, 8vo, and at Rotterdam in
1691, by Crenius, in the first volume of his
” Fasciculus
dissertation uo> Historico-critico-philologicarum," 12mo.
Afterwards Dr. Dickinson applied himself to chemistry
with much assiduity; and, about 1662, received a visit
from Theodore Mundanus, an illustrious adept of France,
who encouraged him mightily to proceed in the study of
alchemy, and succeeded in persuading him of the possibility of the transmutation of metals, a credulity for which
he probably paid first in his purse, and afterwards in his
reputation. At length he left his college, and took a
house in the High-street, Oxford, for the sake of following the business of his profession more conveniently. In.
li>69 he married for the first time; but his wife dying
in child- bed, and leaving him a daughter, he some time
after married a second, who also died in a short time. His
wives were both gentlewomen of good families.
past, that nobleman introcluced him to the king, who made him one of his physicians in ordinary, and physician to his household. As that prince was a lover of chemistry, and
On the death of Dr. Willis, which happened in 1684,
Dickinson removed to London, and took his house in St.
Martin’s- lane where, soon after recovering Henry Bennet, earl of Arlington, lord chamberlain to Charles II.
when all hopes of recovery were past, that nobleman
introcluced him to the king, who made him one of his physicians
in ordinary, and physician to his household. As that
prince was a lover of chemistry, and a considerable proficient, Dickinson grew into great favour at court; which
favour lasted to the end of Charles’s reign, and that of his
successor James, who continued him in both his places.
In 1636 he published in Latin his epistle to Theodore
Mundanus, and also his answer, translated from the French
into Latin: for, in 1679, this chemist had paid him a
second visit, and renewed his acquaintance. The title of
it in English is, “An Epistle of E. D. to T. M. an adept,
concerning the quintessence of the philosophers, and the
true system of physics, together with certain queries concerning the materials of alchemy. To which are annexed
the answers of Mundanus,
” 8vo. After the abdication of
his unfortunate master, he retired from practice, being old,
and much afflicted with the stone, but continued his studies.
He had long meditated a system of philosophy, not founded
on hypothesis, or even experiment, but, chiefly deduced
from principles collected from the Mosaic history. Part of
this laborious work, when he had almost finished it, was
burnt; but, not discouraged by this accident, he began it
a second time, and did not discontinue it, till he had completed the whole. It came out in 1702 under the title of
“Physica vetus et vera sive tractatus de naturali veritate
hexoemeri Mosaici, &c.
” In this he attempts, from the
scriptural account of the creation, to explain the manner
in which the world was formed. Assuming, as the ground
of his theory, the atomic doctrine, and the existence
of an immaterial cause of the concourse of indivisible
atoms, he supposes the particles of matter agitated by a
double motion; one gentle and transverse, of the particles
among themselves, whence elementary corpuscles are
formed; the other circular, by which the whole mass is
revolved, and the regions of heaven and earth are produced. By the motion of the elementary corpuscles of
different magnitude and form, he supposes the different
bodies of nature to have been produced, and attempts,
upon this plan, to describe the process of creation through
each of the six days. He explains at large the formation
of human nature, shewing in what manner, by means of a
plastic seminal virtue, man became an animated being.
This theory, though founded upon conjecture, and loaded
with unphilosophical fictions, the author not only pretends
to derive from the Mosaic narrative, but maintains to have
been consonant to the most ancient Hebrew traditions.
The use which this theorist makes of the doctrine of atoms,
shews him to have been wholly unacquainted with the true
notion of the ancients on this subject; and indeed the
whole work seems to have ben the offspring of a confused imagination, rather than of a sound judgment. Burnet, who attempted the same design afterwards, discovered far more learning and ability. This work, however,
was in such demand as to be printed again at Rotterdam
in 1703, in 4to, and at Leoburg, 1705, 12mo.
towards Dr. Dimsdale less praiseworthy. He was immediately appointed actual counsellor of state and physician to her imperial majesty, with an annuity of 500l. the rank of
Having fully satisfied himself about the new method of
treating persons under inoculation for the small-pox, he
published his treatise on the subject in 1766, which was
soon circulated over the continent, and translated into all
languages. His particular opinion may be learned from
the conclusion, in which he says that, “although the whole
process may have some share in the success, it consists
chiefly in the method of inoculating with recent fluid matter, and the management of the patients at the time of
eruption.
” This proof of his professional knowledge occasioned his being invited to inoculate the empress Catherine of Russia, and her son, in 1768, of which he gives a
very particular and interesting account in his “Tracts on
Inoculation,
” printed in Thoughts on general and partial Inoculation,
” 8vo;
and two years after, “Observations on the Introduction to
the plan of the Dispensary for general Inoculation,
” 8vo.
This involved him in a controversy with Dr. Lettsom, in
which he opposed the above plan for inoculating the poor
at their own houses; and opened an inoculation-house,
under his own direction, for persons of all ranks in the
neighbourhood of Hertford, which was resorted to with
success. His controversy with Dr. Lettsom was carried on
in the following pamphlets “Dr. Lettsom’s letter on General Inoculation
” “Remarks on Ditto,
” 8vo; “Review
of Dr. Lettsom’s observations on the Baron’s Remarks
”
“Letter to Dr. Lettsom on his Remarks, &c.
” “Answer to
Baron Dimsdale’s Review,
” and “Considerations on the
plan, &c.
” In Tracts on Inoculation,
” already mentioned, which were liberally distributed,
but not sold.
singular reply, purchased him; upon which Diogenes told him, “I shall be more useful to you as your physician, than as your slave.” Upon their arrival at Corinth, Xeniades
Diogenes, in his old age, is said to have sailed to the
island of Ægina; and having met with pirates, he was
carried into Crete, and exposed to public sale. Being asked
what he could do? he replied, “I can govern men, and
therefore sell me to one who wants a master:
” Xeniades, a
wealthy Corinthian, being struck by this singular reply,
purchased him; upon which Diogenes told him, “I shall
be more useful to you as your physician, than as your
slave.
” Upon their arrival at Corinth, Xeniades gave him
his liberty, and committed to his direction the education
of his children, and the management of his domestic concerns. Xeniades had so much reason to be satisfied with
his judgment and fidelity, that he used to say the gods
had sent a good genius to his house. He accustomed his
pupils to the discipline of the Cynic sect, and took greater
pains to inure them to habits of self-command, than to
instruct them in the elements of science. However, he
was not negligent in teaching them lessons of moral wisdom, which he inculcated by sententious maxims; and he
allowed them the moderate use of athletic exercises and
hunting. During his residence at Corinth, he frequently
attended the assemblies of the people at the Crancum, a
place in its vicinity; and at the Isthmian games, where he
appeared under the character of a censor, severely lashing
the follies of the times, and inculcating rigid lessons of
sobriety and virtue. At one of these assemblies the conference between Alexander the Great and Diogenes is
said to have happened. Plutarch relates the story thus:
Alexander received the congratulations of all ranks on his
being appointed, after the death of his father, to the command of the Grecian army in their projected expedition
against the Persians. Diogenes was absent on this occasion, and Alexander expressed his surprise at this circumstance. Wishing to gratify his curiosity by the sight of
such a philosopher as Diogenes, he visited the Craneum,
where he found the philosopher sitting in his tub in th
sun. The king came up to him in the crowd, and said,
“I am Alexander the Great;
” to which Diogenes replied,
in a surly tone, “and I am Diogenes the Cynic.
” Alexander, requesting to know if he could render him any service, received for answer, “Yes,
” says he, “do not stand
between me and the sun.
” Alexander surprised at the
magnanimity of this reply, said to his friends, “If I were
not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.
” There are several
circumstances in this narrative which suggest some doubts
as to its truth yet, from the character of Diogenes, it is
not very improbable.
, an eminent physician of Anaxarba, since called Ceesarea, in Cilicia, flourished in
, an eminent physician of Anaxarba, since called Ceesarea, in Cilicia, flourished in the reign of Nero, in the first century, and composed five books of the Materia Medica. Fabricius is certain, that he composed these books before Pliny wrote his Natural History, although he supposes Pliny might reach the age of Dioscorides. Pliny has indeed made no mention of him, and yet relates many things of a very similar nature; which circumstances Fabricius imputes to their both having collected their materials from the same store-house, and to Pliny’s not having seen the books of Dioscorides. This physician tells us, in the preface of his first book, that he had consulted all who had written upon the Materia Medica before him; that to the information he had received from others, he had joined great application of his own; that he had travelled over many countries, for the sake of confirming by observation what he had learned from books; that he had corrected many errors of others, added many new things of his own, and digested the whole into a regular order. Salmasius considers all this as so much boasting, and treats Dioscorides as merely a laborious compiler, or pillager of others; but Galen has pronounced these books of Dioscorides to be the best that had been written upon the subject, and it is evident that in the early stages of botanical science he was looked up to with a reverence which is no longer paid. His object being solely the Materia Medica, he discusses each subject specifically, and in a separate chapter, dividing the whole into five books; in which, as far as any order takes place, they arrange into aromatic, alimentary, and medicinal plants. His descriptions are chiefly taken from colour, size, mode of growing, comparison of the leaves and roots, with other plants well known, and therefore left undescribed. In general they are short, and frequently insufficient to determine the species; and hence arise the endless and irreconcileable contentions among his commentators. In this manner, however, he has described near 700 plants; to which he subjoins the virtues and uses; and to him all posterity have appealed as decisive on the subject.
considered him as an eminent teacher of true piety and wisdom. He probably deserved more praise as a physician and chemist. He is said to have invented Prussian blue; and
His works were published together in 1747, 5 vols. 4to, and, notwithstanding his many extravagancies and absurdities, many have considered him as an eminent teacher of true piety and wisdom. He probably deserved more praise as a physician and chemist. He is said to have invented Prussian blue; and there is still an oil called DippePs oil, which he first discovered, a powerful-sudorific, and deserving of more notice than it now receives.
d the princess dowager of Conti, and the princes, her children; and some time after he was appointed physician to the king, Louis XIV. In 1673 he was made a member of the
, doctor regent of the faculty of
medicine at Paris, where he was born in 1634, was educated not only in the learned languages, but in painting,
music, and other elegant accomplishments, and exhibited
early such traits of genius and learning, that Guy Patin,
not in general very lavish of praise, considered him as
one of the most learned men of his time. In a letter to a
friend, he called him “Monstrnm sine Vitio,
” a character which Adrian Turnebus applied to Scaliger; and in
another letter, Patin redoubles his praise of young Dodart,
Having in 1660 taken his degree of doctor, he soon attained to distinction in his profession, being the following
year called to attend the princess dowager of Conti, and
the princes, her children; and some time after he was appointed physician to the king, Louis XIV. In 1673 he
was made a member of the academy of sciences, and in
compliance with their wishes, he wrote a preface to the
“Memoires pour servir a l'Histoire de Flantes,
” published
by the academy, in Memoirs to serve for the History of France!
” and gravely
argues upon his fitness for the work. Dodart employed
some labour in making chemical analyses of plants, with
the view of acquiring a more intimate knowlege of their
medical virtues, agreeably to the opinions that then prevailed, but which further experience has shewn not to be
well founded. He pursued his statical experiments, to
find the proportion that perspiration bears to the other excretions, for more than thirty years. The results first appeared in 1699, in the Memoirs of the academy, and
were afterwards published separately, under the title of
“Medicina Statica Gallica.
” In the course of those experiments, he found that during the Lent in one year, he
had lost in weight eight pounds five ounces: returning to
his ordinary way of living, he recovered what he had lost
in a very short time. He once purposed writing a history
of music, but only finished a memoir on the voice, which
is published among the Memoirs of the Academy. He was
of a grave disposition, Fontenelle says, pious and abstemius; and his death, which happened Nov. 5th, 1707,
was much regretted.
odart, following in the steps of his father, was made M. D. in 1688, and in 1718 was appointed first physician to Louis XV. The only work in which he was concerned, was an
His son, Claude- John- Baptiste Dodart, following in
the steps of his father, was made M. D. in 1688, and in
1718 was appointed first physician to Louis XV. The
only work in which he was concerned, was an edition of
“Pomet’s History of Drugs,
” with some useful notes.
He died at Paris, in
Dr. Gregory Sharpe, &c. and among his lower associates, Ralph, Paul Whitehead, and a Dr. Thomson, a physician without practice or manners, served to add to the hilarity of
Lord Melcombe is allowed to have been generous, magnificent, and convivial, but more respected as a private
gentleman than as a politician. In the one character he
was free, easy, and engaging; in the other intriguing,
close, and reserved. His reigning passion was to be well
at court, and to this object he sacrificed every circumstance
of his life. Lord Orford says of him that he was “ostentatious in his person, houses, and furniture, and wanted in
his expences the taste he never wanted in his conversation.
Pope and Churchill treated him more severely than he deserved, a fate that may attend a man of the greatest wit,
when his parts are more suited to society than to composition. The verse remains, the bon-mots and sallies are
forgotten.
” He was handsome, and of a striking figure,
but in his latter days was probably singular in his dress.
Churchill ridicules his wig, and Hogarth has introduced it
in one of his “orders of periwigs.
” His patronage of
learned men descended from Young, Thomson, and Glover,
to the meaner political hirelings who frequented the prince’s
court. And among his intimate friends, besides Young,
Thomson, and Glover, were Fielding, Bentley, Voltaire,
Lyttelton, lord Chesterfield, lord Peterborough, Dr. Gregory Sharpe, &c. and among his lower associates, Ralph,
Paul Whitehead, and a Dr. Thomson, a physician without practice or manners, served to add to the hilarity
of his table. Most of his biographers have reported that
he was a single man, but he certainly was married, as in
his letters he frequently speaks of Mrs. Dodington, whose
heart was placed in an urn at the top of an obelisk which
he erected at Hammersmith. When she died we know
not, but as she left no family, he is reported to have used
some singular expedients for procuring an heir, which were
as unsuccessful as immoral and foolish. He bequeathed
his whole property, a few legacies excepted, to the late
Thomas Wyndham, esq. of Hammersmith. The mansion
which he built at Eastbury came, as already observed in
the note, to the marquis of Buckingham, and was taken
down a few years ago. Part of the offices were left standing, and have been converted into a very convenient house
by J. Wedgewood, esq. who purchased the estate of the
marquis of Buckingham. His villa at Hammersmith became
a few years ago the property of the margrave of Anspach.
, a learned physician and botanist, of a West Friesland family of good repute, was
, a learned
physician and botanist, of a West Friesland family of good
repute, was born at Mechlin, in 1517. He studied medicine at Louvaine, and afterwards visited the celebrated
universities of France and Italy, and to his medical knowledge added an acquaintance with the classics and polite
literature. On his return from Italy, his reputation procured him the honour of being appointed physician to the
emperors Maximilian II. and Rodolph II. Having been
obliged during the civil wars of his time to quit the imperial court, in order to take care of his property at Mechlin and Antwerp, he resided awhile at Cologne, from
whence he was persuaded to return to Antwerp but soon
afterwards he became professor of physic in the newlyfounded university of Leyden, with an ample stipend.
This took place in 1582, and he sustained the credit of his
appointment by his lectures and various writings, till death
put a period to his labours in March 1585, in the sixtyeighth year of his age. It appears by his epitaph at Leyden, that he left a son of his own name behind him.
Dodoens is recorded to have excelled in a knowledge
of the history of his own country, and especially in genealogical inquiries, as well as in medicine. His chief fame
at present rests on his botanical publications, particularly
his “Pemptades,
” or 30 books of the history of plants, in
1 vol. folio, published at Antwerp in 1583, and again in
1612 and 1616. This is still a book of general reference
on account of the wooden cuts, which are numerous and
expressive. Hailer reckons it “a good and useful work,
though not of the first rate.
” The author had previously
published some lesser works in 8vo, as “Frugum Histona,
”
printed at Antwerp, in Herbarium Belgicum
” first appeared in the German language
in Henry Lyte,
esquyer
” composed his Herbrl, which is pretty nearly a
translation of the whole. It was published in 1578, and
went through several subsequent editions. This work, in
its various languages and editions, is accompanied by
wooden cuts, very inferior, for the most part, to those in
the above-mentioned “Pemptades.
” Halier records an
epitome of Dodoens by William Kam, printed at London, in 1606, 4to, under the title of “Little Dodoen.
”
This we have never seen.
ouse appropriated to this sacred purpose was then the residence of Dr. Thomas Willis, the celebrated physician, and is yet standing, opposite to Merton college. The attachment
When the civil wars broke out, Mr. Dolben took arms for the royal cause in the garrison at Oxford, and served as an ensign in the unfortunate battle of Marston-Moor, in 1644, where he received a dangerous wound in the shoulder from a musquet-ball; but in the defence of York, soon after, he received a severer wound of the same kind in the thigh; which broke the bone, and confined him twelve months to his bed. In the course of his military service he was advanced to the rank of captain, and, according to Wood, of major. In 1646, when there appeared no longer any hope of serving the king’s cause by arms, when Oxford and his other garrisons were surrendered, and himself in the hands of his enemies, Mr. Dolben retired again to his college, and renewed his studies; a sense of duty had made him an active soldier; inclination and natural abilities rendered him at all times a successful student. In 1647 he took the degree of master of arts, and remained at college till ejected by the parliamentarian visitors in 1648. In the interval between this period and the year 1656, when he entered into holy orders, we have no account of him; but it is most probable that his time was, in general, studiously employed, and especially from the moment when he took up that design. From 1657, when he married Catharine daughter of Ralph, elder brother of archbishop Sheldon, to the time of the king’s restoration, he lived in Oxford, at the bouse of his father-in-law, in St. Aldate’s parish; and throughout that interval, in conjunction with Dr. Fell and Dr. Allestree, constantly performed divine service and administered the sacraments, according to the Liturgy of the church of England, to the great comfort of the royalists then resident in Oxford, particularly the students ejected in 1648, who formed a regular and pretty numerous congregation*. The house appropriated to this sacred purpose was then the residence of Dr. Thomas Willis, the celebrated physician, and is yet standing, opposite to Merton college. The attachment of Mr. Dolben to what he considered as the right cause had before been active and courageous; it was now firm and unwearied, with equal merit, and with better success.
tore the public courage, the grateful people wished to retain him, with a handsome stipend, as their physician; and the bishop of La Conception endeavoured to promote his
Having sent off his second collection to Europe, Dombey returned to Huanuco, in the end of December 1780,
where he had shortly after the mortification of hearing that
his first collection had been taken by the English, and redeemed at Lisbon, by the Spanish government, consequently that the antiquities were now detained in Spain,
and that duplicates only of the. dried plants and seeds had
been forwarded to Paris. Dombey in the mean while,
leaving his more recent acquisitions in safety at Lima, undertook a journey to Chili, and although his journey was
necessarily attended with vast expence, his character was
now so well known, that he readily met with assistance.
He arrived at La Conception in the beginning of 1782,
where, the town being afflicted with a pestilential fever,
he devoted himself to the exercise of his medical skill, assisting the poor with advice, food, and medicine. This
example having the effect to restore the public courage,
the grateful people wished to retain him, with a handsome
stipend, as their physician; and the bishop of La Conception endeavoured to promote his union with a young
lady of great beauty and riches, on whom his merit had
made impressions as honourable to herself as to him; but
neither of these temptations prevailed. Having added
greatly to his collection of drawings, shells, and minerals,
as welt as of plants, and having discovered a new and most
valuable mine of quicksilver, and another of gold, he revisited Lima, to take his passage for Europe. A journey
of 100 leagues among the Cordilleras, made at his own
expence, had much impaired his finances and his health,
but he refused the repayment which the country offered
him, saying, that “though he was devoted to the service
of Spain, it was for his own sovereign, who had sent him,
to pay his expences.
” In Chili he discovered the majestic
tree, of the tribe of Pines, 150 feet high, now named after
him, Dombeya, of which the Norfolk-island pine is another species. While he still remained at Lima, the labours of arranging and packing his collections of natural
history, added to the fatigues he had already undergone,
and the petty jealousies and contradictions he experienced
from some of the Spaniards in power, preyed upon his
health and spirits; and under the idea that he might possibly never reach Europe, he wrote to his friend Thouin,
to take the necessary precautions for the safety of his
treasures on their arrival in a Spanish port. He survived,
however, to undergo far greater distresses than he had
yet known. After narrowly escaping shipwreck at Cape
Horn, and being obliged to wait at the Brasils till his
ship could be refitted, which last circumstance indeed was
favourable to his scientific pursuits and acquisitions, he
reached Cadiz on the 22d of February, 1785; but, instead
of the reception he expected and deserved, he was not
only tormented with the most pettifogging and dishonest
behaviour concerning the property of his collections, but
those collections were exposed, without discrimination or
precaution, to the rude and useless scrutiny of the barbarians at the custom-house, so as to be rendered useless, in
a great measure, even to those who meant to plunder them.
The whole were thrown afterwards into damp warehouses,
where their true owner was forbidden to enter. Here
they lay for the plants to rot, and the inestimable collections of seeds to lose their powers of vegetation, till certain
forms were gone through, which forms, as it afterwards
appeared, tended chiefly to the rendering their plunder
useless to others, rather than valuable to their own nation.
In the first place, as much of these treasures had suffered
by this ill-treatment, Dombey was required to repair the
injury from his own allotment, or from that of his master,
the king of France. With this he could not of himself
comply; but an order was, for some political reason, procured from the French court, and he was obliged to submit. He could never, however, obtain that the seeds
should be committed to the earth so as to be of use; and
hence the gardens of Europe have been enriched with
scarcely half a score of his botanical discoveries, among
which are the magnificent Datura arborea, the beautiful
Salvia formosa, and the fragrant Verbena triphylla, or, as
it ought to have been called, citrea. This last will be a
“monumentum sere perennins
” with those who shall ever
know his history. What had been given him for his own
use hy the vice-roy of the Brasils, underwent the same
treatment as the rest. Finally, he was required to fix a
price upon the sad remains of his collections, which, as a
great part was French national property, it was obvious he
could not do. He remained at Cadiz, without money and
without friends. His only hope was that he might hereafter publish his discoveries, so as to secure some benefit
to the world and some honour to himself. But this last
consolation was denied him. Anxious to revisit his native
land, he would have compounded for his liberty with the
loss of all but his manuscripts; but he was not allowed to
depart until his persecutors had copied all those manuscripts, and bound him by a written promise never to publish any thing till the return of his travelling companions.
In the mean while, those very companions were detained
by authority in Peru; and in after-times the original botanical descriptions of Dombey have, many of them, appeared verbatim, without acknowledgment, in the pompous
Flora of Peru and Chili, which thence derives a great part
of its value. Thus chagrined and oppressed, the unhappy
Dombey sunk into despair, till, no longer useful or formidable to his oppressors, he was allowed to return, with
such parts of his collections as they condescended to leave
him, to Paris.
, a famous physician of Padua, surnamed Aggregator, on account of the great quantity
, a famous physician
of Padua, surnamed Aggregator, on account of the great
quantity of remedies he had made, was not less versed in
mathematics than in medicine. He invented a clock of a
new construction, which shewed not only the hours of the
day and night, the days of the month, and the festivals of
the year, but also the annual course of the sun, and that
of the moon. The success of this invention got him the
appellation of Horologius, a name ever afterwards retained hy the family. It was likewise Dondus who first
found out the secret of making salt from the waters of
Albano, in the Pacluan, which is described in a posthumous treatise, “De fluxu et refluxu Maris,
” Promptuarium medicinae,
”
Venice, De fontibus calidis Patavini agri,
” in a
treatise “De Balneis,
” Venice,
les under his own name among which is `The humble petition of Covent-Garden against Dr. John Baber a physician,' anno 1662.”
This son, John Donne, was educated at Westminster
school, and removed from thence to Christ-church, Oxford,
in 1622. Afterwards he travelled abroad, and took the
degree of LL.D. at Padua in Italy; and June 1638 was
admitted to the same degree in the university of Oxford.
He died in 1662, and was buried in the churchyard of St.
Paul, Covent-Garden. Wood tells us, that “he was no
better all his life- time than an atheistical buffoon, a banterer, and a person of over-free thoughts, yet valued by
Charles II. that he was a man of sense and parts; and that,
besides some writings of his father, he published several
frivolous trifles under his own name among which is
`The humble petition of Covent-Garden against Dr. John
Baber a physician,' anno 1662.
”