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THE  ^HISTORY 

OF  THE 

STUDY  OF  MEDICINE  IN 
THE  BRITISH  ISLES// 


THE  FITZ-PATRICK  LECTURES  FOR  1905-6 

DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  ROYAL  COLLEGE  OF 

PHYSICIANS  OF  LONDON 


BY 

NORMAN  ^IOORE/  M.D.,  Cantab. 

Fellow  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians 
Physician  to  St.  Bartholom&io's  Hospital 


OXFORD  — Ti 

AT  THE  CLARENDON  PRESS 
1908 


HENRY  PROWDE,  M.A. 

PUBLISHER  TO   THE   UNIVERSITY   OF   OXFORD 

LONDON,  EDINBURGH 

NEW  YORK  AND  TORONTO 


/>17 


PREFACE 

The  first  of  these  lectures  treats  of  Medical  Study 
in  London  during  the  Middle  Ages,  and  of  John 
Mirfeld,  a  physician,  who  lived  in  London  in  the 
reign  of  Eichard  II. 

The  second  lecture  treats  of  the  reading  and 
general  attainments  of  physicians  from  the  founda- 
tion of  our  CoUege,  in  1518,  to  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  I  have  described,  as  an  example 
of  what  the  course  of  education  and  the  learning  of 
a  physician  were  at  the  end  of  this  period,  the  studies 
and  attainments  of  Dr.  Edward  Browne,  who  lived 
from  1644  to  1708,  and  was  physician  to  St.  Bar- 
tholomew's Hospital. 

In  the  third  and  fourth  lectures  I  have  tried 
to  show  how  that  part  of  medicine  which  consists 
in  the  precise  observation  of  patients  grew  up  in 
England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland ;  and  I  have  particu- 
larly considered  the  effect  of  the  works  of  Mayerne, 
Glisson,  and  Sydenham  upon  this  study  in  England, 
and  the  influence  of  Boerhaave  upon  it  in  Scotland 
and  Ireland. 

In  the  Appendix  I  have  printed  from  the 
manuscript  in  Mayerne's  hand  in  the  British 
Museum  his  notes  on  the  health  of  James  I,  and 
the  report  on  Queen  Henrietta  Maria  which  he 
drew  up  when  she  thought  of  going  abroad  in  1641. 


IV 


PREFACE 


From  the  original  cartulary  of  Abingdon  Abbey  in 
the  British  Museum  I  have  printed  seven  short 
charters  and  the  termination  of  a  lengthy  one,  all 
witnessed  by  Grimbald  the  physician,  and  from  the 
original  at  St.  Bartholomew's  a  charter  of  Gilbert, 
Prior  of  Buttley,  witnessed  by  John  of  London,  the 
physician. 

The  Treasurer  and  Almoners  have  been  so  good 
as  to  allow  me  to  print  this  document  here  as  well 
as  in  a  History  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  on 
which  I  have  been  long  engaged,  and  which  will 
appear  during  the  coming  year. 

I  have  reprinted  my  account  of  Harvey's  manu- 
script notes  on  the  Opuscula  of  Galen,  published  in 
the  Athenceum  for  October  6,  1888. 

I  have  to  thank  Mr.  J.  H.  Herbert  for  making 
a  copy  for  me  of  Mayerne's  note  on  James  I,  and 
Mr.  J.  P.  Gilson  for  most  generously  allowing  me 
to  study  his  notes  on  the  Florarium  of  Mirfeld  and 
on  the  manuscripts  of  the  Schola  Sakrnitana  in  the 
British  Museum. 

Finally,  I  have  to  thank  the  President,  the 
Censors,  and  the  Fellows  of  the  Koyal  College 
of  Physicians  of  London  for  the  honour  which 
they  conferred  upon  me  by  appointing  me  to  deliver 
these  lectures  before  them. 


CONTENTS 


LECTUEE  I 

PAGE 

Medical  Study  in  London  duking  the  Middle  Ages    .  1 — 49 


Dr.  Thomas  Fitz-Patrick 

Dr.  Barklot 

Dr.  Baldwin  Hamey  . 

Dr.  William  Munk     . 

Dr.  Mac  Michael 

Dr.  John  Freind 

Grimbald  the  Physician 

Physicians  known  to  Matthew  Paris 

Eobert  Grosseteste 

Medical  Books  in  Monastic  Libraries 

Hospitals  in  the  Middle  Ages     . 

JohnMirfeld       .... 


1 

2 

2 

3 

3 

3 

8 

16 

18 

19 

21 

25 


LECTUEE   II 

The    Education    of    Physicians    in   London   in   the 

Seventeenth  Century  .....  50 — 83 

Attainments  of  Mirfeld 50 

Nicholas  of  Cusa         .         .        .         .         .         .         .  53 

Dr.  Thomas  Linacre 55 

Dr.  John  Clement 57 

Dr.  Edward  Wotton 57 

Dr.  John  Caius 60 

Dr.  Thomas  Doyley 62 

Sir  Theodore  Turquet  de  May  erne      ....  65 

Dr.  William  Gilbert 65 

Dr.  Theodore  Goulston 65 

Dr.  Edward  Browne 69 


vi  CONTENTS 

LECTURE  III 

PAGE 

The  History  of  the  Study  of  Clinical  Medicine  in 

THE  British  Islands 84 — 122 

Dr.  John  Caius 90 

Dr.  William  Gilbert 92 

Dr.  William  Harvey 92 

Sir  Theodore  Turquet  de  Mayerne       .         .         .         •  93 

Dr.  Francis  Glisson Ill 

Dr.  Christopher  Benet 113 

Dr.  Walter  Charleton 114 

Dr.  Thomas  Sydenham 116 

Dr.  Thomas  Willis 119 

Dr.  Richard  Morton 120 

LECTURE  IV 

The  History  of  the  Study  of  Clinical  Medicine  in 

the  British  Islands  (continued)    .         .        .      123 — 157 

Dr.  John  Freind 124 

Sir  John  Floyer 125 

Dr.  William  Heberden 125 

Dr.  James  Douglas 128 

Dr.  Edward  Tyson 130 

Sir  Hans  Sloane 130 

Sir  Thomas  Molyneux 134 

The  Irish  Mediaeval  Physicians          ....  139 

Dr.  David  Betthun 149 

University  of  Edinburgh 153 

Influence  of  Boerhaave 154 


APPENDIX 

PAGE 

I.    Charters  Witnessed  by  Grimbald     .        .        .158 

II.     Charter  Witnessed   by   John  of   London,  the 

Physician 160 

III.  Mayerne's  Note  on  the  Health  of  James  I    .       162 

IV.  Mayerne's    Note    on    the    Health    of    Queen 

Henrietta  Maria 176 

V.     Harvey's  Notes  on  Galen 181 

Index  .         . 187 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE  PAGE 

Grant  by  Gilbert,  Prior  of  Buttley,  to  St.  Bar- 
tholomew's Hospital,  1186-1189.  (Actual 
size) Frontispiece 

I.    Breviarium  Bartholomei.  Introduction.  (12|:  in. 

x3|:in.) To  face  page    31 

II.     Breviarium  Bartholomei.  Verses  indicating  the 

author's  name.     (12^  in.  x  8J  in.)      To  face  page    33 

III.  Breviarium  Bartholomei.     On  Materia  Medica. 

(12iin.  x3iin.)        .        .        .        To  face  page    36 

IV.  Florarium  Bartholomei.  Introduction.  (12^  in. 

xOJin.) To  face  page    44 

V.     Florarium  Bartholomei.  Chapter  on  Physicians. 

(12^in.  xOJin.)  .        .         .        To  face  page    46 

VI.    Liber   Serapionis.     Initial  showing  a  lecture 
on  Medical  Plants.     (Actual  size  of  column) 

To  face  page    52 

VII.     Liber  Serapionis.    Note  in  the  hand  of  Nicholas 

ofCusa.     (Actual  size  of  column)      To  face  page    53 

VIII.  Treatise  on  Materia  Medica,  in  the  hand  of 
Cormac  MacDuinntsleibhe,  written  in  1459. 
(8|in.  x5|in.)  ....        To  face  page  143 

IX.     Manuscript     of     Cormac    MacDuinntsleibhe. 

Chapter  on  Gout.  (8|  in.  x  5  J  in.)        To  face  page  144 

X.    Manuscript    of     Cormac     MacDuinntsleibhe. 
Chapter  on  Epilepsy.     (8|  in.  x  5|  in.)  . 

To  face  page  145 


LECTURE  I 

MEDICAL  STUDY  IN  LONDON  DUEING 
THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

Me.  President,  Censors,  and  FeUows  of  the  Col- 
lege,— It  is  right  that  these  lectures  should  begin 
with  a  commemoration  of  Dr.  Thomas  Fitz-Patrick, 
the  Member  of  this  College  in  whose  honour  they 
were  founded  by  Mrs.  Fitz-Patrick.  He  was  born 
in  1832  at  Virginia  in  Cavan,  received  his  school 
education  at  Carlow,  and  graduated  in  the  University 
of  Dublin.  His  medical  career  at  Trinity  College 
was  distinguished,  and  is  fitly  commemorated  there 
by  a  scholarship  bearing  his  name.  He  had  an 
inborn  love  of  learning  which  was,  of  course,  in- 
creased in  the  college  of  Burke  and  Swift  and 
Goldsmith,  and  which  continued  without  abatement 
to  the  end  of  his  life.  I  had  the  advantage  of  know- 
ing him  and  of  enjoying  his  conversation,  which  was 
that  of  a  man  who  had  read  and  re-read  the  great 
books  of  Greek  and  Latin,  of  English,  French,  Ger- 
man, Italian,  and  Spanish  literature  till  they  had 
become  part  of  his  mind.  He  was  devoid  alike  of 
love  of  display  and  of  pedantry,  and  his  one  desire 
in  knowing  much  was  that  what  he  knew  might 
help  him  to  know  more. 

The  history  of  medicine  is  a  subject  which  has 
never  been  neglected  in  this  College.     Dr.  Kichard 

MOOB£  B 


2  LECTURE   I 

Bartlot  of  All  Souls  College,  Oxford,  our  President 
in  1527,  was  learned  in  the  particular  part  of  it  on 
which  I  propose  to  lecture  to-day.  It  was  included 
in  the  profound  and  varied  attainments  of  Dr.  John 
Caius,  President  in  1555.  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  our 
President  from  1719  to  1735,  made  collections  of 
materials  for  medical  history  which  begin  with 
twelfth-century  manuscripts  of  Hippocrates  and 
Galen  and  extend  to  the  letters  of  the  physicians 
of  his  own  time.  Dr.  Baldwin  Hamey,  a  Censor 
in  1640  and  for  forty-two  years  a  Fellow  of  this 
College,  wrote  in  Latin  a  biographical  history  of  the 
physicians  of  his  time  from  the  year  1628,  entitled 
Bustorum  Aliquot  Beliquiae,  He  endeavours  to  give 
the  character  of  each  physician  in  a  few  sentences, 
and  though  he  never  sacrifices  truth  to  brevity  he 
is  not  always  free  from  the  conceits  which  were  in 
fashion  when  he  was  young.  His  account  of  Harvey 
is  an  example : 

Of  William  Harvey,  the  most  fortunate  anatomist, 
the  blood  ceased  to  move  on  the  third  day  of  the 
Ides  of  June  in  the  year  1657,  the  continuous  move- 
ment of  which  in  all  men,  moreover,  he  had  most 
truly  asserted.  What  more:  His  statue  in  his  robes, 
and  the  marble  carved  with  his  epitaph  in  his 
museum  in  our  college  as  well  as  his  annual  celebra- 
tion will  easily  atone  to  Harvey  for  this  my  brevity. 
Unless,  perhaps,  it  may  be  pleasing  to  add  an  epi- 
gram I  made:  That  according  to  the  opinion  of 
Copernicus  as  to  the  motion  of  the  earth  and  of 
Harvey  as  to  the  movement  of  the  blood  we  are 
here — 

"Ep  t€  Tpox^  irdvT^s  /cat  ivl  iracri  rpo^oi. 


STUDY  IN  LONDON  3 

In  Latin — 

Tunc  agit  atque  agimus  nos  rota  nosque  rotam ; 
or  in  English — 
Then  are  we  all  in  a  wheel  and  a  wheel  in  us  all. 

Books,  like  living  teachers,  besides  giving  instruc- 
tion in  their  subject,  stimulate  future  workers,  and 
the  modest  little  book  of  Hamey,  which  only  exists 
in  manuscript,  was  probably  the  origin  of  Dr.  William 
Munk's  Roll  of  the  Boyal  College  of  Physicians  of  London, 
a  well-arranged  collection  of  medical  biography. 
Dr.  MacMichael,  Censor  in  1820,  wrote  part  of  the 
Lives  of  British  Physicians  in  which  Dr.  Munk  also 
had  a  share,  and  which  is  a  piece  of  good  literature 
containing  much  information.  The  light  and  enter- 
taining style  of  MacMichael's  Gold-headed  Cane  must 
not  exclude  it  from  consideration  as  a  contribution 
to  medical  history. 

Dr.  John  Freind  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  was 
elected  a  Fellow  of  our  College  in  1716.  He  was 
already  known  for  his  classical  learning  and  soon 
became  eminent  in  the  practice  of  his  profession. 
In  1725  and  1726  he  published  The  History  of 
Physick  from  the  time  of  Galen  to  the  beginning  of  the 
Sixteenth  Century,  which  begins  with  Oribasius  and 
Aetius  and  ends  with  Linacre,  our  founder.  Freind 
had  studied  every  author  whose  works  he  describes, 
and  was  as  learned  in  the  mediaeval  writers  as  in 
the  Greeks.  He  is  always  interesting,  even  in  his 
accounts  of  the  most  prolix  writers  of  the  least 
brilliant  periods,  and  his  book  is  valuable  because 

b2 


4  LECTURE   I 

he  was  skilled  in  the  practice  of  medicine  as  well 
as  deeply  read  in  the  medical  treatises  of  classical, 
mediaeval,  and  modern  times.  His  history  is  one 
of  those  few  writings  on  the  subject  of  a  particular 
profession  which,  like  Sir  Wilham  Blackstone's 
Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  England,  deserves  a 
permanent  place  in  general  literature.  I  need  only 
remind  you  of  the  works  of  our  Harveian  librarian, 
Dr.  J.  F.  Payne,  of  his  Fitz-Patrick  lectures,  of  his 
introduction  to  the  reprint  of  the  Cambridge  edition 
of  Linacre's  Latin  version  of  the  *De  Temperamentis' 
of  Galen,  of  his  numerous  contributions  to  the 
history  of  epidemics,  of  his  admirable  biography  of 
Linacre,  and  of  his  many  medical  lives  in  the 
Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  to  convince  you 
that  the  history  of  medicine  is  not  neglected 
among  the  present  Fellows  of  this  College. 

A  few  months  ago,  while  watching  the  excavations 
necessary  for  the  foundations  of  the  new  out-patient 
rooms  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  I  saw  dug  up 
from  many  feet  below  the  surface  a  piece  of  Samian 
ware  and  a  coin  of  the  Emperor  Nero.  Some  few 
days  later  another  coin  of  the  same  emperor  was 
found.  These  bronze  dupondii  had  been  used  in 
that  commerce  of  which  their  contemporary,  Tacitus, 
speaks  in  the  first  passage  in  literature  which  con- 
tains the  name  of  the  famous  city  in  which  we  live. 
*At  Suetonius  mira  constantia  medios  inter  hostes 
Londinium  perrexit,  cognomento  quidem  coloniae 
non  insigne,  sed  copia  negotiatorum  et  commeatuum 
maxime  celebre.'     Such  relics  of  the  business  trans- 


STUDY   IN   LONDON  5 

actions  of  the  empire  and  the  numerous  examples 
of  mosaic  pavements,  of  Koman  inscriptions,  pottery, 
glass  and  coins  discovered  at  various  times  through- 
out the  city,  as  well  as  the  fragments  of  Eoman 
walls  and  roads,  help  us  to  realize  that  in  the  time 
of  Galen  London  was  within  the  sphere  of  influence 
of  Koman  civilization. 

London  had  some  share,  however  small,  in  the 
intellectual  life  of  Eome,  and  through  Eome  felt 
the  influence  of  ancient  Greece  in  literature  and 
in  science.  There  is  nothing  improbable  in  the 
supposition  that  men  who  had  consulted  Galen  as 
to  their  health  may  have  walked  along  the  Roman 
causeway  in  Cheapside  on  which,  fifteen  hundred 
years  later.  Wren  placed  the  foundations  of  the 
present  tower  of  the  church  of  St.  Mary-le-Bow,  or 
may  have  watched  the  Britons  bringing  products 
of  fishing  or  of  the  chase  up  Walbrook  from  the 
Thames  in  skin-covered  wicker  boats.  The  tides  of 
the  world's  mind  ebb  and  flow,  but  however  great 
the  ebb  some  tide-marks  generally  remain  showing 
where  the  waves  of  intellect  have  been.  Among 
the  few  traces  left  of  the  intellectual  life  of  the 
Eomano-British  period  are  the  Confession  of  Patrick 
and  the  Epistle  against  Coroticus.  The  '  imperitia ' 
and  *  rusticitas '  of  which  the  writer  complains  take 
nothing  from  the  interest  of  these  compositions  as 
the  authentic  literary  remains  of  Britain  in  the  fifth 
century.  The  letter  in  which  Quintus  Cicero,  writing 
from  the  camp  of  Julius  Caesar,  mentions  Lucretius, 
is  the  first  indication  of  the  spread  of  the  literature 


6  LECTURE   I 

of  the  civilized  world  to  our  island,  while  the  Con- 
fession of  Patrick  and  his  Epistle  to  the  Christian 
subjects  of  Coroticus  seem  the  last  remains  of  living 
literature  of  the  classical  period  in  Britain.  When 
the  son  of  Calpurnius  set  forth  on  his  missionary 
travels  the  legions  had  already  been  withdrawn,  and 
the  tribes  from  whose  union  the  English  nation  is 
mainly  derived  were  pouring  into  Britain,  making 
settlements  after  their  own  manner  and  destroying 
the  Eomano-British  civilization. 

Kent  and  Sussex,  Essex  and  East  Anglia,  Wessex, 
Mercia,  and  Northumbria  were  carved  out  of  Britain, 
kingdoms  still  marked  in  the  vowel  sounds  and 
accents  of  their  natives,  as  we  may  observe  them 
in  the  out-patient  rooms  or  wards  of  our  hospitals. 
After  constant  wars  a  Eex  Anglorum  arose  strong 
enough  to  maintain  his  supremacy,  and  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  nation  was  formed  and  grew  in  strength. 
My  learned  predecessor  in  this  lectureship  has 
shown  what  progress  was  made  in  science,  and  has 
maintained  that  the  medicine  of  the  Anglo-Saxons 
was  not  unworthy  of  the  countrymen  of  Csedmon,  of 
Bede,  and  of  Alcuin.  The  Norman  Conquest  placed 
England  once  more  in  direct  and  constant  relation 
with  the  rest  of  the  Western  world,  and  for  more 
than  a  century  London  was  a  city  in  which  foreign 
influence  predominated.  Though  the  Conqueror 
granted  a  charter,  still  preserved  in  the  custody  of 
the  City  at  Guildhall,  to  Doorman,  a  prominent 
Saxon  of  London,  and  though  the  districts  which 
ultimately  made  up  the  City  and  which  were  very 


STUDY  IN  LONDON  7 

early  called  wards  were  presided  over  by  men  with 
the  Saxon  style  of  Alderman,  it  is  nevertheless  clear 
that  soon  after  the  Conquest  the  chief  influence  in 
London  was  not  that  of  the  Saxons.  The  bishops  of 
the  see,  the  deans  of  St.  Paul's,  the  canons  of  that 
cathedral,  the  deans  of  the  College  of  St.  Martin-le- 
Grand,  many  of  the  secular  clergy,  the  magnates  of 
London,  the  officials  of  the  Exchequer,  and  the 
justiciars  were  almost  all  of  Norman,  or  French,  or 
Breton,  or  Italian  birth  or  descent.  The  charters  of 
the  time  show  the  predominance  of  foreigners  by 
the  way  in  which  the  preambles  often  mention  the 
French  first.  A  grant  to  St.  Bartholomew's  Hos- 
pital, made  in  London  by  John,  Earl  of  Moreton, 
afterwards  King  John,  on  the  eve  of  All  Saints, 
1193,  begins  :  *  Johannes  comes  Moretonie  omnibus 
hominibus  et  amicis  suis  Francis  et  Anglis  presenti- 
bus  et  futuris  salutem.'  Another  somewhat  earlier 
charter  of  a  great  landowner  in  Essex  begins:  *Serlo 
de  Marci  omnibus  hominibus  suis  Francis  et  Anglis 
presentibus  et  futuris  salutem.'  And  another,  written 
in  London  and  copied  into  the  cartulary  of  St.  Mary 
of  Dunmow,^  uses  a  similar  form :  *  Walterus  filius 
Eoberti  omnibus  sancte  matris  ecclesie  filiis  et 
omnibus  hominibus  suis  Francis  et  Anglis  salutem.' 
The  civil  institutions  of  London  assumed  a  French 
complexion,  and  the  terms  *  Communa '  and  '  Mayor ' 
were  introduced  from  France. 

I  have  dwelt  upon  this  close  relationship  with 
France  because  it  has  an  important  bearing  on  the 
1  Harley  662,  f.  12  b. 


8  LECTURE   1 

nature  of  our  early  hospitals.  In  this  time  when 
foreign  influence  was  predominant  in  London,  while 
the  great  English  nation  of  the  future  was  slowly 
being  formed,  physicians  are  now  and  then  men- 
tioned in  records  still  extant.  King  Henry  I  had 
a  physician  named  Grimbald,  who  appears  as  a  wit- 
ness in  a  very  solemn  charter  of  1105/  in  which 
Henry,  King  of  the  English,  with  the  consent  of 
Matilda  his  wife,  grants  ten  hides  of  land  in 
Lifesholt  to  the  abbey  of  Abingdon.  The  witnesses' 
names  succeed  their  crosses  or  marks,  and  begin  with 
*  Ego  Henricus  rex  redicionem  et  donacionem  hanc 
signavi ',  Eanulf,  Bishop  of  Durham ;  John,  Bishop 
of  Bath  and  Wells ;  Hervey,  Bishop  of  Bangor ; 
Kobert,  Bishop  of  Lincoln;  Eoger,  Bishop-elect  of 
Salisbury.  William  de  Werelwast,  Waldric  the 
king's  chancellor,  are  witnesses,  and  their  names 
are  followed  by  the  physician's  attestation :  *  Ego 
Grimbaldus  medicus  interfui.'  Three  seneschals 
or  dapifers,  important  officers  in  the  royal  court, 
come  next — Eudo,  Koger  Bigod,  and  Haimo.  Three 
other  witnesses  follow,  Urs  de  Abetot,  Walter,  son 
of  Richard,  and  Eoger  de  Oilei,  the  constable. 
Another  grant  of  the  same  king  to  the  same  abbey, 
giving  a  hospice  in  Westminster  Street,  London,  to 
the  abbot,  has  as  its  witnesses  Grimbald  the  physician 
and  Nigell  de  Albini.     It  was  made  at  Windsor.^ 

The  next  charter  in  the  beautiful  register  of  the 
abbey  of  Abingdon  ^  is  addressed  to  Eichard,  Bishop 

^  Claudius  C.  ix,  f.  159  a  (British  Museum). 
*  f.  150  a.  »  ib. 


STUDY  IN   LONDON  9 

of  London,  and  grants  land  to  the  abbey.  Its  first 
witness  is  that  Eoger,  Bishop  of  Sarum,  who  after- 
wards took  so  active  a  part  in  the  early  wars  of 
King  Stephen,  and  the  fourth  is  Grimbald  the 
physician.  It  was  witnessed  at  Westminster.  An- 
other charter  of  Henry  I  ^  to  the  same  abbey,  ad- 
dressed to  the  sheriff  of  Oxfordshire  and  executed 
at  Eomsey,  is  witnessed  by  the  chancellor  and  by 
Grimbald.  Yet  another  charter  addressed  by  the 
king  from  Woodstock  to  Herbert,  Bishop  of  Nor- 
wich, the  builder  of  the  present  choir  and  transepts 
of  Norwich  Cathedral,  has  for  its  first  two  witnesses 
Ranulf  the  chancellor  and  Grimbald  the  physician.  ^ 
A  grant  of  Queen  Matilda  ^  to  Faritius  the  abbot 
and  the  abbey  of  Abingdon  is  witnessed  by  Roger 
the  chancellor  (afterwards  Bishop  of  Salisbury)  and 
Grimbald  the  physician.  An  ordinance*  of  King 
Henry  I  issued  from  Oxford,  addressed  *  Omnibus 
constabulariis  et  omnibus  fidelibus  suis  de  curia', 
orders  that  no  one  shall  stay  at  Abingdon  without 
the  abbot's  leave,  and  its  sole  witness  is  Grimbald 
the  physician.  A  charter  of  Henry  I  ^  about  land 
at  Wincfeld  belonging  to  the  abbot  of  Abingdon 
is  witnessed  at  Northampton  by  Eoger  Bigot  and 
Grimbald  the  physician.  Another  deed  addressed 
to  Nigel  de  Oilley  is  witnessed  by  Grimbald.  Thus 
it  is  clear  that  Grimbald  Hved  in  the  royal  court 
and  travelled  about  with  the  king.  Two  charters  of 
the  reign  of  Henry  I,  now  at  St.  Paul's  Cathedral, 

»  Claudius  C.  ix,  f.  149  a.  '  f.  147  b. 

M.  145  b.  *f.  151a.  ''f.  152  a. 


10  LECTURE   I 

mention  other  physicians  of  the  time.  William, 
Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  granted  to  John,  the  physician, 
and  his  heirs  some  land  in  Aldermanesburi  at  a  rent 
of  three  shillings  a  year,  eighteen-pence  at  Easter 
and  eighteen-pence  at  Michaelmas.  The  last  wit- 
ness is  Gilbert  the  physician.  William  was  Dean 
of  St.  Paul's  from  1111  to  about  1136,^  so  that 
Aldermanbury  may  be  regarded  as  the  earliest  re- 
corded residence  of  a  physician  in  London.  It  is 
clear  by  the  position  of  the  physician  among  the 
witnesses  and  by  the  absence  of  any  indication  of 
clerical  office  that  Gilbert  was  a  layman. 

Another  charter,  also  at  St.  Paul's,  mentions  a 
physician  who,  like  our  founder  Linacre  and  our 
original  Fellow  Dr.  Chambre,  was  in  holy  orders. 
It  is  an  agreement  made  about  1127  between 
William  the  Dean  and  the  Canons  of  St.  Paul's, 
and  William  de  Marci.  After  Otuel,  son  of  the 
earl,  Hugh  de  Eedvers,  Aldewin  the  queen's 
chamberlain,  and  Giifard  the  chaplain,  Clarumbald,^ 
physician  and  chaplain,  occurs  as  a  witness,  followed 
by  nineteen  other  witnesses.  The  first  large 
monastic  foundation  in  London  was  the  Augustinian 
Priory  of  Holy  Trinity,  Aldgate,  and  its  cartulary 
is  preserved  in  the  varied  collection  of  books  and 
antiquities  which  William  Hunter  bequeathed  to 
the  University  of  Glasgow.  It  contains  a  copy  of 
a  charter  addressed  to  the  Bishop  of  London  by 
Geoffrey  de  Mandeville,  the  Earl  of  Essex,  who 
died  in  1144,  the  remains  of  whose  castle  of  Pleshy 

'  Hist.  MSS.  Com,,  Ninth  Keport,  p.  67.  '  lb.  p.  66. 


STUDY  IN  LONDON  11 

may  still  be  seen  in  Essex.  He  was  chief  constable 
of  the  Tower,  and  in  this  charter  he  restores  to  the 
Priory  of  Holy  Trinity  a  mill  and  some  land  next 
the  Tower  which  he  had  taken  from  them.  The  first 
witness  of  this  charter  is  his  wife,  Eohaisia,  and  the 
last  two  are  Ernulf  the  physician  and  Iwod  the 
physician.  Mr.  J.  H.  Eound  in  his  Geoffrey  de 
Mandeville  conjectures  that  the  presence  of  these 
two  physicians  and  of  a  Templar  indicates  that 
the  restoration  was  made  when  this  earl,  who 
was  one  of  the  great  lords  who  made  the  state  of 
England  intolerable  in  the  reign  of  Stephen,  was  on 
his  deathbed,  slowly  dying  from  an  arrow  wound  in 
the  head.  This  document,  though  connected  with 
London  by  its  address  to  the  bishop,  was  probably 
attested  near  Burwell  where  the  earl  lay.^  A 
charter  written  later  in  the  same  century  was 
undoubtedly  attested  in  London  and  by  a  London 
physician.  It  chances  to  be  the  earliest  document 
relating  to  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital  in  which  a 
physician  is  mentioned,  and  is  a  grant  of  some  land 
on  the  south  side  of  Newgate  Street  in  London  from 
Gilbert,  prior  of  the  Augustinian  canons  of  Butley 
in  Suffolk,  to  the  brethren  of  the  hospital,  written 
between  1186  and  1189.  The  physician  is  the  last 
of  nineteen  witnesses  to  this  charter.  Hubert 
Walter,  Dean  of  York,  is  the  first  witness,  who, 
though  not  a  physician,  was  a  man  of  science. 
This  great  man  was  a  baron  of  the  Exchequer  in 

^  J.  H.  Round,  Geoffrey  de  Mandeville,  p.  101,  where  the 
charter  is  printed  from  the  transcript  in  the  Guildhall. 


12  LECTURE   I 

1184,  became  Dean  of  York  in  1186,  and  in  1189 
Bishop  of  Salisbury.  He  went  to  the  Holy  Land 
with  Eichard  Coeur  de  Lion  and  was  one  of 
the  first  band  of  pilgrims  admitted  by  the  Mussul- 
mans to  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  In  1193  he  became 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  Chief  Justiciar  of 
England.  In  May,  1194,  when  Richard,  after  his 
release,  left  England,  Hubert  Walter  was  left  as 
chief  governor  of  the  country.  Having  thus  risen 
to  the  highest  rank  as  an  ecclesiastic,  a  statesman, 
and  a  lawyer,  in  November,  1197,  he  appears  in  the 
chronicles  as  a  man  of  science,  the  first  reformer  of 
the  standards  of  England.  He  engaged  in  the 
difficult  task  of  making  uniform  throughout  the 
realm  all  weights  and  measures,  whether  of  capacity 
or  of  length,  every  measure  of  wine  and  of  cloth.  ^ 
His  ordinance,  like  many  similar  enactments  of  later 
times,  failed  to  produce  the  uniformity  intended, 
owing  to  the  tenacity  with  which  men  adhere  to 
the  familiar  things  of  the  household,  the  farm,  and 
the  market. 

A  charter  in  the  British  Museum  relating  to  the 
hospital  of  St.  Cross  at  Winchester,  ^  dated  April  10, 

1185,  of  which  the  first  witness  is  King  Henry  II 
himself,  *  Henrico  illustri  rege  Anglorum,'  and 
which  is  also  witnessed  by  Hubert  Walter,  has  two 
physicians  among  its  witnesses,  *  Magistris  Hamone 

'  Matthew  Paris  (Rolls  Series),  ed.  Luard,  vol.  ii,  p.  442  ; 
Hoveden  (Rolls  Series),  ed.  Stubbs,  vol.  iv,  p.  433. 

^  Printed  with  facsimile  in  Warner  and  Ellis,  Facsimiles  of 
Charters. 


STUDY  IN   LONDON  18 

et  Eicardo  medicis.'  King  Henry  was  going  abroad 
with  Heraclius,  the  patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  and 
Koger  de  Molins,  Master  of  the  Hospitallers,  and 
these  physicians  were  accompanying  him,  and  were 
not  the  attendants  of  the  Hospital  of  St.  Cross  ;  that 
hospital,  indeed,  was  from  the  first  intended  as  a 
refuge  for  the  relief  of  poverty  and  not  of  sickness. 
Its  inmates  are  called  not  infirmi  but  pauperes. 
In  this  charter  Kichard,  formerly  Archdeacon  of 
Poictiers  and  a  distinguished  official  of  the  Court 
of  Exchequer,  but  then  Bishop  of  Winchester,  in- 
creases the  number  of  the  poor  to  be  relieved  from 
one  hundred  and  thirteen  to  two  hundred  and 
thirteen.  The  seals  attached  to  this  fine  specimen  of 
the  penmanship  of  its  period  are  perfect,  and  on  one 
of  them  is  a  figure  in  a  canopied  bed  with  a  large 
bolster,  a  representation  of  a  twelfth-century  bed 
such  as  the  poor  of  that  hospital  and  the  patients 
of  other  hospitals  of  that  time  may  have  occupied. 

Master  Kanulphus  Besace,  a  contemporary  of 
Dr.  John  of  London,  who  was  physician  to  King 
Eichard  I  in  Palestine  and  afterwards  lived 
to  old  age  in  London,  related  to  Matthew  Paris 
how  when  Saladin  took  the  Prince  of  Antioch 
prisoner  1  he  was  sent  to  try  to  arrange  his 
release.  Saladin  was  sitting  in  his  court,  and  the 
captive  Christian  knight  was  led  in  with  his  arms 
bound.  *What,'  said  Saladin,  *  would  you  do  to 
me  were  I  your  prisoner  as  you  now  are  mine?' 

^  Luard  (Matthew  Paris:  Eolls  Series)  conjectures  that 
Keginald  de  Chatillon  was  the  prisoner. 


14  LECTURE   I 

*  I  would  cut  off  your  head  and  do  it  myself,  because, 
though  an  infidel,  you  are  some  kind  of  king,'  said 
the  Christian  knight.  Saladin  said,  *And  I  will 
decapitate  thee,  intemperate  fellow,'  rose,  and  asked 
for  his  sword.  *Take,  dog,  this  my  head,  thou 
shameful  hairy-bearded,  lean-faced,  and  vile-eared 
Pagan  ;  for  myself,  I  have  no  more  to  say  than  that 
I  commend  my  soul  to  God.'  Saladin  said,  *  Oh ! 
obstinate,  not  even  in  dying  shalt  thou  prevail,'  and 
with  a  light  blow  cut  off  his  head.  Dr.  Eanulphus 
Besace,  who  witnessed  this  terrible  scene,  lived  to 
the  middle  of  the  reign  of  Henry  III,  and  filled 
the  stall  of  Newington  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral. 
Matthew  Paris  also  knew  a  Dr.  Eeginald  at  St. 
Albans. 

John  of  Hertford  was  elected  abbot  of  St.  Albans 
on  March  27,  1235,  and  Matthew  Paris,  then 
himself  a  monk  of  that  abbey,  records  that  two 
monks,  both  in  priests'  orders,  were  sent  to  Rome 
to  obtain  confirmation  of  the  election.  One  of  these 
was  Magister  Reginaldus  Physicus.  They  took 
formal  letters  with  them,  and  later  in  the  year 
came  back  with  the  document  they  sought  from 
Pope  Gregory  IX.  In  the  obituary  of  the  abbey  of 
1212-53  it  is  noted  that  this  Reginald,  physician 
and  priest  (physicus,  sacerdos),  died  on  Sept.  21, 
1251.  Matthew  Paris  in  1255  records  the  death  of 
three  trusted  officials  of  the  queen  of  King  Henry 
III  ^ — Robert  Muscegros,  her  seneschal ;  Walter  de 

*  Matthew  Paris  (Rolls  Series),  ed.  H.  R.  Luard,  vol.  iii, 
pp.  407  et  seq.,  and  vol.  vi,  p.  269. 


STUDY   IN  LONDON  15 

Bradele,  her  treasurer ;  and  Master  Alexander,  her 
physician,  *  three  men  worthy  of  the  highest  praise/ 
Queen  Eleanor  had  also  another  physician,  Magister 
Keginaldus  de  Bathonia.^  She  sent  him  to  see  her 
daughter,  the  Queen  of  Scotland,  and  when  he  came 
*  ad  castrum  puellarum  quod  vulgariter  dicitur 
Edenburc',  he  showed  his  letters  to  the  Scottish 
court  and  was  well  received.  He  asked  the  young 
Queen,  when  he  had  a  private  audience,  why  she 
was  so  pale  and  depressed,  and  she  admitted  that 
the  Scots  did  not  treat  her  kindly.  He  reproved 
them  for  their  treatment  of  her.  After  a  few  days 
he  fell  ill  and  took  to  his  bed,  so  that  some  said  he 
was  poisoned.  When  he  knew  he  was  dying  he 
wrote  to  the  King  and  Queen  of  England,  and  said 
that  he  had  come  to  Scotland  on  an  unhappy  day, 
and  that  the  queen  was  inhumanly  treated  by  the 
Scots.  Matthew  Paris  evidently  did  not  admire  the 
physician,  for  he  says  :  *  Magister  autem  physicus 
cum  virus  discordie  et  magni  venturi  mali  et 
dampni  irrestaurabilis  evomuisset  animam  miseram 
exhalavit.' 

In  a  charter  belonging  to  St.  Albans  Abbey  and 
of  about  the  year  1259  of  John,  son  of  Alexander 
the  carpenter  of  Walthamstede,  the  seventeenth  of 
nineteen  witnesses  is  Adam  the  physician,  and  he  is 
followed  by  William,  his  son.  Another  charter  of 
the  same  period  in  the  same  register  is  that  of  John, 
son  of  Walter,  granting  a  rent  of  six  shillings  to  St. 
Albans  Abbey.  William  the  physician  is  the  sixth 
^  Luard  :  Matthew  Paris  (Rolls  Series),  vol.  v,  p.  501. 


16  LECTURE   I 

of  the  twelve  witnesses,  and  it  seems  possible  that 
this  is  the  son  of  Adam  the  physician. 

Matthew  Paris,  friend  of  King  Henry  III  and  of 
many  magnates  of  the  realm  in  church  and  state, 
and  living  in  the  greatest  abbey  of  England  in  the 
midst  of  the  intellectual  life  of  the  time,  knew 
personally  five  physicians,  and  may  have  seen  two 
more.  From  the  writings  of  this  historian  we  can 
draw  up  a  sort  of  Medical  Kegister  of  the  time  of 
King  Henry  III. 

Adam,  physician  practising  at  St.  Albans. 
Alexander,    physician     to     Queen     Eleanor    of 

Provence. 
Bathonia,  Eeginald  de,  physician  to  Queen  Eleanor 

of  Provence ;  sent  on  a  mission  to  the  court  of 

Scotland. 
Besace,  Kanulphus,  Canon  of  St.  Paul's  (1217-43). 

Served  in  the  crusade  with  King    Kichard  I, 

and  sent  as  envoy  to  Saladin. 
John  de  Sancto  Egidio,  doctor  of  medicine,  doctor 

of  laws,    doctor    of    theology,    a    Dominican, 

studied  at  Paris  and  at  Montpellier,  professor 

at  Paris  and  at  Oxford  ;  sometime  physician  to 

the  King  of  France;  physician  to  the  Bishop 

of  Lincoln. 
Eeginald,   physician  ;    a  priest   resident   in    St. 

Albans   Abbey,  sent  on   a   mission   from  the 

abbey  to  Kome  (1235-51). 
Richard    de    Wendover,    physician,    Canon    of 

St.  Paul's. 
William,  physician  at  St.  Albans,  son  of  Adam 

the  physician. 

That  physicians  were  not  numerous  in  London  is 
suggested  by  the  rarity  with  which  they  occur  as 
witnesses  in  London  charters  in  the  long  reign  of 


STUDY  IN   LONDON  17 

Henry  III.  It  is  clear  that  considerable  attain- 
ments were  necessary  before  a  man  was  styled 
medicus  or  physicus.  His  study  chiefly  consisted 
in  reading  books  and  hearing  lectures  on  books  in 
the  university.  Most  learned  men  had  read  some 
medicine,  or  knew  something  about  it ;  and  some 
ecclesiastics  had  specially  devoted  themselves  to  a 
study  the  use  of  which  was  so  suitable  to  their 
profession.  Of  this  kind  was  the  abbot  of  Croke- 
stone  *in  arte  medicina  erudito',  who  attended 
John  in  1216  at  Newark.  The  king  had  been 
marching  through  Suffolk  and  Norfolk,  ravaging  the 
districts  which  had  shortly  before  yielded  to  Lewis 
of  France,  and  reached  the  abbey  of  Swinestead  in 
Lincolnshire,  where  he  slept.  He  was  deeply  de- 
jected by  the  loss  of  his  baggage  and  treasure  in 
quicksands.  He  had  severe  rigors,  '  acutis  correptus 
febribus,'  yet,  hungry  after  the  march,  ate  a  large 
meal  and  drank  much  new  beer.  His  temperature 
continued  to  rise,  'febrilem  in  se  calorem  acuit 
fortiter  et  accendii'  Next  day,  nevertheless,  he 
went  on  to  the  castle  of  Sleaford.  After  a  night 
there  he  was  drawn  in  a  horse  litter  to  Newark. 
He  took  to  bed  and  was  conscious  enough  to 
receive  the  Holy  Eucharist  and  afterwards  to 
nominate  his  son  Henry  as  his  heir,  and  to  order 
the  Great  Seal  to  be  affixed  to  letters  patent  ad- 
dressed to  the  sheriffs  and  castellans  of  the  realm 
commanding  them  to  be  '  ei  intendentes '.  He  was 
obviously  getting  worse,  and  the  abbot  of  Croke- 
stone  in  guarded  terms  asked  him  where  he  wished 


i 


18  LECTURE   1 

to  be  buried  should  he  die.  The  king,  speaking  no 
doubt  in  French,  said,  *  To  God  and  St.  Wulstan  I 
recommend  my  body  and  soul.'  This  seems  to  have 
been  on  St.  Luke's  day,  and  he  died  the  night  follow- 
ing. His  illness,  thus  terminating  within  a  week  and 
beginning  with  a  violent  rigor  and  aggravated  by  his 
moving  on  from  Swinestead  instead  of  staying  in 
bed,  may  have  been  acute  pneumonia  or  an  acute 
gastro-enteritis,  aggravated  by  exhaustion,  mental 
and  physical.  The  abbot  of  Crokestone,  ^  qui  Medi- 
cus  regis  tunc  temporis  extiterat,'  made  a  necropsy, 
*  facta  anatomia  de  corpore  regio,'  not  for  patho- 
logical purposes  but  *  ut  honestius  portaretur'.  He 
carried  the  viscera  to  his  own  religious  house,  and 
there  honourably  buried  them.  The  body  with  its 
proper  ornam^ents  was  borne  to  Worcester,  where 
the  royal  tomb  may  be  seen  to  this  day. 

Eobert  Grosseteste,  Bishop  of  Lincoln  from  1235 
to  1253,  knew  Greek  as  well  as  Latin,  and  in  his 
extensive  reading  he  had  not  neglected  medical 
books  and  was  able  to  apply  his  knowledge.  To 
a  preaching  friar  whose  health  was  imperfect  he 
recommended  sufficient  food,  proper  sleep,  and 
good  humour,  clearly  having  in  his  mind  the 
lines  of  the  School  of  Salernum : 

Si  tibi  deficiant  Medici,  Medici  tibi  fiant 

Haec  tria  :  mens  hilaris,  requies,  moderata  dieta. 

He  advised  another  friar,  who  had  a  tendency  to 

melancholia,  to  take  a  cup  of  good  wine ;  and  his 

insistence  on  its  quality,  when  his  own  ascetic  life 

and  the  context  are  considered,  shows  that  he  had 


STUDY   IN   LONDON  ig 

another  verse  of  the  ^  Kegimen  Sanitatis  Salerni ' 
in  his  thoughts  : 

Gignit  et  humores  melius  vinum  meliores. 

After  a  prescription  in  a  fourteenth-century  manu- 
script (Mirfield)  is  written :  *  Et  dicitur  hoc  esse 
per  Kobertum  Grosseteste  Episcopum  Lincolni- 
ensem.'  We  may  be  certain  that  Grosseteste 
had  read  the  chapter  on  medicine  in  the  Liber 
Etymologiarum  of  Isidore  of  Seville.  His  chief 
friend  was  a  physician,  Dr.  John  of  St.  Giles  (de 
Sancto  Egidio),  sometimes  called  John  of  St.  Albans. 
The  libraries  of  monasteries  and  cathedrals  always 
contained  books  on  medicine,  and  as  reading  was 
thought  the  chief  source  of  medical  knowledge 
books  were  even  more  important  to  a  physician  in 
the  Middle  Ages  than  they  are  at  the  present  day. 
The  catalogue  of  the  library  of  Chaucer's  physician 
is  familiar  to  every  one  : 

Well  knew  he  the  olde  Aesculapius, 
And  Deiscorides  and  eek  Rufus, 
Old  Ypocras,  Haly  and  Galien  ; 
Serapyon,  Razis  and  Avycen  ; 
Averrois,  Damascien  and  Constantyn ; 
Bernard  and  Gatesden  and  Gilbertyn. 

Some  such  book  as  Trismegistus  ad  Asclepium^  one 
leaf  of  which  begins  with  the  words  ^  Asclepius  iste 
pro  sole ',  was  perhaps  in  Chaucer's  mind  when  he 
placed  Aesculapius  in  the  list.  A  copy  of  Trisme- 
gistus was  in  the  library  of  Dover  Priory,  and  the 
same  library,  which  had  in  it  some  one  hundred  and 
eighteen  medical  treatises,  contained  amongst  them 

c2 


20  LECTURE   I 

works  of  Hippocrates,  Galen,  Ehazes,  Bernard,  and 
Gilbert,  as  is  shown  by  the  catalogue  of  the  library 
written  in  1389  and  thus  almost  exactly  contemporary 
with  the  Canterbury  Tales,  The  library  of  St.  Augus- 
tine's Abbey  at  Canterbury  contained  ten  of  the 
fifteen  authors  mentioned  by  Chaucer  in  its  collection 
of  two  hundred  and  thirty  or  more  medical  works. 
Aesculapius,  Kufus,  Averrois,  Damascien,  and  Gates- 
den  are  the  writers  who  were  not  in  the  library. 
The  catalogue  was  written  towards  the  end  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  The  catalogue  of  the  library  of 
Christ  Church,  Canterbury,  contains  over  two 
hundred  and  eighty  medical  treatises,  including 
nine  of  those  of  Chaucer.  The  catalogue  was 
written  in  the  time  of  Prior  Henry  de  Estria,  whose 
name  is  familiar  to  every  visitor  to  Canterbury  at 
the  present  day  from  the  beautiful  stone  screen  with 
finely  proportioned  geometrical  tracery  with  which 
he  enclosed  the  choir  of  that  noble  church.  De 
Estria  ruled  from  1284  to  1331,  so  that  he  had  been 
prior  for  twenty  years  before  two  of  the  authors  in 
Chaucer's  list  had  risen  to  fame.  Bernard  and 
Gatesden,  Aesculapius,  Serapion,  Eufus,  and  Gilbert 
are  the  others  absent  in  the  Christ  Church  library. 
These  three  catalogues  have  been  printed  by 
Dr.  Montague  Bhodes  James,  whose  learning  may, 
we  hope,  long  continue  to  produce  works  which  add 
so  much  to  the  fame  of  the  University  of  Cambridge, 
and  of  the  ancient  foundation  of  which  he  has 
recently  been  elected  the  head — a  foundation  of  one 
member  of  which,  Henry  Bradshaw,  I  should  indeed 


STUDY  IN   LONDON  21 

be  forgetful  if  I  did  not  express  my  gratitude  when 
lecturing  on  my  subject  of  to-day,  since  he  first 
opened  to  me  the  stores  of  mediaeval  literature. 

At  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  a  solitary  manuscript  of 
Avicenna  remains,  given  to  it  in  May,  1451,  by  John 
Somerset,  Master  of  Arts  and  Doctor  of  Law, 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  of  England.  Eeading 
and  hearing  lectures  were  the  chief  means  used  to 
acquire  medical  knowledge,  but  hospitals  existed 
which  contained  patients  with  various  diseases  and 
so  gave  opportunities  for  observation. 

Jacobus  de  Vitry,  Bishop  of  Acre  in  Palestine 
and  a  cardinal,  in  his  Historia  Occidentalism'^  written 
about  1220,  shows  the  nature  of  the  hospitals  of  his 
time  in  France  and  consequently  of  similar  institu- 
tions in  England.  He  is  giving  an  account  of  the 
state  of  society  in  the  West  of  Europe  :  *  There  are, 
moreover,  very  many  associations  of  men  and  of 
women  renouncing  the  world  and  living  by  rule  in 
houses  of  lepers  or  hospitals  of  the  poor,  humbly 
and  devotedly  ministering  to  the  poor  and  the  sick. 
They  live  according  to  the  rule  of  St.  Augustine. 
.  .  .  These  servants  of  Christ,  sober  and  sparing 
towards  themselves,  and  rigid  towards  their  own 
bodies,  abound  in  compassion  towards  the  poor  and 
sick,  and  at  once  minister  to  them  all  necessaries  to 
the  best  of  their  ability.  For  Christ's  sake  they 
bear  the  filth  and  impurities  of  the  patients  and  the 

^  lacobi  de  Vitriaco,  Primum  Acconensis  deinde  Tusculani 
Episcopi :  libri  duo  quorum  prior  Orientalis  sive  Hierosolymitanae, 
alter  Occidentalis  Historiae  nomine  inscrihitur.     Duaci,  1597. 


22  LECTURE   I 

annoyance  of  almost  unbearable  smells.'  He  ends 
with  a  eulogium  of  several  good  hospitals  and  says 
that  they  are  *  a  refuge  to  the  poor,  an  asylum  for 
the  wretched,  consolations  for  the  mourning, 
nourishment  for  the  starving,  a  kindness  and 
diminution  of  suffering  for  the  sick '.  The  societies 
following  the  rule  of  St.  Augustine  were  often 
devoted  to  the  care  of  the  poor,  the  sick,  and  the 
leprous.  The  frequent  contrast  in  their  statutes  ^ 
between  sani  and  infirmi  shows  that  the  sick,  and  not 
merely,  as  has  sometimes  been  supposed,  the  poor 
were  their  care.  The  statutes  of  the  hospital  of 
Angers  (Hotel  Dieu),  founded  in  1175,  ordain  that 
messengers  shall  be  sent  twice  a  week  through  the 
town  seeking  sick  persons  to  be  admitted.  If  it 
chances  that  at  the  gate  any  sick  man  be  found 
desiring  admission  the  porter,  if  a  brother  (as  we 
should  say,  one  of  the  staff),  shall  admit  him.  If 
not,  he  shall  send  word  to  the  prioress  and  she  shall 
come  at  once  or  send  another  sister,  one  not  hard  or 
rough  but  kindly,  and  she,  if  the  patient  ought  to 
be  received,  shall  admit  him.  After  he  has  con- 
fessed his  sins  and  received  the  Holy  Communion, 
if  with  due  devotion  he  desires  it,  he  shall  be  carried 
to  bed.  The  brethren  and  sisters  and  the  poor  are 
to  have  the  same  bread  and  the  same  wine,  unless 
the  weakness  of  the  sick  should  require  better  bread 
and  better  wine.  The  following  persons  are  not  to 
be  admitted  to  the  hospital :  lepers,  permanent 
cripples,  blind,  thieves  whose  hands  and  feet  have 
*  Le  Grand,  Statuts.  Paris,  1901. 


STUDY   IN   LONDON  2a 

been  lately  cut  off,  or  foundling  children.  Lying-in 
women  are  to  be  received  and  cared  for  till  well. 
The  statutes  of  the  Hotel  Dieu  of  Amiens  of  the 
year  1230  mention  that  the  patients  may  stay  in  the 
hospital  seven  days  after  they  are  convalescent  if 
they  wish.  These  passages  are  sufficient  to  prove 
that  in  France,  including  the  French  dominions  of 
the  English  kings,  there  were  hospitals  containing 
such  patients  as  are  to  be  found  in  our  hospital 
wards  at  the  present  day. 

In  England  it  is  clear  that  many  hospitals  were 
from  the  first  intended  for  the  care  of  the  sick  and 
maimed  as  well  as  of  the  poor.  A  few  were 
restricted  to  some  particular  kind  of  poor  person, 
just  as  the  leper  hospitals  were  restricted  to  a 
particular  kind  of  patient.  Several  ancient  records 
indicate  that  St.  Bartholomew's  in  London  was 
arranged  on  the  same  plan  as  the  French  hospitals. 
A  husband  and  wife,  for  example,  might  be  received 
as  a  brother  and  a  sister  of  the  hospital.  Ralph  de 
Quatremares  and  Albreda  his  wife  in  the  reign  of 
John  gave  to  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital  a  holding 
which  they  held  of  Westminster  Abbey,  next  the 
church  of  All  Hallows  in  Bread  Street,  with  the 
house  on  it  and  all  its  contents,  as  well  as  an 
orchard  which  they  held  of  the  church  of  St.  Paul, 
in  free  and  perpetual  alms,  '  And  if  poverty  should 
come  upon  us  the  brethren  of  the  aforesaid  hospital 
shall  minister  to  us  all  necessary  things  as  if  we 
were  a  brother  and  sister  of  the  hospital  in  our  own 
house,  and  further  when  it  pleases  us  they  shall 


24  LECTURE   I 

receive  us  into  their  society/  This  last  clause  may 
be  compared  with  a  statute  of  the  Hotel  Dieu  of 
Troyes  (domus  Dei  comitis  trecensis)  drawn  up  in 
1263.  *  Nullus  recipiatur  cum  uxore  sua  nisi  per 
dispensationem.'  This  statute  shows  that  in  earlier 
times  it  had  been  customary  to  receive  a  husband 
and  wife  as  stipulated  by  Ealph  and  Albreda  de 
Quatremares  in  London,  and  with  other  resem- 
blances in  organization  justifies  the  view  that  the 
hospitals  under  the  care  of  the  Augustinian  order  in 
France  and  England  were  foundations  identical  in 
function.  Some  hospitals  in  England  before  the 
dissolution  had  become  simply  homes  for  poor  men 
and  women  who  had  no  other  infirmity  than  that 
of  age,  but  many  continued  to  treat  the  sick.  A 
passage  in  the  Close  Kolls  of  Edward  III  (March  5, 
1341)  shows  that  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital  was  one 
of  these.  It  was,  *  Ad  omnes  pauperes  infirmos  ad 
idem  hospitale  confluentes  quousque  de  infirmita- 
tibus  suis  convaluerint  ac  mulieres  pregnantes 
quousque  de  puerperio  surrexerint,  necnon  ad 
omnes  pueros  de  eisdem  muheribus  genitos  usque 
septennium,  si  dicte  mulieres  infra  hospitale  pre- 
dictum  decesserint.'  The  last  part  of  this  extract 
from  the  Close  Eolls  shows  that  in  the  Middle  Ages 
the  benefits  of  the  revenues  of  a  hospital  were  not 
always  restricted  to  the  sustenance  and  treatment 
of  patients,  but  were  sometimes  extended  to  the 
support  of  orphans  whose  mothers  had  not  survived 
their  birth.  This  was  naturally  done  ^  caritatis 
intuitu  \  as  the  old  charters  say,  just  as  equally  at 


STUDY   m   LONDON  25 

the  prompting  of  charity  we  add  museums  and 
other  means  of  increasing  knowledge,  and  so  re- 
lieving not  only  the  patients  of  our  own  hospital, 
but  sick  men  all  over  the  world  in  ages  to  come  as 
well  as  in  our  own  time.  A  passage  in  the  will  of 
the  charitable  Gilbert  Chaumpneys,^  dated  1375  and 
preserved  at  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  suggests  that  there 
were  patients,  in  our  sense,  in  the  hospital  of  St. 
Thomas  the  Martyr  in  Southwark,  which  now 
flourishes  in  Lambeth  under  the  tutelage  of  St. 
Thomas  the  Apostle.  Chaumpneys  left  a  shilling  to 
every  leper  in  London,  three  beds  with  linen  to  the 
hospital  of  St.  Mary  without  Bishopsgate,  and  three 
to  St.  Thomas's,  and  sixpence  to  every  sick  person 
(infirmus)  in  each  of  these  hospitals.  This  charitable 
man  also  left  sixpence  to  every  prisoner  in  Newgate, 
and  twenty  pounds  to  get  debtors  out  of  Newgate, 
twenty  shilHngs  to  the  prisoners  in  the  Marshalsea 
and  the  same  to  those  in  the  King's  Bench,  twenty 
shillings  to  every  nun  in  the  convent  of  Sopwell, 
with  gifts  to  other  nuns  and  to  St.  Paul's  Cathedral, 
to  fifteen  parish  churches,  and  to  the  fabric  of  a 
bridge   in   the   country. 

The  writings  of  John  Mirfeld,  the  author  of 
the  treatise  on  medicine  entitled  Breviarium  Bar- 
tholomeiy  show  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  studies 
of  a  physician  of  the  fourteenth  century. 

Mirfeld  belonged  to  the  period  when  the  practice 
of  medicine  was  sometimes  exercised  by  a  layman, 
sometimes  by  an  ecclesiastic ;  when  medical  books 
^  Ninth  BepoH  on  Historical  MSS.,  1883,  p.  47. 


26  LECTURE   I 

were  to  be  found  in  most  libraries,  and  when  in 
London  there  were  some  hospitals  in  which  diseases 
were  treated  and  might  be  observed.  He  was  a 
resident  in  the  convent  of  St.  Bartholomew  in 
Smithfield.  This  priory  was  founded  in  the  reign 
of  Henry  I,  shortly  after  the  hospital  of  St.  Bartho- 
lomew, by  Eahere,  the  founder  of  both.  The  priory 
had  certain  relations  to  the  hospital,  of  which  the 
most  important  were  that  the  brethren  of  the 
hospital  had  to  present  their  master  on  his  election 
to  the  prior  and  canons  for  confirmation,  and  must 
obtain  the  same  consent  for  the  admission  of 
members  into  their  society,  and  that  a  certain 
share  of  the  food  and  drink  left  by  the  canons  must 
be  given  to  the  hospital.  In  his  medical  writings 
Mirfeld  speaks  of  *  magister  mens ',  his  instructor 
in  the  practice  of  medicine.  His  master  operated, 
he  says,  in  an  original  way  in  a  case  of  hydrocephalus 
in  a  girl.  He  rubbed  in  sulphur  ointment  twice  a 
day  and  then  bound  a  bandage  of  warm  wool  on  the 
girl's  head,  and  kept  it  there  a  month  or  more. 
Then  he  tapped  by  a  cautery  in  front ;  water  came 
out  slowly.  After  a  time  he  did  the  same  at  the 
back  of  the  head,  and  more  water  came  out.  In  less 
than  a  year  the  girl  was  well.  He  closed  the  wounds 
with  tents.  Mirf eld's  master  was  called  to  a  man 
in  gaol  who  had  stabbed  himself,  so  that  when  he 
swallowed,  food  and  drink  and  air  came  out  of 
the  wound.  He  joined  the  parts  of  the  wound 
carefully,  and  covered  the  place  with  powders  and 
bandages.      The  man  recovered  within  a  month. 


STUDY  IN   LONDON  27 

His  master  treated    a  woman   who  had  lost  her 

speech.      He  rubbed  her  palate  with  a  preparation 

known  as  theodoricon  emperisticon  and  with  a  little 

diacastorium.     She  recovered  her  speech  and  bore 

witness  to  his  skill.     Was  this  a  case  of  hysterical 

aphonia  ?     An  apothecary  brought  to  his  master  a 

youth   with  a  carbuncle  on  his  face.      His  whole 

neck  and  throat  were  swelled  beyond  belief,  and  the 

sick  man  had  already  tokens  of  death  ;  he  had  no 

pulse  and  was  fainting.     The  master  said  to  that 

apothecary  that  the  youth  should  go  home  because 

he  was  about  to  die  in  a  short  time.    The  apothecary 

said,  *  Is  there  no  further  remedy  ? '     The  physician 

replied,  *I  believe  most  truly  that  if  thou  wert  to  give 

tyriacum  in  a  large  dose  there  would  be  a  chance  that 

he  might  live.'  Having  heard  this,  the  apothecary  took 

the  youth  home,  though  barely  able  to  get  him  there, 

and  he  gave  to  him  about  two  drachms  of  tyriacum 

and  put  him  to  bed.      The  youth's  head  and  the 

affected  part  broke  into  profuse  perspiration,  and  after 

a  little  there  was  a  general  perspiration  and  his  pulse 

returned.     And  the  apothecary  gave  him  the  dose 

again  of  his  own  accord,  and  that  day  he  was  made 

whole  except  for  a  little  sore  place  which  afterwards 

healed  up,  ^  and  my  master  said  that  he  had  never 

feeen  anyone  else  who  had  recovered  after  being  in  a 

faint  and  tremor,  and  especially  without  pulse.' 

It  is  clear  that  Mirfeld's  master  was  a  physician, 
and  that,  like  Chaucer's  doctor  of  physic — 

Ful  redy  hadde  he  his  apotecaries 

To  send  him  dragges  and  his  letuaries. 


28  LECTURE   I 

The  tyriacum  which  his  master  used  was  a  prepara- 
tion attributed  to  Mithridates,  King  of  Pontus,  which 
from  the  Augustan  age  to  the  eighteenth  century 
was  used  by  physicians.  It  did  not  come  from 
Mithridates,  says  Quintus  Serenus  Sammonicus,  for 
when  that  king  was  vanquished  by  Pompey,  the 
medicine  found  in  his  casket  was  worthless : 

Antidotus  vero  multis  Mithridatia  fertur 
Consociata  modis,  sed  Magnus  scrinia  regis 
Quum  raperet  victor,  vilem  deprendit  in  illis 
Synthesin,  et  vulgata  satis  medicamina  risit,  ' 
Bis  denum  rutae  foHum,  salis  et  breve  granum, 
Juglandesque  duas,  totidem  cum  corpore  ficus. 

Mithridatium,  afterwards  called  Theriaca,  con- 
tained opium.  It  began  with  thirty-eight  ingredients, 
then  had  fifty-three,  and  later  still  seventy-five, 
and  continued  to  be  made  and  prescribed  long  after 
the  identity  of  many  of  its  ingredients  had  been 
lost.  Dr.  William  Heberden,  one  of  the  greatest  of 
English  physicians,  wrote  in  1745  an  essay  entitled 
Antitheriaca,  relating  its  history  and  attacking  its  use. 

From  another  passage  in  the  Breviarium  it  may 
be  inferred  that  Mirfeld  had  studied  at  Oxford.  One 
Master  Nicholas  Tyngewich,  he  says,  related  in  his 
lecture  theatre  at  Oxford  that  he  rode  forty  miles 
to  an  old  woman,  who  had  cured  innumerable  men 
of  jaundice,  and  gave  her  a  sum  of  money  for 
teaching  him  her  method  of  treatment.  This  seems 
like  the  statement  of  one  who  had  heard  the 
lecture.  Nicholas  Tyngewich  was  King  Edward  I's 
physician,  and  he  is  mentioned  in  two  documents 
of  1306.     One  is  the  king's  request  that  he  may  bo 


STUDY   IN   LONDON  29 

allowed  to  hold  the  living  of  Reculver,  and  the 
other  Pope  Clement  Vs  letter  confirming  the 
presentation.  His  name  also  occurs  in  a  charter 
of  the  same  period  at  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.^  The 
late  Mr.  J.  L.  G.  Mowat,  who  edited  in  the  Anecdota 
Oxoniensia  in  1882  the  Sinonima  or  glossary,  the 
only  part  of  Mirfeld's  works  which  has  been  printed, 
points  out  that  John  Mirfeld  represented  the 
convent  of  St.  Bartholomew  in  1392  and  1393. 
Mr.  E.  A.  Webb  has  shown  that  in  1379  Mirfeld 
was  taxed  as  a  layman  living  in  the  priory.  He 
was  in  1390  granted  a  chamber  on  the  south  side  of 
the  church,  and  was  a  liberal  benefactor  of  the 
priory.2  His  chief  medical  work,  as  is  shown  by 
the  calendar  which  is  attached  to  it  in  its  finest 
copy,  was  written  before  the  year  1387.  If  Mirfeld 
was  at  Oxford  when  sixteen  years  old,  a  not  uncom- 
mon age  for  university  life  at  that  time,  and  if  at 
the  time  he  appeared  as  one  of  the  seniors  of  the 
Priory  of  St.  Bartholomew  he  was  about  seventy 
years  old,  he  may  easily  have  attended  the  medical 
lectures  of  Nicholas  Tyngewich  between  1336  and 
1340. 

The  general  impression  left  after  reading  his 
medical  writings  is  that  Mirfeld's  master  was  a 
layman,  and  that  it  was  after  the  beginning  of  his 
medical    studies    and    his    university   career    that 

'  H.  0.  Maxwell  Lyte,  Ninth  Beport  on  Historical  MSS.,  1883, 
p.  10. 

^  Information  from  the  Clerical  Subsidy  Roll  and  the  Patent 
Rolls,  kindly  given  to  me  by  Mr.  E.  A.  Webb, 


30  LECTURE   I 

Mirfeld  entered  the  convent  of  St.  Bartholomew 
of  Smithfield.  Yet  his  theological  reading  is  so 
extensive  that  he  must  have  for  a  long  time  led  a 
studious  and  probably  a  monastic  life.  The  course 
of  his  studies  was  perhaps  similar  to  that  of  John 
of  St.  Giles,  that  learned  Englishman  of  the  reign 
of  Henry  III,  who  was  physician  to  Bishop  Eobert 
Grosseteste  of  Lincoln.  John  of  St.  Giles  studied  at 
Oxford,  and  then  at  Paris  and  at  Montpelier,  where 
he  pursued  medicine,  and  with  such  distinction  that 
he  became  physician  to  Philip  Augustus,  Ejng  of 
France.  He  lived  in  Paris  in  the  hospital  of  St. 
James,  which  he  had  bought,  and  later  gave  it  to 
the  Dominicans,  hence  called  in  Paris  Jacobins. 
It  was  the  meetings  of  a  section  of  the  Eevolutionists 
there  which  had  led  to  the  use  of  the  word  Jacobin 
in  a  sense  so  very  different  from  that  which  it  had 
for  several  centuries.  He  was  no  doubt  in  holy 
orders,  as  he  became  a  doctor  of  divinity  and 
lecturer  on  philosophy  and  theology  as  well  as  on 
medicine.  About  1222  he  became  a  Dominican, 
and  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  EngHshman  to 
join  that  order.  He  came  back  to  England  in 
1235,  and  stayed  here  till  his  death,  which  took 
place  in  or  soon  after  1258.  He  became  an  intimate 
friend  of  Eobert  Grosseteste,  Bishop  of  Lincoln. 
Their  relations  were  chiefly  ecclesiastical,  but  John 
was  certainly  Grosseteste's  physician,  attended 
him  when  he  was  supposed  to  be  poisoned,  and 
was  sent  for  by  the  bishop  in  his  last  illness. 
Matthew  Paris,  who   had  probably  known   John, 


Plate  I. 


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Breviarium  Bartholomei  of  John  Mirfeld. 
Introduction. 


To  face  page  3 1 


STUDY   IN   LONDON  81 

says  that  he  was  an  elegant  scholar  and  teacher, 
skilled  in  medicine  and  in  theology.  Mirfeld,  like 
John,  began  life  in  the  study  of  medicine,  and  was 
always  devoted  to  it,  but  after  his  youth  he  became 
also  a  learned  theologian  and  a  member  of  a  regular 
order. 

That  Mirfeld  knew  something  of  the  patients  in 
St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital  seems  certain  from 
some  passages  in  his  works.  Leland  (1505-52) 
in  his  Commentarii  de  Scriptorihus  Britannicis  men- 
tions having  a  conversation  with  *  Bertholetus 
medicus  ',  who  had  certainly  studied  the  medical 
writings  of  Mirfeld.  This  Bertholetus  was 
Dr.  Eichard  Bartlot,  an  Oxford  man,  who  was  the 
first  Fellow  elected  into  our  College  (March  12,  1523), 
and  whose  learning  Caius  praises.  He  was  Pre- 
sident in  1527,  1531,  and  1548.  He  died  in  1556-7, 
aged  eighty-six  years.  The  President,  Dr.  Caius, 
and  the  College  attended  his  funeral  in  the  church 
of  St.  Bartholomew  the  Great.  This  was  in  the 
reign  of  Queen  Mary,  when  that  church,  from  which 
the  Augustinian  canons  had  been  expelled  under 
Henry  VIII,  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Dominicans. 
Bartlot  had  read  the  very  copy  of  Mirfeld's  book 
now  at  Pembroke  College,  Oxford  :  indeed,  it  seems 
to  have  belonged  to  him,  for  on  a  blank  leaf  of  it  is 
written,  *  Kichard  Bartlot  in  Medicinis  doctor.'  The 
Breviarium  Bartholomei  is  Mirfeld's  greatest  work, 
and  as  the  first  book  on  medicine  in  any  way 
connected  with  the  oldest  hospital  in  London 
deserves  particular  consideration.     I  have  examined 


32  LECTURE   I 

two  complete  copies  of  the  work  :  one  in  the  British 
Museum  and  one  in  the  Hbrary  of  Pembroke  College, 
Oxford,  as  well  as  some  fragments  of  a  third  copy 
also  in  the  British  Museum.  The  Oxford  copy  is 
in  its  original  binding.  The  manuscript  begins 
with  a  calendar,  which  with  some  scattered  notes 
occupies  the  first  nineteen  leaves.  The  Breviarium 
then  has  an  illuminated  page.  At  the  foot  of  the 
page  is  a  shield  of  arms  :  argent  four  martlets  and 
a  cross,  and  at  the  top  of  the  page  is  a  saint  in  a 
dress  of  camel's  hair,  and  with  a  lamb  in  his  left 
hand,  obviously  St.  John  the  Baptist.  These 
ornaments  show  to  whom  the  manuscript  originally 
belonged,  for  the  arms  are  those  of  the  abbey  of 
Abingdon,  and  at  the  gate  of  the  abbey  was  a 
hospital  dedicated  to  St.  John  the  Baptist.  The 
possession  of  such  a  book  by  it  is  a  sign  that  it  was 
not,  as  it  afterwards  became,  a  mere  almshouse,  but 
was  a  hospital  for  the  sick.  I  had  the  opportunity  of 
examining  the  manuscript  during  several  successive 
wrecks  in  the  rooms  of  the  late  Professor  Henry 
William  Chandler,  a  Fellow  of  Pembroke  College, 
and  Waynflete  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy  at 
Oxford. 

I  ought  here  to  express  my  gratitude  to  this  most 
learned  man,  who  died  in  1889,  for  his  literary 
hospitality  to  me.  His  profound  knowledge  of 
Aristotle,  his  attainments  in  bibliography,  and  his 
untiring  devotion  to  study  were  well  known  at 
Oxford.  His  stores  of  mediaeval  learning,  his 
thorough  acquaintance  with  English  literature,  his 


Pi  ATE   II. 


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Bkkviarium  Baiitholomei  of  John  Mirfeld. 
End  of  Part  I  and  beginning  of  Part  II,  with  verses  indicating 
how  to  find  the  author's  name. 
Ordine  pretacto  si  connumeres  capitales  : 
Nomen  factoris  demonstrabunt  tibi  tales. 
page  3.S- 


STUDY   IN   LONDON  33 

interest  in  human  nature,  and  his  kindly  disposition 
made  his  conversation  as  deHghtful  as  it  was  full. 
After  my  perusal  of  the  Breviarium  Bartholomei  I 
enjoyed  his  friendship  to  the  end  of  his  life.  When 
I  visited  Oxford  I  always  went  to  see  him  and 
noticed  on  each  occasion  that  before  our  conversation 
had  lasted  five  minutes  I  had  learned  something 
hardly  to  be  attained  anywhere  else,  and  that  how- 
ever long  his  conversation  continued  it  was  rich  in 
learning  throughout.  The  British  Museum  copy  of 
the  Breviarium  is  also  a  fine  manuscript,  though  not 
so  large  as  that  of  Pembroke  College.  On  folio  21  & 
is  a  note  which  has  not  hitherto  been  observed : — 

Ordine  pretacto  si  connumeres  capitales 
Nomen  factoris  demonstrabunt  tibi  tales. 

Following  this  injunction  the  capital  letters  from 
folio  21  h  make  the  words  :  *  Ora  pro  nobis  sancte 
bartholomee  ait  iohannes  dde  Mirfeld  ut  digni 
efiiciamur  promissionibus  Cristi.'  There  are  slight 
variations  in  the  text  of  these  two  copies.  Both 
belong  to  Mirfeld's  lifetime.  The  index  of  the 
Oxford  copy  is  headed  with  a  fine  illuminated  '  I ' 
and  the  words  :  *  Incipit  tabula  libri  Johannis 
Mirfeld  quem  ipse  composuit  et  Breviarium  Bar- 
tholomei vocavit ;  compilavit  in  monasterio  sancti 
Bartholomei  London  eundemque  divisit  in  partes 
quindecim.'  The  first  of  the  fifteen  parts  is  of 
fevers  ;  the  second  of  affections  of  the  whole  body  ; 
the  third  of  affections  of  the  head,  neck,  and  throat ; 
the  fourth  of  the  chest ;  the  fifth  of  the  abdomen ; 
the  sixth  of  the  pelvic  organs  ;  the  seventh  of  the 


34  LECTURE   I 

legs  ;  the  eighth  of  boils  ;  the  ninth  of  wounds  and 
bruises ;  the  tenth  of  fractures  and  dislocations  ;  the 
eleventh  of  joints  ;  the  twelfth  of  simple  medicines ; 
the  thirteenth  of  compound  medicines  ;  the  four- 
teenth of  purgatives  ;  and  the  fifteenth  of  the 
regimen  of  health.  As  in  most  mediaeval  systems 
of  medicine  the  part  on  fever  follows  the  general 
arrangement  of  the  subject  in  Galen.  Mirfeld's 
chapter  *  De  febribus  pestilencialibus  '  ^  begins 
with  the  statement  that  such  epidemics  come  in 
rotten  and  sterile  seasons  when  the  crops  are 
blighted  and  the  air  and  water  corrupted,  so  that 
they  infect  human  bodies.  The  infected  air  goes 
to  the  heart  and  round  the  whole  body,  and  to  it  is 
added  infected  food  and  drink.  Men  and  vermin 
and  brute  animals  are  attacked,  and  sometimes 
animals  only,  while  the  epidemic  avoids  men.  Of 
all  fevers  these  are  the  worst.  Signs  of  the  approach 
of  plague  are  comets  and  irregular  seasons,  too  much 
cold  in  the  hot  season,  too  much  heat  in  the  cold 
season,  thick  and  foggy  air,  the  threatening  of  rain 
without  rain.  Also  a  warm  and  damp  summer,  a 
time  when  birds  desert  their  nests  and  when  many 
reptiles  appear  on  the  surface  of  the  earth.  All 
these  are  signs  that  an  epidemic  is  about  to  come. 
The  symptoms  are  that  the  heat  of  the  body  is 
moderate  externally  and  great  internally,  with 
thirst  and  dry  tongue  and  difficulty  of  breathing  and 
praecordial  pain  and  foetor  of  everything  coming  out 
of  the  body.     The  prognosis  is  bad  and  there  are 

»  f.  136. 


STUDY   IN   LONDON  35 

terrible  and  deceptive  complications,  and  after  these 
small-pox  and  measles  may  follow.  Physicians  are 
often  deceived,  and  when  they  expect  a  good  turn 
after  the  crisis  then  comes  death.  A  person  may 
be  preserved  from  infection  in  a  cold  season  by 
smelling  and  swallowing  musk  and  aloes-wood  and 
storax,  calamita  and  amber  and  such-like  aromatics. 
If  the  season  is  warm,  sandal-wood  and  roses, 
camphor  and  '  acetositas  citri,'  sour  milk,  all  kinds 
of  sour  herbs  and  vinegar.  Repletion  of  food 
and  drink  is  to  be  avoided.  If  the  extremities 
are  cold  they  are  to  be  rubbed.  Purging  and  bleed- 
ing are  protective.  Warm  baths  are  to  be  avoided. 
Sweets  made  with  honey,  green  fruits,  and  sweet 
fruits  are  to  be  avoided.  Veal,  fowls,  and  partridges 
may  be  eaten  with  lettuce,  vinegar,  and  acid  herbs. 
SjTup  of  vinegar  is  to  be  taken  in  the  morning  and 
at  midday  syrup  of  violet  in  cold  water. 

Brother  John  Helme,  who  was  probably  one  of 
the  brethren  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  recom- 
mended against  the  plague  a  mixture  of  aloes  and 
myrrh  to  be  taken  out  of  warm  wine,  the  bulk  of 
a  little  nut  of  the  powder  to  be  the  dose.  Water 
distilled  from  diptamius,  pimpernel,  tormentil,  and 
scabious,  equal  parts  of  each,  is  to  be  drunk  daily. 
*  Est  enim  optima  et  nobilissima  medicina.'  Cam- 
phor, three  or  four  grains,  avails  against  pestilential 
air  according  to  Hali  Abbas.  Warm  bread  should 
be  consumed,  as  a  few  morsels  of  it  prevail  against 
pestilential  air  and  against  fetid  morning  vapours. 
It  is  also  good  against  the  foetor  of  the  sea,  and  if 

D  2  # 


36  LECTURE   I 

you  have  not  warm  fresh  bread,  says  Mirfeld,  *  da 
tostum/ 

I  may  here  remark  that  our  idea  that  sea  air  is 
wholesome  has  not  always  prevailed,  for  in  an 
account  of  Northamptonshire,  published  in  1738, 
the  author  remarks  '  the  air  of  Northamptonshire  is 
exceedingly  pleasant  and  wholesome,  the  sea  being 
so  remote  that  it  is  not  infected  with  its  noisome 
fumes '.  Scented  wine  should  be  drunk,  and  on 
going  out  of  the  house  an  aromatic  should  be 
thrown  on  to  the  fire.  One  proceeding  difficult  to 
explain  is  recommended  in  cases  of  fever.  A  little 
twig  of  hazel,  a  foot  long,  is  to  be  broken  in  the 
middle.  The  two  parts  are  to  be  held  a  little  way 
apart  and  certain  words  repeated,  and  by  virtue  of 
the  words  the  twig  becomes  united  in  some  place. 
Here  it  is  to  be  held  by  finger  and  thumb  and  the 
rest  cut  away  so  that  there  is  a  little  cross.  This 
the  feverish  man  is  to  hold  above  him  and  to  say 
some  words  in  French  and  five  paternosters,  and  he 
will  be  healed,  as  has  often  been  proved,  says  the 
Breviarium,  This  therapeutic  method  does  not 
seem  less  rational  than  the  method  of  discovering 
subterranean  water  by  the  movement  of  a  hazel  rod 
in  the  hands  of  a  water  finder,  which  has  been 
gravely  defended  and  widely  practised  in  our  own 
times. 

Among  the  medical  books  of  Mirfeld's  time  were 
treatises  on  the  diseases  of  horses,  of  cattle,  and  of 
hawks  ^   Epidemic  disease  in  cattle,  he  says,  may  be 

'  The  Hieracosophion  sive  Be  Be  Accipitraria  of  J.  A.  Thuanus 


Plate  III. 


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BREviARum  Bartholomei  of  John  Mirfeld, 
On  Materia  Medica. 
Sulfuraca.     Sulfur.     Spinac.     Talpa.     Tamarindi.*    Tamariscus,     Tapsia. 
To  face  page  36 


I 


STUDY   IN  LONDON  37 

warded  off  by  hay  prepared  in  a  very  harmless  and 
charitable  way.  Three  poor  travellers  are  to  be 
entertained  on  Christmas  Eve  and  beds  of  hay  are 
to  be  made  for  them.  This  hay  is  to  be  placed  daily 
between  the  oxen  from  Christmas  Day  till  Twelfth 
Day,  and  by  the  goodness  of  God  they  will  be  safe 
for  the  whole  year.  To  recommendations  of  this 
sort  Mirfeld  usually  adds  some  such  phrase  as  *  so 
it  is  said '.  Mirfeld  had  witnessed  the  long  wake- 
fulness of  some  cases  of  fever.  His  prayer  to  be 
used  in  such  cases  is  based  upon  the  legend  of  the 
Christians  of  Ephesus  who  outslept  the  age  of  perse- 
cution. The  mention  of  the  names  of  the  seven 
sleepers  of  Ephesus — Maximian,  Malchus,  Dionysius, 
Marcian,  John,  Constantino,  and  Serapion — in  rela- 
tion to  insomnia  was  not  confined  to  Christendom. 
It  extended  to  the  Mohammedan  nations  and  is  still 
in  use  among  the  Arabs  in  Algiers.  Mirfeld  was 
not  afraid  to  bend  over  the  patient  in  fever,  and 
recommends  that  the  thickly  furred  tongue  should 
be  wiped  with  a  linen  rag  moistened  in  acid  juice. 
If  uncertain  whether  the  patient  was  alive  or  dead, 
he  put  a  little  burnt  lard  to  the  nostrils.     If  alive, 

shows  how  much  material  had  accumulated  two  centuries  later 
on  this  subject  for  his  third  book  beginning  : 

lam  quibus  adversus  pesteis,  et  semina  dira, 
Morborum,  accipitrumque  lues,  atque  ulcera  hiulca 
Praesidiis  uti  consultus  debeat  auceps : 
Quaque  etiam  plagas,  lethaliaque  obliget  arte 
Vulnera,  et  obducto  doceat  coalescere  callo, 
Exsequar ;  haec  longi  nobis  meta  ultima  cursus 
Scilicet,  et  tanto  finem  impositura  labori. 

extends  to  more  than  nine  hundred  lines. 


88  LECTURE   I 

he  found  that  the  patient  thereupon  scratched  his 
nose.  Mirfeld's  account  of  plague  is  based  upon 
the  chapter  on  the  same  subject  in  the  Lilium 
Medicinae  of  Bernard  of  Gordon,  written  at  Mont- 
peUier  in  1305.  On  all  general  questions  Mirfeld 
uses  Bernard's  words,  but  his  numerous  remarks  on 
protection  from  infection,  as  well  as  the  way  in 
which  he  leaves  the  reader  to  infer  that  treatment 
is  of  very  little  use  in  the  plague,  point  to  actual 
experience  *  tempore  pestilenciae '.  One  of  the 
greatest  recorded  epidemics  of  plague  occurred 
during  Mirfeld's  lifetime,  and  he  was  probably  old 
enough  in  1348-57  to  have  observed  its  phenomena 
and  must  have  talked  with  many  men  who  survived 
the  epidemic.  His  chapter  *  De  febribus  pesti- 
lencialibus'  reflects  that  time  in  the  recommendations 
of  numerous  protective  measures  and  in  the  observa- 
tion that  vermin  and  brute  beasts  as  well  as  men 
died  and  that  the  animals  sometimes  died  when 
men  did  not ;  but  he  makes  no  original  clinical  notes. 
In  Part  II  skin  diseases  are  described  and  couplets 
are  often  given  to  enable  the  memory  to  retain  their 
names  and  symptoms.  He  is  inclined  to  agree  with 
Platearius  of  Salernum  that  all  kinds  of  leprosy 
are  incurable,  yet  in  one  case  by  very  severe  purga- 
tive pills  he  did  good  and  the  leprosy  was  relieved 
for  almost  three  years,  yet  after  that  it  reappeared 
distinctly.  The  diet,  he  says,  must  be  restricted.  The 
patient's  bread  must  consist  of  two  parts  rye  and 
one  part  barley.  He  must  drink  clear  well-scented 
wine  and  may  eat  game  and  eggs.     The  flesh  of 


STUDY   IN  LONDON 


8» 


domestic  animals  is  to  be  avoided  as  well  as  putrefied 
food,  cheese,  salt  meat,  hares,  and  pulse.  Gout 
Mirfeld  treats  with  an  ointment  made  from  goose 
fat,  for  the  making  of  which  he  gives  a  metrical 
recipe  : — 


Anser  sumatur 

Veteranus  qui  videatur 

Post  deplumetur 

Intralibus  evacuetur 

Intus  ponatur 

Trita  caro  tota 

Catti  mox  pelle  remota 

Mel  sal  fuligo 

Faba    pondere    jungitur 

aequo 
Unctum  porcinum 


Thus  cera  sagmen  ovinum 

Post  hoc  assatum 

Tunc  assus  non  comme- 

datur 
Vas  supponatur 
Sagmen  ut  accipiatur 
Istud  pinguamen 
Dat  gutte  cuique  levamen 
Anseris  unguentum 
Valet    hoc  super  onme 

talentum. 


He  treated  chronic  rheumatism  by  rubbing  the 
part  with  olive  oil.  This  was  to  be  put  into  a 
clean  vessel  while  the  pharmacist  made  the  sign  of 
the  cross  and  said  two  prayers  over  it,  and  when 
the  vessel  was  put  on  the  fire  the  Psalm  *  Quare 
fremuerunt  gentes'  was  to  be  said  as  far  as  the 
verse  *  Postula  a  me  et  dabo  tibi  gentes  hereditatem 
tuam'.  The  Gloria  and  two  prayers  are  then  to 
be  said  and  the  whole  repeated  seven  times.  The 
mixture  of  prayers  with  pharmacy  seems  odd  to 
us,  but  let  it  be  remembered  that  Mirfeld  wrote 
in  a  religious  house,  that  clocks  were  scarce  and 
watches  unknown,  and  that  in  that  age  and  place 
there  was  nothing  inappropriate  in  measuring  time 
by  the  minutes  required  for  the  repetition  of  so 
many  verses  of  scripture  or  so  many  prayers.     The 


40  LECTURE   1 

time  occupied  I  have  found  to  be  a  quarter  of  an 
hour.  Scrophulus  (scrofula)  is,  he  says,  according 
to  Johannicius,  nothing  more  than  multipUed  glands. 
If  other  methods  of  treatment  fail  we  go  to  kings, 
because  by  touch  alone  kings  are  wont  to  cure  that 
infirmity  thence  called  by  many  morbus  regius. 
^  The  chapter  on  epilepsy  and  apoplexy  and  that 
on  hemicrania  are  based  upon  the  chapters  on  the 
same  subjects  in  John  of  Gaddesden's  Hosa  Anglica, 
Verses  are  to  be  repeated  in  the  ear  of  the  epileptic 
man  as  he  Hes  on  the  ground.  The  epileptic  uncon- 
sciousness lasts  but  a  short  time,  and  no  doubt,  as 
Mirfeld  and  other  writers  of  his  time  assert,  the 
patient  often  got  up  after 

Gaspar  fert    mirram :   thus    Melchior :    Balthazar 

aurum. 
Hec  tria  qui  secum  portabit  nomina  regum, 
Solvitur  a  morbo  Domini  pietate  caduco 

was  repeated  in  his  ear.  To  a  man  ignorant  of  the 
fact  that  while  the  anatomical  change  which  produces 
an  apoplectic  fit  is  one  involving  actual  destruction 
of  a  part  of  the  brain,  that  of  an  epileptic  fit  is,  for 
the  most  part,  a  transient  condition,  it  must  have 
seemed  reasonable  by  analogy  that  verses  should  do 
good  to  an  apoplectic  patient.  Mirfeld  recommends 
an  empiric  remedy  of  English  Gilbert.  The  follow- 
ing two  verses  are  to  be  tied  round  the  arm,  the  Lord's 
Prayer  being  said  the  while.  The  verses  are  to  be 
written  with  crosses  above  and  below  each  word : — 

Amara  timi  taturi :  postos  sigalos  sicaluri : 
Ely  poly  carras:  polyly  pylini  lyvarras. 


STUDY   IN   LONDON  41 

There  are  several  similar  medical  charms  in 
Marcellus  Empiricus,^  and  Professor  Khys  ^  has 
lately  maintained  with  great  ingenuity  that  they 
preserve  sentences  of  one  of  the  three  chief  Celtic 
dialects  of  Gaul.  He  shows  how  interesting  such 
verses  may  prove  on  minute  examination.  I  may 
give  one  example  from  Marcellm  for  purpose  of 
comparison : — 

Omnia,  quae  haeserint  faucibus,  hoc  carmen  expellet : 
Heilen  prosaggeri  nome  si  poUa  nabuliet  onodieni 

iden  eliton 
Hoc  ter  dices  et  ad  singula  expues : 
Item  fauces,  quibus  aliquid  inhaeserit,  confricans 

dices  : 
Xi   exucricone   xu   crigrionaisus    scrisu   mi   orelor 

exugri  cone  xu  grilau. 

To  trace  to  their  origin  the  numerous  lines  of 
verse  of  which  Mirfeld  recommends  the  repetition 
in  various  emergencies  would  take  a  long  time,  but 
I  may  point  out  the  source  of  one  couplet.^ 

Sancte  Columquille  remove  mala  dampna  faville 
Atque  Columquillus  salvet  ab  igne  domus. 

The  Unes  were  repeated  as  a  charm  to  stop  the  burn- 
ing of  a  house.  In  the  life  of  St.  Columcille  or 
Columba  in  the  Leahhar  Breac,  a  fifteenth-century 

^  Medici  antiqui  omnes  (Aldus),  Venice,  1547,  containing 
Marcellus  de  Medicamentis,  p.  107  b.  I  like  to  quote  from  this 
edition  since  it  reminds  me  of  the  friendship  of  Mr.  K.  W.  Kaper, 
of  Trinity  College,  Oxford,  who  gave  me  a  fine  copy  of  it  in  a 
splendid  ancient  binding. 

^  Celtae  and  Galli :  Proceedings  of  the  British  Academy,  vol.  ii, 
1905. 

^  Oxford  MS.  of  Breviarium,  f.  253  a,  col.  1. 


42  LECTURE   I 

manuscript,  occurs  this  passage :  *  A  great  flame 
came  towards  him  once  in  Hi.  They  asked  him 
the  cause  of  the  flame.  Fire  of  God  from  heaven, 
quoth  he,  came  just  now  upon  three  cities  in  Italy, 
so  that  it  slew  three  thousand  men  as  well  as  their 
wives  and  sons  and  daughters.'  ^  Mirfeld  observes 
that  an  injury  on  the  right  side  of  the  head  is  likely 
to  lead  to  paralysis  on  the  left  side  of  the  body  and 
relates  the  case  of  one  of  the  canons  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's Priory  who  was  treated  by  his  master.  The 
canon  was  about  to  get  on  his  horse,  and  when  the  said 
canon  wished  to  seat  himself  in  the  saddle  the  horse 
arose  on  his  two  hind  legs  and  the  canon  fell  head 
downwards  over  the  crupper  of  the  horse  to  earth, 
and  fell  so  heavily  upon  his  head  that  straightway  he 
lost  the  sensation  and  movement  of  his  whole  body. 
Mirfeld's  master  having  been  called  by  the  friends 
of  the  patient  made  them  shave  his  head,  and  then 
rubbed  in  oil  of  roses  with  a  quart  of  warm  vinegar, 
and  sprinkled  it  with  a  powder,  and  put  over  it 
a  fine  cloth  soaked  in  the  aforesaid  oil  and  vinegar, 
and  over  that  fastened  linen  stoups  and  bound  with 
bandages  his  whole  head,  and  put  over  all  the  skin 
of  a  lamb.  And  every  day  he  visited  him  twice  and 
rubbed  in  ointment  into  his  neck  and  as  far  as  the 
middle  of  his  spine.     On  the  second  day  the  patient 

^  '  Laisse  mor  tanic  dosum  fechtus  inhii :  fiarfacht  desuim 
fath  na  laissi.  Tene  De  do  nim  olesium  tanic  innossa  for  teora 
cathracha  isin,  Etail  coros  marb  tri  mile  fer  cen  mota  mna  ocus 
maic  ocus  ingena.'  Lcahhar  hreac :  facsimile.  Dublin,  1878, 
f.  33,  Part  I,  col.  a,  line  67  to  col.  &,  line  3.  First  edited  by 
Whitley  Stokes  in  Three  Middle  Irish  Homilies.    Calcutta,  1897. 


STUDY  IN  LONDON  43 

opened  his  mouth  a  Httle.  Then  one  of  his  friends 
wished  to  try  if  he  would  eat,  but  the  physician 
would  not  allow  it  and  said,  *  Even  if  he  wished  to 
eat  I  would  not  let  him.'  On  the  third  day,  when 
a  question  was  put  to  the  patient,  he  tried  to  answer, 
stammering,  but  he  could  not  form  the  word.  On  the 
fourth  day  he  spoke  stammeringly,  and  then  they 
handed  him  a  thin  warm  drink,  which  he  saw  and 
swallowed.  The  fifth  day  he  took  a  thin  tisane. 
On  the  sixth  day  they  gave  him  some  chicken  broth. 
He  then  began  to  grow  stronger,  little  by  Httle,  and 
to  be  able  to  move,  but  it  was  many  days  before  he 
could  walk.  When  he  was  able  to  take  food  Mirfeld's 
master  began  to  prepare  pills,  to  resolve  by  evacua- 
tion the  residue  of  the  material  accumulated  by  the 
fall  on  his  head.  He  recommended  that  the  patient 
should  eat  the  brains  of  birds  and  fowls  and  kids, 
and  thus  doing  he  was  cured.  But  the  poor  canon 
was  never  quite  the  same  man  again,  as  Mirfeld 
says :  *  Nunquam  tamen  fuit  ita  subtilis  ingenii  et 
bone  memorie  sicut  prius.' 

Hippocrates  and  Galen  had  observed  that  an 
injury  to  the  left  side  of  the  brain  may  produce 
paralysis  of  the  right  side  of  the  body,  and  even 
a  general  man  of  letters  like  Plutarch  knew  this. 
Mr.  J.  D.  Duff,  of  Trinity  College,  in  a  letter  to  me 
of  August  16,  1895,  says :  *  Here  is  something 
I  noted  for  you  from  Plutarch's  Conjugalia  Praecepta 
(20  E)  :  "  atcrwep  ol  larpol  Xeyovcn  Ta9  tcov  evcovvfxbyv 
irXyjya^  ttjv  aicrdrjcriv  iv  rol^  Sefiot?  ava(j)ipeiv" 
What  do  you  suppose  he  means  ?     That  an  injury 


44  LECTURE    I 

to  the  left  side  of  the  brain  injured  the  right  side  of 
the  body  ?  And  is  that  so  ?  Plutarch  was  interested 
in  medicine  as  in  nearly  everything  and  often  quotes 
something  from  Hippocrates/  Dr.  John  Cooke,  in  his 
careful  Treatise  on  Nervous  Diseases,  which  appeared 
in  1820,  tells  as  much,  and  very  little  more,  of  the 
relation  of  hemiplegia  to  destruction  of  part  of  the 
brain.  When  Mirfeld  treats  of  injuries  he  regrets 
that  medicine  and  surgery  have  become  separate 
lines  of  practice.  The  well-informed,  he  says,  are 
aware  that  he  cannot  be  a  good  physician  who 
neglects  every  part  of  surgery,  and,  on  the  other 

th^nd,  a  surgeon  is  good  for  nothing  who  is  without 
knowledge  of  medicine.  Mirfeld  times  with  pre- 
cision the  recovery  of  each  broken  bone.  A  rib 
will  take  twenty  days.  A  humerus  or  a  femur  forty 
days.  He  had  noticed  that  union  is  slower  in  the 
aged.  He  writes  at  length  on  materia  medica,  and 
I  might  easily  give  a  separate  lecture  on  this  part  of 
his  work.  He  describes  the  drugs,  names  their 
common  adulterations,  discusses  their  effects,  and 
gives  many  prescriptions.  The  last  chapter  of  the 
JBreviarium,  that  on  preserving  health,  is  based  on 
the  *  Eegimen  Sanitatis  Salerni '. 

Another  work  of  Mirfeld's  is  the  Florarium 
Bartholomei.^  It  is  to  Mr.  J.  P.  Gilson,  a  member 
of  the  learned  staff  in  the  manuscripts  department 
of  the  library  of  the  British  Museum,  that  the 
discovery  of  the  authorship  of  this  book  is  due.  At 
the  foot  of  folio  3  is  written : — 

^  MS.  Royal  7  F.  xi  (British  Museum). 


Plate  IV. 


I 


^.,i.f>.i4  **t*«p«  fiftSuT^  ^[J*'»''^4* 


'»MC»vt>tcic/»t^  C 


fW^. 


•^ 


«^»»JK 


^  «^  .H^  %»r^M«/> 


-^A:^""^■^.^^■:av 


1*^      ^U>o«.>   ^'Sn- 


(jay 


""E^^  rt.«ub««r  >T»«Sv'^"i  >'«'^"*C 


^^|C^ 


^  J>»/rtrZ4 -^noif^  ^-^/»i<>  »^ ♦»»**•»** 


<i«>trt8r w-T'to^^T^^ "-ap^^xs  a/<i]«»fc^r-v^ 


<>^^c^M  e.Ste/»tf*-rf:  4»«:^^||ift, 


Florarium  Bartholo>[Ei  of  John  Mirfei.d. 
Introduction,  with  verses  at  foot  indicating  how  to  find  th( 
author's  name. 
Ad  IHS  incipies  capitales  inde  notabis 
Nunc  quo  vado  scies  :  venio  simul  uftde  probabis. 

To  face  jjage  44. 


STUDY   IN   LONDON  45 

Ad  IHS  incipies  capitales  inde  notabis. 

Nunc  quo  vado  scies  venio  simul  unde  probabis. 

Chapter  Ixii  begins  with  the  word  *  Jesus '  and 
the  initials  of  the  following  chapters  make  up  the 
words  :  Johanni  de  Suthwelle  per  Johannem  de 
Mirfeld :  Ora  pro  nobis  beate  Bartholomee  ut 
digni  efficiamur  promissionibus  Cristi.  Amen. 
Explicit. 

Mr.  Gilson  was  so  kind  as  to  point  out  to  me  this 
discovery  of  his,  and  I  wrote  down  the  first  words  of 
one  hundred  and  fourteen  chapters,  beginning  at 
chapter  Ixii.  There  is  an  erratum,  which  may 
perhaps  point  to  the  fact  that  the  book  is  actually 
in  Mirfeld's  handwriting.  The  words,  the  initials 
of  which  ought  to  make  up  his  name,  are  :  Monachus; 
Inter ;  Eaymundus  ;  Foemina ;  Kex  ;  Loquens  ;  De. 
These  initials  are  decorated  in  red.  This  was 
usually  done  by  an  illuminator  and  not  by  the 
original  scribe.  A  little  letter  was  written  by  the 
original  scribe  over  which  the  illuminator  painted 
his  large  red  initial.  The  fifth  word  was  Kex,  but 
the  acrostic  requires  an  E  and  not  an  R.  It  is  clear 
that  the  sentence  was  made  before  the  *r'  was 
illuminated,  and  while  it  was  so  small  as  to  be  over- 
looked, so  that  E  and  not  E  was  used  in  the  acrostic. 
Mr.  J.  P.  Gilson  has  mentioned  as  indications  of 
the  date  of  composition  in  his  catalogue  of  the  Eoyal 
MSS.  that  the  constitutions  of  Simon  Islip  of  1362 
are  quoted,^  and  that  a  sermon  of  John  Grandison  ^ 
(written  Cronson),  Bishop  of  Exeter,  1328-69,  is 
^  f.  69.  »  f.  181. 


46  LECTURE   1 

also  mentioned.  It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  the 
Florarium  was  composed  not  earlier  than  1362,  and 
perhaps  as  late  as  1369.  The  single  medical 
chapter  which  it  contains  does  not  allude  to  the 
Breviarium  Bartholomew  so  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
that  the  Florarium  was  composed  first.  The 
Florarium  is  a  theological  treatise  with  one  chapter 
on  physicians  and  their  medicines.  The  manu- 
script in  the  British  Museum  once  belonged  to 
the  library  of  the  religious  house  (of  the  order 
of  the  Trinity)  of  Ashridge  in  Hertfordshire,  and 
had  been  given  to  Ashridge  in  1518  by  Richard 
Hutton.i 

The  preface  of  the  Florarium  explains  that  the 
author  has  collected  numerous  passages  from  the 
Holy  Scriptures  and  from  sacred  writers.  A  flower 
garden  is  a  place  where  flowers  abound  and  so  the 
name,  he  says,  is  appropriate  to  a  collection  of 
flowers  from  holy  and  spiritual  writers,  from 
doctors,  and  wise  men.  *Sed  quare  cum  hac 
addicione  Bartholomei  sic  nominatur  ad  presens 
nolo  declarare  non  expedit  quidem.'  The  cause  of 
this  secrecy  is  no  doubt  that  it  has  pleased  him  to 
explain  his  name  and  place  of  writing  by  the 
acrostic  already  mentioned.  There  are  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five  chapters,  of  which  the  first  is  on 

^  *  Iste  liber  constat  Thome  Baxter  vicario  perpetuo  ecclesie 
parochialis  de  Stikeford  :  Eicardus  Hutton :  Qui  Kicardus  con- 
tulit  istum  librum  domui  religiose  de  asherug  ibidem  in 
biblioteca  permansurum.  Anno  domini,  1518.'  Florariunif 
f.  259 


Plate  V. 


ca  Ixxxviii. 


<tf- 


I 


f4-/v<»  crtfc')if.»ii 


I-  ^^^         '  *-        /tlTS — " —  /S 


y<»t--  <^l<-< 


f(cbt-&  cvxrfz  iftr  10  a^t^tiMU 


»tO 


ttr%J^  iatifieri*-  iffi  tin  ^iitii-  JTciMfi 

':£c»c  M''^  ^ffvr  rA$v^  «./cr/rt.«m 
<i«:^  ^^<i  fA.^  .|,  »-'^.?7^^rtft 

tc«»g<t*o  All*-  -^fi^*^    V*<y>j^9Aai^t 
,>SUT«f»f»'    hirtTT**!.  ©it/^^t    to„":ji^,-r 

'    '    ^  f;^.,*;? 

frt  OKI  <ftV«  /...»^  <«f<r  '\oof(y£tr8<Ki\ 

UfiPtflX   ^*  *^^  ^J^'  ^0^  CT^-to^.^49 


>»iTt*'  ©t-'  *»4f3rt  ^•<<y£*t-/<r;•.6*^r-t*A,tf- 


%p4 


ci^ 


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ft 


^'.^ 


!/'o  /ace  jpa</e  46. 


PYORARIUM    BaRTHOLOMEI    OF   JoHN    MiRFELD. 

Chapter  on  physicians  and  their  medicines. 


STUDY  IN  LONDON  47 

Abstinence  and  the  other  subjects  follow  in  alpha- 
betical order.     The  one  medical  chapter  is  of  great 
length,    '  On    Physicians     and    their    Medicines.'   / 
Mirfeld  urges  physicians  not  to  think   too  much 
of  money,  and  relates  as  a  warning  the  case  of  one   i 
to  whom  were  owed  thirteen  pounds  for  his  treat-    \ 
ment    of    a    patient    during     three    years.      The     \ 
physician  when  dying  and  exhorted  to  receive  the      J 
Holy   Eucharist   could   say  nothing  but    *thirteejL — ^ 
pounds  in  three  years '.     Mirfeld  advises  prelates  to 
have  a  rope  in  their  study  hanging  from  the  ceiling 
and  knotted  at  the  end  on  which  they  may  take 
exercise  by  swinging  or  raising  their  weight  on  it, 
and  recommends  them  to  carry  weights  in  their 
hands  about  their  rooms  if  they  cannot  take  enough 
outdoor  exercise.     He  counsels  every  one  to  bear  in 
mind  the  verses  (of  the  'Kegimen  Sanitatis  Salerni ') : 

Sit  cena  levis 
Vel  cena  brevis 
Sit  raro  molesta 
Magna  nocet 
Medicina  docet 
Ees  est  manifesta. 

Gluttony  slays  more  than  the  sword.  Foods  are 
not  to  be  mixed,  but  a  meal  of  bread  to  be  taken  in 
the  morning,  and  of  meat  in  the  evening.  *  And  in 
this,'  he  says,  *  all  doctors  of  this  faculty  agree,  but 
we  English  from  long  habit  hold  the  reverse.' 

In  the  library  of  Lambeth  Palace  there  is 
a  manuscript  which  once  belonged  to  Archbishop 
Sancroft,  whose  name  (W.  Saner.)  is  twice  written 


48  LECTURE   I 

in  it.  The  volume  contains  several  manuscript 
fragments,  and  among  them  four  and  a  half  pages 
on  prognosis  abstracted  from  medical  authors  and 
digested  into  a  treatise  called  Speculum  Johannis 
Mirfeld,  It  ends,  *  Explicit  iste  tractatulus  multum 
necessarius.'  In  these  three  works  Mirfeld  does 
not  mention  any  vernacular  writer.  The  EngHsh 
men  of  letters  with  whose  works  he  was  familiar, 
Bede,  John  of  Salisbury,  John  of  Gaddesden,  Kanulf 
Higden,  all  wrote  in  Latin.  He  was  acquainted 
with  Horace  and  Virgil,  and  Ovid.  He  had  read 
Boethius,  and  knew  well  the  Liber  Etymologiarum 
of  Isidore  of  Seville.  I  am  not  competent  to  speak 
of  his  theological  reading,  but  it  was  obviously 
extensive.  Mirfeld  had  read  one .  medical  book  of 
his  own  time  again  and  again — the  Lily  of 
Medicine  of  Bernard  of  Gordon — and  had  a  less 
profound  acquaintance  with  the  English  Rose  of 
John  of  Gaddesden,  and  with  the  writings  of 
Gilbertus  Anglicus.  These  were  the  modern  books 
of  his  time.  Of  ancient  authors  he  had  studied  the 
then  current  books  attributed  to  Hippocrates  and 
Galen.  He  had  read  a  good  deal  in  the  Continent 
of  Khazes,  and  was  acquainted  with  some  of  the 
works  of  Serapion,  of  Avicenna,  of  Constantinus 
Africanus,  and  of  Isaac,  son  of  Solomon.  The  works 
of  Eoger  and  Lanfranc,  and  Platearius  of  Salernum, 
and  Arnaldus  de  Villa  Nova  were  well  known 
to  him.  The  Antidotarium  of  Nicholas  and  Aemilius 
Macer's  De  Herbarum  Virtutihus  were  his  chief  reading 
in  pharmacology.      Mirfeld  had  observed  patients 


STUDY   IN   LONDON  49 

for  himself  both  in  the  world,  and  in  a  hospital, 
and  had  formed  independent  opinions  on  the  effects 
of  treatment,  and  on  general  prognosis. 

In  universal  humanity  towards  the  sick,  and  in 
the  wish  to  alleviate  pain,  and  to  consider  the 
feelings  of  the  patient,  those  essential  parts  of  our 
profession,  without  which  the  highest  skill  in  our 
art  can  never  be  attained,  he  was  equal  to  the 
physician  of  to-day.  He  was  imperfectly  trained 
in  the  art  of  observation,  and  was  inclined  to  accept 
without  examination  the  dicta  of  great  teachers  of 
medicine.  It  was  for  him  a  proof  of  the  usefulness 
of  methods  of  treatment  that  patients  were  said  to 
have  been  better  after  employing  them,  and  he  did 
not  pause  to  consider  whether  the  improvement 
was  a  probable  event  of  the  disease,  or  examine 
very  closely  into  the  accuracy  of  the  diagnosis. 
Such  was  John  Mirfeld,  a  physician  of  wide  reading, 
with  a  mind  full  of  all  that  was  known  in  his  time, 
a  laborious  and  high-minded  man,  anxious  to  do  all 
in  his  power  for  his  patients,  and  to  instruct  others 
how  to  relieve  suffering. 


E 


LECTURE    II 

THE  EDUCATION  OF  PHYSICIANS  IN 
LONDON  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTUKY 

Mr.  President,  Censors,  and  Fellows  of  the  Col- 
lege,— I  have  endeavoured  in  my  first  lecture  to 
show  what  were  the  attainments  and  what  the 
studies  of  a  mediaeval  physician  in  London.  John 
Mirfeld  knew  something  of  the  seven  liberal  arts, 
of  grammar,  of  rhetoric,  of  logic,  of  arithmetic,  of 
music,  of  geometry,  and  of  astronomy.  He  had 
been  influenced  by  the  society,  the  traditions,  and 
the  architecture  of  a  great  university;  had  been 
trained  in  medicine  by  a  master  who  was  a  physician ; 
had  known  the  members  of  the  staff  of  a  hospital 
and  seen  cases  in  it ;  had  read  materia  medica, 
medical  botany,  and  pharmacology  in  Nicholas 
and  perhaps  in  Marcellus,  surgery  in  Eoger  and 
Lanfranc,  medicine  in  some  books  of  Galen,  in 
Ehazes,  in  Avicenna,  in  Platearius  of  Salernum,  and 
in  the  more  modern  writers  Bernard  de  Gordon, 
John  of  Gaddesden,  and  Gilbertus  Anglicus.  He 
had  read  Ysaac  on  diet  and  knew  by  heart  the 
precepts  on  regimen  of  the  school  of  Salernum.  He 
was  familiar  with  the  names  and  with  parts  of  books 
attributed  to  Hippocrates  and  to  Aristotle.  He 
knew  something  of  Horace,  of  Virgil,  and  of  Ovid, 


EDUCATION   IN  LONDON  51 

and  had  read  the  Be  Consolatione  Philosophiae  of 
Boethius  ^  and  some  of  the  other  works  of  that  last 
of  the  Latin  classical  writers.  His  chief  source  of 
general  knowledge  was  St.  Isidore,  whose  Liber 
Etymologiarum  is  a  vast  collection  on  everything 
known  to  the  educated  world  of  the  sixth  century. 
He  was  thoroughly  versed  in  the  Old  and  the  New 
Testament.  He  had  read  much  in  the  writings  of 
St.  Augustine  and  St.  Jerome  and  some  of  the  works 
of  St.  Bernard,  St.  Anselm,  and  St.  Thomas  Aquinas. 
He  wrote  easily  the  Latin  of  his  time,  the  living 
language  of  the  Church  and  the  Law.  He  had  read 
no  Greek  literature,  but  was  acquainted  with  the 
Greek  alphabet,  and  knew  something  of  Aristotle 
and  of  Alexander.  In  medicine  he  was  capable  of 
recognizing  the  general  condition  of  fever  and  of 
distinguishing  clearly  a  few  species  of  disease  in 
which  fever  occurs,  the  plague,  for  example,  and 
tertian  ague.  He  could  distinguish  to  some  extent 
the  manifestations  of  diseases  which  we  call  pleurisy 
and  bronchitis.  He  knew  that  dysenteric  symptoms 
were  not  all  due  to  the  same  cause.  He  had  names 
for  several  distinct  skin  diseases.  He  had  some 
knowledge  of  enlargement  of  the  lymphatics.  He 
was  as  well  acquainted  with  epilepsy  as  most 
physicians  up  to  the  days  of  Trousseau.     He  had 

^  Mirfeld  was  neither  the  latest  nor  the  most  famous  medical 
writer  who  was  versed  in  Boethius.  Sydenham ,  in  his  chapter 
De  morbis  acutis  in  genere,  quotes  Book  II,  Metrum  III,  of  the 
Be  Consolatione  Philosophiae : 

Constat  aeterna  positumque  lege  est, 
Ut  constet  genitum  nihil. 

e2 

* 


52  LECTURE   II 

observed  hemiplegia  clinically.  He  could  recognize 
gout.  He  knew  something  of  dislocations  and  frac- 
tures. He  understood  the  value  of  exercise  and  of 
rational  diet  for  the  preservation  of  health,  and  was 
certain  of  the  ill  effects  of  intemperance.  He  was 
acquainted  with  some  of  the  effects  of  opium,  of 
turpentine,  of  sulphur,  and  of  some  other  drugs. 
He  understood  the  necessity  of  attention  to  the 
details  of  nursing,  and  was  aware  of  the  importance 
of  remembering  the  effect  of  the  mind  on  the  body. 
I  need  not  point  out  the  gaps  in  his  knowledge  of 
clinical  medicine  or  of  therapeutics,  nor  the  defects 
in  his  whole  system  due  to  the  small  accumulated 
knowledge  of  his  age  in  anatomy  and  physiology. 
Morbid  anatomy  was  altogether  unknown  to  him. 
Such  were  the  attainments  of  John  Mirfeld  in  the 
last  quarter  of  the  fourteenth  century.  A  manu- 
script on  pharmacology,^  which  was  in  existence  in 
his  time  and  which  is  now  in  the  British  Museum, 
has  at  the  beginning  a  fine  illuminated  initial  in 
which  Serapion,  in  a  doctor's  gown,  is  depicted 
lecturing  on  materia  medica  with  a  plant  in  his 
hand.  The  picture  is  instructive,  for  it  shows  that 
they  are  wrong  who  suppose  that  scientific  methods 
were  unknown  in  the  Middle  Ages.  At  the  time  of 
this  manuscript  a  lecturer  illustrating  his  teaching 
by  specimens  was  clearly  a  familiar  sight  to  students 
of  medicine.  While  examining  the  manuscript  I 
observed  a  Latin  inscription  in  a  much  later  hand, 
which  stated  that  the  book  belonged  to  Nicholas  de 
^  Harley,  3745. 


Plato  VI. 


iter  ton\ncmt]r<v 
nofntictfwnitfi^ 

c  i)  ngixa?itc^  fig2.K  «p  ticcm  e  tc  fcii  cantnt 
-  mn  cS^  ftiftamt^  tn  tJ  A  qii|n  cimit  Or 

m  4ho/cfm*2S't«mcma5nnr  ttm^qj  m^ 
cu  ommiftnpnSri  ft^itm^tiiiumtr^^^i^ 
i^^.twiemcminr  mm  rt  oJit  r^i^wc  f%to 
1 4btmc  ftii  ^c  flm-z  imtitrc  am  7  tinu 
^p  mtf»?inatimii  l4h?2C  wami  •  (Pmti 

ttt^r  ct4(ce|n  tr<f  c^rliicm  *t^  ncpa  q;5 
amrf^lviruj  ah^z^lihzcv-n^fmvainUtS 


To  face  page  52 


.i^xc  tnmxftg^nnciteripn'l?  fm  rcq  tfl^ 

2imtiiitf^  r4jr^^titiutmn  cStf  .Sctn  re 
imtr^tnT!aiiir:cn5i1l4  4  timimitr-ib'tn 
tini<tmt^ipTp::iru  confer  nirm  irrra? 

Liber  Serapionis  de  Medicixis  Si:mplicibus. 
Initial  showing  a  lecture  on  medical  plants. 


Plate  VII. 


to 

xnV 
nftT 
ace 


tt>f 
wit  ^ 


'  ■*. 


fi 


LiHf:R  Serai'ionis. 
Note  in  the  hand  of  Nicholas  of  Cusa.  dated  1449. 


To  face  page  53. 


EDUCATION   IN   LONDON  53 

Cusa,  who  had  bought  it  and  many  other  books  on 
medicine  and  on  the  acts  in  1449. 

Nicholas  de  Cusa,  to  whom  in  the  generation 
following  Mirfeld's  this  copy  of  Serapion  had  be- 
longed, was  a  man  of  varied  learning  and  of  a 
scientific  habit  of  mind.  He  was  a  theological 
writer,  a  mathematician,  and  an  observer  of  natural 
phenomena.  He  made  an  original  examination  of 
the  Koran,  and  critically  discussed  its  contents  ;  and 
in  medicine  he  introduced  an  improvement  which 
in  an  altered  form  has  continued  in  use  to  this  day. 
This  improvement  was  the  counting  of  the  pulse 
which  up  to  his  time  had  been  felt  and  discussed  in 
many  ways,  but  never  counted.  The  first  method 
of  a  new  invention  is  often  unnecessarily  cumbrous, 
but  this  does  not  detract  from  the  merit  of  the  man 
who  first  discerns  its  principle.  Nicholas  of  Cusa 
proposed  to  compare  the  rate  of  pulses  by  weighing 
the  quantity  of  water  run  out  of  a  water-clock  while 
the  pulse  beat  one  hundred  times.  Thus,  he  said, 
you  may  easily  prove  the  degree  in  which  the  pulse 
of  a  young  man  is  more  rapid  than  that  of  an  old 
man.  *The  weight,  therefore,  of  water  that  flows 
out  in  relation  to  the  differences  of  pulses  in  the 
youth,  in  the  aged  man,  in  the  healthy  and  the  sick 
ought  necessarily  to  lead  to  a  truer  knowledge  of  the 
disease,  one  weight  being  proper  to  one  infirmity 
and  a  different  weight  to  another.' 

The  manufacture  of  watches  with  second-hands 
has  since  given  us  a  simpler  method  of  counting, 
but  the  merit  of   introducing  this  useful  kind  of 


54  LECTURE   II 

observation  into  clinical  medicine  belongs  to  Nicholas 
of  Cusa.  He  became  a  cardinal,  and  is  buried  in  the 
church  from  which  he  took  his  title,  St.  Peter  ad 
Vincula.  Devotion  attracts  many  people  to  this 
church,  and  a  love  of  art,  since  it  contains  a  great 
work  of  Michael  Angelo,  many  others,  and  science 
adds  a  third  interest  in  the  monument  of  this 
improver  of  clinical  medicine.  His  tomb  has  no 
ornament  but  its  inscription,  yet  it  is  not  improper 
to  consider  that  he  has  a  more  lasting  memorial  in 
his  commemoration  over  the  whole  globe,  wherever 
medicine  is  practised,  by  the  simple  method  of 
observation  which  he  was  the  first  to  contemplate. 

Some  knowledge  of  Greek  is  discoverable  in 
Western  Europe  throughout  the  Middle  Ages,  and 
two  Greek  phrases  at  least  were  known  by  sound  to 
every  Christian.  The  Greek  quotations  in  the  Be 
Consolatione  Fhilosophiae  of  Boethius,  for  many 
centuries  one  of  the  most  widely  read  of  books, 
must  have  made  every  reader  familiar  with  the 
Greek  letters,  and  passages  of  Greek  are  to  be  found 
here  and  there  in  manuscripts,  as  in  the  Schaff  hausen 
copy  of  Adamnan's  Life  of  Columba,^  Johannes 
Scotus  Erigena,  it  is  certain,  knew  Greek  well 
enough  to  translate  the  Pseudo-Dionysius,  and  both 
Koger  Bacon  and  Kobert  Grosseteste  had  considerable 
attainments  in  it ;  but  it  was  a  rare  accomplishment, 
and  there  were  very  few  Greek  books  in  the  libraries. 
The  increased  study  of  this  great  literature,  which 
began  in  the  fifteenth  century,  changed  the  attain- 

'  William  Keeves  :  Life  of  St  Columha.   Dublin,  1857. 


EDUCATION   IN   LONDON  55 

ments  required  in  a  learned  man.  The  invention 
of  printing  gave  force  to  the  new  learning,  and  both 
the  aspect  of  libraries  and  the  studies  of  students 
were  altered. 

The  founder  of  our  College  of  Physicians,  Thomas 
Linacre,  was  born  about  the  time  of  the  death  of 
Nicholas  of  Cusa,  a.d.  1464.  A  century  after  the 
Breviarium  Bartholomei  was  written,  Linacre  was 
pursuing  the  study  of  Greek  under  Demetrius 
Chalcondylas  in  Italy.  Before  1500  he  had  taken 
his  M.D.  degree  at  Padua  and  had  returned  to 
England.  In  the  Eenaissance,  medicine  was  as 
closely  associated  with  literature  and  general  learn- 
ing as  it  had  been  in  the  Middle  Ages.  The  differ- 
ence was  in  the  kind  of  Hterature  and  consequently 
in  its  effect.  Linacre  and  his  contemporaries  had 
learned  Greek,  and  the  study  of  the  books  of  ancient 
Greece,  whether  Hippocratic  or  philosophical, 
opened  their  minds  to  the  true  source  of  natural 
knowledge — Nature  herself  and  not  books.  Our 
College  was  founded  in  1518  and  established  in 
England  a  permanent  relation  between  our  profes- 
sion and  the  world  of  learning. 

The  mediaeval  physician  attained  nearly  all  his 
knowledge  from  books.  He  had  read  books  of 
many  kinds,  but  more  on  medicine  than  on  other 
subjects.  He  was  inclined  to  add  little  from 
observation.  The  physician  of  the  Eenaissance  had 
read  medicine  too.  Both  reverenced  Hippocrates 
and  Galen,  but  the  later  physician  had  seen  Hippo- 
crates and  Galen  so  near  that  he  adopted  the  method 


56  LECTURE   II 

by  which  they  had  attained  knowledge,  and  followed 
their  example  instead  of  only  considering  their 
conclusions.  The  trouble  the  later  physician  had 
to  take  to  attain  a  knowledge  of  Greek,  as  on  the 
one  side  it  brought  him  to  the  true  sources  of 
natural  knowledge,  so  on  the  other,  bound  him  to 
the  other  branches  of  human  thought.  The  know- 
ledge required  in  this  College  was  not  to  be  attained 
but  by  living  laborious  days,  yet  many  men  attained 
it,  and  thus  a  physician  in  England  was  rightly 
thought  a  member  of  the  learned  world. 

Leland  and  Caius,  his  contemporaries,  have  both 
borne  testimony  to  the  learning  of  our  first  elected 
Fellow,  Dr.  Bartlot.  Since  his  attainments  were 
admired  by  Caius  it  is  certain  that  he  knew  Greek 
and  was  well  read  in  Galen,  and  we  have  the  direct 
testimony  of  Leland  that,  unlike  most  of  the 
physicians  of  the  Eenaissance,  he  knew  also  the 
mediaeval  writers.  It  was  appropriate  that  a  man 
not  negligent  of  the  old  medicine  and  well  versed 
in  the  new  should  be  the  first  doctor  to  be  elected 
into  our  College,  and  that  the  first  occasion  on  which 
our  statute  book,  bound  in  silver,  was  carried  before 
the  President  in  state  should  have  been  in  the  funeral 
procession  which  bore  Dr.  Bartlot  to  his  grave  in 
the  church  which  had  once  been  the  daily  resort  of 
John  Mirfeld  and  in  which  probably  his  bones  then 
rested.  A  fine  medal  struck  in  honour  of  Dr.  John 
Freind  has  on  its  reverse  figures  of  an  ancient  and 
a  modern  physician  joining  hands,  with  the  words  : 
Medicina  vetus  et  nova :  Unam  facimus  utramque. 


EDUCATION   IN   LONDON  57 

The  same  design  would  have  been  appropriate  to  the 
commemoration  of  Eichard  Bartlot. 

Linacre,  our  first  President,  and  Dr.  John  Clement, 
president  in  1544,  were  physicians  of  the  Eenais- 
sance.  Linacre  was  a  priest  and  Clement  a  layman, 
but  both  were  Greek  scholars  of  extensive  reading, 
and  the  practice  of  both  was  guided  by  what  they 
had  learned  from  many  treatises  of  Galen  and  from 
parts  of  Hippocrates.  Most  of  Linacre's  transla- 
tions were  of  books  of  Galen,  but  he  also  translated 
the  ^^aipa  of  Proclus,  a  Byzantine  Greek  of  the  fifth 
century  of  our  era  who  founded  a  system  of  philo- 
sophy drawn  from  Plato,  Pythagoras,  and  Aristotle. 
Clement's  translations  were  of  theological  writers. 
Linacre  wrote  on  Latin  grammar  and  taught  it  to 
the  Princess  Mary.  Clement  was  professor  of 
Greek  at  Oxford,  and  in  both  classical  learning  was 
indissolubly  bound  up  with  their  profession.  Their 
Greek  reading  gave  a  precision  to  their  medical 
thoughts  and  practice.  Perhaps  the  constant  desire 
to  bear  in  mind  Hippocrates  and  Galen  in  dia- 
gnosis, prognosis,  and  treatment  may  have  to  some 
degree  caused  their  view  of  medicine  to  be  narrow, 
yet  the  contact  of  their  minds  with  the  truly  natural 
method  of  the  Greeks  must  have  led  them  some- 
times to  opinions  wholly  based  upon  their  own 
observations.  These  physicians  were  members  of 
the  learned  world  of  their  time.  Sir  Thomas  More, 
Erasmus,  and  Colet  were  their  friends. 

Edward  Wotton,  who  was  President  in  1541,  and 
John  Caius,  President  in  1555,  were  no  less  Grecians 


58  LECTURE   II 

than  Linacre  and  Clement,  but  they  were  the  first 
of  our  College  who  added  zoology  to  their  studies. 
Wotton  was  of  Magdalen  College,  and  took  his  first 
degree  at  Oxford  in  1514.  The  College  of  Corpus 
Christi  was  founded  two  years  later,  and  Wotton  in 
1521  was  appointed  lecturer  in  Greek  there.  Bishop 
Eichard  Foxe,  the  founder,  wished  to  encourage  the 
new  learning  in  his  college,  and  he  gave  Wotton  the 
income  of  a  Fellow  with  leave  to  travel  in  Italy  *  to 
improve  his  learning  and  chiefly  to  study  Greek'. 
Wotton  graduated  M.D.  at  Padua,  and  after  his 
return  to  Oxford,  where  he  was  incorporated  M.D. 
on  May  16,  1526,  lectured  again  on  Greek  at 
Corpus,  but  two  years  later  came  to  London.  In 
1552  he  published  in  Paris  a  folio.  Be  Bifferentiis 
Animalimn,  the  first  printed  book  by  an  Englishman 
on  zoology.  He  had  read  all  the  passages  about 
natural  history  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics 
because  he  was  interested  in  the  subject,  and  so 
gradually  came  to  put  together  the  book.  Sir  John 
Mason,  his  particular  friend  and  patron,  who  was 
English  Ambassador  in  France  in  1550  and  1551,^ 
took  the  manuscript  with  him  to  Paris  and  seems  to 
have  arranged  for  the  printing  and  publication  of 
the  book  there.  It  was  brought  out  with  paper  and 
type  of  the  finest  kind  and  dedicated  to  King 
Edward  VI. 

The  pages  of  Wotton  contain  much  from  Pliny 
and  something  from  Aristotle,  with  many  learned 

^  Edoardi  Wottoni   Oxoniensis  De  Bifferentiis  Animalium 
Libri  Decern :  Preface. 


EDUCATION   IN   LONDON  59 

notes,  some  Greek  in  every  chapter,  and  quotations 
in  the  text  from  Plautus  and  Virgil,  Ovid,  Martial, 
and  Oppian.  He  had  read  Cicero  and  Columella, 
Theophrastus,  Hermolaus,  Ennius,  Aelian,  Ausonius, 
Suetonius,  Heliodorus,  Nicander,  Dioscorides,  Paulus 
Aegineta,  and  Albertus  Magnus,  yet  very  little  in 
the  book  of  nature.  His  chapter  on  thrushes  is  less 
abstruse  than  some  others,  and  shows  that  his  mind 
looked  rather  towards  bookshelves  than  hedgerows. 
*  Of  the  kinds  of  thrushes  and  blackbirds  and  of 
other  birds  which  are  more  or  less  like  them.  In 
the  country  and  among  hedges  and  farms  the 
thrushes  and  blackbirds  have  their  haunts.  There 
are  three  kinds  of  thrushes.  One  is  called  viscivorus 
(misselthrush)  because  it  must  have  mistletoe  and 
resin  to  feed  upon,  and  it  is  of  the  size  of  a  pica. 
Another  kind  is  of  the  size  of  a  blackbird.  A  third, 
which  some  call  tXta?  and  tXXa?,  and  others  rvXa? ; 
in  Latin  iliacus  is  of  smaller  size  and  less  marked 
with  spots.  Thrushes  make  their  nests  from  mud, 
as  swallows  do,  alone  in  high  trees.  They  make 
a  covering  of  hair  and  wool  and  line  the  inside  of 
the  nest  with  the  same.  The  thrush  changes  its 
colour :  for  in  the  summer  the  plumage  about  the 
neck  is  spotted,  while  in  winter  it  is  of  a  single 
hue :  their  note  is  the  same  all  the  year  round.  It 
migrates  in  winter  in  search  of  winter  food,  so 
that  in  Germany  thrushes  are  most  numerous  in 
winter.  Beech  nuts  are  liked  by  thrushes.  The 
flesh  of  thrushes  is  harder  than  that  of  partridges 
and  that  kind   of  birds.     The  juice,  nevertheless, 


60  LECTURE   II 

if  rightly  cooked,  is  highly  nutritious.     As  Martial 

says : — 

Inter  aves  turdus,  si  quis  me  iudice  certet, 
Inter  quadrupedes  gloria  prima  lepus. 

The  thrush  roasted  with  berries  of  myrtle  is  good 
for  dysentery/ 

John  Caius  translated  parts  of  Hippocrates  and 
of  Galen,  and  in  him  the  study  of  these  Greek 
physicians  led  to  his  own  publication  of  observa- 
tions, and  his  two  books  Be  Ephemera  Britannica, 
one  in  Latin  and  one  in  the  vernacular,  are  the 
firstfruits  of  clinical  observation  in  England.  His 
contributions  to  natural  history  were  both  addressed 
to  the  naturalist,  Conrad  Gesner,  and  were  a  treatise 
on  British  dogs,  and  one  on  rare  animals  and  plants. 
His  natural  history  has  a  more  outdoor  complexion 
than  that  of  Wotton,  with  whose  account  of  thrushes 
and  blackbirds  Caius's  chapter  De  Morinello  may 
be  compared.  *  Morinellus,  a  bird  common  on  our 
seashores,  is  foolish  but  good  to  eat  and  is  among 
us  thought  one  of  the  greatest  of  delicacies  and 
fetches  a  high  price.  The  bird  is  a  mocker.  So 
that  as  the  owl  and  the  bustard  by  imitation  of 
jumping,  so  this  by  night  in  candle-light  is  captured 
by  the  motion  of  the  catcher.  For  if  he  stretches 
out  his  arm  the  bird  extends  its  wing,  if  he  his  leg 
it  does  the  same.  Thus  the  bird  intent  on  the 
man's  movement  is  taken  by  the  fowler  and  is 
inclosed  in  the  net.  It  is  a  small  bird  of  the  size 
of  a  starling  with  three  front  toes  and  no  hind  toe, 
with  a  black  top  of  its  head,  white  round  the  eye, 


EDUCATION   IN   LONDON  61 

and  is  almost  of  the  colour  of  a  quail  if  you  add 
a  little  grey,  especially  round  the  neck.  I  call  it 
Morinellus  for  two  reasons  :  because  the  bird  is 
commonest  among  the  Morini  and  because  it  is  a 
stupid  bird,  which  stupidity  in  Greek  is  called 
^(op6rr)<;.  For  the  same  reason  we  call  it  Doterel,  as 
if,  so  to  speak,  crazy  with  folly.'  The  description  of 
the  meleagris  or  guinea  fowl,  the  head  of  which,  he 
says,  is  so  arranged  *  ita  ut  insideat  capiti  eo  modo 
quo  ducalis  pileus  illustrissimo  duci  Veneto  si  quod 
iam  adversum  est  aversum  fieret',  seems  to  bring 
Caius  before  us  in  Venice  looking  at  the  Doge  in 
ducal  cap  walking  in  solemn  procession  round  the 
piazza  of  St.  Mark,  or  passing  by  in  the  Bucentaur 
in  gorgeous  state  to  wed  the  Eepublic  to  the  sea ; 
while  the  account  of  the  Doterel  shows  him  in  the 
open  country  of  his  native  Norfolk. 

I  have  mentioned  together  Wotton  and  Caius  as 
the  men  who  first  in  our  College  brought  zoology 
into  the  list  of  subjects  on  which  a  physician  should 
be  informed.  They  had  an  association  outside  this 
College,  for  Sir  John  Mason  was  the  patron  of  both. 
This  statesman,  the  son  of  a  cowherd  at  Abingdon, 
had  been  an  undergraduate  at  Oxford  while  Wotton 
was  in  residence,  and  became  a  Fellow  of  All  Souls, 
and  in  1552  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Oxford. 
He  was  early  employed  in  diplomatic  service  abroad, 
and  so  continued  almost  to  the  end  of  his  life. 
In  October,  1555,  he  was  English  Ambassador  at 
Brussels,  and  witnessed  the  elaborate  ceremony  in 
which    Charles  V  abdicated    the   imperial  crown. 


62  LECTURE   II 

Charles,  moved  by  the  stage  effect  which  he  had 
himself  arranged,  *  broke  into  weeping,'  says  Mason, 
*  whereunto,  besides  the  dolefulness  of  the  matter, 
I  think  he  was  moche  provoked  by  seeing  the  whole 
company  do  the  lyke  before,  there  being  in  myne 
opinion  not  one  man  in  the  whole  assembhe, 
stranger  or  another,  that  during  the  time  of  a  good 
piece  of  his  oration  poured  not  out  as  abundantly 
teares,  some  more,  some  lesse.'  ^ 

The  study  of  modern  languages  and  their  litera- 
ture began  in  England  soon  after  that  of  Greek,  and 
with  this  part  of  learning  our  College  was  connected 
in  several  ways.  Spanish  was  the  first  continental 
language  in  which  a  Fellow  of  this  College  became 
distinguished.  Thomas  Doyley,  of  Magdalen  College, 
was  at  Oxford  with  Sir  Philip  Sidney  and  Lyly  the 
euphuist  and  Hakluyt,  the  editor  of  the  great  series 
of  voyages,  all  of  whom  were  affected  by  the  taste 
for  the  Spanish  language  and  literature,  which  began 
in  England  in  the  reign  of  Philip  and  Mary  and 
increased  in  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  Doyley 
took  his  B.A.  degree  in  1564  and  his  M.A.  degree 
in  1569,  and  after  some  medical  reading  at  Oxford 
went  abroad  in  1571  to  pursue  medical  studies. 
He  graduated  M.D.  at  Basle  in  1581.  Throughout 
these  years  he  continued  to  increase  his  knowledge 
of  Spanish  and  persevered  in  the  study  after  his 
return  to  London  in  1585.  He  was  elected  a 
Fellow  of  this  College  in  1588,  and  physician  to 

^  Dispatch   quoted  in  Motley,  Bise  of  the  Dutch  EepuUiCj 
ch.  i. 


EDUCATION   IN   LONDON  63 

St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital  in  1590.  He  died 
in  1603  and  was  buried  in  the  church  within  the 
hospital. 

The  first  Spanish  dictionary  was  published  in 
London  in  1591  under  the  title  of  ^  Bibliotheca 
Hispanica ;  by  Eichard  Percyvall :  Gent.'  The 
dedication  to  *Eobert  Earl  of  Essex  and  Ewe, 
Viscount  Hereford  and  Bourghchier,  Lord  Ferrers 
of  Chartley,  Baron  Louvaine,  Master  of  the  Queen's 
Majestie's  horse  and  Knight  of  the  Garter',  is  followed 
by  an  address  to  the  reader.  In  this,  after  describ- 
ing the  aims  and  contents  of  the  book,  and  the  help 
he  had  received  from  Don  Pedro  de  Valdes  and  Don 
Vasco  de  Sylva,  Percyvall  says  :  *  In  very  good  time 
I  chaunced  to  be  acquainted  with  the  learned  gentle- 
man Master  Thomas  Doyley,  doctor  in  Physicke,  who 
had  begunne  a  Dictionary  in  Spanish,  English  and 
Latine,  and  seeing  me  to  be  more  foreward  to  the 
presse  than  himself :  very  friendly  gave  his  consent 
to  the  publishing  of  mine,  wishing  me  to  adde  the 
Latin  to  it  as  hee  had  begunne  in  his,  which  I  per- 
formed, being  not  a  little  farthered  therein  by  his 
advice  and  conference.'  The  generosity  of  Doyley 
seems  to  have  been  as  great  as  his  learning,  and 
having  thus  contributed  to  the  dictionary  he  wrote 
a  short  Latin  poem  in  praise  of  it : — 

Quas  novus  orbis  opes,  quos  profert  India  fructus, 
Quas  mare,  quas  tellus  gemmas  aurique  fodinas. 
Has  habet  Hispanus,  Jasonis  vellere  dives  : 

Cum  populo  aurato  coUubet  ergo  loqui. 
Expetit  Hispanus  Belgas  evincere,  regem 
Gallorum  per  vim  regno  depellere,  regnum 


64  LECTURE   II 

Diripere  Anglorum,  quid  non  ?  Cupit  esse  monarchal 
Cum  rege  hoc  tanto,  coUubet  ergo  loqui. 

Cum  quibus  aut  bellum  cupimus,  commercia,  pacem, 

Horum     sermo     placet :     facilemque     brevemque 
loquendi 

Dat  liber  iste  modum,  dat  Percyvallius  author 
Cum  populo  Hispano  quam  cito  posse  loqui. 

Some  prefixed  commendatory  verses  by  James  Lea 
show  that  though  Spanish  was  the  first  modern 
language  in  which  our  College  produced  a  master, 
French  and  Italian  had  before  received  more  atten- 
tion in  the  world  of  London  : — 

Though  Spanish  speech  lay  long  aside  within  our 

British  He, 
Our  courtiers  liking  nought  save  French  or  Tuscan's 

stately  stile, 
Yet  now  at  length  (I  know  not  how)  steps  Castile's 

language  in. 
And  craves  for  credit  with  the  first,  though  latest 

she  begin. 

The  reading  of  Greek  books  as  the  only  true 
method  of  entrance  to  medicine  in  particular  and  to 
learning  in  general  lasted  about  a  hundred  years. 
Then  at  length  the  way  to  acquire  knowledge,  which 
Hippocrates  and  Galen  made  clear  by  example,  had 
come  to  be  thoroughly  understood,  and  men,  eager 
to  acquire  more  knowledge  of  things  from  nature,  no 
longer  needed  to  be  assured  that  thus  only  truth 
could  be  attained.  The  last  words  of  the  preface  of 
the  Be  Magnete  of  William  Gilbert  published  in 
1600,  the  year  in  which  he  was  elected  President  of 
this  College,  show  that  this  stage  had  been  reached. 
*  To  those  early  forefathers  of  philosophy,  Aristotle, 


EDUCATION   IN  LONDON  65 

Theophrastus,  Ptolemy,  Hippocrates,  and  Galen,  let 
due  honour  be  ever  paid  ;  for  by  them  wisdom  hath 
been  diffused  to  posterity ;  but  our  age  hath  uncovered 
and  brought  to  light  very  many  facts  which  they, 
were  they  now  living,  would  gladly  have  accepted.' 
The  addition  of  such  facts  by  Harvey,  by  Glisson, 
and  others  in  this  College  and  by  many  other 
observers  all  over  Europe  rapidly  brought  medicine 
into  that  state  of  constant  growth  and  improvement 
in  which  it  has  ever  since  continued,  but  the  change 
was  gradual  and  not  sudden.  Theodore  Goulston, 
a  Censor  in  1626  and  three  earlier  years,  made  trans- 
lations of  the  Opuscuh  of  Galen  published  in  1640, 
eight  years  after  his  death,  which  were  carefully  read 
and  annotated  by  Harvey.  Goulston  was,  perhaps, 
the  last  physician  of  the  Eenaissance  kind  who 
studied  Greek  and  through  it  attained  his  medical 
knowledge. 

If  Gilbert  may  be  regarded  as  the  first  physicist 
of  the  College,  the  first  Fellow  who  knew  much  of 
chemistry  was  undoubtedly  Theodore  Turquet  de 
Mayerne,  who  came  to  settle  in  England  from  Paris 
in  1611,  and  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  our  College  in 
1616.  He  made  many  chemical  experiments,  and 
applied  his  chemistry  to  pharmacy  and  to  thera- 
peutics, making  the  lotio  nigra,  which  has  been 
valued  ever  since,  and  bringing  calomel  into  use. 
He  also  carried  out  a  long  series  of  experiments  on 
pigments.  His  varied  attainments,  his  large 
practice,  and  consequent  experience,  as  well  as  his 
upright  character,  caused  his  influence  to  be  great. 


66  LECTURE   II 

and  he  showed  to  the  College  the  usefulness  of 
knowing  something  of  chemistry,  while  his  habit  of 
taking  elaborate  notes  of  cases  gave  an  example  which 
had  a  most  valuable  effect  on  the  study  of  clinical 
medicine.     Sir  Theodore  Mayerne  died  in  1655. 

Linacre,  Clement,  Wotton,  Caius,  Doyley,  Gilbert, 
Harvey,  Mayerne,  and  Glisson  represent  the  kind 
of  knowledge  with  which  this  College  began,  and 
that  to  which  it  gradually  attained  in  the  first 
century  and  a  half  of  its  existence.  Latin  was 
the  language  of  composition  and  communication. 
Botany  of  some  kind  was  an  inheritance  of  phy- 
sicians from  the  Middle  Ages,  improved  first  by  the 
study  of  the  text  of  Dioscorides,  and  then  by  the 
observations  in  the  field  of  Lobel  and  Gerard  and 
Parkinson,  and  many  more  in  other  countries. 
Greek  was  the  most  important  professional  training, 
diminishing  in  importance  as  the  effects  of  reading 
Greek  books  became  more  distinct.  The  lesson 
was  at  last  learned  and  the  teacher  was  no  more 
needed.  The  value  of  a  knowledge  of  modern 
languages  had  come  to  be  understood.  Anatomy 
and  physiology  were  sufficiently  known  by  dis- 
section and  observation  to  make  Harvey's  discovery 
possible.  The  usefulness  of  physics  and  of  chemistry 
had  been  demonstrated  by  Gilbert  and  by  Mayerne. 
Morbid  anatomy  was  considerably  advanced,  and 
its  importance  in  its  relation  to  clinical  medicine 
made  plain  in  the  work  of  Harvey  and  Mayerne 
and  Glisson.  The  precise  study  of  disease  during 
life   was   established   by  the    copious  note-taking 


EDUCATION   IN   LONDON  67 

of     Mayerne,     and    the     exact    observations     of 
Glisson. 

The  pubHcation  by  the  College  of  the  Pharma- 
copoeia in  1618,  for  the  first  edition  of  which 
Mayerne  wrote  the  dedication  to  the  King,  may  be 
said  to  have  established  the  study  of  pharmacology 
on  a  sound  basis  by  providing  in  successive  editions 
of  the  Pharmacopoeia  a  tribunal  before  which  drugs 
might  be  arraigned  from  time  to  time  to  answer  for 
their  usefulness,  and  be  retained  in  the  public 
service,  or  dismissed  from  it  according  to  the 
decision.  The  College  of  Physicians  was  the  sole 
guardian  of  medical  learning  in  England  at  this 
period,  for  the  universities  were  inclined  to  treat 
the  subject  as  a  part  of  general  book-learning,  only 
exercising  a  very  slight  and  varying  control  over 
men  who  wished  to  take  a  Bachelor  of  Medicine 
or  Doctor  of  Medicine  degree.  Supplicats  were 
occasionally  refused,  and  it  seems  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  this  was  sometimes  on  account  of 
insufficient  knowledge  in  the  candidate,  or  unsatis- 
factory evidence  of  study.  The  College,  from  its 
close  connexion  with  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  to 
which  universities  all  its  Fellows  by  residence  or 
incorporation  belonged,  and  by  the  influence  of  its 
recognized  supremacy  in  medical  knowledge,  was 
sometimes  able  to  prevent  persons  of  insufficient 
attainments  from  admission  to  degrees.  Thus 
Simon  Ludford,  who  had  failed  in  his  examination 
before  the  College  in  1553,  and  tried  to  obtain 
a  licence  to  practise  in  each  university,  though  of 

f2 


68  LECTURE   II 

most  defective  attainments,  was  for  a  time  pre- 
vented— at  Oxford  by  an  appeal  to  the  visitors,  and 
at  Cambridge  by  the  influence  of  Caius — from 
receiving  licence  or  degree.  The  refusal  had  the 
effect  of  leading  him  to  improve  himself,  and  he 
obtained  an  M.D.  degree  at  Oxford  about  four  years 
later,  in  1560,  and  in  1563  he  was  elected  a  Fellow 
of  this  College.  His  copy  of  Avicenna  is  in  our 
library,  and  in  another  book  of  his,  Be  dissectione 
partium  corporis  humani  lihri  tres  a  Garolo  Stephana, 
Paris,  1545,  he  has  written  a  copy  of  Latin  verses 
headed  by  the  words  : — 

Simonis  Ludefordi  est  hoc  volumen' 

Corporis  dissecti,  anatomicarum 
Partium  humani,  docet  hoc  Volumen 
Et  modum,  et  formam,  Vtilitatem  et  Vsum, 

Illiteratos. 

Absolutis  comprobat  argumentis 
Actiones,  officia,  atque  nexus, 
Esse  quadam  symmetria  coacta 

Particularum. 

Cuilibet  membro  propriam  figuram 
Et  situm,  cursumque  notamque  ponit. 
Nil  inexpertum  memorat  nee  Vllum 

Sectio  fallet. 

Erutum  a  scitis  Veterum  quod  prosit  : 
Posteris  charum,  Stephanus  relinquens, 
Munus  inculpabile,  quo  perhenne 

Nomen  adeptus. 

Hiisce  lectis,  caetera  quae  medendae 
Sunt  facultatis,  potes  experiri : 
Euadas  tandem  Vt  medicus  peritus. 

Perge  Galenum. 


EDUCATION   IN   LONDON  69 

Floccipendas  pecuniam,  Valebit 
Ars :  thesaurus  deficiet,  Volumen 
Sollidis  hoc  Venditum  habebis  octo  : 

Totque  ego  solvi. 

Whether  these  verses  are  sufficiently  bad  to  have 

required  his  continued  exclusion  from  the  College 

I  must  leave  to  the  distinguished  Latin  poets  whom 

we  have  among  our  Fellows  at  the  present  day — 

to   Dr.   Eobert   Bridges   and  Dr.   J.   A.   Ormerod. 

I  suppose  that  Ludford  did  not  obtain  the  purchaser 

who  would  pay  the  eight  shillings  he  asked,  as  the 

book  is  in  our  library,  to  which,  with  the  Avicenna, 

he  probably  gave  it  when,  his  early  want  of  education 

having  been  repaired,  he  was  honoured  as  a  Censor. 

Edward    Browne    was    admitted    a    Fellow    on 

July  29,  1675,  when  Sir  George  Ent  was  President, 

who  had  known  Harvey  well,  and  is  honourably 

mentioned  by  Dryden  in  his  Epistle  to  Br,  Charleton, 

The  circling  streams  once  thought  but  pools  of  blood — 
(Whether  life's  fuel  or  the  body's  food). 
From  dark  oblivion  Harvey's  name  shall  save 
While  Ent  keeps  all  the  honour  that  he  gave. 

Edward,  the  eldest  son  of  the  celebrated  Sir 
Thomas  Browne,  was  thirty-three  years  of  age  when 
he  pledged  his  faith  to  the  President  and  to  the 
College  on  his  admission  to  the  Fellowship,  and 
the  silver  sceptre  which  you,  Mr.  President,  carried 
in  your  hand  when  you  took  the  chair  to-day,  was 
on  that  day  in  the  hands  of  Sir  George  Ent. 

Edward  Browne  was  already  known  as  a  man  of 
letters,  for  he  had  published  a  volume  of  travels 
and  a  translation  of  a  Discourse  of  the  Cossacks,    The 


70  LECTURE   II 

travels  had  been  widely  read,  and  the  Duke  of  Queens- 
bury  and  Dover,  the  Scottish  statesman,  some  years 
later,  thought  the  translation  of  the  Discourse  of  the 
Cossacks  entertaining  enough  to  take  with  him  in  his 
coach  when  travelHng.  Edward  Browne  had  had  all 
the  advantages  of  education  which  a  kind  and  learned 
father  could  give  him.  He  was  born  at  Norwich,  pro- 
bably in  1642,  and  received  his  school  education  at 
the  Grammar  School  in  the  Close,  just  within  the 
gate,  over  which  Sir  Thomas  Erpingham,  a  hero  of 
Agincourt,  was  then  kneeling  in  his  niche  as  he  is 
at  this  day.  As  the  author  of  the  JReligio  Medici 
took  his  boy  to  school  I  can  imagine  that  he 
pleasantly  pointed  to  the  figure  and  quoted  the 
words  of  King  Henry  V  in  Shakespeare : 

Good  morrow,  old  Sir  Thomas  Erpingham. 
The  conversation  of  his  home  was  an  important 
part  of  the  education  of  Edward  Browne.  There 
must  have  been  much  delight  to  him  in  his  boyhood 
in  being  told  the  nature  and  history  of  the  many 
curious  objects  in  his  father's  museum,  of  the 
narwhal's  tooth,  then  called  a  unicorn's  horn,  of  the 
birds'  eggs,  and  of  the  funeral  urns. 

Sir  Thomas  Browne  in  his  writings  now  and  then 
is  as  sententious  as  Mr.  Shandy,  but  his  letters  to 
his  sons  and  theirs  to  him  show  that  his  nature  had 
little  in  common  with  the  selfishness  of  the  Squire 
of  Shandy  Hall,  who  forgot  every  human  feeling  in 
his  eagerness  to  establish  the  truth  of  his  theories. 
On  one  occasion,  that  of  the  witch  trial,  Sir  Thomas 
Browne    allowed    theories,    drawn    from    ancient 


EDUCATION   IN   LONDON  71 

reading,  to  pervert  his  natural  humanity,  but  in  his 
family  affection,  and  his  kindness  to  the  poor,  and 
in  a  certain  simplicity  which  shines  through  his 
fondness  for  recondite  fragments  of  knowledge  and 
paradoxical  antitheses,  he  shows  a  resemblance  to 
that  immortal  example  of  goodness  of  heart,  Captain 
Toby  Shandy.  A  visitor  in  the  household  of  the 
Brownes  has  in  his  writings  a  passage  which 
represents  the  spirit  which  pervaded  it.  *I  can 
wonder  at  nothing  more  than  how  a  man  can  be 
idle ;  but  of  all  others,  a  scholar ;  in  so  many 
improvements  of  reason,  in  such  sweetness  of 
knowledge,  in  such  variety  of  thoughts :  other 
artisans  do  but  practise,  we  still  learn  ;  others  run 
still  in  the  same  gyre  to  weariness,  to  satiety ;  our 
choice  is  infinite;  others'  labours  require  recrea- 
tions ;  our  very  labour  recreates  our  sports ;  we  can 
never  want  either  somewhat  to  do,  or  somewhat 
that  we  would  do.' ^  In  such  a  home  Edward 
Browne  was  soon  ripe  for  the  university,  and  he 
entered  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  in  October, 
1657,  which  makes  it  probable  that  1642  is  the  true 
date  of  his  birth  and  not  1644  as  commonly  stated,  for 
thirteen  years  was  then  an  unusual  age,  but  fifteen 
years  a  common  one  at  which  to  enter  the  university. 
In  1663,  Browne  applied  for  admission  to  the 
degree  of  M.B.  He  preserved  a  copy  of  the  sup- 
plicat  2  which  he  wrote  on  the  occasion  in  one  of 
liis    notebooks.      It   states    that    he    had  studied 

*  Bishop  Hall :  Epistle  to  Mr.  Milward. 
'  MS.  in  British  Museum,  Sloane,  1797. 


72  LECTURE   II 

medicine  for  six  years,  and  had  heard  the  usual 
lectures,  and  passed  through  the  required  opposi- 
tions, responsions,  and  other  exercises  of  the  kind. 
He  asks  that  these  may  be  sufficient  to  allow  him 
to  enter  into  the  faculty.  He  has  also  preserved 
a  copy  of  the  grace  for  his  admission  to  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Medicine  at  the  congregation  at 
which  the  grace  is  read  or  at  the  next.  The 
exercises  were  matter  of  reading  and  of  argument, 
but  Dr.  Francis  Glisson,  then  Kegius  Professor  of 
Physic,  was  careful  that  these  should  be  duly  per- 
formed, and  it  must  have  been  an  advantage  to 
Browne  to  know  something  of  a  professor  so  deep 
in  anatomy  and  morbid  anatomy,  and  at  the  same 
time  so  exact  in  clinical  observation.  Browne 
seems  to  have  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  two 
bodies  dissected  probably  at  the  demonstrations 
founded  by  Dr.  Caius. 

After  taking  his  degree  Browne  returned  to 
Norwich,  and  continued  his  studies  amid  a  good 
deal  of  enjoyment  suitable  to  his  years.  The  Duke 
of  Norfolk  was  at  that  time  the  greatest  person  in 
Norwich,  and  his  palace  was  in  1663-4  occupied 
by  his  brother  Henry,  and  contained  a  part  of 
their  grandfather's  wonderful  collection  of  works 
of  art — the  Earl  of  Arundel,  with  whom  Harvey 
visited  Eome.  Edward  Browne  was  one  of  the 
guests  of  New  Year's  Day  at  this  great  house.  He 
dissected  a  bull's  heart  on  January  2,  and  danced 
at  the  Duke's  palace  on  the  4th.  He  dined  there 
on  the  5th,  and  danced  again  in  the  evening,  and 


EDUCATION   IN   LONDON  73 

again  on  Twelfth  Night.      Next  day  he  dissected 
a  dog,  and  on  the  9th  the  knee-joint  of  a  calf,  and 
another  bull's  heart,  and  the  larynx  of  a  bullock. 
On  January  11  he  danced  at  the  palace  till  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning  to  celebrate  his  host's  birth- 
day.    Next  day  he  dissected  a  turkey's  heart,  and 
examined  the  dentition  of  a  monkey.      Two  days 
later  he  went  over  the  monkey's  skeleton,  and  on 
January  22  studied  the  anatomy  of  a  sheep,  and  the 
next  day  prepared  the  right  forefoot  of  a  monkey. 
At  the  palace  he  met  Dr.  De  Veau,  a  godson  of 
Sir  Theodore  Mayerne,  and  then  or  later  physician 
to  Charles  II.     De  Veau  had  with  him  a  febrifuge 
powder,   probably    of    cinchona    bark,   which    he 
wished  to  try  on  a  well-marked  case  of  ague.     On 
January  28,  Browne  studied  the  anatomy  of  oxen, 
and  the  next  day  dissected  a  hare,  and  further  studied 
the  monkey's  skeleton.     In  February  he  prepared 
the  skull  and  bones  of  the  foot  of  a  hare,  dissected 
another  hare,  a  hedgehog,  and  a  badger.     He  paid 
at  the  same  time  some  attention  to  botany,  noting 
the  flowering  Aconitum  hyemale  and  Helleboraster, 
and  gathered  many  seaside  plants.     He  examined 
a  nasal  polypus,  and  saw  two  patients,  a  man  with 
consumption,  and  an  old  man  with  a  fever.     He 
went  to  London,  arriving  on  February  24,  and  next 
day  went  to  hear  an  anatomy  lecture  at  Chirurgeon's 
Hall,^  and  saw  a  human  body  dissected — the  third 
he   had   seen.     In   the   morning   Dr.    Christopher 

^  The  hall  was  in  Monkwell  Street :  more  anciently  known 
as  Muggewelle  Street. 


74  LECTURE   II 

Terne,  assistant  physician  to  St.  Bartholomew's 
Hospital,  gave  a  general  introduction  to  the  course 
in  Latin,  and  then  lectured  on  the  skin.  There  was 
a  second  lecture  in  the  afternoon  on  the  stomach, 
intestines,  and  mesentery,  and  before  the  lecture 
Browne  was  allowed  to  examine  the  dissected  body 
in  the  *  anatomizing  room'.  He  no  doubt  needed 
a  little  fresh  air  after  this  well-occupied  day,  and 
took  a  walk  in  St.  James's  Park,  where  he  saw  the 
king's  zoological  collection,  *  divers  sorts  of  out- 
landish deer,  guiny-sheep,  a  white  raven,  a  great 
parrot,  a  storke  which,  having  broken  its  own  leg, 
had  a  wooden  leg  set  on,  which  it  doth  use  very 
dexterously.  Here  are  very  stately  walkes  set  out 
with  lime  trees  on  both  sides  and  a  fine  Pall  Mall.' 
Next  day  he  heard  the  third  lecture,  which  was  on 
the  suprarenals,  the  kidneys,  and  their  related  parts. 
He  dined  with  his  sister,  who  lived  in  Clerkenwell, 
and  attended  the  fourth  lecture  in  the  afternoon. 
It  was  on  the  pleura,  mediastinum,  and  lungs,  which 
he  went  to  see  dissected  before  the  lecture.  His 
record  of  the  fifth  lecture  has  not  been  preserved. 
The  sixth  and  last  was  given  on  the  afternoon  of 
the  third  day,  and  its  subject  was  the  anatomy  of 
the  eye.  Dr.  Terne  concluded  the  course  with 
a  Latin  speech.  These  six  lectures  given  on 
Thursday,  Friday,  and  Saturday  were  a  course  of 
anatomy  of  that  time.  The  lecturer  was  a  phy- 
sician, the  dissections  were  made  under  his 
direction  by  surgeons,  the  teaching  was  conducted 
in  their  hall,  and  was  chiefly  for  the  benefit  of  the 


EDUCATION   IN  LONDON  75 

members  of  their  company,  though  friends  of  the 
lecturer  and  others,  if  properly  introduced,  some- 
times attended.^  Dr.  Terne,  the  lecturer,  was  a 
well-read  physician  who  had  studied  at  Leyden. 
He  delivered  the  Harveian  oration,  and  wrote 
a  thoughtful  paper  discussing  the  question,  *An 
respiratio  inserviat  nutritioni  ? '  but  the  only  part  of 
his  writings  which  has  been  printed  is  an  in- 
scription in  Latin  verse  under  the  engraved 
portrait  of  Dr.  Christopher  Bennet.  This  portrait 
is  the  frontispiece  of  Bonnet's  TaUdorum  Theatrum, 
which  is  the  fuller  edition  of  the  first  treatise  on 
tuberculosis  published  in  England. 

Hospitii  quicumque  petis  quis  incola  tanti 
Spiritus,  egregia  hunc  consule  scripta  dabunt. 

Browne  married  Terne's  daughter,  Henrietta,  in 
1672. 

Dr.  Windet,  with  whom  Browne  dined  on  the 

first  lecture  day,  had  practised  in  Yarmouth,  and 

was  a  correspondent  of  Sir  Thomas  Browne.     They 

agreed  in  a  taste  for  out-of-the-way  subjects,  and  for 

verbal  conceits.     Windet  at  the  Kestoration  brought 

out  two  Latin  poems.     One  is  a  condemnation  of 

the  execution  of  Charles  I,  and  begins  with  the 

word  *  Occidimus '.     The  other  is  on  *  His  Majesty's 

Happy    Eestoration ',    and  begins   with  the   word 

*  Vivimus '.      A  Latin  letter  De  vita  functorum  statu, 

of  which   young  Browne  probably  thought  fit  to 

mention  his  father's  admiration,  when  on  the  first 

^  Edward  Browne's  notes  are  printed  in  Wilkin,  Works  of 
Sir  Thomas  Broume, 


76  LECTURE   II 

day  of  his  anatomy  lectures  he  dined  with 
Dr.  Windet,  is  a  production  containing  much 
reading,  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  and  Arabic,  and 
showing  a  turn  of  thought  not  unUke  that  often 
displayed  by  Sir  Thomas  Browne.  The  writer 
discusses  the  meaning  of  the  word  Tartarus,  and 
debates  the  precise  sense  of  various  Hebrew  and 
Greek  words  and  sentences  used  in  describing  the 
state  of  man  after  death  as  well  as  all  the  opinions 
expressed  by  Hebrews  and  Greeks  on  the  same 
subject.  Windet  was  evidently  a  vast  reader,  but 
of  the  same  kind  as  that  Bishop,  of  whom  Bentley, 
when  asked  whether  he  was  not  a  very  learned 
man,  remarked,  *Dr.  Warburton  has  a  large 
appetite  but  a  bad  digestion.'  Sir  Thomas  Browne 
and  Windet  had  minds  filled  with  the  same  kind 
of  learning,  but  while  the  works  of  Browne  continue 
to  appear  in  new  editions,  and  to  form  part  of 
general  reading,  those  of  Windet  are  never  opened. 
The  difference  consists  in  something  difficult  to 
express  but  easy  to  feel.  Dryden  has  considered 
such  distinctions,  and  has  expressed  his  conclusion 
with  his  usual  felicity,  *A  happy  genius  is  the 
gift  of  Nature :  it  depends  on  the  influence  of  the 
stars  say  the  astrologers,  on  the  organs  of  the  body, 
say  the  naturalists ;  'tis  the  particular  gift  of 
Heaven  say  the  divines,  both  Christians  and 
heathens.  How  to  improve  it  many  books  can 
teach  us ;  how  to  obtain  it  none  ;  that  nothing  can 
be  done  without  it  all  agree.' ^ 
*  Preface  to  Translation  of  Du  Fresnoy,  Art  of  Painting,  1695. 


EDUCATION   IN   LONDON  77 

On  March  1,  Browne  called  on  Dr.  Joseph  Dey, 
a  Norwich  man  who  practised  in  Crutched  Friars, 
and  as  he  was  out,  walked  on  to  *  Mr.  King's,  living 
in  Little  Britain,  an  ingenious  chirurgeon',  who 
showed  him  various  anatomical  preparations.  *I 
being  desirous  to  see  the  inside  of  a  man's  stomacke 
hee  cut  up  one  for  me  which  he  had  by  him.'  In 
the  afternoon  he  went  to  see  a  private  museum 
near  St.  Paul's,  where  he  was  shown  a  sea 
elephant's  head,  a  sloth,  and  an  Indian  serpent,  and 
then  walked  on  to  Arundel  House  in  the  Strand, 
which  contained  the  famous  Arundel  marbles.  Mr. 
King,  the  surgeon,  afterwards  gave  up  surgery  and 
took  to  medicine,  and  was  made  Sir  Edmund  King, 
and  physician  to  Charles  II  in  1676.  He  became 
a  Fellow  of  this  College  in  1687,  and  his  picture 
by  Lely  is  in  our  dining-room.  His  papers  in 
the  Philosophical  Transactions  show  that  he  was  a 
desirable  man  for  a  student  to  know.  He  was  one 
of  the  first  persons  in  London  to  use  a  microscope, 
and  to  pursue  histological  studies.  He  also  worked 
at  chemistry  and  entomology,  and  wrote  creditable 
papers  on  the  habits  of  ants  and  on  leaf-cutter  bees. 
He  had  dissected  one  hundred  human  brains,  and 
Dr.  Thomas  Willis,  the  author  of  the  Anatomy 
of  the  Brain,  praises  his  anatomical  skill. 

More  than  twenty  years  later  King  took  part  in 
the  first  scene  of  a  memorable  tragedy.  '  On  the 
first  of  February,'  says  Burnet  in  his  history  of  his 
own  time,  *  the  King  eat  little  aU  day,  and  came  to 
Lady  Portsmouth  at  night,  and  called  for  a  por- 


78  LECTURE   II 

ringer  of  spoon  meat.  It  was  made  too  strong  for 
his  stomach.  So  he  eat  Httle  of  it :  And  he  had 
an  unquiet  night.  In  the  morning  one  Dr.  King, 
a  Physician,  and  a  Chymist,  came,  as  he  had  been 
ordered,  to  wait  on  him.  All  the  King's  discourse 
to  him  was  so  broken,  that  he  could  not  understand 
what  he  meant.  And  the  Doctor  concluded,  he 
was  under  some  great  disorder,  either  in  his  mind, 
or  in  his  body.  The  Doctor  amazed  at  this,  went 
out,  and  meeting  Lord  Peterborough,  he  said,  the 
King  was  in  a  strange  humour,  for  he  did  not  speak 
one  word  of  sense.  Lord  Peterborough  desired  he 
would  go  in  again  to  the  bed-chamber,  which  he  did. 
And  he  was  scarce  come  in,  when  the  King,  who 
seemed  all  the  while  to  be  in  great  confusion,  fell 
down  all  of  a  sudden  in  a  fit  like  an  apoplexy.  He 
looked  back,  and  his  eyes  turned  in  his  head.  The 
physician,  who  had  been  formerly  an  eminent 
surgeon,  said,  it  was  impossible  to  save  the  King's 
life  if  one  minute  was  lost :  He  would  rather 
venture  on  the  rigour  of  the  law,  than  leave  the 
King  to  perish.  And  so  he  let  him  blood.  The 
King  came  out  of  that  fit :  And  the  physicians 
approved  what  Dr.  King  had  done.' 

Three  days  after  his  visit  to  Edmund  King, 
Browne  returned  to  Norwich,  and  for  the  rest  of 
the  month  worked  at  botany,  dissected  a  frog,  a  rat, 
and  a  polecat,  did  a  little  chemistry,  and  was  con- 
sulted in  a  case  of  scurvy.  Having  filled  his  mind 
with  information  at  home,  at  Cambridge,  and  in 
London,  Browne  was  well  prepared  for  the  further 


EDUCATION   IN   LONDON  79 

education  of  travel.  He  left  home  on  March  28,. 
1664,  reached  London  at  midday  on  the  30th,  went 
by  boat  to  Gravesend,  and  rode  thence  through 
Kochester,  Sittingbourne,  and  Canterbury  to  Dover, 
whence  he  sailed  to  Calais,  and  thence  went  by 
Beauvais  to  Paris.  In  Paris  he  lived  in  a  room  in 
the  Eue  St.  Zacharie  for  seven  livres  a  month,  and 
began  regular  studies  at  once.  He  went  to  four 
courses  of  lectures  :  Dr.  Maureau  on  hernia.  Dr. 
Dyneau  on  fevers.  Dr.  Le  Bell  on  surgical  operations, 
and  that  of  Dr.  Guy  Patin  who  answered  *  all  doubts 
and  questions  proposed ',  and  was  a  staunch  Galenist 
who  laughed  at  the  chemists.  Browne  also  went 
round  the  Hotel  Dieu  and  La  Charite.  In  Septem- 
ber he  left  Paris,  and  went  to  Montpellier  and 
studied  there  for  about  a  month,  and  then  went  on 
to  Italy,  visiting  many  cities,  and  staying  for  some 
time  in  Eome.  He  travelled  north  again  with 
Dr.  Paman,  a  physician  and  Fellow  of  St.  John's 
College,  Cambridge,  who  must  have  been  a  man 
of  a  full  mind  since  Sydenham  valued  his  friend- 
ship.    Some  of  Paman's  books  are  in  our  library. 

Browne  went  to  Venice,  and  then  spent  some 
weeks  at  Padua  studying  anatomy.  The  dissection 
was  admirably  done  by  a  demonstrator  named 
Marchetti  who  had  been  instructed  by  Sir  John 
Finch,  *one  that  in  anatomy  hath  taken  as  much 
pains  as  most  now  living.'  This  was  Dr.  Finch 
of  Christ's   College,  Cambridge,^  a   connexion   by 

^  His  rooms  in  Christ's  College,  finely  panelled  in  oak  and 
with  his  armorial  bearings  over  one  of  the  doors,  are  occupied 


80  LECTURE   II 

marriage  of  Harvey.  Browne  left  Padua  in  April, 
1665,  and  went  to  Montpellier  again,  thence  pro- 
ceeding to  Paris,  which  he  reached  in  the  middle 
of  June,  and  attended  lectures  on  botany  and 
chemistry,  short  courses  of  about  a  month's 
duration.  In  July  he  caught  small-pox,  an  event 
which  happened  in  the  life  of  very  many  students 
at  universities  of  that  period.  Some  months  later 
he  returned  home.  He  had  learned  French  and 
Italian.  In  August,  1668,  he  went  abroad  again 
to  Holland,  where  he  visited  universities,  their 
libraries,  and  museums,  and  attended  lectures.  He 
went  on  to  Vienna,  and  there  learned  much  from 
Lambecius,  the  librarian,  and  seems  to  have 
acquired  colloquial  Greek.  From  Vienna  he  went 
into  Thessaly  and  visited  Larissa  in  order  to  know 
the  air  and  place  in  which  Hippocrates  practised. 
He  also  made  a  tour  in  Hungary  and  one  in  Styria 
and  Carinthia,  and  came  home  in  1669.  He  went 
abroad  once  more  in  1673,  visiting  Cologne  and  the 
Low  Countries.  He  was  admitted  Fellow  of  this 
College  in  1675,  and  elected  physician  to  St. 
Bartholomew's  Hospital  in  1682,  and  was  our 
President  1704-8.     He  died  in  1708. 

I  have  chosen  to  consider  Dr.  Edward  Browne  as 
an  example  of  the  education  of  physicians  in 
London  in  his  time,  because  while  his  opportunities 
of  learning  were  excellent  they  were  yet  such  as 
physicians    often    enjoyed.      He    began    life   in   a 

at  the  present  day  by  that  distinguished  biologist,  Mr.  Arthur 
Everitt  Shipley,  F.R.S. 


EDUCATION   IN   LONDON  81 

learned  home,  going  to  the  grammar  school  of  his 
native  city,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years  entered 
the  university,  where  after  six  years  he  took  the 
degree  of  M.B.     He  had  seen   some  human  dis- 
section, but  had  not  done  any  with  his  own  hands, 
and  had  attended  some  university  exercises,  pro- 
bably both  lectures  and  disputations,  conducted  by 
Glisson.     He  had  probably  read  the  Aphorisms  of 
Hippocrates,  of  which  Kalph  Winterton,  Glisson's 
predecessor    as    professor    of   physic,    had    edited 
a   convenient    edition    with    translations    of    each 
aphorism  into  Greek  and  Latin  verse,  and  from 
some  passages  in  Browne's  writings  he  seems  to  have 
also  read  the  Hippocratic  treatises  on  air,  water,  and 
situation,  as  well  as  the  Epidemics.     He  had  also 
read  pai-ts  of  Galen.      He  could  write  and  speak 
Latin.     After  taking  his  M.B.  degree  he  continued 
his  anatomical  studies,  and  worked  practically  at 
zoology,  botany,  chemistry,  and  pharmacology,  and 
at  medicine,  parts  of  surgery,  and  morbid  anatomy. 
He  learned  French  and  Italian,  and  could  speak 
a  little  Greek.     He  used  every  opportunity  of  con- 
versing with  learned  men,   such  as  Swammerdam 
the  zoologist,  Glauber  the  chemist,  and  Lambecius 
the  bibliographer.     He  had  read  widely — Purchas, 
his  Pilgrims^  the  travels  of  de  la  Martiniere  in  the 
Arctic   regions,    Ealeigh's    History   of   the    World, 
Ashmole's  Order  of  the  Garter,  and  the  Duchess  of 
Newcastle's  New  Blazing  World,     His  father  advised 
him  to   study   Cicero,  and  not   to  read   much  of 
Lucretius.     *  Quotations  may  be  taken  from  it,'  says 


82  LECTURE   II 

Sir  Thomas  Browne,  but  ^  otherwise  I  do  not  much 
recommend  the  reading  or  studying  of  it,  there 
being  divers  impieties  in  it,  and  'tis  no  credit  to  be 
punctually  versed  in  it ;  it  containeth  the  Epicurean 
natural  philosophy '.  Besides  his  university  exami- 
nation, which  was  a  kind  of  disputation,  Edward 
Browne  was  no  doubt  examined  in  this  College  for 
admission  as  a  candidate  in  1668,  after  he  had  been 
engaged  in  medical  studies  for  about  ten  years.  He 
took  his  M.D.  degree  at  Oxford  in  1667,  when  he 
had  studied  nine  years,  and  in  his  own  university 
in  1670.  This  degree  was  probably  given  on  proof 
of  study  in  the  faculty.  The  studies  were  less 
regulated,  and  the  practical  work  less  precise  than 
those  of  a  physician  in  our  time.  There  were  as 
yet  no  organized  schools  of  medicine  in  England, 
and  except  in  this  College  there  was  no  thorough 
examination  of  candidates. 

The  study  of  history  is  most  worth  pursuing  when 
the  consideration  of  the  past  can  be  made  useful 
to  us  in  the  present.  The  lesson,  '  Ars  longa,  vita 
brevis,'  is  plain  enough  wherever  we  contemplate 
the  attempts  of  men  to  learn  and  to  teach  medicine. 
Further  than  this,  we  may  learn  that  only  those 
subjects  become  really  valuable  to  the  student,  in 
which  he  has  sought  out  things  for  himself,  so  that 
his  knowledge  does  not  rest  on  the  dicta  of  a 
teacher. 

Last,  we  may  conclude  that  medicine  in  itself, 
with  its  essential  preliminary,  anatomy,  contains 
sufficient  opportunities  of  training  in  every  form  of 


EDUCATION   IN  LONDON  83 

observation  and  of  logical  deduction  from  what  is 
observed,  and  that,  for  the  rest,  a  mind  which  has 
been  opened  by  a  sound  literary  education  is  that 
best  adapted  to  follow  the  lifelong  study  of  medicine 
which  is  the  duty  of  every  physician.  These  are 
the  conclusions  to  which  I  have  been  led  by  a  study 
of  the  history  of  the  education  of  physicians  in 
London  from  the  time  of  John  Mirfeld  to  that  of 
Edward  Browne,  from  the  Middle  Ages  to  the  time 
when  the  methods  of  study  which  we  now  follow 
began  to  be  used. 


g2 


LECTURE  III 

THE  HISTOEY  OF  THE  STUDY  OF  CLINICAL 
MEDICINE  IN  THE  BKITISH  ISLANDS 

Mr.  President,  Censors,  and  Fellows  of  the 
College, — To  us  who  have  spent  the  greater  part 
of  our  lives  in  the  observation  of  patients,  and  in 
teaching  in  the  wards  of  hospitals,  the  study  of 
medicine  appears  to  be  essentially  clinical.  We 
know  that  reading,  meditation,  laboratory  work, 
even  investigations  in  the  post-mortem  room,  are 
insufficient  to  make  a  physician  without  prolonged 
observation  of  patients  in  every  condition  of  disease. 
Sydenham's  firm  conviction  of  the  importance  of 
spending  as  much  time  as  possible  in  observation 
at  the  bedside  and  in  meditation  makes  him,  in  his 
writings,  appear  negligent  of  the  opinions  of  the 
men  who  before  his  day  had  given  their  lives  to  the 
study  of  medicine.  He  mentions  Hippocrates  about 
a  dozen  times  and  Galen  once,  Diemerbroek  and 
Botallus,  and  twelve  other  writers  on  the  plague, 
and  hardly  any  other  authors  except  some  of  those 
whose  living  conversation  he  had  enjoyed.  Dr. 
Robert  Brady,  the  Master  of  Caius  from  1660  to 
1700;  Dr.  Henry  Paman,  Public  Orator  at  Cam- 
bridge; Dr.  Charles  Goodall,  afterwards  President 
of  this  College  ;  and  one  Oxonian,  Dr.  WiUiam  Cole, 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE    85 

— these,  and  Dr.  Thomas  Short,  are  addressed  as 
men  who  understood  his  aims  and  appreciated  his 
work,  and  show  that,  original  as  he  was,  he  hked  to 
feel  that  he  had  brothers  in  the  world  of  learning 
in  his  day.  Brady  was  a  man  both  of  active  hfe 
and  continuous  study.  He  was  head  of  his  college 
and  a  Fellow  of  this  College,  and  in  practice,  and 
he  was  for  a  time  keeper  of  the  records  in  the 
Tower,  and  wrote  a  careful  history  of  England  and 
a  treatise  on  cities  and  boroughs.  He  was  Kegius 
Professor  of  Physic  at  Cambridge,  and  member  for 
the  University  in  two  Parliaments.  Paman  was 
a  pupil  of  Sancroft  at  Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge, 
for  whom  in  good  and  bad  fortune  he  retained  a 
friendship  throughout  life.  He  kept  a  medical  act 
for  his  degree  before  Glisson  at  Cambridge,  on  the 
subject  that  a  very  light  diet  is  suitable  in  acute 
diseases.  It  is  proof  of  his  scrupulous  character 
that  he  gave  up  a  valuable  post  rather  than  take  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  King  William  III.  Goodall 
was  a  Cambridge  man  who  was  Gulstonian  lecturer, 
Harveian  orator,  and  President  here.  His  works 
on  this  College  show  his  minute  acquaintance  with 
its  history  and  his  own  letters  his  general  learning. 
Cole  wrote  on  intermittent  fever,  a  treatise  which 
is  praised  by  Blackmore  in  a  long  Latin  poem  in  the 
form  of  a  dialogue  between  Jupiter  and  Apollo. 
Cole  admired  Ghsson,  but  resembles  him  in  a  turn 
for  scholastic  argument  without  having  Glisson's 
talent  for  original  observations.  He  was  a  copious 
writer,  profoundly  interested  in  medicine,  but  adding 


86  LECTURE   III 

nothing  to  it.  Short  is  the  physician  to  whom 
Sydenham's  famous  passage  on  posthumous  fame 
is  addressed. 

For  I  do  not  much  esteem  public  applause,  and 
truly  what  matter  is  it,  if  performing  carefully  the 
duty  of  a  good  citizen  and  serving  the  public  to  my 
own  prejudice,  I  have  no  thanks  for  my  labour  ?  For 
if  the  thing  be  rightly  weighed,  the  providing  for 
esteem,  I  being  now  an  old  man,  will  be  in  a  short 
time  the  same  as  to  provide  for  that  which  is  not. 
For  what  advantage  will  it  be  for  me,  after  I  am 
dead,  that  eight  alphabetical  elements,  reduced  into 
that  order  that  will  compose  my  name,  shall  be 
pronounced  by  those  who  can  no  more  frame  an 
idea  of  me  in  their  minds,  than  I  can  now  conceive 
what  those  are  to  be  ;  who  will  not  know  such  as 
were  dead  in  the  foregoing  age  ;  and  perhaps  will 
have  another  language  and  other  manners  according 
to  the  inconstancy  and  vicissitude  of  all  human 
affairs  ? 

Among  the  mental  associates  of  Sydenham  must 
also  be  mentioned  Locke,  whose  relations  with  him 
are  well  known,  though  none  of  the  writers  on  the 
subject  have,  I  think,  compared  their  mutual  esteem 
with  that  of  Harvey  and  Hobbes.  The  study  of  both 
the  political  philosophers  was  the  human  race,  and 
both  desired  from  it  to  ascertain  the  principles 
applicable  to  their  own  age  and  country.  The 
Leviathan  and  the  Two  Treatises  on  Civil  Government 
were  both  scientific  treatises  in  which  the  attempt 
was  made  to  deduce  the  rules  of  government  from 
observations  of  what  had  happened  in  past  times 
and  in  their  own. 

The  medical  mind,  which  is  perpetually  engaged 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE   87 

in  the  observation  and  consideration  of  man  in 
every  aspect  of  his  individual  life,  naturally  inter- 
ested such  philosophers,  whether  considering  political 
problems  or  the  special  questions  of  metaphysics. 
The  mental  relation  was  the  closer  in  each  case 
because  both  Hobbes  and  Locke  felt  the  charm  of 
natural  science,  and  admired  the  weighing  and 
measuring  and  other  considerations  of  the  observa- 
tions of  the  senses  which  directed  the  habitual 
frame  of  mind  of  Harvey  and  of  Sydenham. 

When  Paracelsus  began  his  lectures  at  Basle  by 
flinging  into  a  burning  brazier  the  works  of  previous 
famous  teachers  of  medicine,  he  must  be  considered 
as  desiring  to  exalt  his  own  teaching  at  the  expense 
of  theirs,  but  this  was  not  the  feeling  which  pre- 
vented Sydenham  from  mentioning  other  opinions 
than  his  own.  He  did  not  undervalue  his  pre- 
decessors. His  care  for  some  of  those  who  had 
thought  much  on  his  subject  in  his  own  time 
shows  the  contrary,  but  he  was  impressed  with  the 
shortness  of  life,  as  every  man  must  be  who  has 
tried  to  become  deep  in  any  subject.  One  of  the 
greatest  of  modern  men  of  learning  at  Cambridge 
migrated  from  this  life  as  he  was  sitting  at  night 
by  the  fire  in  his  rooms  in  King's  College.  On  a 
table  in  the  room  was  a  series  of  fifty  learned  notes 
which  he  had  just  completed,  and  round  the  border 
of  the  title  he  had  written  :  ^  Whatsoever  thy  hand 
findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might ;  for  there  is  no 
work,  nor  device,  nor  knowledge,  nor  wisdom,  in 
the  grave,  whither  thou  goest.'     On  the  manuscript 


88  LECTURE   III 

of  Sydenham's  notes,  which  is  in  the  possession  of 
the  College,  the  author  has  written  the  same  sentence 
from  Ecclesiastes.  It  was  a  thought  constantly  in 
his  mind,  as  is  shown  by  several  passages  in  his 
writings. 

In  his  practice  of  omitting  any  discussion  of  the 
opinions  of  others  Sydenham  makes  one  exception, 

*  the  divine  old  man,'  Hippocrates,  whom  he  never 
mentions  without  respect.  He  recognized  that  in 
the  Hippocratic  writings  medicine  rested  upon  the 
observation  of  patients,  and  that  thence  must  be 
drawn  all  those  conclusions  as  to  the  preservation 
of  health  and  the  prevention  or  the  treatment  of 
disease  which  are  the  ultimate  objects  of  our 
study  and  practice.     *  Hippocrates,'  says  Sydenham, 

*  better  understood  and  more  accurately  described 
the  History  of  Diseases  than  any  one  that  came 
after  him.'  ^  Yet  the  true  spirit  of  observation  is 
obvious  in  Galen,  and  was  not  extinguished  in  the 
Middle  Ages.  We  cannot  read  Avicenna  or  Khazes 
without  feeling  that,  however  different  the  hypo- 
theses on  which  they  worked  from  those  of  to-day, 
they  were  nevertheless  men  who  wished  to  find 
out  the  origins  of  diseases,  and  who  were  fitted  by 
their  habits  of  thought  to  add  to  knowledge. 

While  the  great  physicians  of  those  ages  differed 
less  in  their  mode  of  thought  from  modern  men  of 
science  than  is  supposed  by  those  who  have  not 
read  their  works,  this  was  not  the  frame  of  mind 
of  all  who  practised  the  medical  art,  or  even  of  most 
*  Of  the  Irregular  Smallpox,  p.  172. 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE    89 


of  those  who  wrote  on  medicine.  For  all  but  a 
few,  medical  study  was  to  read  the  works  of  authority 
and  to  fit  cases  under  the  headings  given  in  such 
treatises,  while  medical  writing  consisted  in  pro- 
ducing fresh  books  by  extract  and  abstract  from 
previous  books.  Quotation  marks  were  not  in 
use,  and  every  one  who  has  perused  many  of  the 
writers  on  medicine  of  the  Middle  Ages  knows  how 
difficult  it  is  to  isolate  any  original  remarks  of  the 
actual  writer.  Though  in  one  page  of  a  manuscript 
you  may  find  statements  made  with  the  authority 
of  Ehazes,  Avicenna,  Isaac,  Constantin,  the  Philo- 
sopher (as  Aristotle  is  generally  called),  Dioscorides, 
or  Galen,  this  is  no  proof  that  other  statements  on 
the  same  page  may  not  also  be  the  author's  version 
of  what  he  has  read,  and  not  his  original  observa- 
tions. It  is  only  a  very  few  of  the  scientific  writers 
of  the  Middle  Ages  who,  like  Eoger  Bacon,  are 
mainly  original ;  the  books  of  a  few  more  contain 
some  little  original  matter,  *  thin  in  their  authors,' 
as  Dry  den  says,  and  the  majority  are  commentators 
and  compilers  only.  The  immediate  effect  of  the 
revival  of  learning  was  to  introduce  the  age  to  the 
great  teachers  of  the  past,  and  men  had  to  go  to 
school  to  them  for  some  time  before  they  were  by 
them  brought  back  to  nature. 

Greek  literature,  including,  of  course,  the  medical 
writers,  was  the  influence  which  predominated  in 
this  College  at  its  foundation.  To  it  the  greater 
part  of  the  hours  of  study  of  Linacre  and  Clement 
and  Wotton  was  devoted.     The  illustrious  Bentley 


90  LECTURE    III 

in  his  old  age,  when  Mrs.  Bentley  lamented  that  he 
had  bestowed  so  great  a  portion  of  his  time  and 
talents  upon  criticism  instead  of  employing  them  in 
original  composition,  acknowledged  the  justice  of 
her  regret  with  extreme  sensibility,  and  remained 
for  a  considerable  time  thoughtful  and  seemingly 
embarrassed  by  the  nature  of  her  remark.  At  last 
recollecting  himself  he  said  :  *  Child,  I  am  sensible 
that  I  have  not  always  turned  my  talents  to  the 
proper  use  for  which  I  should  presume  they  were 
given  to  me  :  yet  I  have  done  something  for  the 
honour  of  my  God  and  the  edification  of  my  fellow 
creatures.  But  the  wit  and  genius  of  those  old 
Heathens  beguiled  me,  and  as  I  despaired  of  raising 
up  myself  to  their  standard  upon  fair  ground  I  thought 
the  only  chance  I  had  of  looking  over  their  heads 
was  to  get  upon  their  shoulders.'  ^  I  can  imagine 
that  some  of  the  physicians  of  the  Eenaissance  may 
at  the  end  of  their  lives  have  had  feelings  like  those 
of  Bentley. 

Caius  was  the  first  to  write  an  original  description 
of  disease  as  observed  in  his  own  time,  yet  his  Liber 
de  Ephemera  Britannica  contains  no  series  of  clinical 
observations,  and  he  is  content  to  give  a  general 
account  of  the  epidemic,  of  its  prognosis,  and  of  the 
treatment  adopted. 

The  description  of  the  symptoms  of  the  sweating 
sickness  is  not  connected  with  any  particular  cases, 
and  is  mixed  up  with  pathological  hypotheses  con- 

^  Wrangham,  British  Plutarch,  where  Cumberland  seems  the 
authority  for  the  statement. 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE    91 

cerning  them ;  yet  it  was  the  first  description  of  a 
disease  from  nature  which  had  been  written  in  Eng- 
land. The  preface  is  dated  at  London,  January  12, 
1555,  and  as  Caius  was  then  living  in  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's Hospital,  the  book  was  probably  written 
within  its  walls.  Caius  was  satisfied  that  no  account 
of  the  disease  was  to  be  found  in  Hippocrates  or 
Galen,  and  he  made  his  description  from  what  he 
had  seen.  The  substance  of  what  he  says  about  the 
sweating  sickness  is — at  the  onset  the  disease  attacks 
in  some  patients  the  neck  or  shoulder,  in  others  the 
thigh  or  the  arm  ;  in  some  there  is  a  feeling  as  if  a 
breath  of  warmth  swept  down  those  members.  At 
the  same  time  a  sudden  and  copious  sweat  takes  place 
without  obvious  cause.  First  the  inner  parts  grow 
warm,  then  burn,  and  thence  the  heat  is  diffused 
to  the  outer  parts.  There  is  great  thirst  and  restless 
tossing  about.  The  disease  attacks  the  heart,  liver, 
and  stomach.  A  severe  headache  follows  all  these 
symptoms,  then  rambling  and  talkative  delirium, 
then  faintness  and  almost  irresistible  inclination  to 
sleep.  For  the  disease  has  a  kind  of  sharper 
poison  which  moves  the  mind  with  madness  and 
oppresses  it  with  heavy  sleep.  Again,  in  other 
cases  sweat  is  repressed  at  the  beginning,  the  limbs 
are  more  lightly  chilled,  but  afterwards  the  same 
sweat  bursts  out,  but  heavy  in  odour,  of  another 
colour  by  reason  of  the  humour,  in  quantity  imme- 
diately after  diminished,  then  again  increased,  in 
substance  dense.  In  some  there  is  nausea,  in 
others  vomiting,  but  this  in  very  few  and  almost 


92  LECTURE   III 

entirely  in  those  filled  with  food.  All  have  heavy 
and  frequent  breathing  and  deeply  groaning  voice. 
The  urine  is  lighter  in  colour,  thicker  in  substance, 
uncertain  in  relief,  otherwise  natural.  The  pulse 
excited,  rapid.  These  were  the  sure  signs  of  the 
sickness.^ — The  defects  of  Caius's  book  are  the 
absence  of  a  discussion  of  the  morbid  anatomy  in 
explanation  of  the  phenomena  and  the  compara- 
tively small  space  given  to  the  description  of  the 
symptoms  in  proportion  to  the  many  pages  of 
hypotheses  on  the  relation  of  the  disease  to  the 
general  scheme  of  fevers  and  on  its  origins.  Yet  it 
was  the  first  step  in  clinical  medicine  in  England. 

Gilbert  was  aware  of  the  importance  of  applying 
in  medicine  precise  scientific  methods  of  observation 
such  as  led  to  his  great  discovery  in  physics,  but 
while  it  is  certain  that  his  acute  and  observing  mind 
must  have  had  but  one  method  in  all  its  proceedings, 
he  has  left  us  no  records  of  observations  in  clinical 
medicine. 

Harvey  had  made  some  notes  of  patients,  as  is 
shown  in  the  manuscript  of  his  lectures  on  the 
circulation.  He  had  watched  the  progress  of  a 
suppurating  hydatid  of  the  liver  in  a  patient  at  St. 
Bartholomew's, '  Apostema  ingens  per  multos  menses 
ex  pure  foetidissimo  2  or  3  gallons  et  aqua  cum 
viscosis  panniculis  convolutis  as  glew  stepened 
in  water  or  Isonglass  :  regressum  Hospitali,'  ^  and 

^  .Tohannis  Caii,  Liher  de  Ephemera  Britannica,     Ed.  S.  Jebb, 
M.D.    London,  1721. 
"  PrelecUones  Anatomiae  Universalis  (1886),  Autotype  f.  39  h. 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE    93 

had  also  observed  the  increase  of  the  liver  in  a  man 
with  caries  of  the  spine  accompanied  by  long- 
lasting  abscesses— as  we  should  say,  a  case  of 
amyloid  disease,  *  sic  magnitudo  Jon  Bracey  Ingen- 
tem  as  bigg  as  an  ox  liver  :  liver  grown  :  macilen- 
tissimus  curvatus  pro  Imbecillitate  morions  ex 
fistulis/  There  were  probably  many  clinical  notes 
among  those  papers  of  his,  the  loss  of  which  has  so 
often  been  deplored,  for  almost  every  man  who  has 
devoted  himself  to  morbid  anatomy  has  also  made 
observations  in  clinical  medicine.  Is  not  this  plain 
in  the  writings  of  Morgagni,  of  Matthew  Baillie,  of 
Louis,  of  William  Jenner,  and  of  Wilks. 

Besides  the  traces  of  clinical  observation  in  Caius 
and  in  Harvey  other  fragmentary  proofs  of  its  use 
may  be  collected.  The  works,  for  example,  of 
William  Clowes,  surgeon  to  St.  Bartholomew's 
Hospital  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  contain  many 
passages  which  show  how  carefully  he  observed  his 
patients,  though  he  evidently  writes  down  the 
general  result  in  his  memory  rather  than  anything 
noted  day  by  day.  He  was  good  at  telling  a  story 
rather  than  at  recording  an  observation. 

The  first  physician  in  England  whose  writings 
«how  him  to  have  devoted  himself  to  minute  clinical 
observation  is  Sir  Theodore  Turquet  de  Mayerne, 
who  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  this  College  on 
June  25,  1616.  He  was  the  first  person  in 
England  learned  in  all  medicine,  and  himself  a  part 
of  the  learned  world  of  his  time,  who  made  many 
elaborate  clinical  studies.     This  great  man  was  born 


94  LECTURE  III 

at  Mayerne,  near  Geneva,  on  September  28,  1573, 
of  a  learned  family,  and  you  cannot  go  into  the  Uni- 
versity library  at  Cambridge  without  being  reminded 
of  the  godfather  whose  name  he  bore,  the  great 
scholar  Theodore  Beza,  who  gave  to  the  University 
the  ancient  codex  of  the  New  Testament  called 
after  him.  A  notebook  of  Mayerne's,  when  in  the 
second  class  at  school  at  Geneva  in  1585,  is  among 
the  Sloane  manuscripts,^  and  shows  that  the  variety 
of  tastes  and  assiduity  of  study  which  his  mature 
writings  display  were  already  to  be  observed  in 
him  at  the  age  of  twelve  years.  The  book  begins 
with  many  pages  of  notes  *  de  dialectica ',  on  logic. 
These  are  followed  by  notes  on  processes  of  distilla- 
tion with  well-executed  drawings  of  stills  and  other 
apparatus.  At  the  end  he  has  written  out  a  French 
pastoral  play.  The  scenes  and  dialogues  in  which 
Tonion  bergere  and  Lysette,  Clovis,  Florus,  and 
Daphnis  take  part,  contain  nothing  which  might 
not  have  been  written  by  an  ingenious  boy,  but 
Mayerne  does  not  state  that  he  composed  it.  He 
clearly  was  interested  in  it.  It  is  probable  that  the 
drawings  and  the  play  may  have  been  written 
rather  later  than  the  logic.  After  his  school  educa- 
tion he  studied  at  the  University  of  Heidelberg  for 
four  years  and  then  at  Montpelier,  where  he  gradu- 
ated M.B.  in  1596  and  M.D.  in  1597.  He  settled 
in  Paris,  and  early  in  his  career  had  some  medical 
controversies  with  the  physicians  there  out  of  which 
he  emerged  with  credit  to  himself.     He  had  been 

'  Sloane  MS.  2013. 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE    95 

attacked  for  using  chemical  remedies  to  which  the 
Galenists  of  the  time  objected,  and  in  a  well- 
expressed  reply  he  showed  that  his  prescriptions 
were  both  useful  and  in  accordance  with  the  prin- 
ciples and  practice  of  Hippocrates  and  Galen. 
Mayerne  went  on  with  his  work  in  spite  of  much 
opposition  from  his  seniors.  He  felt  some  scorn  of 
his  opponents,  since  in  one  of  his  notebooks  begun 
at  Paris  in  October,  1602,^  he  has  written  a  list  of 
fourteen  patients  who  had  been  left  to  die  by  the 
physicians  of  Paris  or  by  others,  but  were  restored 
to  health  by  him  and  by  Kiverius,  the  King's 
physician.  Sixteen  long  notes  of  this  period  of 
his  practice  have  been  printed.^  Before  he  left 
Paris  opposition  seems  to  have  ceased,  and  he  had 
become  physician  in  ordinary  to  the  King  of  France. 
In  1606  he  was  taken  to  England  by  a  patient  whom 
he  had  cured,  and  received  the  degree  of  M.D.  at 
Oxford.  He  did  not,  however,  settle  in  London  till 
1611,  when  he  was  desired  to  come  by  letters 
patent  under  the  Great  Seal  and  was  appointed 
first  physician  to  James  I.  His  profound  know- 
ledge of  his  profession  and  great  ability  and  general 
learning  at  once  secured  for  him  the  friendship  of 
this  College.  The  first  case  after  he  came  to 
England  of  which  he  has  preserved  a  note  is  that 
of  Sir  Kobert  Cecil,  the  Earl  of  Salisbury,  who, 
like  his  descendant  in  our  time,  was  first  Minister 
of  the  Crown.     Mayerne  saw  Cecil  at  Salisbury  on 

1  Sloane  MS.  2089,  f.  23  a. 

^  Opera  (ed.  Browne).    London,  1701. 


96  LECTURE   III 

August  1,  1611,  and  evidently  thought  ill  of  his 
case.  He  describes  a  large  hard  abdominal  tumour 
occupying  nearly  the  whole  hypogastrium  on  the 
right  side  and  associated  with  prolonged  diarrhoea — 
.probably  a  new  growth  of  the  caecum.  The  symptoms 
and  their  meaning  are  discussed  in  six  folio  pages  of 
print  of  two  columns  each  and  the  treatment  in 
twelve  and  a  half  columns,  and  it  is  evident  that 
while  Mayerne  expresses  the  wish  that  careful 
management  may  do  something  for  the  patient  he 
was  not  hopeful  of  recovery.  The  earl  died  on 
May  24,  1612. 

Mayerne  was  consulted  during  the  fatal  illness  of 
Henry  Prince  of  Wales  in  1612,  and  drew  up  an 
excellent  account  of  the  symptoms,  treatment,  and 
post-mortem  appearances,  from  which,  as  I  have 
elsewhere  shown,  it  is  easy  to  establish  that  the 
Prince  died  from  enteric  fever,  of  which  there  was 
an  epidemic  in  London  at  the  time  of  year  at  which 
at  the  present  day  enteric  fever  is  almost  invariably 
present  in  this  city.  So  excellent  are  the  notes  of 
Mayerne  that  it  is  fair  to  say  that  nothing  but  the 
pathology  of  his  time  prevented  him  from  being  the 
first  recognizer  of  enteric  fever.  Many,  he  says, 
had  a  similar  fever  in  the  summer  of  1612.  It 
usually  began  like  a  tertian,  but  soon  became  a  con- 
tinued fever.  In  those  who  recovered  it  lasted 
a  long  time.  Delirium,  stupor,  and  convulsions 
often  occurred.  Haemorrhage  sometimes  ended  the 
case.  There  were  spots  like  flea-bites  in  many 
cases.     The  disease  was  not  contagious,  nor  did  one 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE    97 


infect  another,  but  sometimes  many  were  sick  at 
the  same  time  in  one  house. 

The  memoir  which  he  drew  up  in  December,  1623, 
on  the  health  of  James  I  is  a  good  example  of 
Mayerne's  method.  It  exists  in  his  own  character- 
istic handwriting  in  the  British  Museum  ^,  and  is 
in  Latin.  I  may  give  sufficient  of  its  substance  to 
show  its  nature  without  fatiguing  you  by  a  literal 
translation  of  the  whole. 

James  the  First,  King  of  Great  Britain,  was  born 
at  Edinburgh  in  the  year  1566,  on  June  19th,  at 
half-past  eleven  in  the  morning,  and  is  now  aged 
over  57  years.  He  had  a  drunken  wet-nurse  and 
was  suckled  for  about  a  year.  He  has  a  very  stead- 
fast brain,  which  was  never  disturbed  by  the  sea,  by 
drinking  wine,  or  by  driving  in  a  coach. 

(The  badness  of  the  roads  and  the  rude  construc- 
tion of  vehicles  must  have  at  that  time  often  caused 
sickness  from  oscillation  in  travellers.) 

He  is  easily  affected  by  cold  and  suffers  in  cold 
and  damp  weather.  His  chest  is  broad  and  well 
formed,  and  the  vital  parts  contained  therein  have 
strong  and  lively  warmth  and  never  are  afflicted 
unless  as  a  result  of  morbid  conditions  elsewhere. 
In  this  way  it  happens  that  his  lungs  are  often 
attacked  by  fluxion,  the  material  of  which  is  swiftly 
thoroughly  matured  by  the  power  of  a  very  warm 
heart.  The  liver  naturally  good,  large,  of  much 
blood,  warm,  liable  to  obstructions,  and  inclined  to 

^  Sloane  MS.  1679.  I  have  given  the  original  in  the 
Appendix,  as  it  has  not  been  printed  before. 

MOOKK  H 


98  LECTURE   III 

generate  much  bile.  The  spleen  now  easily  heaps 
up  melancholic  juice,  the  presence  of  which  is  indi- 
cated by  various  symptoms.  There  is  no  swelling 
in  either  of  these  viscera  and  no  hardness.  Each 
hypochondrium  is  soft  and  never  distended,  except 
with  wind.  The  stomach  is  always  ready  for  the 
burden  of  a  large  quantity  of  food  and  is  prompt  to 
get  rid  of  any  hurtful  excess,  chiefly  by  the  bowel. 
He  has  naturally  a  good  appetite  and  duly  digests 
a  sufficient  quantity.  He  very  often  thirsts  and 
often  swells  out  with  wind,  of  which  imperfect 
digestion  or  fermeatation  is  the  origin.  Bowels 
uncertain ;  the  discharge  soft  and  fluid.  The 
mesentery  is  apt  to  be  obstructed  in  the  wanderings 
of  its  vessels.  Kidneys  warm,  disposed  to  generate 
sand  and  gravel.  His  legs  seem  not  strong  enough 
to  sustain  the  weight  of  the  body.  His  habit  loose 
and  of  pervious  texture,  and  he  readily  heats  with 
dry  heat.  Skin  thin  and  delicate,  so  that  it  itches 
easily.  Fauces  narrow,  causing  difficulty  in  swallow- 
ing, which  defect  is  hereditary  from  his  mother  and 
grandfather,  James  V  of  Scotland.  Animal  and 
vital  faculties  blameless.  All  functions  naturally 
good,  but  perverted  on  occasion  and  most  from 
disturbance  of  mind.     As  to  non-naturals  : 

Air, — His  Majesty  bears  all  changes  of  air  fairly 
well ;  in  damp  weather  with  a  south  wind  he  is 
attacked  by  catarrh. 

Food. — As  regards  food  he  does  not  much  amiss 
except  that  he  eats  no  bread.  He  generally  takes 
roast  meats.     Owing  to  want  of  teeth  he  does  not 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE     99 

chew  his  food  but  bolts  it.  Fruit  he  eats  at  all 
hours  of  day  and  night. 

Drink. — In  drink  he  errs  as  to  quality,  quantity, 
frequency,  time,  and  order.  He  promiscuously 
drinks  beer,  ale,  Spanish  wine,  sweet  French  wine, 
white  wine  (his  normal  drink),  and  Muscatelle  wine 
(whence  he  has  diarrhoea),  and  sometimes  Alicant 
wine.  Nevertheless,  he  does  not  mind  whether 
wine  be  strong  or  no  so  it  be  sweet.  He  has  the 
strongest  antipathy  to  water  and  all  watery  drinks. 

Exercise  and  rest — The  King  used  to  be  given  up 
to  most  violent  exercise  in  hunting.  Now  he  is 
quieter  and  lies  or  sits  more,  but  that  is  due  to  the 
weakness  of  his  knee-joints. 

Sleep  and  waking, — He  naturally  sleeps  iU  and 
restlessly,  and  often  at  night  he  is  roused  and  calls 
the  valets,  and  sleep  does  not  return  unless,  as  often, 
it  takes  him  by  surprise  while  the  reader  is  reading 
aloud  to  him. 

Affections  of  the  mind. — His  mind  is  easily  moved 
suddenly.  He  is  very  wrothful,  but  the  fit  soon 
passes  off.  Sometimes  he  is  melancholy  from  the 
spleen  in  the  left  hypochondrium  exciting  disorders. 

Excreta. — He  often  blows  his  nose,  sneezes  very 
often.  Does  not  spit  much  unless  from  catarrh. 
Stomach  easily  made  sick  if  he  retains  undigested 
food  or  bile.  Vomits  with  great  effort,  so  that  after 
being  sick  his  face  appears  for  a  day  or  two  spotted 
with  red  spots.  Much  wind.  Vapours  from  his 
stomach  precede  illness.  The  alvine  discharge  is 
uncertain  and  depends  on  the  nature  of  his  food, 

h2 


100  LECTURE   III 

which  often  produces  morbid  changes.  A  tendency 
to  looseness  gets  rid  of  a  burden  produced  by  what 
he  has  eaten. 

Urine  generally  normal  and  sufficient.  Often 
sandy  sediment  after  a  time.  Sometimes  friable 
calculi  or  rather  agglutinated  grains  of  sand  are 
sifted  out.  He  sweats  easily  owing  to  the  thinness 
of  his  skin,  especially  at  night,  after  exercise,  after 
copious  meals.  He  is  impatient  of  sweat  as  of  all 
things.  From  the  year  1619,  after  a  severe  illness, 
in  which  leeches  were  applied,  has  had  a  copious 
haemorrhoidal  flow  almost  daily.  If  this  does  not 
occur  the  King  becomes  very  irascible,  melancholy, 
jaundiced,  glows  with  heat,  and  his  appetite  falls 
off.  When  the  flow  returns  all  things  are  changed 
for  the  better. 

Former  illnesses  and  present  aptitude  to  various  morbid 
dispositions. — The  King  to  the  sixth  year  of  his  age 
was  not  able  to  walk,  but  was  carried  about,  so 
weak  was  he  from  the  bad  milk  of  his  drunken 
nurse.  Between  the  second  and  fifth  year  he  had 
small-pox  and  measles.  In  his  fifth  year  for  twenty- 
four  hours  he  had  suppression  of  urine,  nevertheless 
no  sand  or  slime  was  ejected. 

Colic. — He  often  has  colic  ;  this  was  worse  before 
he  was  twenty-four ;  it  afterwards  became  milder. 
Fasting,  sadness,  cold  at  night  produced  it.  It  is 
relieved  by  the  converse.  Cholera  often,  and  when 
young  almost  every  year  he  was  seized  with  cholera 
morbus,  with  shivering  preceding  sickness  and 
bilious  diarrhoea. 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL  MEDICINE     101 

Diarrhoea. — He  has  been  liable  to  diarrhoea  all 
his  life ;  most  in  spring  and  autumn,  most  of  all 
from  about  the  end  of  August  or  beginning  of 
September,  after  eating  fruit,  sometimes  with  fever, 
sometimes  without.  Before  this  diarrhoea  he  almost 
always  has  depression  of  mind,  sighing,  dread  of 
all  things,  and  other  melancholic  symptoms.  In 
1610,  at  the  end  of  ParHament,^  after  great  sadness, 
diarrhoea  for  eight  days,  with  watery  bilious,  very 
fetid,  and  at  last  black  excreta.  Cardialgia,  palpi- 
tation, sighing,  sadness,  &c.  Vomiting  recurring 
twice  or  thrice  a  day.  The  King  regained  his  health 
after  proper  remedies. 

In  1612,  December  4,  after  the  death  of  his  son, 
a  paroxysm  of  melancholy — an  attack  of  illness 
ending  in  diarrhoea  lasting  a  few  days.  1619,  after 
the  Queen's  death,  pain  in  joints  and  nephritis  with 
thick  sand.  At  Eoyston  continued  fever,  bilious 
diarrhoea,  watery  and  profuse  throughout  the  illness. 
Hiccough  for  some  days.  Aphthae  all  over  mouth 
and  fauces,  and  even  the  oesophagus.  Fermentation 
of  bitter  humours  boiling  in  his  stomach  which, 
effervescing  by  froth  out  of  his  mouth,  led  to 
ulceration  of  his  lips  and  chin.  Fainting,  sighing, 
dread,  incredible  sadness,  intermittent  pulse.  Never- 
theless, it  is  to  be  noted  as  to  this  intermission  of 
pulse  in  the  King  that  it  was  frequent.     Nephritis, 

*  Parliament  was  dissolved  Feb.  11,  16  ^f,  after  much 
sharp  discussion  about  the  King's  favourites  and  without 
making  the  pecuniary  arrangements  he  desired.  James  was 
highly  irritated. 


102  LECTURE   III 

from  which,  without  any  remedy  having  been 
administered,  he  excreted  a  friable  calculus,  as  was 
his  wont.  The  force  of  this,  the  most  dangerous 
illness  which  the  King  ever  had,  lasted  for  eight 
days.  Kemedies  were  used  with  success.  After 
that  illness  for  two  years  the  King  was  fairly  well 
and  free  from  other,  even  his  usual  affections  ;  after- 
wards, as  was  his  wont,  diarrhoea  recurred,  but  was 
less  severe. 

This  year  1623,  at  the  end  of  autumn,  it  lasted 
for  two  or  three  days,  and  was  excessive.  After 
this  arthritis,  and  after  this,  after  an  interval  of 
three  weeks,  he  was  able  to  walk  without  help,  while 
before  for  months  he  had  had  to  sit  in  a  chair  and 
be  carried  or  be  helped  along  by  the  support  of 
others.  The  happy  effect  of  the  spontaneous 
evacuation  is  to  be  noted. 

Our  King  is  easily  attacked  by  catarrh  descending 
from  the  brain  and  producing  coryza.  Most  often 
it  attacks  the  lungs,  and  a  most  violent  cough 
follows,  but  within  two  or  three  days  maturation 
occurs  and  the  cough  ceases,  and  the  humour  thick 
and  black  is  rejected  from  the  bronchi. 

Fever. — He  rarely  has  fever,  and  if  any  it  is  short 
and  ephemeral. 

Jaundice. — Easily  comes  on  if  he  is  in  any  way 
out  of  sorts,  whether  in  mind  or  body.  Often  his 
eyes  grow  yellow,  but  it  soon  passes  off. 

Haemorrhoids. — Some  loss  of  blood  nearly  every 
day,  with  sometimes  prolapse  and  tenesmus. 

Nephritis, — Many  years   ago,    after  hunting  and 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE     103 

long  riding,  he  often  had  turbid  urine  and  red  like 
Alicant  wine  (which  are  His  Majesty's  words),  but 
without  pain. 

July  12,  1613,  bloody  urine,  with  red  sand,  soon 
faeculent,  and  with  thick  sediment.  Ardor  urinae, 
pain  in  the  left  kidney ;  frequent  vomiting  and 
other  nephritic  symptoms. 

The  same,  but  worse,  August  17.  In  1615, 
October,  the  same  symptoms.  His  accustomed  flux 
relieved  all  these  paroxysms.  Afterwards  the  evil 
often  renewed,  and  in  some  of  the  accessions  calculi 
or  rather  concoctions  were  ejected,  and  soft  sand 
adhering  together  with  imperfect  cohesion,  and  then 
the  attack  came  to  an  end. 

Arthritis. — Pains  many  years  since  invaded  first 
the  right  foot,  which  had  an  odd  twist  when  walking, 
and  from  a  wrong  habit  of  steps  had  a  less  right 
position  than  the  other,  and  grew  weaker  as  he  grew 
older.  Afterwards  occurred  various  bruises  from 
knocking  against  timber,  from  frequent  falls  from 
horseback,  from  the  rubbing  of  greaves  and  stirrups 
and  other  external  causes  which  the  King  ingeniously 
discovered,  and  exactly  noted,  that  he  might  baffle 
the  accusation  of  internal  disorder  on  the  part  of 
his  physicians. 

Pain  of  his  right  foot  used  to  afflict  him  most 
often  ;  not  the  toes,  not  the  joint  of  the  foot  with 
tibia,  but  underneath  the  external  malleolus.  All 
the  same,  I  have  observed  that  the  whole  foot  has 
more  often  swelled,  and  so  much  weakness  from 
pain  remained,  that  for  several  weeks  he  had  to 


104  LECTURE   III 

give  up  usual  exercise,  and  was  compelled  to  stay  in 
bed  or  in  a  chair.  At  last,  in  the  year  1616,  this 
weakness  continued  for  more  than  four  months, 
with  oedematous  swelling  of  the  whole  skin  and  of 
both  feet.  In  following  years  it  happened  that  the 
pain  went  on  to  joints  of  other  parts,  the  great 
toe  of  the  left  foot  and  the  malleoli  to  both  knees 
and  shoulders  and  hands,  sometimes  not  always 
with  redness,  more  often  with  swelling.  The  pain 
is  acute  for  the  first  two  or  three  days.  By  night  it 
rages  now  worse,  now  milder ;  weakness  succeeds, 
which  is  neither  subdued  nor  disappears  till  after 
a  long  course  of  days.  In  winter  time  the  arthritis 
is  much  worse,  nor  are  the  joints  free  till  the  return 
of  the  sun  and  summer  warmth  restores  health  to 
his  Majesty. 

Thrice  in  his  life  he  was  seized  with  most  severe 
pains  of  the  thigh,  very  recently  on  October  28, 
1623,  as  if  by  a  spasm  of  the  muscles  and  tendons 
bending  the  left  leg  by  a  vaporous  influence  most 
pertinaciously  twitching  those  parts  in  the  hours  of 
the  night.  The  leanness,  and  so  to  speak  atrophy, 
of  his  legs  were  to  be  noted  as  due  to  the  inter- 
mission of  exercise  not  calling  the  spirits  and 
nourishment  to  the  lower  parts  which  from  child- 
hood were  slender  and  weak. 

The  King  when  coming  into  England  from  Scot- 
land, falling  from  his  horse,  broke  his  right  collar- 
bone. Another  time,  from  a  fall,  he  suffered  from 
a  bruise  of  the  left  scapula.  He  was  completely 
cured.      From   that  time  nevertheless,  there  was 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL  MEDICINE     105 

descent  of  humours  into  his  right  arm,  whence  arose 
swollen  glands  like  the  phlegmatic  excrescences  of 
scrofula,  which  first  swelled  with  redness  and  pain, 
then  subsided,  and  at  length  suppurating,  formed 
ulcers  that  were  healed  after  a  long  time. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  from  the  same  humours,  or 
perhaps  from  arthritic  juice  descending,  a  tumour 
appeared  two  years  later  on  his  right  olecranon, 
distended  with  wind  and  serum,  which  happily 
ceased  after  proper  remedies  without  breaking  the 
skin.  Once  having  bruised  and  almost  broken  his 
ribs  on  a  fall  from  his  horse,  for  three  days  he  had 
slight  fever.     He  recovered  without  blood-letting. 

Another  time  the  fibula  of  the  other  leg  was 
squeezed  by  the  weight  of  a  horse,  with  most 
dangerous  bruising  and  blackening  of  the  whole 
leg.  He  was  cured  without  fever.  He  is  of  extreme 
sensitiveness,  most  impatient  of  pains  ;  and  while 
they  torture  him  with  most  violent  movements  his 
mind  is  tossed,  and  bile  flows  around  his  praecordia, 
whence  the  evil  is  not  relieved,  but  made  worse. 

He  demands  relief  and  freedom  from  pain,  little 
considering  about  the  causes  of  his  illness. 

As  to  remedies. — The  King  laughs  at  medicine,  and 
holds  it  so  cheap  that  he  declares  physicians  to  be 
of  very  little  use  and  hardly  necessary.  He  asserts 
the  art  of  medicine  to  be  supported  by  mere  con- 
jectures, and  useless  because  uncertain. 

Mayerne  mentions  other  royal  opinions  and  the 
King's  fancies  about  various  drugs.  He  would 
never  allow  himself  to  be  bled.     He  then  goes  on 


106  LECTURE   III 

to  say  what  should  be  done,  and  what  is  chiefly  to 
be  remembered  in  treatment  of  the  King  in  every 
circumstance  likely  to  arise.  This  excellent  account 
shows  how  Mayerne  behaved  as  a  clinical  observer 
— noting  everything ;  considering  no  point  of  the 
patient's  history  unworthy  consideration  ;  weighing 
the  whole  in  relation  to  treatment  and  to  prognosis. 
It  was  his  invariable  method.  He  began  by  a 
minute  series  of  observations  of  the  symptoms ; 
then  mentioned  in  succession  the  remedies  which 
had  been  tried  ;  then  discussed  and  determined  the 
diagnosis  and  the  several  parts  of  the  prognosis  ; 
and  concluded  by  an  elaborate  statement  of  the 
treatment  to  be  adopted.  That  he  felt  the  spleen 
is  shown  in  his  notes  on  Lord  Salisbury,  and  that 
he  examined  by  palpation  the  liver  is  shown  by 
the  case  of  M.  le  Natier  Greffier,  in  which  he  says/ 
^Hepatis  qualitas  non  potuit  explorari  ob  muscu- 
lorum et  cutis  diductionem.' 

Anne  of  Denmark,  Queen  of  James  I,  was  also 
a  patient  of  Mayerne's,  and  some  of  his  notes  on 
her  illnesses,  from  February  28,  1612,  when  she 
had  an  ulcer  on  her  left  leg,  to  her  death  on  March 
20,  1619,  with  cough  and  general  dropsy,  are  to 
be  found  among  the  many  pages  headed  ^Variae 
Medicamentorum  Formulae'  printed  in  Joseph 
Browne's  edition  of  Mayerne's  writings.  The  Queen 
had  an  attack  of  gout  at  Christmas,  1612.  She  had 
swelled  feet  and  an  ulcer  on  the  left  ankle  when 
Mayerne  saw  her  at  Lay  cock  Abbey  on  May  11, 
1  Opera,  p.  216. 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE     107 

1613.  In  a  note  which  he  then  drew  up  on  her 
state,  he  mentions  that  she  was  easily  made  angry 
and  easily  grew  red  in  the  face,  that  she  slept  ill 
and  that  her  joints  were  feeble.  She  went  to  Bath 
in  that  year  for  the  swelling  of  her  feet. 

May  erne's  notes  on  Queen  Henrietta  Maria,  ^ 
contained  in  the  same  manuscript  book,  show  equal 
care.  They  were  written  out  in  July,  1641,  when 
the  Queen  was  about  to  cross  the  sea  '  to  cure  her 
mind  no  less  than  her  body ',  says  the  note.  Some 
swelling  of  liver  and  spleen,  frequent  swelling  of 
the  gums  and  painful  teeth,  several  renal  calculi, 
frequent  cough,  sleepless  nights  only  soothed  by 
syrup  of  poppy  (never  by  laudanum),  herpes  of  the 
upper  lip,  occasional  inflammation  of  the  right  eye, 
and  of  the  eyehds,  recurring  headaches,  curvature 
of  the  spine,  the  arm  and  hand  of  the  right  side 
thinner  than  those  of  the  left,  extreme  general 
wasting  and,  as  regards  affections  of  the  mind 
(animi  pathemata),  anger  violent  but  brief,  long 
sadness,  frequent  tears. 

The  details  of  all  these  are  carefully  recorded,  and 
besides  showing  the  excellence  of  Mayerne's  clinical 
observation  present  to  us  a  picture  of  the  Queen  of 
Charles  I,  which  placed  beside  the  lady  so  thin  and 
pale,  with  some  grace,  but  no  cheerfulness,  in  the 
pictures  of  Vandyke,  enables  us  to  understand  how 
her  troubles  in  the  world  must  have  affected  her, 
and  leads  us  to  judge  leniently  any  defects  of  manner 
or  disposition  in  her,  and  to  attribute  them  not  to 
^  Appendix. 


108  LECTURE   III 

a  fiendish  nature,  as  did  her  political  opponents 
when  they  applied  to  her  the  words  in  which  Aeneas 
denounces  Helen  as  he  describes  how  he  found  her 
hiding  on  the  night  of  the  taking  of  Troy — 
Troiae  et  patriae  communis  Erinys, 
but  in  great  part  at  least  to  a  physical  condition 
which  must  have  greatly  detracted  from  her  enjoy- 
ment of  life. 

In  Mayerne's  notebook  there  is  a  blank  page 
with  a  heading  which  shows  that  it  was  intended 
for  notes  on  the  health  of  Charles  I.  A  friendly 
letter,  dated  February  3,  1636,  to  Harvey,  then  at 
Newmarket,  is  printed  in  May  erne's  works  ^  on  the 
illness  and  best  method  of  treatment  of  the  Elector 
Palatine.  The  confidence  which  Charles  I  and  his 
Queen  felt  in  Mayerne  is  shown  by  two  letters 
which  he  has  copied  into  his  notebook.  The 
heading  is 

wavTa  (Tvv  OeS,  afjLujv 
— the  history  of  a  journey  to  Exeter  ^  undertaken  to 
restore  the  health  of  the  Queen,  then  seriously  ill. 
He  left  London  on  May  21,  164:4,  with  another 
physician.  Sir  Matthew  Lister,  and  carried  in  the 
Queen's  coach,  they  reached  Her  Majesty  at  Exeter, 
on  May  28.     These  royal  letters  are  so  little  known 

^  Opera,  p.  361. 

*  *  Accersitus  per  Eegis  et  Reginae  literas  Londino  Excetriam 
unacum  muneris  in  Aula  socio,  et  viae  comite,  Equite  Matthaeo 
Lister,  itineri  me  commisi  21  Maii  1644  cum  ductore  a  Regina 
misso  qui  sumptus  omnes  faceret  et  ministraret  omnia 
necessaria  Archibaldo  Hay.  Ita  Reginae  rheda  vecti  pervenimus 
ad  E.  M.  die  mensis  28.* 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE     109 

that  I  may  add  their  words.     The  Queen's  has,  I 
think,  not  been  printed  before. 

Exeter  ce  3  May, 

Monsieur  de  Mayerne,  mon  indisposition  ne  me 
permet  pas  d'escrire  beaucoup,  pour  vous  prier  de 
venir  si  vostre  sante  vous  le  permet,  mais  mon  mal 
vous  y  conuie  plus  comme  j'espere  que  ne  feroit 
beaucoup  de  lignes.  C'est  pourquoy  je  ne  diray  que 
cela,  ay  ant  tousjours  dans  ma  memoire  les  soings 
que  vous  aues  eu  de  moy  dans  mes  besoings,  qui 
faict  que  je  crois  que  si  vous  pouues,  vous  viendres 
et  que  je  suis  et  seray  tousjours 

Vostre  bien  bonne  mestresse 
et  amie, 

Henriette  Marie  K. 

The  letter  of  the  King  was  sent  from  Oxford  by 
William  Muray  to  London. 

Mayerne — Pour  L'amour  de  moy  alle  trouuer  ma 
Femme.     C.  E. 

Many  other  of  Mayerne's  clinical  descriptions  of 
patients  are  as  good  as  those  of  these  royal  persons. 
That  on  the  first  Earl  of  Abercorn,  made  on 
September  26,  1616,  when  the  Earl  was  aged  forty- 
one  years,  gives  an  admirable  account  of  his  history 
and  of  the  physical  and  mental  phases  of  his  life. 

Mayerne  left  his  library  to  this  College  from 
loose  papers  in  which  some  fragments  of  his  works 
were  published,  but  it  was  not  till  1700  that  a 
volume  in  folio  of  his  notes  was  printed  by  Dr. 
Joseph  Browne.  He  selected  such  parts  as  he 
thought  Mayerne  would  have  wished  to  print,  or 
Bonetus  of  Geneva,  to  whom  Mayerne  had  sent  the 
first  fasciculus  to  get  it  printed.     The  printing  was 


no  LECTURE    III 

delayed,  and  Bonetus  sent  the  book  back  to  the 
author,  and  urged  that  he  should  publish  all  he 
had  written,  and  not  only  selections.  A  great  part 
of  the  College  agreed  with  Bonetus  when,  long  after 
Mayerne's  death,  the  question  of  printing  arose. 
The  Censors  referred  the  matter  to  Dr.  Charleton, 
who  took  a  different  view,  and  wanted  to  recast  the 
whole.  Browne  wisely  decided  to  issue  the  papers 
unaltered.  His  book  contained  full  notes  of  more 
than  forty  cases  observed  by  Mayerne,  with  letters 
about  seven  more,  the  report  and  papers  about  the 
case  of  Henry  Prince  of  Wales,  a  letter  to  the 
King's  physicians  about  the  health  of  James  I  and 
Charles  I,  then  Prince  of  Wales,  the  letter  to 
Harvey  at  Newmarket  on  the  health  of  the  Elector 
Palatine,  and  a  long  series  of  notes  on  the  illness  of 
Isaac  Casaubon,  in  which  are  incorporated  the  notes 
of  Eaphael  Thorius,  the  author  of  the  poem  on 
tobacco,  who  attended  him.  Notes  on  pharmacology 
and  a  long  series  of  prescriptions  for  King  James, 
King  Charles,  and  Queen  Henrietta  Maria  are  also 
printed  and  some  notes  on  her  health. 

Mayerne  seems  not  to  have  been  unwilling  to  treat 
any  symptom,  however  slight,  and  this  arose  not 
from  any  mere  complaisance  to  the  King  and  Queen, 
but  from  the  fact  that  to  his  keen  observation 
nothing  seemed  trivial.  If  he  sometimes  humoured 
his  patients,  he  never  allowed  their  high  station  to 
obscure  his  thorough  investigation  of  their  symptoms 
or  view  of  their  characters  in  relation  to  their 
physical   frames.      It   was   surely   harmless  when 


I 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL  MEDICINE     111 

King  James  swore  he  hated  to  be  anthropophagous 
— to  give  him  powdered  ox  bones  instead  of  cranium 
humanum,  a  remedy  then  highly  estimated.^ 

A  great  part  of  Mayeme's  papers  became  the 
property  of  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  and  are  now  in  the 
Sloane  Collection  in  the  British  Museum.  They 
show  not  only  Mayerne's  industry  as  a  clinical 
observer,  but  his  extensive  learning  and  constantly 
studious  mind.  Twenty-three  volumes  of  his 
notes  of  varied  kinds  have  been  preserved,  and 
these,  together  with  those  printed  by  Dr.  Joseph 
Browne,  are  the  material  for  our  estimate  of  him  as 
an  observer.  His  general  plan  was  to  divide  the 
notes  into  two  parts ;  the  first,  called  Theoria,  gives 
an  account  of  the  history  and  symptoms,  and  the 
conclusions  drawn  from  them  ;  the  second,  headed 
Curatio,  deals  with  the  treatment  in  great  detail,  and 
to  increase  the  clearness  of  this  he  sometimes  adds 
a  recapitulatio  ordinis  agendorum. 

Sir  T.  Mayerne's  portrait  hangs  on  our  staircase  2. 
In  the  dining-room  is  that  of  Francis  Glisson, 
President  in  1667.  He  is  the  first  English  writer 
of  a  complete  account — that  is,  an  account,  both 
anatomical  and  clinical,  of  a  particular  disease. 
Tractatus  de  Bachitide  appeared  in  1650.  It  deserves 
high  praise  as  an  example  of  clinical  observation  as 

^  In  rege  qui  avOpwirocjiayia  odit,  Cranium  humanum  in  ossium 
Bubulorum  Easuram  poterit  permutari. 

^  In  the  British  Museum  there  is  a  magnificent  drawing  of 
him  by  Kubens,  probably  done  between  1630  and  1640.  The 
head  is  in  oils  and  finished  with  extraordinary  vigour  and 
perfection.     The  rest  of  the  portrait  is  in  crayon. 


112  LECTURE    III 

well  as  of  pathological  anatomy.  Glisson's  method 
consisted  in  placing  side  by  side  all  the  facts  relating 
to  the  disease  he  was  studying.  He  does  not  allude 
by  name  or  number  to  particular  patients,  yet  shows 
by  the  precision  of  his  statements  that  each  rests 
upon  many  carefully  noted  observations.  He  collects 
the  symptoms  of  rickets  under  three  heads  :  dia- 
gnostica,  which  demonstrate  its  presence ;  diacritica, 
which  distinguished  the  varieties  ;  and  prognostica, 
which  presage  the  issue  of  the  disease.  The  thorough 
discussions  of  terms,  and  the  minute  and  precise 
arrangement  which  he  follows,  give  a  scholastic 
appearance  to  his  pages  which  is  apt  to  make  any 
one  who  merely  glances  at  his  book  think  that 
Glisson  is  less  an  observer  of  nature  than  he  really 
is.  When  he  discusses  the  diagnostic  signs  he 
does  so  under  five  heads :  (1)  symptoms  which  have 
to  do  with  the  animal  functions ;  (2)  those  which 
have  to  do  with  irregular  nutrition  ;  (3)  those  which 
have  to  do  with  respiration  ;  (4)  those  which  belong 
to  the  vital  influx,  as  we  should  say,  to  the  circula- 
tion ;  and  (5)  certain  indefinite  symptoms  not 
belonging  to  the  above  classes.  Under  the  first  head 
he  places  flabbiness  of  the  muscles,  weakness,  and 
sluggishness,  and  describes  each  with  admirable 
clearness  and  entirely  from  clinical  notes.  *  If,'  he 
says  in  the  section  on  debility,  '  children  are  affected 
within  the  first  year  or  thereabouts,  they  stand  on 
their  feet  later  than  usual  owing  to  that  debility, 
and  often  speak  before  they  walk,  which  is  generally 
thought  by  the  English   to   be  of  evil   omen.     If 


STUDY  OF  CLINICAL  MEDICINE     11$ 

children  are  attacked  by  this  disease  after  they  have 
learned  to  walk,  they  stand  on  their  feet  more  feebly 
by  degrees,  and  when  walking  often  hesitate,  stagger 
from  a  slight  cause,  or  even  fall,  nor  are  they 
able  to  stand  long  without  sitting  down,  or  to 
quicken  their  movements.  At  last,  as  the  disease 
increases,  they  are  deprived  of  the  use  of  their 
feet ;  indeed,  they  can  scarcely  sit  upright,  and 
the  weak  neck  sustains  the  weight  of  the  head 
imperfectly  or  not  at  all.'  Under  the  heading 
*  Symptoms  due  to  malnutrition ',  he  describes  the 
large  head,  the  feeble  muscles,  the  enlarged  wrists, 
the  bent  bones,  the  retarded  dentition,  and  the 
pigeon  breast. 

Professor  Virchow,  in  his  Croonian  lecture  of 
1893,  praised  Glisson  as  the  discoverer  of  muscular 
irritability.  Sir  Michael  Foster,^  in  his  interesting 
lectures  on  the  History  of  Physiology,  has  shown 
that  in  his  Be  Ventriculo  Glisson  *  was  the  first  to 
give  the  exact  proof  that  when  a  muscle  contracts 
it  does  not  increase  in  bulk'.  He  is  perpetually 
commemorated  as  an  anatomist.  Whoever  studies 
his  Tractatus  de  Rachitide  will  be  convinced  that  he 
also  deserves  recollection  as  one  of  the  founders  of 
thorough  clinical  study  in  England. 

The  method  of  Christopher  Benet  in  his  Tahi^ 
dorum  Theatrum  sive  Fhthisios  Atrophiae  et  Hedicae 
Xenodochium,  published  in  1656,  is  similar  to  that 
of  Glisson,  and  Benet  seems  to  have  lost  his  life  by 
infection  during  his  experiments  in  relation  to  the 

^  Lecture  X  :  The  Old  Doctrines  of  the  Nervous  System. 


114  LECTURE   III 

sputum  of  phthisis,  which  he  carefully  collected  and 
examined. 

The  excellent  clinical  method  of  Mayerne,  in 
which  all  the  facts  about  each  patient  were  carefully 
collected,  and  that  of  Glisson,  in  which  all  the  facts 
relating  to  a  particular  morbid  condition  were  placed 
side  by  side  and  a  conclusion  drawn  from  them, 
were  not  adopted  by  all  physicians. 

A  prominent  example  of  another  school  is  Walter 
Charleton,  physician  to  Charles  I,  and  President 
of  this  College  from  1689  to  1691.  His  Spiritus 
Gorgonicus  published  in  1650,  in  which  he  treats  of 
the  causes  and  symptoms  and  cure  of  calculi 
wherever  formed,  is  altogether  different  from  the 
writings  of  Glisson  or  of  Benet.  He  begins  by 
discussing  petrifaction  in  the  outside  world,  and 
thence  goes  on  to  the  efficient  causes  of  petrifaction 
in  the  human  body,  and  in  the  chapter  on  dia- 
gnosis the  nearest  approach  to  the  report  of  a  case  is 
the  mention  of  a  Mr.  Pinckay,  commissary  of  the 
Eoyal  Army,  who  had  shown  him  fifty  renal  calculi 
which  he  had  passed,  and  afterwards  carried  about 
in  an  ivory  box.  Charleton's  Exercitationes  Patho- 
hgicae,  which  discusses  the  nature,  generation,  and 
causes  of  almost  all  diseases,  and  was  written  in 
1661,  is  in  part  occupied  by  the  discussion  of 
questions  of  medical  expression,  such  as  when  a 
disease  may  be  spoken  of  as  malignant,  or  incurable, 
or  hereditary,  and  how  the  common  qualities  of  the 
tissues  of  the  body  may  be  defined  *  Crassities, 
Tenuitas,  Densitas,  Karitas,  Consistentia,  Fluiditas, 


STUDY  OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE     115 

Tenacitas,  Friabilitas,  Tensitas,  Laxitas,  Eigiditas, 
Flacciditas,  Durities,  Mollities,  Laevor,  Asperitas'. 
Except  a  case  of  very  hard  tumour  of  the  pancreas 
in  a  woman  which  was  accompanied  by  anaemia,  or, 
as  he  calls  it,  chlorosis,  he  scarcely  mentions  any 
case  which  he  had  himself  seen,  nor  is  his  account 
of  even  this  sufficiently  definite  to  make  one  sure 
whether  the  tumour  was  a  dense  new  growth  or 
a  pancreatic  calculus  of  uncommon  size.  How  long 
the  patient  was  ill  is  not  stated,  nor  are  the  incidents 
of  the  illness.  Such  was  the  method  of  medicine 
of  Dr.  Walter  Charleton.  Dryden  praised  Charleton 
profusely,  yet  with  some  discrimination  : — 

Nor  are  you,  learned  friend,  the  least  renowned, 
Whose  fame,    not   circumscribed   with   English 

ground. 
Flies  like  the  nimble  journies  of  the  light. 
And  is,  like  that,  unspent  too  in  its  flight. 
Whatever  truths  have  been  by  art  or  chance 
Eedeemed  from  error  or  from  ignorance, 
Thin  in  their  authors  like  rich  veins  of  ore, 
Your  works  unite,  and  still  discover  more. 
Such  is  the  healing  virtue  of  your  pen 
To  perfect  cures  on  books  as  well  as  men. 

Charleton's  copious  writings  are  sufficient  to  show 
that  clinical  study  was  not  universally  cultivated 
among  the  physicians  who  were  contemporaries  of 
Mayerne  and  Glisson.  Only  one  man  of  that  time 
outshines  Glisson  in  the  exposition  of  clinical 
medicine,  and  that  man  is,  of  course,  Sydenham. 

I  need  not  dwell  on  the  well-known  events 
of  the  life  of  this  great  man,  who,  born  in  1624, 
took  his  first  medical  degree  at  Oxford  in  1648, 

I  2 


116  LECTURE   III 

and  his  doctor's  degree  at  Cambridge  in  1676, 
and  after  practising  in  London  for  a  little  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  died  on  December  29, 
1689. 

As  Mayerne  may  be  said  to  have  first  definitely 
established  in  England  the  clinical  study  of  medicine 
and  the  method  of  recording  observations,  and 
Glisson  to  have  set  the  example  of  the  study  of  the 
relation  of  the  symptoms  to  the  anatomical  appear- 
ances of  disease,  so  Sydenham  may  be  regarded  as 
the  first  who  attempted  to  arrive  at  general  laws 
about  the  prevalence  and  the  course  and  the  treat- 
ment of  disease  from,  clinical  observation. 

How  admirable  is  Sydenham's  account  of  measles, 
and,  when  i%  is-  compared  with  the  books  of  his 
time  and  before,  how  original,  how  clearly  he 
describes  the  onset  and  the  method  of  appearance 
of  the  rash,  and.  how  well  contrasts  the  circum- 
stances which  attend  it  with  those  of  small-pox. 
*  The  symptoms  of  the  Measles  do  not  abate  by  the 
eruption  as  in  the  small-pox,  yet  I  never  observed 
the  vomiting  afterwards,  but  the  cough  and  fever 
increase  with  the  difficulty  of  breathing,  weakness 
of  the  eyes  and  the  defluxion  on  them,,  with  continual 
drowsiness  and  want  of  appetite  as  before.'  His 
obvious  originality  is  one  reason  for  the  great  repute 
of  his  writings,  and  this  originality  is  due  not 
merely  to  his  having  thought  differently,  but  also 
to  his  having  seen  more  than  his  predecessors. 
Though  Sydenham's  is  a  general  account,  it  is  as 
distinctly  based  upon  many  clinical  observations  as 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE     117 

if  the  notes  of  the  cases  he  had  seen  were  appended.^ 
Of  the  score  of  cases  which  he  particularizes  most 
are  mentioned  in  illustration  of  points  of  treatment, 
but  those  of  Thomas  Chute,  nephew  of  Lady  Dacres, 
a  young  man  with  small-pox,  and  of  Malthus,^  the 
apothecary,  who  had  a  chronic  arthritis,  are  excellent 
illustrations  of  his  daily  observations. 

A  great  mind  constantly  occupied  in  arguing 
within  itself  on  observations  must  sometimes  furnish 
incomplete  conclusions  and  imperfect  hypotheses, 
and  though  Sydenham  says  when  discussing  the 
possible  relation  between  certain  visceral  symptoms 
and  the  size  of  the  pustules  in  small-pox,  '  I  do  not 
determine ;  for  I  only  write  a  History,  and  do  not 
pretend  to  solve  problems,'  he  elsewhere  tries  to 
argue  out  a  general  pathology  of  fevers.^  *  A 
fever,'  he  believes,  *is  Nature's  instrument  to  per- 
form the  separation  of  some  matter  from  the  blood.' 
This  is  the  process  *  also  in  the  plague '. 

Charleton,  had  he  described  small-pox,  would 
probably  have  done  so  in  much  the  same  way  as 
Bernard  or  Gaddesden ;  some  of  the  authors  he 
mentioned  might  have  been  different,  but  he  would 
proceed  by  way  of  scholastic  discussion  and  quota- 
tion, and  tell  little  of  what  he  had  himself  seen. 
How  entirely  different  is  the  method  of  Sydenham.* 

*  Of  the  Epidemic  Diseases  from  the  Year  1675  to  the  Year  1680. 

*  I  suppose  this  Malthus  was  the  ancestor  of  the  political 
economist,  since  Sydenham  was  used  as  a  Christian  name  in 
more  than  one  generation  of  his  family. 

^  Of  the  Continual  Fevers  in  the  Years  1667,  d-c, 

*  Of  the  Hegular  Small-pox. 


118  LECTURE   III 

The  distinct  begin  with  shivering  and  coldness, 
which  is  presently  followed  by  excessive  heat,  and 
a  violent  pain  in  the  head  and  back,  vomiting, 
a  great  propensity  to  sweat  (I  mean  in  grown 
persons,  for  I  never  yet  observed  any  such  disposi- 
tion in  children,  either  before  or  after  the  rash 
came  out),  a  pain  at  the  cavity  of  the  breast  beneath 
the  region  of  the  heart,  if  it  be  pressed  with  the 
hand,  dullness  and  sleepiness,  and  sometimes  con- 
vulsive fits  ;  and  if  these  happen  to  those  that  have 
all  their  teeth,  I  reckon  the  Small-pox  are  at  hand, 
which  most  commonly  coming  out  a  few  hours 
after  sufficiently  answer  the  prognostication.  For 
instance,  if  the  child  has  a  convulsive  fit  in  the 
evening,  as  it  usually  happens,  the  small-pox  appear 
next  morning. 

His  description  of  the  severe  neuralgia  which 
sometimes  is  the  last  symptom  of  a  malarial  fever, 
and  his  determination  of  the  fact  that  it  really 
belongs  to  the  disease,  and  must  be  treated  in  the 
same  way,  is  a  remarkable  example  of  his  close 
observation.^ 

But  here  it  is  to  be  noted  that  I  have  observed 
a  certain  symptom,  sometimes  like  a  nephritic  pain, 
as  to  the  intolerable  pain  of  the  loins,  which  being 
wont  to  follow  ague,  arises  from  a  translation  of  the 
febrile  matter  upon  the  muscular  parts  of  the  body, 
but  this  symptom  requires  no  other  method  of 
cure  than  the  ague  whereon  it  depends,  for  it  is 
heightened  by  frequent  bleeding,  or  any  other 
evacuation,  and  the  patient's  life  is  endangered 
thereby.  I  thought  good  to  mention  this  much  of 
this  symptom,  that  it  might  not  impose  on  any  one. 

The  neuralgia  is  sometimes   so  severe  and   so 
^  Of  the  Epidemic  Diseases  from  the  Year  1675  to  the  Year  1680. 


STUDY  OF   CLINICAL  MEDICINE     119 

different  from  what  has  gone  before,  and  so  remote 
from  the  beginning  of  the  disease,  that  it  seems 
more  hke  a  separate  morbid  condition ;  but  Syden- 
ham perceived  its  actual  relation  to  the  disease. 
His  description  of  gout  and  of  hysterical  diseases 
and  of  chorea  are  further  examples,  too  well 
known  for  me  to  quote,  of  the  minuteness  and 
precision  of  Sydenham's  clinical  observations.  He 
scarcely  considers  morbid  anatomy,  but  endeavours 
to  determine  the  species,  and  ascertain  the  course 
and  the  treatment  of  diseases  by  cHnical  observation 
only. 

This  is  the  general  method  of  the  Hippocratic 
writings,  and  while  Sydenham  is  often  regarded  as 
the  originator  of  modern  medicine  his  works  might 
also  be  considered  the  culmination  of  the  effects  of 
the  Eenaissance. 

The  writings  of  Thomas  Willis  contain  many 
cases,  but  it  is  clear  that  he  only  took  a  general 
view,  and  did  not  make  frequent  precise  observa- 
tions. After  a  short  account  he  generally  proceeds 
to  pathological  hypotheses,  and  this  is  so,  even 
in  his  accounts  of  saccharine  diabetes,  of  which 
he  is  regarded  as  the  first  describer.  Willis, 
like  Glisson,  discusses  the  morbid  anatomy  of  his 
cases.  He  often  uses  them  to  illustrate  pathological 
doctrines  rather  than  as  studies  in  the  natural 
history  of  disease.  His  interesting  descriptions  of 
the  illness  successively  of  five  children  in  a  family 
of  a  scarlet  fever  with  subsequent  uraemia, 
are  perhaps  the  best  cUnical  reports  to  be  found 


120  LECTURE   III 

in  his  writings.  His  account  of  the  case  of  Lord 
Shaftesbury,  who  had  a  hydatid  cyst  of  the  Hver 
which  was  opened,  when  compared  with  the  precise 
description  of  the  same  case  by  Locke,  ^  shows  that 
WilHs  often  wrote  from  memory  and  not  from 
notes  made  day  by  day.  His  works  contain  more 
hypotheses  than  minute  observations. 

The  cases  mentioned  by  Martin  Lister,  and  those 
of  some  other  writers  of  this  period  are  too  brief  to 
deserve  record  as  examples  of  clinical  notes. 

A  clinical  observer  whose  works  show  the 
practice  of  generalization  from  clinical  observation 
as  well  as  the  Cjareful  records  of  the  events  of 
disease  as  observed  at  the  bedside,  is  Kichard 
Morton,  who  became  a  Fellow  of  this  College  in 
1678,  and  died  in  1698,  His  Phthisiologia, 
a  treatise  on  wasting  diseases,  contains  numerous 
cases  showing  careful  clinical  note-taking  and 
judicious  deduction  from  his  observations,  and  so 
does  his  Pyretologia,  a  general  treatise  on  febrile 
diseases.  He  belongs  to  the  school  of  Sydenham, 
but  he  makes  a  more  general  use  of  morbid  anatomy 
and  describes  more  cases. 

The  physicians  whom  I  have  mentioned,  Caius 
and  Harvey,  Mayerne  and  Glisson,  Sydenham  and 
Willis  and  Morton,  were  of  course  not  the  only 
clinical  observers  of  their  times.  We  may  be 
certain,  for  example,  that  Lower,  who  so  acutely 
reasoned  on  the  causes  of  dropsy,  followed  the  same 
method.     Mayerne,  Glisson,  and  Sydenham  are  the 

^  Shaftesbury  Papers  in  Record  Office  :  Note  in  Locke*s  hand. 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE     121 

three  clinical  observers  of  the  seventeenth  century 
whose  work  deserves  the  first  place.  Mayerne  and 
Sydenham  gave  themselves  up  almost  entirely 
to  bedside  observation.  Glisson,  while  equally 
assiduous  afc  the  bedside,  was  also  a  morbid 
anatomist.  Glisson's  mind  most  naturally  turned 
towards  the  discovery  of  pathological  laws,  and  to 
questions  of  etiology.  Mayerne  and  Sydenham 
were  most  occupied  with  the  solution  of  problems 
of  treatment  and  of  prognosis.  All  three  were 
close  observers  of  nature.  Glisson  was  a  dis- 
coverer in  anatomy,  for  he  described  the  capsule 
of  the  liver,  in  physiology  he  first  perceived  the 
irritabihty  of  tissues,  and  in  clinical  medicine  he 
first  described  completely  a  disease  not  known  in 
the  world  of  science  before  him.  Sydenham  had 
on  the  whole  the  greatest  influence  on  times  after 
him.  Mayerne  was  a  less  man  than  Glisson  and 
Sydenham,  but  was  a  great  physician  of  vast  attain- 
ments, of  hfelong  mental  activity,  and  in  his  own 
time  an  influence  to  make  all  men  bedside 
observers.  All  three  observed  carefully  the  general 
aspect  of  the  patient,  and  the  external  features  of 
his  body.  The  breathing,  the  character  of  the 
pulse,  the  state  of  the  tongue,  the  locality  of  pain, 
the  indications  of  fever,  the  excreta,  and  the 
appearances  of  extracted  blood  were  considered. 
Tumours  were  felt,  and  the  degree  of  dropsy 
estimated.  Any  impairment  of  the  senses  or  of 
muscular  power  was  noted.  The  liver  and  the 
spleen  were  examined  by  palpation.     The  history 


122  LECTURE   III 

was    carefully    considered,   and  facts  bearing  on 
heredity  were  recorded. 

This  was  the  extent  to  which  observation  at  the 
bedside  was  practised  by  these  physicians.  Mayerne 
seems  most  in  personal  relation  to  the  patient, 
thoroughly  investigating  his  mind  and  body ; 
Glisson  is  most  considerate  of  the  interpretation 
of  well-observed  symptoms  given  by  the  morbid 
anatomy.  Sydenham  had  always  before  him  the 
endeavour  to  establish  general  laws  in  relation  to 
disease,  and  hoped  to  do  so  by  a  precision  of 
description  such  as  that  of  the  botanists  in  the 
description  of  plants.  It  is  to  Mayerne,  Glisson, 
and  Sydenham  that  the  estabhshment  of  the  study 
of  clinical  medicine  in  England  is  due. 


LECTURE  IV 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  STUDY  OF  CLINICAL 
MEDICINE  IN  THE  BRITISH  ISLANDS 

Mr.  President,  Censors,  and  Fellows  of  the 
College, — The  study  of  clinical  medicine  was  estab- 
lished in  England  by  the  practice  and  the  writings 
of  Mayerne,  Glisson,  and  Sydenham.  Though 
Mayerne  was  not  an  Englishman  by  birth  or  educa- 
tion, GHsson  and  Sydenham  were  thoroughly  English 
in  habit  of  mind  and  owed,  I  think,  nothing  to  any 
foreign  influence.  The  admirable  Ohservationes  of 
John  James  Wepfer  of  Schaffhausen,  published  in 
1658  and  enlarged  in  1678,  in  which  he  demon- 
strated the  relation  between  apoplexy  and  cerebral 
haemorrhage,  was  eight  years  later  than  the  Tractatus 
de  Bachitide  of  Glisson,  and  though  the  subject  is  set 
forth  in  different  forms  the  scientific  method  of  the 
two  books  is  the  same.  Wepfer  observed  cases 
during  life  and  explained  their  relation  to  the 
anatomical  changes  demonstrated  after  death,  yet 
his  book  seems  to  have  been  little  read  in  England. 
It  is  not,  for  example,  mentioned  in  the  controver- 
sies which  arose  about  the  attack  of  apoplexy  which 
was  the  beginning  of  the  fatal  illness  of  King 
Charles  II,  nor  is  there  the  least  allusion  to  it  in 
the  Cerebri  Anatome  of  Willis,  published  in  1664. 

The  three  books  of  observations  of  Nicholas 
Tulpius,  beautifully  printed  by  Louis  Elzevir  at 
Amsterdam  in  1641,  contain  one  hundred  and  sixty- 


124  LECTURE   IV 

four  brief  but  lucid  notes  of  extraordinary  circum- 
stances or  unusual  symptoms  of  disease,  amongst 
them  the  first  description  of  the  sputa  of  fibrinous 
bronchitis  which  he  took  to  be  the  branching  pul- 
monary veins  detached  from  the  substance  of  the 
lung ;  but  these  notes  are  not  to  be  compared 
to  the  daily  observations  of  the  three  great  con- 
temporaries of  Tulpius  in  England. 

In  the  times  following  those  of  Sydenham,  six 
celebrated  physicians,  Eadcliffe,  Garth,  Arbuthnot, 
Freind,  Sloane,  and  Mead,  had  all  great  opportunities 
of  clinical  observation  and  understood  their  impor- 
tance. Eadcliffe  showed  by  his  magnificent  bene- 
factions how  much  he  cared  for  learning  and  for 
medicine,  and  his  reputation  among  physicians  was 
chiefly  due  to  his  acute  observation  of  disease,  yet  if 
he  made  notes  none  have  survived  either  in  print  or 
manuscript.  Sir  Samuel  Garth  wrote  little  on  medi- 
cine. The  medical  writings  of  Arbuthnot,  though 
worth  reading,  contain  no  cUnical  notes,  but  those  of 
his  contemporary,  Dr.  John  Freind,  are  among  the 
best  of  his  period.  The  numerous  cases  in  his  nine 
commentaries  on  fever,  in  his  Epistola  de  FurgantihuSf 
and  in  his  Emmenologia  are  admirably  related  and 
often  with  many  details.  The  form  in  which  he 
records  his  cases  is  modelled  upon  that  of  the 
Hippocratic  writings,  yet  is  free  from  any  trace  of 
archaism.  The  writings  of  Mead  contain  occasional 
reminiscences  of  cases  but  no  real  notes  of  them,  and 
it  is,  I  think,  obvious  from  the  character  of  his 
Medical  Precepts  and  Cautions  that  he  made  very  few 


STUDY  OF   CLINICAL  MEDICINE     125 

clinical  notes.  Sir  John  Floyer's  book,  The 
Physician's  Pulse-Watch^  published  in  1707,  tended 
to  make  physicians  count  the  pulse,  a  proceeding 
not  only  useful  in  itself  but  tending  to  encourage 
observation  of  the  patient.  Clinical  observation  was 
firmly  established  in  England  at  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century  as  essential  in  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine, and  physicians  became  more  and  more  addicted 
to  it.  Its  perfection  in  precision  before  the  develop- 
ment of  special  methods  of  physical  observation 
is  reached  in  the  Commentarii  de  Morborum  Historia 
et  Curatione  of  Dr.  William  Heberden,  published  in 
1802,  the  last  important  medical  treatise  in  England 
which  appeared  in  Latin.  Dr.  Heberden  lectured  at 
Cambridge  on  medicine,  where  he  was  a  Fellow  of 
St.  John's  College,  before  he  settled  in  London.  It  is 
worth  while  to  consider  the  reading  which  Heberden 
thought  useful  in  the  study  of  medicine  before  pro- 
ceeding to  consider  his  method  of  observation  and  the 
effect  of  his  work.  Some  manuscript  notes  of  his 
lectures  made  by  Dr.  Erasmus  Darwin,^  who  attended 
them  in  1752,  show  what  books  he  had  used,  while 
his  Commentaries  demonstrate  the  accuracy  with 
which  he  pursued  clinical  medicine.  He  had  a 
systematic  method  of  recording  and  using  his  clinical 
observations.  His  custom  was  to  make  notes,  as  far  as 
circumstances  allowed,  in  the  sick  room  both  of  what 
he  saw  and  what  he  was  told.  He  read  through  these 
notes  every  month,  and  wrote  into  a  sort  of  medical 
commonplace  book  under  the  heads  of  diseases 
^  Lent  to  me  by  Dr.  Francis  Darwin. 


126  LECTURE   IV 

whatever  seemed  to  him  worth  preserving.  From 
the  notes  contained  in  this  book,  when  he  was 
seventy-two  years  of  age,  he  wrote  his  single  volume 
of  commentaries  on  the  history  and  cure  of  diseases. 
He  entrusted  the  manuscript  to  his  second  son,  and 
desired  that  it  should  not  be  published  during  his 
lifetime.  He  died  when  more  than  ninety  years 
old,  in  1801,  and  the  book  was  then  published  by 
this  son,  himself  a  physician  of  repute.  Nearly  the 
whole  of  this  remarkable  book  is  of  permanent 
value,  so  closely  has  Heberden  recorded  the  sum 
of  many  precise  clinical  observations.  Increased 
observations  have  no  doubt  added  much  to  the  know- 
ledge of  the  diseases  he  has  described,  but  in  very 
few  instances  has  it  depreciated  the  value  of  his 
statements.  The  book  is  so  simple  in  style  that 
it  is  only  after  it  has  been  read  several  times  that 
its  originality  is  fully  perceived.  Heberden  owes 
nothing  to  any  other  writer.  He  does  not  attempt 
such  wide  generalizations  as  Sydenham,  and  his  sole 
object  seems  to  have  been  to  make  the  experience 
of  his  long  life  as  useful  as  possible  to  future 
physicians.  Except  that  the  pulse  was  counted  the 
method  of  examining  a  patient  in  the  time  of 
Heberden  scarcely  differed  from  that  of  Galen  in 
the  reign  of  Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus.  Ausculta- 
tion, the  ophthalmoscope,  the  laryngoscope,  elec- 
trical and  other  methods  of  examination  of  the 
nervous  system,  the  minute  examination  of  the  blood 
— all  these  additions  to  the  fullness  of  observation, 
besides  the  results  which  they  yield,  have  also  tended 


I 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE     127 

to  make  general  clinical  examination  more  thorough 
because  they  detain  the  observer  near  the  patient. 

As  the  practice  of  precise  observation  has  become 
general  the  importance  of  the  regular  keeping  of 
notes  of  patients  in  hospitals  has  been  recognized. 
Dr.  A.  J.  G.  Marcet,  an  exact  writer,  in  his  Essay 
on  the  Chemical  History  and  Medical  Treatment  of 
Calculous  Disorders,  published  in  1817,  mentions 
that  no  great  London  hospital  then  kept  any  regular 
record  of  cases.  Such  records  are  now,  I  believe, 
carefully  kept  in  nearly  all  the  hospitals  of  London. 
Sydenham,  who  had  studied  the  works  of  Ray,  felt 
the  charm  of  the  precision  to  which  botanists 
attained  in  their  descriptions  and  classification — 
even  in  the  state  of  botany  before  Linnaeus — and 
longed  for  a  similar  exact  definition  in  medicine. 
In  the  preface  of  his  Ohservationes  Medicae  there  are 
several  passages  which  show  how  much  he  had  con- 
templated the  methods  of  botany  with  a  view  to 
applying  them  to  medicine.  *  First  of  all,'  he  says, 
*  it  is  desirable  that  aU  diseases  should  be  reduced 
to  certain  and  well-defined  species  with  the  same 
diligence  and  exactness  we  see  used  by  botanists  in 
their  plant  books.'  It  is  clear  that  botany  had  an 
influence  upon  this  most  famous  of  English  medical 
observers,  and  that  its  study  stimulated  him  to  be 
laborious  and  exact  in  his  observations  of  disease. 

The  study  of  natural  history  and  the  devotion 
of  some  excellent  physicians  to  one  or  other 
branch  of  it  had  much  effect  in  improving  the 
general  observation  of  diseases.    The  minute  annota- 


128  LECTURE   IV 

tion  of  the  growth  and  structure  of  plants  and  of 
the  life  of  animals  cultivated  in  the  observer  a  habit 
which  caused  him  to  study  the  effects  and  progress 
and  treatment  of  disease  according  to  the  methods 
of  natural  history.  The  influence  of  botanical  and 
zoological  studies  confirmed  and  enlarged  the 
method  of  clinical  note-taking  already  established, 
and  thus  most  observers  became  more  precise  and 
mor^  observers  were  to  be  found.  Dr.  James 
Douglas  is  a  good  example  of  this  relation  of  the 
study  of  natural  science  to  that  of  medicine.  He  was 
the  first  to  demonstrate  exactly  the  relations  of  the 
peritoneum  to  the  viscera,  and  wrote  several  excellent 
papers  of  observations  in  morbid  anatomy.  He  pub- 
lished a  folio  volume  on  Lilium  Sarniense  in  1725 
and  another  folio  on  the  coffee  plant  ^  in  1727,  besides 
papers  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions  on  the 
flower  of  Crocus  autumnalis  and  other  botanical 
subjects.  His  Myographiae  Comparatae  Specimen, 
printed  in  1707,  shows  an  extensive  knowledge  of 
comparative  anatomy,  and  his  BiUiographiae  Anatomi- 
cae  Specimen  ^  gives  a  concise  and  accurate  account  of 
all  anatomical  writers  from  Hippocrates  to  Harvey. 
He  cared  also  for  literature,  and  published  in  1739 
a  text  of  the  first  ode  of  Horace  and  a  catalogue  of 
all  the  editions  of  the  poet  which  were  in  his  library, 
a  long  series  even  from  the  editio  princeps  of  1476  to 
the  year  1739,  for  that  learned  historian,  Mr.  Eichard 
Copley  Christie,  who  also  had  a  collection  of  copies 

*  Arbor  Yemensis  Fmctum  Cofe  Ferens.    London,  1727. 
^  London,  1715. 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE     129 

of  Horace,  used  to  say  that  the  printed  editions 
were  sufficient  in  number  to  provide  one  for  each 
year  from  the  Augustan  age  to  our  own  time. 

Douglas  became  a  Fellow  of  our  College  in  1721, 
and  his  discoveries,  extensive  learning,  and  indus- 
trious life  deserve  to  be  better  remembered  than 
they  are.  Even  a  man  so  learned  in  his  own  depart- 
ment of  practice  as  the  late  Dr.  Matthews  Duncan 
did  not  know  after  whom  the  fold  of  Douglas  was 
named.  Douglas  used  sometimes  to  go  round  the 
wards  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  and  there 
made  an  observation  which,  pursued  a  little  further, 
would  have  placed  him  among  the  great  discoverers 
in  clinical  medicine.  He  published  his  observation 
in  the  Philosophical  Transactions  for  1715.  The 
case  was  one  of  hypertrophy  of  the  heart  with 
adherent  pericardium,  mitral  and  aortic  valvular 
disease.  *  I  lately  opened,'  he  says,  *  a  young 
man  in  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital  that  died  of 
the  palpitation  of  the  heart,  whose  violent  beating 
and  prodigious  subsultory  motion  for  some  months 
before  his  death  was  not  only  easily  felt  by  laying 
the  hand  on  the  region  of  the  heart,  but  seen 
to  rise  and  fall  by  raising  the  bedclothes  that 
covered  it,  and  which  is  almost  incredible,  some- 
times the  trembling  and  throbbing  made  such  a 
noise  in  his  breast  as  plainly  could  be  heard  at  some 
distance  from  his  bedside.'  Douglas  then  describes 
the  adherent  pericardium  and  the  disease  of  the 
mitral  and  of  the  aortic  valves.  The  loud  noise  was 
probably  that  rare  physical  sign  of  which  I  have 

MOOKB  K 


180  LECTURE   IV 

met  with  a  few  examples  ^  in  the  wards  and  out- 
patients' room  at  St.  Bartholomew's,  a  systolic 
murmur  of  aortic  obstruction  loud  enough  to  be 
heard  without  touching  the  patient  or  even  stooping 
over  him.  How  near  did  Douglas  come  to  the  dis- 
covery of  the  cause  of  cardiac  murmurs. 

Dr.  Edward  Tyson,  who  was  elected  a  Fellow 
in  1683  and  whose  portrait  hangs  in  our  hall, 
was  the  first  man  in  England  who  wrote  mono- 
graphs on  the  structure  of  particular  animals.  He 
described  from  his  own  dissections  the  anatomy  of 
the  chimpanzee,  the  musk  hog,  the  porpoise,  the 
Virginian  opossum,  the  rattlesnake,  the  embryo 
shark,  the  lump  fish,  the  tapeworm,  and  the  round 
worm.  Tyson's  medical  writings,  which  are  to  be 
found  in  the  Acta  Medica  of  Thomas  Bartholinus 
and  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions^  are  accurate 
accounts  of  remarkable  cases,  two  of  them  of  ill- 
nesses in  dogs.  A  case  of  a  plasterer  who  died 
from  changes  in  his  lungs  due  to  inhaling  some  nails 
which  he  was  holding  in  his  mouth  ^  is  also  recorded 
by  Morton.  3  They  saw  the  case  together,  and  it  is 
interesting  to  discover  that  while  Tyson's  note  was 
clearly  written  down  at  the  time,  Morton's  has  some 
of  the  dimness  of  a  recollection  as  distinct  from  an 
immediate  record. 

Sir  Hans  Sloane,  President  of  this  College  from 

^  St.  Bartholomew'' s  Hospital  Reports,  vol.  xxvi. 
^  Tyson  in  Acta  Medica  et  Fhilosqphica  Hafniensia  Bartholini, 
V.  91,  Hafniae,  1680. 

^  Opera  Medica,  Phthisiologia,  p.  105,  Geneva,  1696. 


STUDY  OF   CLINICAL  MEDICINE     131 

1719  to  1735  and  of  the  Eoyal  Society  from  1727  to 
1741,  was  an  excellent  naturalist,  and  is  the  founder 
of  the  great  national  collections  known  as  the 
British  Museum.  He  was  born  at  Killileagh,  in 
Ulster,  in  1660,  studied  medicine  at  Paris  and 
Montpelier,  and  graduated  M.D.  in  the  University 
of  Orange  in  1683.  After  his  return  he  lived  for  a 
time  with  Sydenham.  In  early  life  he  had  enjoyed 
the  study  of  plants,  and  his  reading  had  made 
him  long  to  see  the  plants  and  animals  of  the 
West  Indies.  This  inclination  remained  after  he 
had  begun  practice  in  London  and  become  a  Fellow 
of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  of  the  Eoyal 
Society.  The  opportunity  of  gratifying  his  wish 
came  in  1687,  when  he  was  offered  the  appointment 
of  physician  to  the  Duke  of  Albemarle,  then  going 
out  as  supreme  commander  in  Jamaica.  Sloane 
perhaps  hesitated  for  a  moment  as  to  whether  it 
was  right  to  interrupt  his  practice  as  a  physician 
in  London,  but,  remembering  that  the  ancient 
physicians  travelled  to  the  regions  whence  came 
particular  drugs,  satisfied  himself  that  it  might  be 
useful  as  well  as  pleasant  to  visit  the  West  Indies, 
and  accepted  the  appointment.  He  stayed  in  the 
West  Indies  for  fifteen  months  and  made  many 
observations  in  natural  history  and  a  collection  of 
eight  hundred  species  of  plants.  He  studied  the 
zoology  as  well  as  the  botany  of  Jamaica,  dried 
plants,  and  employed  an  artist  to  make  drawings  of 
birds  and  plants.  Sloane  showed  some  of  his  plants 
to  his  fellow-countryman,  Sir  Arthur  Kawdon,  of 

k2 


182  LECTURE   IV 

Moira,  in  the  county  Down,  who  sent  a  gardener  to 
collect  examples  in  the  West  Indies,  and  afterwards 
gave  Sloane  several  further  species,  so  that  in  1696 
he  was  able  to  publish  a  catalogue  of  the  plants 
of  Jamaica,  in  which  each  plant  is  described,  its 
locality  mentioned,  and  many  references  given  to 
the  writings  of  botanists.  The  book  is  dedicated 
to  the  Koyal  Society  and  to  this  College,  and 
received  the  imprimatur  of  our  President,  Dr. 
Samuel  Collins,  and  the  Censors.  Sloane,  on  his 
return,  became  involved  in  a  great  professional 
practice  and  in  various  official  duties,  and  thus  the 
publication  of  the  large  book  which  he  had  planned 
on  the  Natural  History  of  Jamaica  was  long  delayed. 
His  West  Indian  collections  and  journals  were  the 
materials  and  he  consulted  Eay  as  to  its  best 
arrangement.  The  first  folio  volume  appeared  in 
1707,  and  the  second  in  1725,  of  A  Voyage  to  the 
Islands  of  Madeira,  Barbados,  Nieves,  St.  Christopher, 
and  Jamaica,  with  the  Natural  History  of  the  last  of 
those  Islands,  It  is  a  work  full  of  original  observation 
on  men,  animals,  and  plants,  and  even  the  music  of  the 
African  inhabitants  is  noted.  He  records  many  cases 
of  various  diseases  from  notes  made  at  the  time,  which 
show  that  he  was  as  a  medical  observer  worthy  of  the 
friendship  which  he  had  enjoyed  with  Sydenham. 

The  collections  of  Sloane  were  not  only  of  objects 
of  natural  history.  Besides  antiquities,  medals, 
coins,  crystals,  vessels  of  agate,  cameos,  seals,  and 
gems,  his  bequest  from  which  the  British  Museum 
was  formed  included  more   than    40,000  volumes 


I 


STUDY  OF   CLINICAL  MEDICINE     133 

printed  or  in  manuscript.     A  complete  Index  ^  to 

the   manuscripts   was  only  finished  in  1904.      As 

regards     medicine    the    collection    contains     vast 

materials    for    the    history   of    English   medicine. 

Here  are  the  holograph  volumes  of  Harvey's  Frae- 

lectiones  Anatomicae  of  1616  and  of  his  scarcely  less 

interesting  De  Musculis  of  1627.     The  manuscripts 

of  Mayerne  I  have  described  in   my  first  lecture. 

Twelve  closely  written  volumes  of  lectures,  notes, 

and  philosophical  and  medical  collectanea,  mostly 

if  not   entirely  in   the   small   and  rather  difficult 

handwriting  of  Glisson,  are  there,  and  so  are  the 

commonplace  books  of  Sir  Thomas  Browne,  as  well 

as  his  Miscellanies,  Observations  on  Plants,  and  other 

papers  in  his  own  hand  ;  and  the  medical  notebooks 

and   many   other  notes   of  his   son,    Dr.    Edward 

Browne.     There  are  letters  of  nearly  all  the  famous 

physicians  of  England  of  the  seventeenth  century 

and  of  the   eighteenth  century  up  to  the  time  of 

Sloane.      There    is    the    little   filled    notebook    of 

Dr.  Nathaniel  Hodges,  the  recollection   of  whose 

death  in  a  debtors'  prison  after  his  heroic  conduct 

during  the  plague  of  1666  brought  tears  to  the  eyes 

^  Index  to  the  Sloane  manuscripts  in  the  British  Museum  by- 
Edward  J.  L.  Scott,  M.A.,  D.Litt.,  London,  1904.  The  collec- 
tion includes  more  than  3,700  manuscripts,  and  to  have  brought 
so  complex  a  work  to  a  conclusion  within  a  reasonable  time  is 
a  public  service  of  great  importance,  useful  to  students  of  many 
kinds.  If  the  authorities  of  the  Museum  should  hereafter  see 
fit  to  issue  a  descriptive  catalogue  of  the  MSS.  on  Medicine,  as 
full  as  Dr.  S.  H.  O'Grady's  catalogue  of  the  Irish  MSS., 
it  would  be  a  work  of  great  advantage  to  the  study  of  the 
history  of  medicine  in  England. 


134  LECTURE   IV 

of  Dr.  Johnson,  and  there  is  the  manuscript  book 
which  Francis  Bernard,  who  also  scorned  to  flee 
from  the  plague,  used  to  take  round  the  wards  of 
St.  Bartholomew's.  There  is  the  original  manu- 
script of  the  Latin  poems  of  Raphael  Thorius,  who 
died  from  the  plague  in  1622,  and  of  the  Anatomia 
Bestaurata  of  Highmore  of  the  Antrum.  There  are 
many  notes  of  cases  sent  up  for  the  opinions  of 
physicians  and  some  accounts  of  post-mortem 
examinations.  There  are  letters  to  Sloane  himself 
from  physicians  and  surgeons  and  apothecaries  and 
patients,  from  men  of  science,  from  great  men 
in  the  State  and  in  the  world  of  letters,  and  from 
people  in  need  of  help,  such  as  Mr.  Samuel  Boyce, 
a  distressed  poet,  who  writes  :  *You  were  pleased 
to  give  my  wife  the  enclosed  shilling  last  night. 
I  doubt  not  but  you  thought  it  a  good  one,  but  as  it 
happened  otherwise  you  will  forgive  the  trouble 
occasioned  by  the  mistake  !  ^ '  This  collection  of 
manuscripts  is  a  rich  mine  of  medical  and  hterary 
information.  Tyson  and  Douglas  and  Sloane  were 
physicians  whose  cultivation  of  natural  history 
undoubtedly  had  a  general  effect  in  improving  by 
example  in  observation  the  study  of  clinical  medicine 
in  England.  The  repeated  observations  and  the 
careful  note-taking  of  naturalists  were  seen  to  be 
essential  for  the  acquirement  and  for  the  increase 
of  knowledge  in  medicine. 

Sir  Thomas  Molyneux,  a  physician,  who  occupied 
in   Ireland   a  position  in   the  world   of  medicine 
'  Sloane  MS.  4056. 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE     135 

resembling  that  of  Sir  Hans  Sloane  in  England, 
was,  like  him,  an  ardent  student  of  natural  history. 
Molyneux  was  the  great  grandson  of  another  Sir 
Thomas  Molyneux,  a  subject  of  Queen  Mary  Tudor, 
who  left  his  home  in  Calais  when  the  town  was 
taken  from  the  English  by  the  Duke  of  Guise  in 
1558,  and  afterwards  settled  in  Ireland,  where  in 
1590  he  became  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  The 
physician  was  born  in  Dublin  in  1661  and  graduated 
there  at  Trinity  College,  to  the  foundation  of  which 
his  ancestor  was  one  of  the  contributors.  In  1683, 
when  a  Bachelor  of  Physic,  he  went  to  Leyden  to 
continue  his  medical  studies,  and  his  letters  ^  give 
an  interesting  account  of  his  adventures  by  the  way 
and  of  his  stay  in  Holland.  He  stayed  in  London 
and  its  neighbourhood  from  May  12  to  July  20  and 
fell  into  excellent  company  while  there.  The  first 
man  of  science  he  saw  was  Nehemiah  Grew,  the 
botanist,  a  Fellow  of  this  College,  and  the  earliest 
great  discoverer  in  vegetable  physiology,  who  gave 
him  much  useful  information  about  Holland.  He 
next  visited  the  Duke  of  Ormond,  who  had  obtained 
its  first  charter  for  the  Irish  College  of  Physicians  in 
1667,  and  there  met  Thomas  Burnet  the  geologist, 
who  was  tutor  to  Ormond's  grandson.  He  went  to 
the  house  of  Eobert  Boyle  and  there  met  Sir  William 
Petty,  the  first  English  political  economist,  a  Fellow 

^  Dublin  University  Magamne,  vol.  xviii,  I  have  to  thank 
Mr.  F.  W.  Stronge  for  information  about  the  original  manu- 
script of  the  diary  of  Sir  Thomas  Molyneux,  which  is  in  the 
possession  of  a  member  of  his  family. 


136  LECTURE   IV 

of  our  College.  He  saw  Newton  and  Tyson  and 
Evelyn  at  a  meeting  of  the  Koyal  Society,  and  came 
to  know  Flamsteed  the  astronomer.  He  also  met 
Dr.  Edward  Browne,  who  told  him  that  Sir  Thomas 
Browne's  Be  Flantis  Sacrae  Scripturae  was  about  to 
be  published.  Having  enjoyed  the  acquaintance  of 
these  heads  of  the  world  of  science  he  was  in  June 
no  less  fortunate  in  the  world  of  letters,  for  he  met 
Dryden,  then  its  acknowledged  head.  He  does  not 
say  where  this  took  place,  but  it  was  very  likely  at 
the  house  of  Ormond,  who  delighted  in  Dryden's 
society.  Molyneux  visited  Cambridge  and  seems 
to  have  gone  into  every  college,  to  have  looked  at 
Oliver  Cromwell's  rooms  at  Sidney,  to  have  seen 
Henry  More  the  Platonist  at  Christ's,  to  have  noted 
the  growth  of  saffron  in  the  district,  and  the  fact 
that  grey-backed  crows,  common  in  Ireland  but  rare 
in  England,  were  to  be  seen  in  Cambridgeshire.  He 
afterwards  went  to  Oxford  where  he  found  the 
professor  of  physic  lecturing  on  the  first  Aphorism 
of  Hippocrates  and  on  the  shortness  of  man's  life 
since  the  Flood  and  its  length  before.  After  ten 
weeks  thus  happily  spent  he  reached  Holland,  and 
soon  after  settled  down  to  work  at  the  University 
of  Leyden.  A  few  months  later  he  met  Locke 
there  and  they  became  friends  and  correspondents, 
and  the  friendship  of  Locke  afterwards  extended  to 
William  Molyneux,  his  brother,  and  it  was  at  this 
brother's  instance  that  Locke  printed  his  treatise 
On  Education.  Thomas  Molyneux  returned  to  Dublin 
in  1687  and  took  his  M.D.  degree.     When  the  Irish 


STUDY  OF   CLINICAL  MEDICINE     137 

College  of  Physicians  was  reconstituted  in  December, 
1692,  he  was  named  as  one  of  the  Fellows  in  the 
charter.  He  rapidly  attained  considerable  practice 
and  became  President  of  the  King's  and  Queen's 
College  of  Physicians  in  1702.  He  published  in 
the  Philosophical  Transactions  an  account  of  the 
anatomy  of  the  sea  mouse,  the  iridescent  hairs  of 
which  he  noticed  on  opening  the  stomach  of  a 
cod-fish.  His  also  was  the  first  accurate  descrip- 
tion of  the  skeleton  of  the  Irish  elk  in  A  Dis- 
course concerning  the  Large  Horns  frequently  found 
Underground  in  Ireland.  He  published  notes  on 
the  Giant's  Causeway  which  are  remarkable  for 
their  demonstration  of  the  then  new  notion  that 
it  was  a  work  of  nature  and  not  of  man,  and  a 
paper  in  the  form  of  a  letter^  to  the  Bishop  of 
Clogher  on  certain  swarms  of  scarabaeus  arhoreus 
which  appeared  in  the  West  of  Ireland  in  1688  and 
continued  till  1697.  His  medical  writings  are 
observations  on  conditions  of  his  own  time,  on  an 
epidemic  of  coughs  and  colds,  ^  and  on  an  epidemic 
of  eye  disease.^  He  died  in  1733,  and  there  is  a 
fine  statue  of  him  by  Koubiliac  near  his  tomb  at 
Armagh.  He  was  the  first  great  physician  in 
Ireland,  and  in  his  excellence  both  in  medicine  and 
natural  science   and   in   the  obvious  effect   of  his 

^  Published  in  A  Natural  History  of  Ireland,  by  Several 
Hands.    Dublin,  1726. 

"^  On  the  Late  Coughs  and  Colds :  Philosophical  Transactions, 
1694. 

^  Notes  on  an  Epidemic  of  Eye  Disease  which  occurred  at 
Castletown,  Delvin,  Co.  Westmeath,  1701. 


138  LECTURE   IV 

natural  history  studies  upon  his  medical  work 
resembled  Sir  Hans  Sloane.  The  venerable  hill 
on  which  is  the  last  resting-place  of  Molyneux  is 
a  short  day's  journey  from  the  birthplace  of  Sloane. 

Dr.  John  Stearne,  who  became  a  senior  Fellow 
of  Trinity  College  the  year  before  Molyneux  was 
born,  was  one  of  the  fourteen  original  Fellows  of 
the  Irish  College  of  Physicians,  was  the  chief 
physician  in  Ireland  at  the  period  of  the  Restoration, 
and  a  man  of  great  learning,  but  no  medical  writings 
of  his  have  been  preserved. 

Dr.  Richard  Helsham,  Regius  Professor  of  Physic 
in  the  University  of  Dublin  in  1733,  an  intimate 
friend  of  Swift,  is  addressed  by  Arbuthnot  in  a  way 
which  shows  that  he  must  have  been  a  physician  of 
the  same  kind  as  Arbuthnot  himself,  but  he  also 
has  left  no  medical  writings  from  which  his  attain- 
ments in  clinical  medicine  might  be  estimated.  It 
is  indeed  difficult  to  collect  much  evidence  of  the 
regular  study  of  clinical  medicine  in  Ireland  at  any 
period  before  the  influence  of  the  Edinburgh  school 
began  to  be  felt  there. 

The  object  of  my  lectures  has  been  to  make  clear 
the  growth  of  clinical  study  in  the  British  Islands 
from  its  commencement  to  the  time  when  it  was 
fully  established  as  an  essential  part  of  the  work  of 
all  who  pursue  any  part  of  medicine  :  yet,  having 
described  the  attainments  of  Molyneux,  who  is 
certainly  the  first  great  figure  in  medicine  in 
Ireland,  I  will  venture  to  pause  in  the  pursuit  of 
the   particular  subject  of  my  lectures  to   consider 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE     139 

what  was  the  earlier  state  of  medical  learning  there. 
The  history  of  learning  in  Ireland,  including  our 
branch  of  it,  is  naturally  divided  into  two  parts.  One 
part  is  mediaeval  and  all  its  literature  is  in  Irish  or 
in  Latin  ;  the  other  part  is  modern  and,  except  a 
few  Latin  books,  is  wholly  in  English.  The  books 
of  the  modern  period  form  a  valuable  part  of  English 
literature  and  English  science.  The  mediaeval 
literature  may  be  said  to  have  begun  with  the 
introduction  of  writing  into  Ireland  from  Italy  in 
the  fifth  century  and  to  have  lasted  as  long  as  Irish 
books  continued  to  be  produced  and  to  circulate  in 
manuscript  only — a  condition  which  lasted  till  about 
the  end  of  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
This  literature  was  in  a  language  which,  though  it 
underwent  progressive  changes,  was  never,  like 
Anglo-Saxon,  permeated  by  other  tongues  so  as  to 
lose  its  identity.  A  large  part  of  its  vocabulary, 
its  syntax,  and  many  of  its  grammatical  forms 
remained  unchanged.  The  Irish  never  became  a 
printed  literature,  and  circulated  or  was  preserved 
in  libraries  in  manuscripts  of  varying  kinds,  some 
large  bibliothecae,  containing  many  varieties  of  com- 
position, others  containing  particular  treatises  only. 
It  thus  presents  us  at  the  present  day  with  a  specimen 
of  a  literature  unaffected  by  the  printing  press,  and 
enables  the  student  to  observe  all  the  peculiarities 
and  incidents  of  literature  before  the  invention  of 
printing. 

The   earliest  mention  of  our  profession  in  this 
interesting    literature    is    perhaps    a    gloss    in    a 


140  LECTURE   IV 

manuscript  now  in  the  library  of  Karlsruhe,  of 
Bede's  treatise,  De  Batione  Temporum,  which  belongs 
to  the  end  of  the  eighth  or  beginning  of  the  ninth 
century.  On  folio  35a  of  this  venerable  manuscript 
the  word  ^  archiater '  is  glossed  by  the  Irish  word 
huasallieig — that  is,  Jiuasal  noble,  and  lieig  physician. 
Both  words  are  found  throughout  literature  during 
the  thousand  years  which  have  elapsed  since  some 
Irishman  in  the  monastery  of  Eeichenau  wrote  these 
glosses.  Diancecht,  a  hero  who  appears  in  ancient 
stories  and  poems,  is  described  as  a  physician.  In 
the  Dinmhenchm,^  or  Hill  Lore,  a  composition  in 
prose  and  verse  of  which  a  twelfth  century  MS. 
is  extant,  2  his  name  occurs,  as  also  in  the  Coir 
Anmann,  *  Fitness  of  Names.' ^  *  Diancecht  i.  ainm 
suithe  leigis  Eirenn ' — Diancecht,  that  is  the  name 
of  the  learned  man  of  physic  of  Ireland.  In  the 
laws  with  commentaries,  known  as  the  ^Senchus 
Mor ',  a  physician  and  medical  treatment  are  men- 
tioned in  the  part  which  treats  of  distress.  The 
levy  of  distress  was  the  remedy  for  a  great  variety 
of  wrongs.  The  person  who  had  been  wronged  and 
desired  to  obtain  justice  came  to  the  residence  of 
the  wrongdoer  and  sat  fasting  by  his  door.  This 
was  a  sort  of  notice,  and  if  no  food  was  offered  and 
the  fasting  terminated  at  its  due  period  the  distress 
claimed  became  greater.  If  the  wrongdoer  gave 
security,  then  the  cause  was  in  time  tried  by  a  judge. 

'  S.  H.  O'Grady,  Silva  Gadelica,  London,  1892,  ii.  525. 
*  Book  of  Leinster. 

^  Whitley  Stokes  in  Irische   Texte  mit   Ubersetzimgen  tmd 
Worterbuch,  Dritte  Serie,  2.  Heft,  Leipzig,  1897. 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE    141 

Five  days'  notice  with  one  day's  fasting  was  to  be 
given  in  a  variety  of  cases  which  are  enumerated, 
amongst  them  *  for  providing  him  (the  sick  man)  a 
physician '  ^  and  *  for  guarding  against  the  things 
prohibited  by  the  physician '.  The  guarding  against 
things  prohibited  by  the  physician  shows  a  respect 
to  his  opinion.  It  is  further  dwelt  upon  in  a  later 
part  of  the  commentary.  *  For  guarding  against  the 
things  prohibited  by  the  physician,  i.  e.  that  the 
sick  man  may  not  be  injured,  i.e.  by  women  or 
dogs,  i.  e.  that  fools  or  female  scolds  be  not  let  into 
the  house  to  him,  i.  e.  or  that  he  may  not  be 
injured  by  forbidden  food.'  ^  The  physician  was  to 
give  notice  that  this  care  should  be  taken.  *  If 
the  physician  has  given  notice,'  says  the  com- 
mentary, *he  is  safe.  If  he  has  not  given  notice 
he  is  subject  to  fine,  i.  e.  he  is  fined  a  young  heifer, 
and  this  is  divided  in  two  between  the  aggressor 
(disturber)  and  the  wounded  man.  If  notice  has 
been  given  by  the  physician  then  the  aggressor  pays 
the  heifer  to  the  wounded  man,  and  the  physician 
for  his  skill  receives  one-third  of  the  fine.'  In  a 
summary  of  the  occasions  of  exemption  from 
distress  occurs  *  a  man  going  to  obtain  a  physician 
for  a  person  on  the  point  of  death '.^     In  another 

^  Hi  tairec  a  lega,  Ancient  Laws  of  Ireland,  Senchus  Mor, 
vol.  i,  p.  122,  line  16 ;  and  Im  dingbail  aurcuilte  a  reir  lega, 
line  18.     Dublin,  1865. 

^  Ancient  Laws  of  Ireland,  Senchus  Mor,  vol.  i,  translation, 
p.  131. 

^  Dlomtar  turbuid —  no  lega  do  neoch  biss  fri  bas,  Ancient 
Laws,  Senchus  Mor,  vol.  i,  266,  and  Harley  MS.  432. 


142  LECTURE   IV 

passage  in  the  Senchus  Mor,  under  the  heading 
'  What  is  the  distress  of  each  sort  of  men  of  art ', 
there  is  the  statement,  *  The  distraint  of  a  physician, 
let  his  horsewhip  or  his  wand  be  taken.  If  he  has 
not  a  complete  equipment  let  a  thread  be  tied  about 
the  finger  next  his  little  finger.'  ^  The  object  of  the 
peculiar  distraint  was  probably  to  shame  the  phy- 
sician into  the  discharge  of  what  was  claimed  from 
him.  2  There  are  some  clauses  difficult  from  their 
brevity  which  apply  to  what  we  should  call  actions 
for  malpraxis.  An  impartial  physician  is  to  say 
whether  the  bleeding  was  rightly  used  and  the 
practice  good  or  bad.^ 

In  the  Irish  Chronicles  physicians  are  mentioned 
from  time  to  time,  and  many  passages  make  it  clear 
that,  like  law  and  literature,  medicine  was  hereditary 
in  particular  families.  There  were  many  families 
who  possessed  lands  in  right  of  their  profession. 
Some  were  hereditary  keepers  of  a  shrine,  of  a  saint's 
bell,  or  of  an  ancient  book.  Of  such  a  kind  were 
the  O'Breslans,  who  long  kept  in  Donegal  the  bell 
of  St.  Connla  Cael,  now  in  the  British  Museum. 
Others  were  hereditary  judges,  such  as  the 
MacAedhagains,  of  whom,  from  the  thirteenth 
century  to  the  sixteenth,  twenty-seven  judges  or 
legal  authorities  are  mentioned  in  the  chronicles. 
Others  were  hereditary  chroniclers,  poets,  or  public 

^  Caidi  aithgabail  each  aes  dana,  S.M.,  ii.  118. 
'  Aithgabail  lega :  togthar  an  echlaisc  ocus  a  fraig.    Senchus 
Mor,  ii.  118. 
^  Ancient  Laws  of  Ireland,  Book  of  Aicill. 


Plate  VIII. 


nr 


tU-U^V'  4T).lLtri4iat  oy4rTX>7W-    ^^rSl^.^he- jfjv  43i  mitt^  -o^uH^ 


Treatise  on  Materia  Medica. 
Translated  into  Irish  and  written  by  Cormac  MacDuinntsIeibhe,  a.d.  1459. 

To  face  page  143. 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE     143 

orators,  such  as  the  Maic  Conmidhe,  whose  first 
works  occur  in  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century 
and  whose  last  representatives  still  lived  near  their 
ancient  inheritance  at  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century ;  or  the  famous  race  of  O'Dalaigh,  of 
whom  more  than  eighty  are  said  to  have  been 
known  as  poets. 

These  legal,  historical,  or  medical  families  appear 
in  the  chronicles  about  the  beginning  of  the  thir- 
teenth century,  and  many  of  them  still  held  their 
lands  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  some  of  their 
later  descendants  were  to  be  found  in  their  original 
districts  in  the  nineteenth  century,  though  both 
they  and  their  patrons,  the  more  powerful  chiefs, 
had  long  been  dispossessed.  In  the  province  of 
Ulster  the  family  of  MacDuinntsleibhe  were  here- 
ditary physicians.  They  were  attached  to  the 
family  of  O'Donnell  and  held  lands  in  Kilmacrenan, 
the  original  territory  of  the  Cinel  Luidhech,  or 
O'Donnells,  who  gradually  conquered  nearly  the 
whole  of  Donegal.  The  MacDuinntsleibhes  had 
been  driven  out  of  Down  by  John  de  Courcy,  the 
Norman,  and  settled  in  the  west  of  Ulster.  Muiris, 
who  died  in  1395,  Donnchadh,  who  died  in  1527, 
and  Eoghan  his  son,  who  died  in  1586,  are  other 
members  of  this  medical  clan  whose  names  have  been 
preserved.^  One  of  the  family  translated  Gualterus 
on  the  doses  of  decoctions  into  Irish,  and  his  manu- 
script is  in  the  British  Museum  (Harley,  546).     On 

^  O'Donovan,  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  iv.  742,  v.  1389, 
V.  1856. 


144  LECTURE   IV 

fol.  11a  is  the  author's  own  note  of  his  work.  *  Here 
ends  Gualterus'  book  of  the  doses  of  medicines. 
Cormac  MacDuinntsleibhe  has  put  this  summary 
into  Irish  for  Dermot  MacDonall  O'Line  and  to 
him  and  his  sons  may  so  profitable  a  commentary 
render  good  service.  On  the  fourth  day  of  the 
kalends  of  April  this  lecture  was  finished  at  Cloyne 
in  the  year  1459.'  Other  members  of  the  family 
seem  to  have  followed  literature,  for  Maurice  Ulltach, 
who  attested  the  authenticity  of  the  chronicles  used 
by  Michael  O'Clery  and  his  colleagues  in  the  com- 
pilation of  their  great  book  of  annals,  and  Chris- 
topher Ulltach,  guardian  of  the  Franciscan  convent 
of  Donegal  in  1636,  were  of  the  same  race.  Ulltach 
means  an  Ulsterman,  and  was  used  for  the 
MaicDuinntsleibhe  because  they  had  been  chiefs  of 
Down,  the  southern  half  of  the  region  called  Ulidia 
by  Irish  Latin  writers,  into  which  the  most  ancient 
kings  of  Ulster  had  been  driven,  and  which  their 
descendants  ruled  till  turned  out  by  the  Normans. 
The  family  were  dispossessed  in  Donegal  at  the 
plantation  of  Ulster  in  the  reign  of  James  I.  In  1745, 
one  of  them  pubHshed  in  Paris  a  long  Catechism  in 
Irish  of  some  literary  merit.  Some  of  the  race  still 
lived  in  my  boyhood  as  tenants  on  the  lands  which 
they  anciently  owned  in  Kilmacrenan.  Part  of 
another  manuscript  (Arundel  333)  shows  that  Cormac 
had  taken  a  degree,  probably  in  some  university 
of  France.  It  contains  the  note  :  *  Here  ends  this 
summary  and  treatise  upon  the  organs  of  animals 
from    Isaac    ^^  In    dietis    particularibus ".     Cormac 


PtAlE   IX. 


*^*!wl«  m^  ijT^i  **f-^  ^  . « 


«'5n4T*-«^,^j^:; 


7^>^>7<I;K1^>' 


MaXUSCRIPT   WRiriEN    BY    CoRMAC    MacDi'INXTSI.EIRHE. 

Chapter  on  Gout. 


To  face  page  144. 


Plate  X. 


Pi' 


-s-iiCBjfe^j'^  4ft,     *-5r-»,_,  <;<     r-.^ 


Manuscrii't  written  by  Cormac  MacDuinxtsleibhe. 
Chapter  on  Epilepsy. 


To  face  page  145. 


STUDY  OF  CLINICAL   MEDICINE     145 

MacDuinntsleibhe,  bachelor  of  physic,  it  is  that  has 
put  it  into  Irish  and  written  it  for  Denis  O'Eachoid- 
hern  in  this  document.  And  let  each  one  whom  it 
shall  profit  pray  for  those  two/  Cormac  also  wrote 
in  the  same  bibliotheca  two  Aristotelian  disquisitions 
and  a  small  section  on  plants,  and  a  short  treatise  on 
the  virtues  of  gems,  a  subject  often  discussed  in  the 
medical  books  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Nial  O'Glacan,  a  physician  who  became  professor 
of  medicine  in  the  University  of  Toulouse  in  the 
reign  of  Charles  I,  was  born  in  Donegal,  and  from 
a  remark  in  his  Tractatus  de  Peste,  published  at 
Toulouse  in  1629,  it  may  be  inferred  that  he 
received  a  medical  education  from  one  of  the 
families  of  hereditary  physicians  and  perhaps  from 
the  MaicDuinntsleibhe.  He  was  appointed  physician 
to  the  King  of  France,  and  in  1646  migrated  to 
Bologna,  where  in  1655  he  published  a  Cursus 
medicuSj  including  six  books  on  physiology,  three 
on  pathology,  and  four  entitled  Semeiotica.  It  is 
a  mediaeval  work,  without  any  reports  of  cases  or 
modern  ideas. 

The  UiCallanains  were  the  hereditary  physicians 
of  MacCarthy  riabhach,  one  of  the  great  chiefs  of 
the  south  of  Munster.  Aonghus  O'Callanain  and 
Nicholas  O'Hicidhe  wrote  in  1403  a  version  with 
commentary  of  the  Aphorisms  of  Hippocrates,  of 
which  a  small  fragment  is  preserved.  Dr.  Standish 
Hayes  O'Grady,  in  his  catalogue  of  the  Irish 
manuscripts  in  the  British  Museum,  has  sug- 
gested that  this  physician  was  probably  the  man 


146  LECTURE   IV 

in  whose  beautiful  handwriting  is  written  a  treatise 
entitled,  *  Suidigud  tellaigh  Temrach/  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  hearth  of  Tara,  which  occurs  in  the 
noble  manuscript  called  the  Book  of  Lismore,  from 
its  having  been  found  in  the  castle  of  Lismore. 
The  colophon  of  the  treatise  is  :  'Angus  O'Callan- 
ain  has  written  this  for  MacCarthy,  that  is  Finghin, 
son  of  Dermot,  and  a  blessing  go  with  it  to  him.'  ^ 
The  UiHicidhe  or  O'Hickeys,  of  which  family  this 
Nicholas  was  one^  were  hereditary  physicians  of  the 
Dal  Cais,  the  group  of  allied  clans  who  owned  the 
northern  part  of  Munster,  long  known  as  Thomond, 
and  now  as  the  county  Clare.  In  the  British 
Museum  ^  there  is  a  fine  vellum  manuscript  which 
belonged  to  a  member  of  this  family.  The  manu- 
script contains  a  record  of  the  date  at  which  it  was 
written.  3  *  The  year  of  the  Lord  when  this  book 
was  written  1482,  and  that  was  the  year  when 
Philip  son  of  Thomas  Barry  slew  Philip  son  of 
Kichard  Barry.'  And  another  note  shows  that  it 
was  still  in  the  possession  of  its  original  scribe  in 
1489.*  ^  I  grieve  for  this  news  I  hear  now :  that 
my  mother  and  my  sister  are  dead  in  Spain. 
A.D.  1489.'  A  third  note^  records  its  sale  to 
Gerald  Earl  of  Kildare,  Lord  Justice  of  Ireland 
from  1478  to  1513.  '  A  prayer  for  Gerald  the  Earl, 
Justice  of  Ireland,  that  bought  this  book  for  twenty 

^  '  Aonghus  o  Callanain  do  scribh  so  do  Mag  Carthaigh  .i. 
Finghin  mac  Diarmada  ocus  bennacht  leis  do.'  S.  H.  O'Grady's 
Catalogue  of  Irish  MSS.  in  British  Museum,  p.  222. 

""  Egerton  89.        ^  ^  92,  4  y.  95.         °  R  192  b. 


STUDY  OF  CLINICAL  MEDICINE    147 

cattle.  Two  and  twenty  folded  skins  are  in  this 
book.  The  rent  of  East  Munster  six  score  kine 
just  come  in  to  the  Earl  on  the  day  when  this  com- 
putation was  written.  Thomas  O'Mailconaire  levied 
that  rent  for  the  earl.  This  year  in  which  I  am  is 
the  year  of  grace  one  thousand  and  five  hundred 
years,  the  age  of  the  Heavenly  Lord  at  this  time — 
all  which  above  stated  is  true.'  In  the  fifteenth 
century  money  was  hardly  in  use  in  Ireland  outside 
the  seaboard  towns,  and  this  earl,  the  greatest  man 
of  the  Norman  Irish,  paid  in  cattle  for  this  fine 
manuscript.  It  is  a  translation  of  the  Lilium 
Medicinae  of  Bernard  de  Gordon,  a  writer  of  the 
early  part  of  the  fourteenth  century  and  of  the 
school  of  Montpelier,  who  was  widely  read,  and  whose 
works  have  been  translated  into  several  European 
languages.  Thomas  O'Hicidhe  wrote  a  treatise  on 
the  Calendar  ^  in  1589.  I  saw  in  Belfast  many  years 
ago  a  fine  early  fifteenth-century  manuscript  on 
medicine  in  the  hand  of  one  of  the  O'Hickeys.^ 

Some  manuscripts  of  the  family  of  O'Liaigh, 
another  race  of  hereditary  physicians  in  Thomond, 
are  preserved,  and  are,  as  I  am  told  by  Mr.  S.  H. 
O'Grady  who  has  examined  them,  of  the  same  kind 
as  those  of  Cormac  MacDuinntsleibhe. 

The  Ui  Caiside  were  a  medical  clan  and  were 
the  hereditary  physicians  of  MacUidhir.  Finghin 
O'Caiside,  who  died  in  1322  ;  Gilla  na  naingel,  who 

^  British  Museum  :  Cotton  MS.  Appendix  LI. 
^  It  then  belonged  to  Mr.  Kobert  Macadam,  and  afterwards 
became  the  property  of  Bishop  Keeves, 

l2 


148  LECTURE   IV 

died  in  1335  ;  Tadhg,  who  died  in  1450  ;  Feoiris,  who 
died  in  1504 ;  and  Feidhlimidh,  who  died  in  1520, 
are  mentioned  in  the  annals  of  Ireland  as  professors 
of  medicine  (ollam  leighis).  All  these  hereditary 
2)hysicians  read  some  books  of  the  school  of  Saler- 
num,  the  Arabian  physicians,  and  Bernard  de  Gor- 
don. I  have  not  met  with  any  fragment  of  Mirfeld 
in  those  of  their  manuscripts  which  I  have  examined, 
but  John  of  Gaddesden  was  known  to  them. 

The  hereditary  physicians  of  Ireland  had  brethren 
in  Scotland.^  In  early  times  all  the  literary  associa- 
tions of  Alba,  as  Scotland  is  still  called  by  her  Celtic 
inhabitants  and  neighbours,  were  with  Ireland,  and 
the  name  Scotland  is  itself  a  proof  that  the  language, 
customs,  and  social  institutions  of  the  country 
appeared  to  its  neighbours  to  be  identical  with  those 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Ireland,  the  Scoti.  Most  of 
the  families  who  could  trace  their  ancestry  far  into 
the  past,  traced  it  to  some  branch  of  the  half-historic, 
half-mythological  family  tree  of  the  Irish,  the  clan 
of  Miledh,  the  descendant  of  Gaedhel  Glas.  Temhair, 
now  called  Tara,  was  for  them  the  greatest  seat  of 
royal  splendour,  where  King  Cormac  mac  Airt  had 
ruled,  surrounded  by  the  most  redoubted  champions, 
and  with  vast  herds  of  cattle  grazing  on  fertile 
plains  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach.  The  prose  and 
the  verse  of  the  Dinnshenchus  and  the  Agallamh 

*  And  no  doubt  in  Wales,  as  shown  in  2'he  Physicians  of 
Myddvai,  translated  by  John  Pughe,  F.K.C.S.,  and  edited  by 
the  Rev.  John  Williams  ap  Ithel.  Welsh  MSS.  Society, 
Llandovery,  1861. 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE     149 

na  Sen6rach,  which,  under  the  guise  of  a  narrative 
of  fact,  clothed  so  many  mountains,  plains,  rivers 
and  lakes  with  romance,  were  known  to  them,  and 
they  had  heard  the  solemn  but  often  obscure  and 
involved  verses  of  the  Amhra  in  which  Dalian 
Forgaill  had  celebrated  Columba.  The  kings  of 
Scotland,  though  they  came  to  be  by  descent,  resi- 
dence, and  language  associated  with  the  southern 
part  of  their  subjects,  yet  Hked  to  preserve  the 
tradition  of  connexion  with  the  remote  generations 
of  the  race  of  Gaedhel  Glas.  At  the  Scottish 
coronation  of  Charles  I  it  is  said,  but  on  what 
authority  I  do  not  know  ^,  that  some  part  of  the 
ancient  Gaelic  phrases  of  installation  were  used  for 
the  last  time. 

When  James  I  came  to  England  he  brought  with 
him  a  physician  who  seems  likely  to  have  belonged 
to  a  famous  clan  of  hereditary  physicians  in  the 
Highlands,  Dr.  David  Betthun.  On  August  20, 
1624:,  May  erne  ^  drew  up  a  long  paper  on  the  use  of 
remedies  for  the  treatment  of  King  James  and  of 
Charles,  then  Prince  of  Wales,  and  this  is  addressed 
by  him  as  Eegis  Medicus  Primarius  to  the  other  five 
royal  physicians.  Dr.  Henry  Atkins,  Dr.  J.  Chambers, 
Dr.  Jo.  Craig,  Dr.  Matthew  Lister,  and  Dr.  David 
Betthun.  Dr.  Betthun  had  taken  a  degree  at  Padua. 
The    transition    from    acquiring    knowledge   as   a 

*  Related  to  me  as  a  Highland  tradition  by  Field-Marshal 
Sir  Patrick  Grant,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  the  language 
and  whose  memory  was  full  of  old  stories  and  verses. 

2  Opera,  p.  288. 


150  LECTURE   IV 

member  of  a  family  in  which  some  branch  of 
learning  was  hereditary  to  its  acquirement  in  a 
college  or  university  is  to  be  observed  here  and 
there.  Thus  Tadhg  an  tsleibhe,  one  of  the  here- 
ditary historians  of  Tirconnell,  having  become 
a  Franciscan  of  the  convent  of  Donegal,  collected 
the  Irish  Chronicles  as  a  regular  historian  with 
other  hereditary  historians  into  the  great  book  com- 
monly known  as  the  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters, 
and  Cormac  MacDuinntsleibhe,  of  the  hereditary 
physicians  of  Kilmacrenan,  at  the  end  of  the  fif- 
teenth century  had  taken  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Physic,^  probably  in  some  French  University. 
David  Betthun,  if  my  surmise  about  him  be  correct, 
in  addition  to  the  medicine  which  he  inherited 
from  the  Isles,  where  his  family  were  hereditary 
physicians,  had  graduated  at  Padua.  David  became 
a  Fellow  of  our  College,  and  may  be  regarded  as 
the  sole  connecting  link  between  the  mediaeval 
hereditary  physicians  of  Eire  and  Alba  and  the 
medicine  of  the  Eenaissance. 

A  manuscript  now  in  the  British  Museum  ^  be- 
longed in  the  sixteenth  century  to  John  MacBetha,  or 

^  Arundel  333,  in  British  Museum,  f.  113  b:  'Tairnic  an 
sin  suim  ocus  trachtad  ball  nainminntedh  o  ysac  in  dietis  par- 
ticularibus  ocus  cormac  mac  duinnleibe  basiller  a  fisigecht  do 
cuir  a  ngaigdeilg  ocus  do  scrib  do  deinis  o  eachoidhern  annsa 
cairtsi  h^.*  'Here  is  an  end  of  Summary  and  treatise  on  the 
organs  of  animals  from  Isaac,  "In  dietis  particularibus.*'  Cormac 
Mac  Donlevy,  Bachelor  of  Physic,  put  it  into  Irish  and  wrote 
it  for  Denis  O'Eachodern  in  this  document.' 
2  Additional  MS.,  15582. 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE    151 

Beton,  one  of  this  race  of  physicians.  It  was  written 
for  him  by  two  Irish  scribes,  Daibhi  O'Cearnaigh  and 
Cairbre.  A  note  (folio  29  b)  shows  that  its  pro- 
duction was  not  unattended  by  difficulties :  ^  There 
it  is  from  me  to  thee  oh  !  John  and  as  I  think  indeed 
it  is  not  too  good,  and  no  wonder  that,  for  I  am  ever 
on  the  move,  flying  before  certain  English  up  and 
down  Niall's  wood  and  in  that  very  wood  I  have 
written  a  part  of  it  and  prepared  the  skin.  I  am 
Cairbre.'  The  colophon  gives  the  date.  *  There  is 
the  end  of  this  book  for  thee  John  Beton  (MacBetha) 
by  David  O'Cernaigh  and  the  three  virtues  and 
graces  go  with  it  to  thee.  And  the  age  of  the  Lord 
when  this  book  was  written  was  one  thousand  five 
hundred  three  score  and  three  years.'  Some  other 
pages  of  the  manuscript  are  in  the  hand  of  a  James 
Beton,  and  there  are  five  memoranda  in  his  hand  on 
folio  61.  In  one  written  at  Sleat  in  Scotland,  in 
1588,  he  gives  his  genealogy  for  ten  generations. 
Another  ends :  *  That  is  enough  for  this  day,  Satur- 
day; seeing  that  the  woman  of  this  house  is  very 
ill,  the  daughter  of  MacDubhgall,  son  of  Eanald. 
I  am  James  Beton  and  great  is  my  sadness  to-day 
for  as  Galen  says  Medicus  et  imitator  naturae  the 
physician  is  but  the  imitator  of  Nature.'  The 
manuscript  begins  with  a  piece  from  John  of  Gad- 
desden,  and  also  contains  a  fragment  of  a  mediaeval 
composition:  Hippocratis  Capstda  ehurnea,  and  of 
excerpta  from  Gaddesden,  Bernard  de  Gordon,  and 
Platearius  of  Salernum.  The  names  of  Gerardus 
Cremonensis,  Avicenna,  Serapion,  Kogerius  of  Parma, 


152  LECTURE   IV 

Arnaldus,  and  Bruno  occur  in  some  other  passages. 
There  are  also  a  section  on  Materia  Medica,  and  one 
from  Galen  on  the  Humours,  an  abstract  of  the 
Liber  urinarum  Theophili  and  numerous  shorter 
paragraphs.  I  published  in  1874,  in  the  St.  Bar- 
tholomew's Hospital  Reports,  an  account  of  this  and 
of  the  other  eight  manuscripts  on  medicine  in  the 
Irish  language  in  the  British  Museum,  and  a  much 
fuller  and  more  learned  analysis  of  all  their  contents 
has  since  been  printed  by  Mr.  Standish  Hayes 
O'Grady  in  his  Catalogue  of  the  Irish  MSS.  in  the 
British  Museum,  a  work  of  extraordinary  learning 
which  reflects  the  greatest  credit  not  only  on  its 
writer  but  also  upon  the  authorities  of  the  Museum, 
who  have  seen  that  in  so  recondite  a  subject  a  de- 
scription of  the  manuscripts  with  copious  extracts 
from  them  would  be  the  most  useful  form  of 
catalogue.  The  physicians  who  studied  books  on 
medicine  in  the  Irish  language,  whether  in  Ireland 
or  Scotland,  all  belonged  to  the  same  school  of 
medicine  as  the  doctor  of  physic  in  Chaucer. 
I  am  glad  for  the  sake  of  the  continuity  of  history 
that  one  of  the  race  became  a  Fellow  of  this  College. 
On  the  eastern  and  southern  and  the  extreme 
northern  bounds  of  this  Celtic  nation  of  Scotland, 
Teutonic  and  Scandinavian  lords  and  their  followers 
steadily  encroached.  They  became  the  dominant 
part  of  the  State,  and  their  Teutonic  language  de- 
veloped a  fine  literature  of  its  own.  Their  natural 
foes,  from  the  geographical  situation  of  their  country, 
were  their  kinsmen  the  English,  and  they  lived  in  a 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE     153 

relation  of  social  hostility  and  of  varying  degrees  of 
political  alliance  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  moun- 
tains and  of  the  Western  Isles.  They  looked  for 
friends  to  France  and  to  the  Low  Countries.  Many 
circumstances  tended  to  prolong  this  friendship 
after  the  conditions  of  its  origin  no  longer  existed. 
The  medicine  which  made  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh famous  throughout  the  world  was  derived 
from  Holland,  and  from  Edinburgh  spread  its  in- 
fluence not  only  in  Scotland  and  Ireland  but  also 
in  England,  where  clinical  studies  were  already 
habitual  among  physicians. 

The  systematic  teaching  of  medicine  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh  began  at  the  end  of  the  first 
quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  was  largely 
due  to  the  example  and  exertions  of  Alexander 
Monro,  the  father  of  the  anatomist  after  whom  the 
cerebral  foramen  is  named.  He  studied  under 
Boerhaave  at  Leyden  in  1718,  and  lectured  on 
general  anatomy  and  physiology,  comparative  ana- 
tomy and  surgical  operations,  in  one  comprehensive 
course  lasting  from  October  to  May  for  thirty-nine 
years  from  1725.  He  edited,  in  1732,  the  first 
volume  of  the  Medical  Essays  and  Observations  pub- 
lished  by  a  Society  in  Edinburgh  These  essays  were 
many  of  them  dissertations  on  some  particular  sub- 
ject, yet  among  them  are  sufiicient  clinical  observa- 
tions to  show  that  the  publication  had  the  effect  of 
encouraging  clinical  observations  in  Scotland  and 
elsewhere.  Dr.  John  Kutherford,  another  pupil  of 
Boerhaave,  who  had  also  received  instruction  from 


154  LECTURE   IV 

Dr.  James  Douglas  in  London,  gave  in  1748  the 
first  clinical  lectures  in  Edinburgh.  Eutherford's 
lectures,  of  which  there  is  a  manuscript  volume  in 
the  library  of  the  Eoyal  Medical  and  Chirurgical 
Society,  are  good  clinical  descriptions  of  patients 
with  comments  upon  their  symptoms  and  the  treat- 
ment. Similar  lectures  were  given  by  his  successors, 
John  Gregory  in  1768  and  WiUiam  Cullen  in  1769, 
but  neither  of  these  shows  the  same  power  of  direct- 
ing the  attention  of  the  student  to  what  is  to  be 
seen  in  the  patient.  Robert  Whytt  gave  clinical 
lectures  at  the  Edinburgh  Eoyal  Infirmary  in  1760, 
and  his  Observations  on  the  Nature,  Causes,  and  Cure 
of  those  Disorders  which  are  commonly  called  Nervous, 
Hypochondriac,  or  Hysteric,  which  appeared  in  1764, 
contains  many  notes  of  the  symptoms  and  daily 
progress  of  cases  of  nervous  disease.  He  also  had 
studied  under  Boerhaave. 

The  influence  of  Boerhaave  on  medical  studies  of 
all  kinds  at  Edinburgh  may  be  further  understood 
from  the  fact  that  when  Dr.  John  Fothergill,  who 
took  his  M.D.  degree  in  1736,  studied  there,  his  five 
teachers — Monro,  Alston,  Eutherford,  Sinclair,  and 
Plummer — had  all  been  pupils  of  that  illustrious 
Dutchman.  The  aphorisms  of  Boerhaave  were  first 
published  in  1708  at  Leyden.  Their  point,  clearness, 
and  comprehensiveness  show  upon  how  much  clinical 
observation  they  were  based.  Men  naturally  flocked 
to  Leyden  to  receive  instruction  from  a  teacher  who 
knew  so  much  and  who  could  impart  his  knowledge 
in  a  style  so  easy  to  comprehend.     No  one  who 


STUDY   OF   CLINICAL   MEDICINE    155 

went  was  disappointed.  The  aphorisms  were  even 
translated  into  Arabic,  and  from  Constantinople  to 
Dublin  pupils  of  Boerhaave  were  to  be  found.  The 
learned  and  instructive  commentaries  of  Van 
Swieten  prolonged  the  study  of  Boerhaave  so 
that  his  influence  as  a  teacher  of  medicine  lasted  for 
nearly  a  century.  The  clinical  and  the  systematic 
medicine  of  Scotland  were  altogether  derived  from 
Boerhaave.  Eutherford,  Gregory,  and  CuUen  spread 
his  fame  with  their  own  wherever  the  doctors  they 
had  taught  went  to  dwell.  Many  were  carried  to 
Ireland,  among  them  a  pupil  of  Alexander  Monro, 
Dr.  George  Cleghorn,  whose  Observations  on  the 
Endemial  Diseases  of  Minorca  from  the  year  1744-49, 
shows  a  high  degree  of  clinical  observation.  He 
lived  in  Minorca,  then  a  British  possession,  from 
1736  to  1749.  He  had  noted  the  meteorology  and 
collected  the  plants  and  animals  of  the  island,  and 
had  made  systematic  notes  on  the  diseases  of  the 
natives  and  of  the  troops  both  as  to  symptoms  and 
post-mortem  appearances.  He  gives  a  clear  account 
of  cases  of  continued  fever,  of  pneumonia,  and  of 
dysentery  in  men  who  already  had  tertian  ague,  and 
some  of  these  seem  certainly  to  have  been  examples 
of  enteric  fever,  others  perhaps  of  Mediterranean 
fever.  The  book  was  widely  read,  for  four  editions 
appeared  in  his  lifetime.  He  went  to  Dublin  in  1751, 
and  there  remained  for  the  rest  of  his  Hfe  practising 
medicine  and  lecturing  on  general  anatomy,  of  which 
he  became  professor  in  the  university.  He  died  in 
1789. 


156  LECTURE   IV 

Cleghorn,  when  a  student  at  Edinburgh,  formed 
a  friendship  with  John  Fothergill  which  lasted 
throughout  his  life.  Both  had  a  taste  for  botany 
and  both  cared  for  clinical  medicine.  Fothergill, 
who  took  his  M.D.  degree  at  Edinburgh  in  1736,  is 
perhaps  an  example  of  the  spread  of  the  influence 
of  Boerhaave  to  England.  In  1748  Fothergill 
published  An  Account  of  the  Sore-throat  attended  with 
Ulcers,  The  book  contains  some  clinical  observations. 
He  shows  that  the  cases  of  malignant  sore-throat 
which  he  had  seen  were  quite  distinct  from  quinsy, 
but  does  not  follow  out  the  cases  sufficiently  in  detail 
to  establish  their  identity  if  they  were  all  of  the  same 
kind,  or,  if  they  were  not,  their  differences.  Some  of 
the  cases  seem  to  have  been  examples  of  diphtheria, 
and  others  of  a  form  of  scarlet  fever.  The  work 
is  good  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  the  investigation  is 
imperfect. 

Dr.  John  Huxham  is  another  example  of  the 
influence  of  Boerhaave  in  England  on  the  study  of 
clinical  medicine.  Huxham  studied  under  the 
master  at  Leyden  in  1715.  His  Essay  on  Fevers, 
which  appeared  in  1755,  contains  many  original 
observations.  His  treatise.  On  the  Malignant  Ulcerous 
Sore-throat,  famous  as  it  is,  is  not,  in  my  opinion,  so 
good  an  example  of  clinical  observation  as  the  work 
of  Fothergill.  It  has  the  same  fault  of  failing  to 
distinguish  between  cases  which  we  should  call 
diphtheria  and  others  which  were  probably  scarlatina 
anginosa,  but  Huxham  excels  Fothergill  in  that  he 
seems  to  have  noticed  that  paralysis  of  the  soft 


STUDY  OF   CLINICAL  MEDICINE     157 

palate  followed  some  cases  of  malignant  ulcerous 
sore-throat. 

These  pupils  or  members  of  the  school  of 
Boerhaave  seem  to  be  more  on  the  look-out  for 
something  startling  or  suitable  for  clinical  demon- 
stration than  were  the  followers  of  GHsson  and  of 
Sydenham,  who  were  content  to  make  no  selection, 
but  to  observe  every  circumstance  of  an  illness  and 
by  observing  everything  in  many  cases  hoped  to 
arrive  at  useful  conclusions  of  general  application. 
Yet  the  effect  of  the  teaching  of  Boerhaave  and  of 
that  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  which  was 
derived  from  him,  was  to  increase  the  enthusiasm 
for  clinical  observations.  The  study  of  clinical 
medicine  among  English  physicians  originated  in 
the  learning  of  the  Eenaissance,  while  the  origin  of 
clinical  study  in  Scotland  is  to  be  found  in  the 
teaching  of  Boerhaave.  Such  has  been  the  history 
of  the  study  of  clinical  medicine  in  the  British  Isles. 
Methods  of  clinical  observation  have  been  improved 
and  elaborated  since  it  has  been  fully  established. 
Amidst  the  pursuit  of  the  extensive  sciences  related 
to  medicine  it  is  for  us,  the  physicians  of  to-day,  to 
see  that  the  precise  observation  of  disease  at  the 
bedside  is  never  displaced  in  teaching  or  in  practice 
by  other  studies. 


APPENDIX 

I.    CHAETEES  WITNESSED  BY  GEIMBALD 

I.  Witnesses  of  Henry  I's  grant  of  ten  hides  of 
land  at  Lifesholt  to  Abingdon  Abbey. 

Testibus  :  Eannulfo  cancellario  et  Grimaldo 
medico  et  lurardo  archidiacono  et  Watero  archi- 
diacono :  et  Willelmo  de  Albini  et  Eogero  filio  Eicardi 
et  Nigello  de  Oilli  et  Eadulfo  basset  et  Goiffredo  filio 
pagani :  Apud  Wodestocam.  Descripta  est  autem 
huius  concessionis  carta  Anno  ab  incarnatione 
dominica  M.  C.  XV. 

Cartulary  of  the  Abbey  of  Abingdon 
(Claudius  C.  ix  British  Museum, 
f.  147  b). 

II.  Henricus  rex  Anglorum  Eicardo  episcopo  Lund, 
et  Hugoni  de  Bochelanda  et  baronibus  suis  omnibus 
et  fidelibus  Londonie  et  Middelsexe  salutem.  Sciatis 
me  concessisse  ecclesie  sancte  Marie  de  Abbendona 
et  Faritio  abbati  perpetuo  habenda  hospitia  sua  de 
Lundonia  in  Westmenstrestret  cum  omnibus  rebus 
pertinentibus  ad  hospicia  omnino  ab  omnibus  quieta 
sicut  melius  unquam  ilia  ecclesia  et  quietus  habuit 
tempore  patris  et  fratris  mei.  Testibus :  Grimaldo 
medico  et  Nigello  de  Albini  apud  Windesor. 

Id.  f.  150  a. 

III.  Henricus  rex  Anglorum  Eicardo  episcopo 
Londoniensi  et  Hugoni  de  Bochelanda  et  omnibus 
baronibus  suis  francis  et  anglis  de  Londonia  et  de 
Midelsessa  Salutem.  Sciatis  me  dedisse  sancte 
Marie  de  Abendonia  et  Faritio  abbati  unam  mansam 
terre  que  fuit  Aldewini  in  Suthstreta  iuxta  hospicium 


GRIMBALD   IN   CHARTERS        159 

Abbatis  paci.  Et  uolo  et  precipio  ut  bene  et  quiete 
et  honorifice  teneat  illam  terram  sicut  quietus  tenet 
ibi  aliam  terram  suam.  Testibus  :  Rogero  episcopo 
Salesburie  et  Giliberto  de  Aquila  et  Otuero  filio 
Comitis  et  Grimbaldo  medico  et  Waltero  de  Bello- 
campo  apud  Westmonastermm. 

Id.  f.  150  a. 

IV.  Henricus  rex  Anglorum  Willelmo  vicecomiti 
de  Oxenefordscira  Salutem.  Precipio  tibi  ut  ilia  hida 
quam  Droco  et  Andelei  dedit  sancte  Marie  de 
Abbendona  ita  sit  quieta  de  hoc  geldo  et  de  omnibus 
consuetudinibus  sicut  melius  fuit  quieta  in  tempore 
patris  mei  et  fratris  mei  et  nichil  aliud  aduersum 
earn  requiras.  Testibus  Waldrico  cancellario  et 
Grimaldo  medico.     Apud  Romesi. 

Id.  f.  149  a. 

V.  Mathildis  regina  anglorum  Hugoni  de  boche- 
landa  et  omnibus  fidelibus  suis  de  berchescira 
francis  et  anglis  salutem.  Sciatis  me  dedisse  Faritio 
abbati  Abendonie  domos  et  omnia  edificia  de 
insula  sancte  Mariae  ad  reficiendum  monasterium 
ipsius  sancte  Marie  et  ipsam  insulam  predicto 
monasterio  in  perpetuum  redidisse.  Et  hoc  totum 
dominus  mens  rex  Henricus  michi  predictoque 
abbati  meipsa  interveniente  concessit.  Testibus 
Rogero  cancellario  et  Grimaldo  medico. 

Id.  f.  145  b. 

VI.  Henricus  rex  Anglorum  omnibus  constabulis 
et  omnibus  fidelibus  suis  de  curia  salutem. 
Prohibeo  ne  aliquis  hospitetur  in  villa  Abbendune 
nisi  licentia  abbatis.  Teste  Grimaldo  medico  apud 
Oxeneford. 

Id.  f.  151a. 

VII.  Henricus  rex  Anglorum  Hugone  de  Boche- 
landa  et  Godrico  et  Baronibus  de  'Berchscire : 
francis  et  anglis  salutem.  Volo  et  precipio  ut 
ecclesia  sancte  Marie  de  Abbendona  habeat  et  teneat 


160        APPENDIX   II:     CHARTER 

terrain  suam  de  Winicfelda  cum  omnibus  sibi  per- 
tinentibus  ita  bene  et  honorifice  et  in  firma  pace 
sicut  melius  eam  tenuit  tempore  patris  et  fratris  mei. 
Et  precipio  ut  calumpnia  quam  Godricus  prepositus 
de  Windresores  super  eam  terram  facit  de  baia 
omnino  et  perpetualiter  remaneat.  Testibus  :  Rogero 
bigot  et  Grimaldo  medico  apud  l^orhsimtoniam. 

Id.  f.  152  a. 

VIII.  Henricus  rex  Anglorum  Nigello  de  Oillei  et 
omnibus  venatoribus  et  mariscalcis  suis  in  curia 
salutem.  Prohibeo  ne  aliquis  uestrum  hospitet  in 
Wateleia  terra  sancte  Marie  de  Abbendona  quia 
clamo  eam  quietam  de  hostagio  pro  anima  patris 
mei  et  matris  mee.  Testibus  Grimaldo  medico  et 
Areta  falesia  apud  Corneberiam. 

Id.  f.  151  a. 


II.    CHARTER  WITNESSED  BY  JOHN  OF 
LONDON  THE  PHYSICIAN 

ClKOGKAPHUM  | 

Sciant  Presentes  et  futuri  quod  Ego  Gilehertus 
Prior  ecclesie  sancte  Marie  de  butteleia  et  conuentus  \ 
eiusdem  loci  concessimus  hospitali  sancti  Bartholomei 
hindoniarum  et  fra^ribus  eiw^dem  hospitalis  totum 
tenementum  |  de  feodo  Radulfi  de  Ardena  quod 
tenuit  Jeremias  de  eccksia  sancte  Marie  de  butteleia 
in  uico  I  sancti  Nicholai  Apud  nouum  macellum 
tenenduw^  de  nobis  iure  perpetuo.  Reddendo  nobis 
annu|atim  Pro  omm  seruicio  .  x  .  solidos  Ad  duos 
terminos.  scilicet  ad  festum  sancti  Michaelis  v.  | 
solidos  et  Ad  Pascha  v  solidos,  Vt  Autew  conuencio 
ista  perpetuet.  sigilli  nostri  Auctoritate  et  \  sigilli 
liospitaKs  sancti  Bartho/omei  testimonio  roboratwr. 
His  testibus.  Huberto  Waltero  decano  |  eboracensi. 
Oseberto    de    Glamvilk.      Jurdano    de    scheltuna. 


WITNESSED  BY  JOHN  OF  LONDON  161 

Magistro  Koberto  subem.  Eojgero  Waltero.  Henrico 
de  ^egga  Nicholao  Pincerna.  Walram  Janitore 
turris  lon|doniarwm.  Henrico  de  GornhuYLa.  'Rsidulfo 
fratre  eius,  Bicardo  filio  Reineri.  Henrico  de  lun- 
dene|stona.  Eogero  le  due.  Rogero  filio  Alani. 
Galfrido  Albo.  Andrea  Albo.  Petrofilio  |  Nevelowis. 
Roberto  de  edelmetuna,  Johanne  Medico  hindoniarum. 

The  Priory  of  Buttley  was  founded  by  Ranulf  de 
Glanvilla  in  1171,  and  his  sister  was  mother  of 
Herbert  Walter  who  was  made  Dean  of  York  in 
1186  and  consecrated  Bishop  of  Salisbury  in  1189. 
His  successor  as  Dean  of  York  was  appointed 
September  6,  1189.  Henry  of  Cornhill  and  Richard, 
son  of  Reiner,  were  sheriffs  (vicecomites)  in  1189. 
Henry  of  Cornhill  was  the  supporter  of  Longchamp, 
Bishop  of  Ely,  in  the  political  struggle  of  October, 
1191,  when  John  (Comes  Moretoniae)  came  to  London 
with  William  of  Coutances,  Archbishop  of  Rouen. 

John  at  that  time  stayed  in  the  house  of  Richard, 
son  of  Reiner,  who  died  later  in  1191.  It  is  probable 
that  Reiner,  son  of  Berenger,  who  was  sheriff  in  1156, 
was  father  of  this  Richard. 

Henry  of  Londonstone  was  so  called  because  his 
house  stood  where  the  Salters  Hall  now  is,  not  far 
from  the  ancient  monolith  called  Londonstone,  now 
fixed  into  the  wall  of  the  church  opposite  the  front 
of  Cannon  Street  Station. 

He  was  the  first  mayor  of  London  and  between 
1193  and  1212  appears  in  charters  as  Henricus  filius 
Ailwini  maior  Londoniarum. 

Peter,  son  of  Nevelon,  was  sheriff  in  1191. 

Roger  le  due  was  sheriff  in  1189  and  again  with 
Roger,  son  of  Alan,  in  1192. 

Roger,  son  of  Alan, became  (in  the  Exchequer  year 
1213)  the  second  mayor  of  London. 

Galfridus  Albus  is  probably  the  Galfridus  Blund 
(Geoffrey  the  fair)  who  often  appears  in  London 
charters  of  the  reigns  of  Richard  I  and  John,  and 


162  APPENDIX   III 

Andreas  Albus  is  Andrew  Blund,  also  a  frequent 
witness  of  that  period. 

The  street  of  St.  Nicholas  apud  novum  macellum 
(St.  Nicholas  Fleshshambles)  was  in  the  city  of  Lon- 
don in  the  region  between  Newgate  and  St.  Martins 
le  Grand.  Jeremias  had  a  daughter  Cristina,  who 
married  Galfridus  Aspoinz,  and  they  had  two  sons, 
Joseph  and  William,  and  Joseph  retained  a  yearly 
rent  of  a  pound  of  cumin  in  this  land. 

III.     MAYERNE'S  NOTE  ON  THE  HEALTH 
OF  JAMES  I 

British  Museum,  Sloane  MS.  1679,  f.  42. 

Scriptum  B.  B.  Medicis  Begijs  ordinarijs  de  Sanitate 
E,  M,  tuenda,  et  praesentihus  morbis  curandis  delihera- 
turis  datum,  a  me  Bemayerne  Begis  Medico  primario  die 
Becemhris  1623. 

Iacobvs  I.  Magnae  Britan.  Rex  Natus  est  Edim- 
burgi.     Anno  1566.  19  Junij.  hora  matutina  XI^. 

Nunc  agit  annum  aetatis  Quinquagesimum  septi- 
mum  cum  Mensibus     Diebus. 

Nutricem  Vnam  habuit,  Ebriosam.  Ablactatus 
intra  annum. 

Cerebrum  habet  firmissimum  quod  a  mari,  a  vini 
potu,  a  vectione  in  Rheda,  nunquam  fuit  per- 
turbatum. 

Afficitur  facile  a  frigore  et  crudorem  patitur,  frigida 
et  humida  tempestate. 

Thorax  ipsi  Latus  est  optime  conformatus,  et  quae 
in  eo  continentur  vitales  partes  validum  et  vegetum 
calorem  habent,  nee  vnquam  laborant  nisi  ex 
accidenti  propter  aliarum  o-vixiraOeidv.  Inde  fit  vt 
pulmo  frequenter  fluxione  tentetur ;  cujus  materiam 
ope  Cordis  calidissimi  citissime  percoquit. 

Hepar  naturaliter  bonum,  magnum,  sanguinis 
multi,   Laudabilis    ferax ;    Calidum ;    ex  accidenti 


THE   HEALTH   OF  JAMES   I         163 

obstructionibus  obnoxium,  et  ad  plurimam  bilem 
generandam  pronum. 

Lien  nunc  facile  congerit  succum  Melancholicum, 
cujus  praesentiam  vt  varia  arguunt  symptomata ;  sic 
ejus  importuna  sarcina  bonis  E.  M^^  rebus  per  vias 
conuenientes  subinde  a  natura  deponitur. 

Nullus  in  his  duobus  visceribus  tumor,  nulla 
coUectio  quam  durities  prodat ;  sed  vtrumque  hypo- 
chondrium  molle,  nunquam  nisi  flatu  distenditur. 

Ventriculus  vt  ad  Vberioris  alimenti  onus  subeun- 
dum  continuo  paratus  sit,  sic  ad  noxium  aut  graue 
vtrinque  (magis  tamen  per  inferiora)  reijciendum 
promptus  est.  Bene  appetit  naturaliter,  justam 
portionem  debite  concoquit.  Sitit  frequentissime. 
flatu  importuno  qui  vel  cruditatis,  vel  fermentationis 
soboles  est  continuo  quasi  turget. 

Intestina  lubrica  sunt,  et  mollis  semper  ac  fluida 
fuit  aluus. 

Mesenterium  in  vasorum  suorum  Maeandris  ob- 
structionibus, et  biliosae  vtique  ac  pituitosae  saburrae 
coaceruandae  quam  maxime  deditum. 

Eenes  calidi,  ad  arenas  et  calculos  generandos 
dispositi. 

Tibiae  a  natura  graciles,  minusque  firmae  ad 
molem  corporis  sustinendam. 

Habitus  rarus  et  texturae  peruiae,  facile  calet 
calore  sicco.  Cutis  tenuis  et  delicata  admodum  quae 
prurit  facillime. 

Fauces  angustae  difficultatem  faciunt  in  deglu- 
tiendo,  quod  vitium  E.  M^  haereditarium  est  k 
matre,  et  Auo  Jacobo  quinto  Scotiae  Eegibus. 

Facultates  Animales  et  Vitales  inculpatae  Na- 
turales  quae  sunt  sub  Altrice  satis  firmae,  ex  accidenti 
tantum  fere  ob  repletionem  interturbantur. 

Functiones  omnes  naturaliter  bonae,  pro  re  nata, 
manifestissime  autem  et  plurimum  ab  animi  pertur- 
bationibus  peruertuntur. 

Exuberant  preter  naturam  In  hepate  et  venoso 

m2 


164 


APPENDIX   III 


A6r. 


Cibus. 


Potus. 


vmum 
muscatel- 
linum  tur- 
bidum  vn- 
de  diarrhoea 


Motus 

et 
quies. 

Somnus 

et 
Vigilia. 

Animi 
pathemata. 


genere  flaua  bills,  et  (quod  graulssimorum  morbonim 
varlls  sul  partibus  vberiima  atque  potentlsslma  causa 
est)  serum.  In  Ventrlculo  et  Cerebro  Pltuita.  humor 
melanchollcus  In  Llene. 

Quoad  res  non  naturales. 

E.  M.  Omnem  facile  et  satis  impune  fert  aeris 
intemperiem  in  actiuis  qualitatibus.  Austro  flante 
et  humidiori  tempestate,  hyemali  praesertim,  afficitur, 
et  conflictatur  Catarrho. 

In  Cibis  non  admodum  peccat,  nisi  quod  nihil 
comedit  panis ;  Assatis  carnibus  fere  vescitur,  Elixatis 
aut  raro,  aut  nunquam,  nisi  bubula. 

Dentibus  carens  (qui  excidere  a  Catarrho)  non 
masticat  cibos  sed  deglutit. 

Fructus  o)paLovs  quauis  hora  diej  et  noctis  edit, 
satis  parce  tamen  quauis  vice,  sed  sine  ordine. 

In  Potu  peccat  quoad  QuaHtatem,  Quantitatem, 
frequentiam,  tempus,  Ordinem. 

Promiscue  bibit  Cereuisiam,  Alam,  Vinum  His- 
panicum,  Gallicum  dulce,  album  (qui  ipsi  ordinarius 
potus  est)  vt  plurimum  crassum  et  turbidum. 

Aliquando,  praesertim  fluente  aluo,  Alicanticum 
tinctum. 

Attamen  non  curat  sit  vinum  generosum  dummodo 
dulce.  Summa  ipsj  cum  Aqua  et  omnibus  aquatili- 
bus  antipatheia. 

Violentissimis  olim  Venationis  exercitijs  deditus 
Kex  nunc  est  quietior,  et  plus  quam  par  esset  jacet 
aut  sedet ;  sed  id  ab  imbecillitate  tibiarum  arthriti- 
carum. 

Male  naturaliter  dormit,  et  inquiete :  Saepissime 
expergiscitur  noctu,  vocatque  cubicularios,  neque 
nisi  legente  Anagnoste  obrepit  somnus  vt  plurimum. 

Animus  facile  mouetur  cum  impetu ;  Iracundis- 
simus  est,  sed  cito  euanescit  pathema.  Nunc  ex 
accidenti  Melanchollcus  Liene  in  sinistro  hypochon- 
drio  turbas  excitante. 


[ 


THE   HEALTH   OF  JAMES  I        165 

Multiim    mungit.     Sternutat    saepissime.      Non  Excreta 
spuit  multum,  nisi  k  catarrho.  et 

Ventriculus  facile  nauseat,  si  contineat  cruditates  ^®*®^*^* 
vel  bilem.     Vomit  tamen  cum  magno  conatu,  ita  vt 
post  vomitum  tota  facies  maculis  rubris  per  diem 
vnum  et  alterum  variegata  appareat. 

Flatus  multi  vtrinque  prorumpunt.  Nidorosi  k 
ventriculo  praesagiunt  morbum. 

Aluus  est  admodum  Lubrica,  et  pro  ratione  inge- 
storum  excrementa  variant,  quae  vt  plurimum  mollia, 
biliosa,  et  admodum  foetida  egeruntur. 

Si  ab  ingestis  natura  grauata  fuerit,  paul6  post 
sese  per  intestina  salutariter  exonerat. 

Vrinae  fluunt  Laudabiles  vt  plurimilm  in  sub- 
stantia, Colore,  contentis  ;  Copiosae  satis.  Tartareae, 
et  sabulosae  post  sedimenti  longam  depositionem. 
Intenduntur  ab  exercitio,  a  bilis  per  familiarem 
Icterum  permistione. 

Nonnunquam  friabiles  calculi,  vel  potius  com- 
pactae  arenulae  excernuntur. 

Sudat  facile  ob  cutis  tenuitatem,  noctu  praesertim 
post  exercitium,  post  Largiores  epulas.  Sudoris 
impatiens,  vt  omniiim. 

Ab  anno  1619  post  grauem  morbum.  In  quo 
fuerunt  affixae  ano  hirudines,  fluunt  copiose  singulis 
fere  diebus  haemorrhoides,  cum  maxima  euc^opta. 
Si  sistantur  (id  quod  imminente  morbo  aliquando 
contingit)  euadit.  Eex  valde  iracundus,  Melancho- 
licus,  Ictericus,  calet  impensiiis,  deijcitur  appetitus. 
Eeduce  fluxu  omnia  in  melius  mutantur. 

Morbi  praegressi  et  praesens  ad  varias  dis- 
positiones  morbosas  aptitude. 

Bex  ad  sextum  vsque  aetatis  annum  non  poterat  NB 
incedere,  sed  gestabatur,  adeo  debilis  fuit  h,  mali 
lactis  temulentae  nutricis  suctu. 

Inter  secundum  et  quintum  Variolae,  Morbilli. 


166 


APPENDIX   III 


Quinto  per  horas  24  substitit  vrina,  nihil  tamen 
aut  arenosi  aut  pituitosi  ejectum. 
Colic.  Saepissime   Laborauit   dolore  Colico  k   flatu  (qui 

affectus  etiam  fuit  matri  familiaris)  hie  ad  24:^^^ 
vsque  aetatis  annum  grauior,  deinceps  mitior  semper 
euasit.  Causae  istius  doloris  eaedem  fuerunt  semper, 
lejunium,  Moeror,  frigus  nocturnum.  A  contrariis 
leuamen. 
Cholera.  Frequenter,  et  fere  quotannis  juuenis  corripiebatur 

Cholera  morbo,  cum  rigore,  Vomitum  et  fluxum 
biliosum  praecedente. 
Diarrhoea.  DiarrJieae  per  totam  vitam  obnoxius,  Vere,  et 
Autumno,  potissimum  autem  circa  finem  Augusti  vel 
initio  Septembris  post  esum  fructuum.  Aliquando 
cum  febricula,  saepius  sine  febre. 

Praeludia  hujus  diarrh§iea  fere  Moeror  animi, 
suspiria,  suspicio  omnium,  caeterdque  Melancholica 
symptomata.  Anno  1610  sub  finem  Parlamenti 
solutis  supremorum  Eegni  ordinum  comitiis  post 
summum  moerorem,  Dominus  defunctus  longissima 
variorum  symptomat^m  serie,  non  sine  vitae  peri- 
culo  per  octiduum  profusissima  Diarrha§a  Laborauit, 
per  quam  excreta  aquosa,  biliosa  foetidissima,  tandem 
atra.  Cardialgia,  palpitatio,  Suspiria,  moestitia,  etc. 
Vomitus  bis  ter-ue  quotidie  recurrens.  Per  se  sine 
effatu  dignis  remedijs  Kex  conualuit. 

1612.  4  Decemb.  post  mortem  filii  Melancho- 
licus  paroxysmus,  cum  omnibus  symptomatis 
successit  Diarrhoea :  soluta  omnia  intra  paucos 
dies. 

1619.  Post  Keginae  mortem  praeuiis  doloribus 
Arthriticis  et  Nephritidis  cum  crassiorum  arenarum 
iterata  exclusioneEostonii  febris  continua.  Diarrhoea 
biliosa,  aquosa  profusissima  per  totum  morbi  decur- 
sum. 

Singultus  aliquot  dierum.  Aphthae  totum  os 
cum  faucibus,  ips6que  oesophago  occupantes. 

Fermentatio  humoris  acerrimi  in  ventriculo  ebul- 


THE   HEALTH   OF  JAMES  I        167 

lientis,  qui  per  spumam  ex  ore  efferuescens,  liquamine 
suo  instar  muriae  acri,  Labia  et  mentum  exulce- 
rabat. 

Animi  defectio,  suspiria,  Metus,  Moestitia  incredi- 
bilis  pulsus,  Intercidens.  Notandum  tamen  banc 
pulsus  intercidentiam  in  Domino  esse  frequentem 
tumultuante  quantumuis  leuiter  humore  melan- 
cholico. 

Nephritis  per  quam  sine  vllo  remedio  excreuit 
calculum  pro  more  friabilem. 

Semel  cum  vrina  effluxit  semen^ 

Durauit  morbi  istius  omnium  quos  vnquam  passus 
est  Eex  periculosissimi  vigor  per  8  dies,  in  quo 
foeliciter  vsurpata  haec  remedia.  Clyster  frequens, 
Julepi  cardiaci  cum  vitrioli  spiritu  aciduli.  Elec- 
tuaria  Bezahardica.  Lapis  Brunellae.  Magisterium 
perlarum  et  corallorum  dulce.  Tartari  cremor  etc. 
Purgatio  k  qua  manifesta  omnium  symptomatum 
remissio,  et  postea  successit  vi  naturae  paulatim 
curatio.  Affixae  tunc  ano  hirudines,  atque  vtiliter 
in  accessione  Melancholica  applicatae  regioni  Lienis 
cucurbitulae. 

Post  istum  morbum  per  biennium  satis  bene  se 
habuit  Eex,  immunis  ab  aliis  etiam  consuetis  affe- 
ctionibus.  Deinceps  recurrit  pro  more  saepius 
Diarrhaea  minus  violenta. 

Hoc  anno  1623  sub  finem  Autumni  durauit  per 
duos  tresue  dies.  Sedes  amplae,  Liquidae  putres, 
cum  aliqua  virium  dejectione.  Ab  ista  euacuatione 
Leuior  quae  successit  in  variis  juncturis  Arthritis, 
ita  vt  praeter  solitum  nunc  paucissimis  saltem 
elapsis  a  dolorum  cessatione  diebus  (septimanis  S^us) 
Eex  sine  adminiculo  incedat,  qui  antea  per  menses 
aliquot  vel  in  cathedra  sedere  et  gestari,  vel  aliorum 
sustentaculo  vti  cogebatur. 

Notandus  euacuationis  spontaneae  per  secessum 
effectus  foelix. 

Bominus  Catarrho  h  Cerebro  in  subjectas  partes 


168 


APPENDIX   III 


decumbente  vt  supra  dictum  facile  concepto  frigore 
molestatur ;  humoris  pars  Coryzam  aliquando  creat : 

Catar-         Vt    plurimum    pulmones    afficit  ;    sequitur    tussis 

rhus.  violentissima,  sed  breuis  et  (quod  mirabile)  intra 

biduum  triduum-ue  coquitur  materia,  tussis  cessat, 
et  illapsus  humor  ex  bronchiis  rejicitur  crassus, 
viscidus,  niger.  Jactare  solet  contractum  frigus  ante 
cessare  qukm  praeparari  possint  k  Pharmacopoeo 
remedia. 

febris.  Bar6  febricitat,  si  per  aliquos  affectus  inuadit  febris 

breuis  ea  est  et  fere  Ephemera. 

Icterus.  Male  si  se  habeat  quocunque  modo,  atque  in  E. 

M*®  Laborent  siue  animus,  sine  corpus,  facile 
succedit  Icterus,  et  fiauescunt  oculi,  symptomate 
tamen  fugaci,  quod  paul6  post  sponte  euanescit. 

Melancholiae  hypochondriacae  admodum  ob- 
noxius. 

Continuus  vel  saltum  pene  quotidianus  fluxus 
haemorrhoidiim  facit  vt  aliquando  non  sine  dolore 
anus  inuertatur,  et  sequatur  Tenesmus. 

Nephritis.  Ante  plures  annos  post  Venationis 
exercitium,  et  longam  equitationem  saepissime 
redditae  vrinae  turbidae  et  rubrae  instar  vini  Ali- 
cantici  (quae  sunt  Domini  verba)  etiam  sine  dolore. 
12  Julii  1613  cruentum  Lotium  cum  arenulis  rubris, 
mox  faeculentum  et  cum  crasso  sedimento.  Vrinae 
ardor.  Dolores  renis  sinistri :  Vomitus  crebri  caetera- 
que  Nephritica  symptomata.  Eadem  sed  grauiora 
17  Augusti.  1615  Octobr.  Non  leuiora.  Paroxys- 
mos  hosce  omnes  cum  leuamine  excepit  fluor  alui 
consuetus.  Deinceps  saepius  rediuiuum  malum, 
atque  in  variis  accessionibus  rejecti  calculi,  vel  potius 
conglobatae,  et  viscida  ferruminatione  cohaerentes 
arenulae  friabiles,  cum  morbi  solutione. 

Arthritis.  Arthritis,  Multis  abhinc  annis  Inuasdre  primo 
pedem  dextrum  dolores,  cujus  inter  ambulandum 
antiqua  contorsio,  et  Vestigiorum  a  mala  consuetu- 
dine  minus  recta  positio  hunc  altero  debiliorem 


Haemor- 
rhoid. 


Nephritis. 


THE   HEALTH   OF  JAMES    I         169 

ab  ineunte  aetate  fecit.  Postea  successere  con- 
tusiones  variae,  ab  allisione  ad  tignum,  ab  illapso 
saepius  equo,  al3  ocreae  et  stapediae  attritu,  et  alijs 
causis  externis,  quas  ingeniose  scrutatur,  et  graphice 
notat  Eex  vt  internarum  accusationem  apud  Medicos 
eludat.  Solet  autem  dolor  pedis  dextri  affligere  vt 
plurimum  non  digitos,  non  pedis  cum  tibia  articula- 
tionem,  sed  sub  externo  malleolo  earn  metapedii 
partem  cui  Podi^us  Musculus  adhaeret.  Nihilominus 
obseruaui  saepius  totum  intumuisse  pedem,  et 
tantam  superfuisse  post  sedationem  dolorum  debili- 
tatem  vt  per  plures  septimanas  ineptus  ad  motum  a 
consuetis  exercitiis  abstinere  et  in  lecto  vel  Cathedra 
haerere  coactus  fuerit.  Jm6  anno  1616  vltra  quatuor 
menses  perseuerauit  debilitas  cum  tumore  Oedema- 
toso  totam  tibiam  aegram  et  vtrumque  pedem  dis- 
tendente. 

Subsequentibus  annis  contigit  vt  dolor  aggressus 
sit  aliarum  partium  articulos,  pedis  sinistri  poUicem 
et  malleolos,  vtrumque  genu,  humeros,  ipsasque 
manus ;  aliquando  (non  semper)  cum  rubore,  cum 
tumore  saepiiis.  Dolor  est  acutus  primis  duobus 
tribus-ue  diebus,  Noctu  vt  fluxionibus  ordinarium 
saeuit,  atque  exacerbatur,  mitescit  posted,  succedit 
imbecillitas,  quae  non  nisi  longo  dierum  decursu  vel 
domatur  vel  euanescit. 

Hyemali  tempestate  potissimilm  molesta  est 
Arthritis,  nee  vnquam  firmi  absolute  sunt  artus 
donee  sol  redux  annum  aestiuis  caloribus  Domino 
reddat  propitium. 

Ter  in  vita  correptus  fuit  acerbissimis  coxae 
doloribus,  nuperrime  28  Octobris  1623  quodam 
veluti  spasmo  musculorum  et  tendinum  tibiam 
sinistram  flectentium ;  a  vapore  et  flatuoso  spiritu 
pertinacissime  nocturnis  horis  partes  istas  velli- 
cante, 

Observanda  tibiarum  tenuitas  et  veluti  atrophia, 
ob  intermissionem  motus  non  appellentibus  spiriti- 


170  APPENDIX  111 

bus  et  alimento  ad  partes  inferiores,  quae  fuerunt 
ab  incunabulis  graciles  et  infirmae. 

Kex  ex  Scotia  veniens  in  Angliam  ex  equo  lapsus 
fregit  clauiculam  dextram.  Alio  tempore  a  casu 
passus  est  summam  Omoplatae  sinistrae  contusionem. 
Curatus  fuit  optime.  Ab  eo  tamen  tempore  factus 
humorum  in  brachium  dextrum  decubitus,  vnde 
exortae  glandulae  siue  Excrescentiae  phlegmaticae 
scrofularum  aemulae,  quae  nunc  tumidae  cum  rubore 
et  dolore,  nunc  subsidentes,  tandem  ad  suppura- 
tionem  deductae  curatis  vlceribus,  Licet  satis  longo 
tempore,  attamen  extincto  subinde  rediuiuo  fomite 
persanatae  fuerunt. 

Notandum  saltem  ex  reliquiis  istius  humoris,  vel 
forsan  ex  arthritico  succo  descendente  ad  Olecranon 
dextrum,  duobus  vltimo  elapsis  annis,  ortum  vna 
nocte  tumorem  flatu  sero-que  turgidum,  qui  citra 
apertionem  cutis  idoneis  remediis  foeliciter  cessit. 
Semel  ab  illapso  equo  pene  attritus,  et  fere  fractis 
costis,  per  tridutim  satis  leuiter  febricitauit. 

Conualuit  sine  sanguinis  missione. 

Alias  fibula  alterius  tibiae  pondere  equi  in  planam 
figuram  compressa  cum  totius  tibiae  periculosa  con- 
tusione  et  sugillatione,  solis  topicis,  sine  febre 
curatus  fuit. 

Exquisitissimi  sensus  est,  dolorum  impatientissi- 
mus,  qui  dum  suam  exercent  carnificinam,  violen- 
tissimis  motibus  jactatur  animus  atque  aestuat  circa 
praecordia  bills,  vnde  non  Lenitur,  sed  exasperatur 
malum. 

Leuamen  poscit  et  Indolentiam,  de  causis  morbi- 
ficis  parum  sollicitus. 

De  Eemediis. 

Medicinam  ridet  et  tam  parui  pendit  Kex  vt 
medicos  parum  Vtiles  minus  necessaries  pronuntiet. 
Art  em  meris  conjecturis  prae  incertitudine  inualidis 
fultam  asserit,  et  dum  naturae  tribuit  omnia,  ipsam 


THE   HEALTH   OF  JAMES  I        171 

proprio  fretus  judicio  non  contemnendis  fulcris 
destitutam  si  non  subuertit,  saltern  in  proprium 
excidium  concitatius  mere  incautus  sinit. 

Purgantibus  naturam  destrui,  et  solis  Eccoproticis 
ipsam  opus  habere  affirmat. 

Attrahentia  pharmaca,  e  certis  partibus  certos 
humores  ducentia,  vanitatis  arguit  et  accusat. 

Abhorret  ab  iis  quae  cient  tormina  vt  a  Sena. 
Insipida  postulat  si  eis  sit  opus. 

Clysterem  nunquam  ante  17  Augustj  1613  admisit. 
deinceps  autem  aliquoties  hoc  remedij  genere  in 
Nephriticis  doloribus,  In  diarrhoea,  In  constipatione 
alui  vsus  est ;  Hcet  semper  adsit  aliquid  quod  carpat, 
praesertim  increpans  quod  ab  Enemate  flatibus 
oppleta  intestina  cum  dolore  post  ipsum  rejectum 
distendantur. 

Vnicam  potionem  assumpsit  Catharticum  ex  Eha- 
barbaro,  Sena,  tamarindis  Manna,  idque  faciUime, 
sine  nausea,  cum  optimo  successu.  Miranti  medico 
quod  tam  placide  ventriculo  excepisset  pharmacum, 
respondit  sibi  omnia  faciHa  quae  semel  facienda 
statuisset.     In  summa  Id  quod  vult  valde  vult. 

Julepos  sitiens  aut  Intemperie  caUda  aestuans  non 
rejicit,  ex  tincturis  florum  cordiahum  extractis  cum 
Vitrioli  spiritu,  addito  ad  dulcedinem  (qua  in  omni- 
bus delectatur)  syrupo  violato.  de  pomis,  Julepo 
Alexandrino  vel  saccharo. 

Vt  plurimum  circa  horam  somni  sitiens  variis 
de  causis,  succum  Granatorum  dulcium  haurit  ad 
I  iij.  vel  iiij.  Alias  Limonibus  vel  aurantiis  dulci- 
bus  sitim  sedat. 

Jusculis  medicatis  aliquando  vsus  est,  a  quibus 
sitis  matutina  demulcebatur,  saltern  minus  bibebat 
jejuno  ventriculo. 

In  iis  nonnunquam  fuit  dissolutus  Tartari  cremor, 
cujus  vires  commendat,  assumptionem  non  asper- 
natur. 

In  Arthritide  solis  pultibus  siue  Cataplasmatis  4 


172  APPENDIX  III 

suum  dat  suffragium,  quae  Anodyna  praefert  caeteris, 
eaque  ad  quamuis  vel  leuissimam  dolorum  vmbram 
proferri  et  applicari  jubet. 

Vult  saepius  renouari  applicationes  in  quarum 
apparatu,  aeri  exponit  juncturas  et  diu  et  Im- 
portune. 

Ordo  applicationum  is  est  vt  Anodynis,  sedato 
dolore  roborantia  quantum  per  Dominum  licet 
vsurpentur. 

Linimentis,  Emplastris  fomentis  non  vtitur  nisi 
perfunctorie,  et  per  transennam. 

Emplastra    omnia    et    Topica    calida    pruritum 
mouent,  ide6  breuissimo  ea  fert  temporis  spatio. 
3      Nephritis  hactenus  cessit  Clysteribus  et  fomentis, 

nonnunquam  exhibitus  foeliciter  Lapis  Brunellae. 
2      Melancholica  symptomata  Tabellis  cardiacis  sedata, 

cum  conf.  Alkdom.  Lapide  Bezahar  etc. 
1      Catarrhus  et  tussis  Tabellis  de  Althea,  Trochiscis 
bechicis  albis,  Saccharo  anisato  et  similibus  cesserunt. 

Praeterea  nihil  quod  S9iam  Eegiae  Majestati  fuit 
administratum. 

Nunquam  missus  phlebotomo  sanguis,  semel 
extractus  vt  praedictum  per  hirudines. 

Agenda. 

Vrgent  potissimiim  congeneres  (quoad  causam 
materialem  si  ejus  originem  respicias)  affectus 
Arthritis  et  Nephritis.  Diarrhoeae  frequentia  per- 
pendenda.  Hypochondriacus  flatus  haud  negli- 
gendus.  Harum  affectionum  praecautionem,  praesen- 
tium  curationem,  et  symptomatum  sedationem, 
Eex  a  suis  Doctoribus  Medicis  postulat,  et  expectat, 
etiam  citra  expugnationem  causae. 

Statuendum   igitur. 

Quodnam  sit  Eegiae  Majestatis  temperamentum, 
quae  inaequalis  partium  Intemperies. 


THE   HEALTH   OF  JAMES  I        173 

Quinam  et  quibus  in  partibus  redundent  in  ipsius 
corpore  humores. 

Quae  sint  et  fuerint  praeteritorum  affectuum  quae 
pertimescendorum  causae. 

Quibus  morbis  futuris  videatur  maxime  obnoxius 
Rex,  et  quibus  prognosticis  (quorum  tamen  successum 
auertat  Deus)  monendus  sit  vt  sibi  magis  consulat  in 
posterum. 

Quinam  errores  in  victu  crassi,  et  non  ferendi  (in 
eo  qui  sanitatem  curat  et  colit)  sint  emendandi  juxta 
capita  r^s  BLaLTrjTiKrj^;,  In  cibo,  potu,  Animi  motibus 
etc. 

Quomodo  emendandi  gradus  Intemperiej  variae. 

Quomodo  toUendae  obstructiones  mesenterii 
Hepatis,  Lienis. 

Quibus  artibus  praeparandi  peccantes  succi  assig- 
natis  remediis  quam  gratissimis,  quae  potius  sub 
alimenti  quam  sub  medicamenti  specie  exhibean- 
tur. 

Quibus   Catharticis    non    ingratis,   tormina  non  An  vtilia 
cientibus,    corpus     non    perturbantibus     purgandi  ■^"^®*^^*- 
humores,  qui  et  quando.     Hie  describenda  vsualia 
primas  vias  euerrentia  atque  e  longinquo  ducentia, 
solida,  liquida. 

Quibus  corroborantibus  hepatis  conseruandus 
tonus,  ejusque  adjuuanda  at/xarwcrt?,  quibus  recre- 
andi  spiritus  deinceps  muniendum  cor  aduersus 
tetros  hahtus  ab  inferiori  sentina  expirantes  ;  quibus 
confirmandus  ventriculus  aduersus  molem  crudi- 
tatum  prouentu  quotidiano  Luxuriantium :  Quibus 
Cerebrum  contra  frigoris  appulsum  et  Catarrhi 
materiam  muniendum. 

An  conueniant  Regi  Diuretica  ad  materiam  Arth- 
ritidis  eliminandam  bene  repurgato  corpore.  Jtem 
ad  calculosam  saburram  euerrendam.  Quae.  Quando, 
Quoties  exhibenda. 

An  profutura  sint  Diaphoretica,  quae  vel  assumpta 
vel  Ichores  absorbeant  et  siccent,   vel  prouocato 


174  APPENDIX   III 

sudore  totum  venosum  genus  per  habitum  hoc  inutile 
veluti  lixiuio  exhauriant. 

De  particularibus  euacuationibus  per  os  et  nares 
etc. 

An  Thermae  vtiles,  an  necessariae  ad  articulorum 
robur.  An  noxiae,  et  quaenam  ab  ipsis  metuenda 
incommoda. 

Quid  de  phlebotomia,  cum  satis  superque  fluant 
haemorrhoides. 

Num  fouendus  naturam  sibi  ipsi  reHnquendo  hie 
fluxus,  num  ab  eo  pene  quotidiano  et  satis  largo 
aliquid  impendeat  periculi. 

Num  si  non  cohibendus  saltem  moderandus  et 
corrigenda  sanguinis  qualitas  per  chalybeata.  Hie 
de  Aquis  mineralibus.  At  fluente  sanguine  optime, 
restitante  eo  male  se  habet  Eex. 

Quid  de  Pyroticis  vtrjque  brachio  inurendis  ad 
interceptionem  et  euacuationem  materiae  arthriticae? 
post  crudorem  cerebri  vt  plurimum  paroxysmum 
suscitantis. 

Quoad  mokbos  et  Symptomata. 

4  Quid  in  Diarrhoea  tam  frequenti  vt  fraenos  demus 
humoribus  non  sine  virium  jactura  et  spirituum 
dispendio  nimium  fluentibus.  An  relinquendum 
Naturae  negotium,  cum  praesertim  resumptis  viribus 
Eegi  sit  ab  istis  fluxibus  melius  ? 

An  non  error  est  quod  fluente  aluo  vel  a  principle 
bibit  Alicanticum,  et  granatorum  succum?  Quae 
roborantia  post  imminutum  fluxum  danda.  Quae 
eo  perseueranda  Cathartica,  et  quomodo  exhibenda. 

1  Quibusnam  Cerebrum  curandum  ? 

2  Quibus  bechicis  tussis  licet  breuis  expugnanda, 
vel  lenienda,  quippe  violentissima  ? 

3  Quid  ad  affectum  hypochondriacum,  et  pulsus 
intercidentiam  ? 

Quid  ad  praecautionem  Nephriticorum  symptom- 
matum  et  renum  contemperationem,  atque  expurga- 


THE   HEALTH   OF  JAMES  I         175 

tionem  ?  Quid  ad  dolorem  praesentem  quoad 
interna  et  externa  remedia.  Assumenda.  Injicienda. 
Admonenda. 

Quid  ad  Arthritidis  praecautionem  vt  ejus  materia 
diuertatur  et  deriuetur  ab  articulis  longe  aliquo 
vsuali  et  quotidiano  remedio  non  ingrato.  Quaenam 
commodissimoe  ad  istas  intentiones  viae.  Stomachi, 
Alui,  Eenis  et  Vesicae  habitus  ? 

Quomodo  confirmandae  juncturae  vt  minus  pronae 
sint  ad  suscipiendas  fluxiones  et  vt  causis  dolorificis 
per  ligamentorum  astrictionem  et  desiccationem 
mediocrem  resistant. 

Quid  faciendum  In  principio  dolorum. 

Quae  conueniant  Anodyna  praesertim  sub  forma 
Cataplasmatis.  Describenda  tamen  Linimenta, 
Emplastra  fomenta  dolores  lenientia,  vt  pro  re  nata 
ex  penu  possint  depromi. 

An  in  implacabili  cruciatu  plane  rejicienda 
Narcotica,  praesertim  Altercum  quod  in  Arthritide 
adeo  ab  authoribus  commendatur  ? 

»       Quaenam  ab  eo  timenda  noxa,  quibus  emendanda, 
si   probetur.     Quid   de   Laudano    et    similibus   in 
Diarrhoea  in  arthritide. 
Quaenam   Eoborantia    ad   dolorum   finem    Cata- 
plasmata  Emplastra  Linimenta  Balnea,  fomenta. 

An  non  Anodyni  Cataplasmatis  vsus  quod  multam 
recipit  Cassiam,  et  Mucilagines,  nimius  vsus  noxius 
ob  relaxationem  articulorum  ? 
I  An  non  Domino  noxium  toties  renouare  remedia, 
g  et  artus  aeri  frigido  tam  saepe  negligenter  exponere  ? 
g  Quibus  mediis  sanguis  et  spiritus  ad  flaccescentes 
^  tibias  attrahi  possint. 

o      Quid  in  subitaneo  casu  vt  Apopl.  faciendum  in  hoc 
subjecto  ? 


ns 


•73 

u 
O 


Omnia  haec  Viri  Excellentissimi  Eegis  Medici 
ordinarii,  prudentiae  vestrae  sigillatim  examinanda, 
et    sedula  Lance    perpendenda    proponuntur.     In 


176  APPENDIX   IV 

quibus  quum  de  optimi  Principis  conseruatione 
im6  de  vita  agatur,  aequum  est  vt  (siquidem  nihil  in- 
praesentiarum  vrget  ade6,  et  sopitae  brumali  frigore 
causae  morbificae  aliquas  dant  inducias)  singuli 
remotis  arbitris,  serio  apud  se,  consultis  mutis 
Doctoribus,  ex  propria  experientia  et  obseruationum 
commentariis  efficacissima  arma  depromant  ad  istos 
tarn  Augusti  capitis  hostes  debellandos.  Descri- 
bantur  a  vobis  remedia,  nequid  in  iis  omissum 
neglectum-ue  possit  accusari,  et  vt  manus  vestrae 
voluntatis  et  officii  Domino  nostro  praestiti,  atque 
sedulitatis  indefessae  testes,  ipsum  ad  Medicas  leges 
alacrius  capessendas,  atque  ad  propriam  valetudinem 
juxta  praesentem  necessitatem  vt  oportet  curandam 
non  trahant  nolentem  :  sed  volentem  (id  quod  bonis 
omnibus  in  votis  esse  debet)  ducant. 

Demayerne. 
Kegis  Medicus  primarius. 


IV.  MAYERNE'S  NOTE  ON  THE  HEALTH  OF 
QUEEN  HENRIETTA  MARIA 

British  Museum,  Sloane  MS.  1679,  ff.  67-9. 

Anno  1641  Mense  Julio,  Regina  abituriens  trans 
mare,  tam  animi  quam  corporis  curandi  ergo,  in 
sequenti  valetudinis  statu,  sequens  accepit  et  secum 
detulit  consilium. 

1.  Ventriculi  cruditas  a  parum  cauta  victus  racione 
et  frequens  aTroa-iria  viscerum  et  praesertim. 

2.  Hepatis  fervida  intemperies  quod  est  sanguinis 
Biliosi  sero  multo  acri  scatentis  ferax. 

3.  Ohstructio  venarum  Mesaraicarum  jecoris  lienis, 
vnde  mala  succi  alimentarii  attractio,  mala,  sangui- 
ficatio,  mala  distributio,  Assimilatio  pejor.  Inde 
Atrophia. 


QUEEN   HENRIETTA   MARIA      177 

4.  Tumor  cum  duritie  Hepatis  et  lienis,  non 
tantum  a  flatu  hypochondria  frequenter  distendente, 
sed  etiam  ^  materie  congestione  in  ipso  partium 
parenchymate  cujus  dispositio  moHs  incrementum 
minatur  non  sine  ahcujus  sinistri  eventus  metu  et 
imminente  periculo  : 

5.  Aim  segnities  vt  plurimum  et  excrementorum 
siccitas  ordinaria,  nisi  quando  fructibus  horaeis  sese 
ingurgitat.  Cerasis,  peponibus,  Bericoccis,  presertim 
apersicis,  &c. 

6.  Hypochondriaca  affedio,  Licet  temperamentum 
vniversale  sit  caHdum  et  siccum  Biliosum  :  attamen 
animo  naturaUter  prepensa  est  in  MelanchoUam. 

7.  Scorbutica  dispositio  patens  in  gingiuis  quae  facile 
intumescunt,  fundunt  sanguinem,  et  vlceratae 
abscidunt  a  dentibus. 

8.  Hysterica  symptomata,  licet  menses  satis  com- 
mode fluant  Potius  insurgit  ad  motus  animi  vterus, 
quam  ad  Odores  gratos  quibus  E.  M.  delectatur, 
abhorret  a  foetidis. 

9.  Macies  ingens,  Marcor  drpoc^ta,  Tabes  prae 
foribus. 

10.  Benum  impuritas  arenosa.  Excreuit  plures 
calculos  paruos  a  rene  dextro  ;  In  hoc  patrissat. 

11.  Cor  palpitat  aliquando  si  mens  percellatur. 

12.  Pulmo  in  angusto  locatus  saepius  fluxione 
tenui  premitur,  vnde  tussis  frequens  vt  plurimum 
minus  humida,  quae  hactenus  licet  satis  importuna, 
subinde  tamen  cessit  remediis  bechicis.  Noctu 
inualescit,  vnde  cogimur  saepe  confugere  ad  hypno- 
ticum  syrupum  de  Papauere.  Nunquam  dedi 
Laudanum.  Sputa  satis  laudabilia.  Tractu  tem- 
poris  timenda,  et  quauis  arte  arcenda  avv  6e(o 
Fhthoe  vnde  maximum  impendet  discrimen  :  Ita  vt  NB 
videatur  naturae  cursu  futurus  hinc  E.  M.  terminus. 

13.  Caput  tam  calidum  vt  nulla  diu  ferre  possit 
integumenta,  sine  oculorum  incommodo,  qui  (dexter 
praesertim)  saepe  rubet  et  cum  palpebris  cito  inflam- 

MOORE  ^ 


178  APPENDIX   IV 

matur.  Variis  in  locis  glabrum  est.  In  Infantia 
saepius  habuit  achoras,  et  nunc  saepissime  per  poros 
illaesa  cute  exsudat  materia  seu  sanies  oleosa,  Untea 
tenacissime  maculans.  Obnoxia  fuit  fere  vsque  ad 
eruptionem  mensium  scabiei  siccae,  et  valde  pungenti 
nares,  et  Labium  superius  rediuiua  eruptione 
Subinde  occupanti  cujus  etiam  nunc  aliqua  apparent 
saepe  rudimenta. 

14.  Labia  sicca  sunt  et  finduntur  persaepe. 

15.  Oculi  saepe  fluxionem  acrem  experiuntur. 

16.  Dolor  capitis  frequens. 

17.  Catarrhus  tenuis  ordinarius. 

18.  Animi  Pathemata  violenta,  Ira  brevis,  Meastitia 
longa.     Lachrymae  frequentes. 

19.  Contorsio  spinae  scoliosis. 

20.  Latus  dextrum  (brachium,  manus)  altero 
macilentius  veluti  arescit. 

21.  Ante  aliquot  annos  vtero  gerens,  passa  est 
prime  stuporem  ingentem.  Deinde  aliquam  reso- 
lutionem  alterius  lateris. 

22.  Debilitas  Vniuersalis  summa. 

23.  Consumptio  Vniuersalis  ab  altricis  facultatis 
mala  dispensatione.  Nihil  adhuc  funesti  k  pulmoni- 
bus.     Sed  Caue. 


Perpendenda. 


Ventriculus. 

Mesenterium. 

Hepar. 

Lien. 

Eenes. 

Intestina  Aluus. 

Hypochondria. 

Vterus. 

Pulmo. 

Caput.     Cerebrum. 

Oculi. 

Spina,  neruL 


Pulmonum  corruptela. 


QUEEN   HENRIETTA  MARIA      179 

(Debilitas 
sive 
Atrophia. 
Praecauenda  ( Vitio  hepatis 
Tabes  siue 
Consumptio 

Domina  solum  vertere  et  extra  Angliam  proficisci 
quocunque  modo  constituit. 

Praetendit  Aquarum  Spadensium  potum  quae 
praeterquam  quod  in  praesenti  corporis  statu  ipsi 
futurae  sunt  admodum  noxiae,  im6  funestae ;  nunc 
inclinante  anno,  et  post  longam  ariditatem,  in- 
gruentibus  nimbis  circa  medium  mensis  Augusti 
quo  vix  in  eo  Loco  in  Belgio  quem  sibi  metam 
itineris  Domina  statuit  pedem  fixura  est.  E.  M. 
plene  erunt  intempestiuae. 

Animum  rege  qui  nisi  paret  Imperat,  &c. 

In  Obsequium  (cui  me  deuinctum  tenet  Muneris 
mei  conditio),  sequentia  mihi  propono  capita  ad 
scribendum  consilium  quo  Domina  vtatur  pro  re 
nata  ex  medicorum  praesentium  directione. 

Pertractanda. 

De  Aquarum  Spadanarum  vsu. 

Noxiae  futurae  sunt  quia.  1.  Penetrant  nimis. 
2.  Siccant  corpus  jam  satis  exsuccum.  3.  Caput 
opplent.  4.  Humores  fluidos  reddunt  et  fluxionem 
irritant  in  pulmones.     5.  Nocent  Pulmonibus. 

Distingue  tempera. 

Pete  ex  fonte  et  serua.     Ne  vtaris  tamen. 

Ferpendenda, 

Vis  imaginationis  circa  coelum  mutandum. 
Coelum    non   animum   mutant   qui   trans    mare 

currunt. 
De    Aere,   Aquis   et  locis   in   Belgio.     Vtrecht. 
Arneim. 


N2 


180  APPENDIX   IV 

Solitude,  vel  saltern  turbae  fuga  confert  ad 
sumenda  remedia. 

Obstructio  et  tumor  manifestus  in  hepate  et  liene. 

Instauranda  partium  nutritiarum  Oeconomia. 

Kenes  semel  et  simul  euerrendi. 

Procurandus  liber  commeatus  spiritibus  Impedi- 
menta toUendo,  Purgatione  per  Epicrasin. 

Epicerastica  quae  bonum  succum  reponunt  in 
locum  mali. 

Analeptica. 

Corroborantia  J  p  ^ 

aequaliter      1  ^      , 
^  ( Cerebrum 

( Humectantia 

Habitum  I  Mollificantia 

( Implentia 

(Eecreantia 
Clarificantia 
Multiplicantia 
in  Corde  et  Cerebro. 

Post  vniuersalia  instauratis  viribus  et  repleto 
habitu,  Idonea  tempestate,  vt  post  annum,  &c., 
deliberandum  erit  de  Aquis  Spadanis  Puguensibus, 
forgensibus  ad 

Tollendam  Intemperiem  viscerum  calidam. 

Aperiendas  vias. 

Corroboranda  viscera. 

Euerrendos  renes. 

Si  velit  Domina  eas  potare, 
Vt  quod  vult  valde  vult. 

Praecauenda  erunt  earum  incommoda,  vt  si  non 
prosint  saltem  non  noceant. 

Praescribendum  aequiualens,  ex  d^ 

An 
Interim  et  exsucco  corpore  tuto  possunt  admini- 
strari  d^  'V^  ^  (D. 

Dubito,  nisi  magna  cum  cautione. 


181 


V.    HAEVEY'S  NOTES  ON  GALEN 

Sir  George  Paget  many  years  ago  published,  with 
a  facsimile,  an  English  letter  of  Dr.  William  Harvey 
which  was  preserved,  with  a  skull  to  which  it  refers, 
in  an  ancient  oak  cabinet  in  the  library  of  Sidney 
Sussex  College.  This  publication  led  to  the  proof 
that  the  manuscript  in  the  Sloane  collection  in  the 
British  Museum  entitled  Gulielmus  Harveius  de 
Musculis  Motu  Locally  &c.,  was  altogether  in  the 
handwriting  of  Harvey;  and  Sir  George  Paget,  in 
his  Notice  of  an  Unpublished  Manuscript  of  Harvey, 
London,  1850,  has  described  the  contents  of  the 
manuscript,  and  the  peculiarities  of  its  writing  and 
annotation.  In  the  same  publication  he  states  that 
but  six  specimens,  of  which  two  were  signatures 
only,  of  Harvey's  handwriting  were  then  known. 
Five  more,  two  of  them  only  signatures,  are 
described  by  Dr.  Aveling  in  his  Memorials  of  Harvey, 
London,  1875  ;  while  Dr.  Munk,  in  his  valuable 
Notae  Harveianae,  published  in  the  St.  Bartholomew's 
Hospital  Keports  for  1887,  has  mentioned  two  more, 
a  letter  to  Dr.  Baldwin  Hamey  and  two  sheets  of 
Harvey's  will.  Sir  George  Paget  says,  *  It  seems 
not  unreasonable  to  expect  the  discovery  of  other 
MSS.  of  Harvey ' ;  and  with  regard  to  his  manu- 
script lectures  on  general  anatomy  says,  '  This 
MS.  has  of  late  years  been  sought  for  in  vain ;  but 
doubtless  it  still  exists,  and  will  sooner  or  later  be 
found.'     This  hope   has  been  fulfilled.      The  MS. 


182  APPENDIX  V 

was  found  in  1877  in  the  British  Museum,  and  Sir 
Edward  Sieveking,  in  his  Harveian  Oration  in  that 
year,  pubKshed  a  passage  from  it.  In  1886  this 
most  interesting  manuscript  was  edited  by  a  com- 
mittee of  the  Eoyal  College  of  Physicians  of  London, 
and  published  with  an  autotype  reproduction  of  the 
original.  It  exhibits  in  every  part  the  peculiarities 
of  Harvey's  writing  and  annotation  described 
thirty-six  years  before  by  Sir  George  Paget,  whose 
careful  elucidation  and  description  of  the  letter  at 
Sidney  Sussex  CoUege  must  be  regarded  as  the 
origin  of  most  of  the  recently  acquired  knowledge 
of  the  discoverer  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  of 
his  methods  of  observation,  of  his  reading,  and 
of  his  systems  of  arrangement  and  of  verbal 
exposition. 

Having  been  a  member  of  the  committee 
appointed  in  1885  by  the  College  of  Physicians 
to  supervise  the  publication  of  the  Prelectiones 
Anatomiae  Universalis,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  examin- 
ing every  word  of  the  writing  with  Mr.  Edward 
Scott  of  the  British  Museum,  to  whom  the  arduous 
task  of  transcribing  Harvey's  crabbed  manuscript 
was  entrusted,  and  by  whom  it  was  executed  with 
astonishing  precision  and  expedition.  Having  thus 
studied  Harvey's  handwriting  under  the  able  tuition 
of  Mr.  Scott,  I  was  sufficiently  acquainted  with  it 
to  recognize  as  Harvey's  thirty-five  lines  written  on 
a  blank  page  at  the  end  of  a  copy  of  Goulston's 
Opuscula  Varia  of  Galen,  into  which  I  had  occasion 
to  look  in  the  British  Museum.     The  book  evidently 


HARVEY'S  NOTES  ON  GALEN  183 

belonged  to  Harvey,  who  has  underlined  and 
annotated  many  passages.  The  peculiar  conjoined 
W.  H.  which  he  was  accustomed  to  prefix  or  affix 
to  original  notes,  which  Sir  George  Paget  describes 
in  his  account  of  the  manuscript  notes  on  the 
muscles,  and  which  occurs  again  and  again  in  the 
Frelectiones  Anatomiae  Universalis,  appears  in  several 
places  on  the  margins  of  the  pages  of  this  Galen, 
amongst  others  on  pp.  101,  234,  235,  236,  239,  246. 
It  is,  perhaps,  unnecessary  with  this  autograph 
initial  signature  to  describe  other  peculiarities  which, 
to  those  unacquainted  with  Harvey's  hand,  can  be 
of  little  weight  ;  but  an  x  for  exemplum,  which 
precisely  resembles  that  so  used  in  the  Frelectiones, 
is  to  be  seen  in  the  Galen,  and  also  a  similar  *  N.  B. ' 
The  date  of  the  Frelectiones  is  1616,  and  that  of  the 
De  Musculis  1627,  while  these  notes  in  Galen  were 
made  after  1640,  thus  showing  that  Harvey's 
manuscripts  have  the  same  pecuHarities  throughout 
his  life. 

This  edition,  Claitdii  Galeni  Fergameni  Opuscula 
Varia,  consists  of  Greek  texts  with  Latin  translation 
printed  in  parallel  columns,  and  was  the  work  of 
Dr.  Theodore  Goulston,  a  learned  fellow  of  the 
College  of  Physicians,  the  founder  of  the  Goul- 
stonian  Lectures  still  delivered  every  year  at  the 
College  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  founder's 
will.  Goulston  lived  in  the  same  parish  as  Harvey, 
that  of  St.  Martin,  Ludgate,  and  they  were,  of 
course,  as  fellows  of  the  College  of  Physicians, 
acquainted  with  one   another.      Goulston  died  in 


184  APPENDIX  V 

1632,  and  this  Galen  was  published  in  1640  by 
his  friend  Thomas  Gataker.  The  British  Museum 
copy  has  been  rebacked,  but  is  otherwise  in  the 
binding  of  its  period,  with  a  stamped  gold  pattern 
in  the  middle,  a  border  fleury  at  the  corners,  and  a 
plain  linear  border  at  the  outermost  part  of  each 
side.  There  is  a  pattern  on  the  edges  of  the  sides, 
and  the  leaves  are  gilt.  A  copy  of  the  book,  also  in 
contemporary  binding,  which  is  in  the  library  of 
the  Eoyal  Medical  and  Chirurgical  Society,  has  a 
leather  binding  without  any  gilding,  so  that 
Harvey's  may  have  been  a  presentation  copy. 

Many  passages  and  words  are  underlined,  and  the 
frequent  corresponding  notes,  often  of  only  a  single 
word,  in  the  margin  prove  that  the  ink  Hnes  were 
made  by  Harvey.  He  has  invariably  annotated 
the  Latin,  and  the  Greek  columns  are  without 
marks  throughout. 

The  first  work  is  Galen's  Exhorfatio  ad  Medicinam 
et  Artes,  and  this  contains  underlined  passages  in 
six  of  its  nine  chapters.  Three  on  athletes  and 
their  qualities  are  not  annotated.  One  example 
of  the  notes  may  be  given.  In  the  margin  of 
chapter  i.  Harvey  has  written  ^  Eationali ',  and 
has  underlined  the  words  printed  in  italics : 
*  Has  igitur  ob  causas,  quanquam  reliquis  etiam 
animantibus  hand  deest  Eatio,  tamen  homo  solus  oh 
eminentiam,  qua  caeteris  praestat,  Bationalis  vocatur.' 

Now  and  then  a  fresh  illustration  of  Galen's 
sentiments  occurs  to  Harvey.  Learning,  says 
Galen,  is  to  be  preferred  to  rank,  which  is  only  of 


HARVEY'S  NOTES  ON  GALEN  185 

value  in  its  own  country,  *  nobilitatem,  qua  tant- 
opere  turgent  baud  absimilem  civitatum  esse  nmnmis^ 
qui  apud  eos  valent,  qui  instituerunt  ;  apud  alios, 
quasi  aduUerini  repudiantur/  The  italics  mark 
Harvey's  underlining,  and  in  the  margin,  apparently 
as  an  example  of  artificial  exterior  elevation  as 
opposed  to  the  genuine  exaltation  of  worth  or 
learning,  he  has  written  *  wooden  leggs'. 

The  second  treatise  is  Quod  Optimus  Medians  idem 
et  FhilosopJius,  and  has  but  few  notes.  The  third, 
JDe  Sectis  ad  Tyrones,  is  noted  throughout ;  but  the 
fourth.  Be  Optima  Secta,  has  very  few  marks  of 
having  interested  the  reader.  The  remaining 
treatises,  De  Cognoscendis  et  Corrigendis  cujusque 
Animi  Ferturbationihus,  Be  Bignoscendis  et  Corrigendis 
cujusque  Animi  Erratis,  and  Quod  Animi  mores 
sequantur  Temperamentum  Corporis,  are  marked  or 
have  marginal  notes  of  one  or  more  words  on  almost 
every  page.  I  hope  in  the  St.  Bartholomew's 
Keports  to  publish  a  full  account  of  his  marginal 
annotations. 

The  thirty-five  lines  in  Harvey's  hand  on  the 
terminal  blank  page  are  references  to  subjects 
treated  on  certain  pages  of  the  book. 

The  notes  are  all  brief,  but  with  the  under- 
linings  are  interesting  as  showing  how  carefully 
Harvey  had  considered  the  remarks  of  Galen, 
which  of  the  sentiments  of  that  great  physician 
he  applauded  as  he  read  them,  which  of  his  state- 
ments he  questioned,  and  which  confirmed  from 
his  own  experience. 


186  APPENDIX  V 

Harvey  had  a  profound  respect  for  Aristotle, 
a  passage  in  whose  writings  suggested  to  him,  as 
he  says  in  his  PrelectioneSj  the  idea  of  the  circula- 
tion ;  and  this  copy  of  Galen  shows  him  to  us  in 
the  act  of  studying  and  criticizing  the  thoughts  of 
another  great  master  of  the  ancient  world. 


INDEX 


Abercorn,  Earl  of,  Mayerne*s  notes 

on,  109. 
Abetot,  Vrso  de,  8. 
Abingdon,  Abbey  of,  8 ;  cartulary 

of,  158 ;  charter  in  register,  8. 
Abingdon,  Abbot  of,  9. 
Abstinence,  dealt  with  in  Flora- 

rium,  47. 
Account  of  the  sore-throat  attended 

with  ulcers,  156. 
Acre,  Bishop  of,  21. 
Acta  Medica  of  Thomas  Bartho- 

linus,  130. 
Adam,  the  physician,  15,  16. 
Adherent  pericardium,  described 

by  Douglas,  129. 
Aesculapius,  19,  20. 
Aetius,  3. 
Agallamh  na  Senorach,  prose  and 

verse  of  the,  148. 
Agincourt,  70. 
Albemarle,  Duke  of,  takes  Sloan e 

to  Jamaica,  131. 
Albini,  Nigell  de,  8. 
Albreda,  wife   of  R.   de  Quatre- 

mares,  23. 
Albus,    Galfridus,   the   same    as 

Galfridus  Blund,  161. 
Alcuin,  6. 
Aldermanesburi,  grant  of  land  in, 

10. 
Aldermen  of  the  city,  7. 
Aldewin,  queen's  chamberlain,  10. 
Alexander,  physician  of  Eleanor 

of  Provence,  15,  16. 
Alexander  the  Great,  known  to 

Mirfeld,  51. 
All    Hallows   Church,    in   Bread 

Street,  23. 
Alston,  pupil  of  Boerhaave,  154. 
Amhra,    poem  in    praise  of   St. 

Columba,  149. 
Amsterdam,  printing  in,  123. 
Anaemia,  115. 
Anatomia  Restaurata,   by    High- 

more,  134. 


Anatomical  Writers  from  Hippo- 
crates to  Harvey,  account  of,  by 

Dr.  James  Douglas,  128. 
Anatomy,  66. 
Anecdota  Oxoniensia,  29. 
Angers,  hospital  of,  22. 
Anglo-Saxon    (nation),    6;     per- 
meated by  other  tongues,  139. 
Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  ed. 

O'Donovan,  143,  150. 
Anne    of    Denmark,    Mayerne's 

notes  on,  106. 
Anselm,  St.,  writings  known   to 

Mirfeld,  51. 
Antidotarium,  of  Nicholas,  48. 
Antioch,  Prince  of,  13. 
Antitheriaca,  essay  by  Heberden, 

28. 
Aortic  valves,  disease  of,  described 

by  Douglas,  129. 
Apoplexy,  40 ;  relation  between, 

and  cerebral  haemorrhage,  123. 
Apothecary    brings    patient    to 

Mirfeld's  master,  27. 
Aquinas,  St.  Thomas,  works  known 

to  Mirfeld,  51. 
Arabs,  the,  books  of,  read  by  old 

Irish  physicians,  148. 
Arbor  Yemensis  Fructum  Cof4  Fe- 

rens,  by  Dr.  James  Douglas,  128. 
Arbuthnot,  understood  impoi-tance 

of   clinical    observation,    124 ; 

same  kind  of  Physician  as  Hel- 

sham,  138. 
*  Archiater,'  glossed  by  Irish  word 

huasallieig,  140. 
Aristotle,  64;   H.  W.  Chandler's 

knowledge  of,  32 ;  parts  familiar 

to   Mirfeld,  50 ;   works  known 

to  Mirfeld,  51. 
Arnaldus,  name  occurs  in  Beton's 

MS.,  152. 
Arthritis,     May  erne's     notes    on 

James  I,  103. 
Arundel,   Earl   of,    collection  of 

works  of  art,  72. 


188 


INDEX 


Arundel  House,  in  the  Strand, 
77. 

Ashmole,  Order  of  the  Garter,  81. 

Ashridge,  Religious  house  of,  46. 

Aspoinz,  Galfridus,  162. 

Aspoinz,  Joseph,  son  of  Galfridus, 
162. 

Aspoinz,  William,  son  of  Galfridus, 
162. 

Atkins,  Dr.  Henry,  physician  to 
James  I,  149. 

Attainments,  necessary  to  be 
styled  medicus,  17. 

Augustan  age,  editions  of  Horace 
since,  129. 

Augustine,  St.,  rule  of,  21 ;  writ- 
ings known  to  Mirfeld,  51. 

Augustine,  St.,  Library  of  Abbey 
of,  at  Canterbury,  20. 

Aveling,  Dr.,  Memorials  of  Harvey, 
181. 

Averrois,  20. 

Avicenna,  48 ;  his  writings  on 
medicine,  50 ;  Ludford's  copy 
of,  68 ;  wished  to  find  out 
origins  of  diseases,  88  ;  quota- 
tions from,  in  works  of  Middle 
Ages,  89 ;  name  occurs  in 
Beton's  MS.,  151. 

Bacon,  Roger,  knew  Greek,  54. 

Baillie,  Matthew,  writings  of,  93. 

Balthazar,  40. 

Barry,  Philip,  son  of  Thomas 
Barry,  146. 

Barry,  Philip,  son  of  Richard 
Barry,  146. 

Bartholomew,  St.,  Hospital  of,  4  ; 
grant  to,  7  ;  an  early  document 
of,  11;  ancient  regulations  of, 
23 ;  sick  always  treated  there, 
24  ;  patients  known  to  Mirfeld, 
31  ;  Terne  Assistant  Physician 
to,  74  ;  description  of  case  seen 
there  by  Dr.  James  Douglas, 
129  ;  Hospital  Reports,  paper  on 
Douglas  in,  130. 

Bartholomew,  St.,  Convent  of,  26  ; 
Mirfeld  at,  29 ;  accident  to 
Canon  of,  42. 

Bartlott,  Dr.  Richard  (Bertholetus 
medicus),  31,  56. 

Bath,  Anne  of  Denmark  visits,  for 
gout,  107. 


Bathonia,Reginaldu8  de,physician 
to  P]leanor  of  Provence,  15,  16. 
Baxter,  Thomas,  46. 
Beauvais,  79. 
Bede,   6,    48;    De   Ratione    Tem- 

porum,  140. 
Bell,  Dr.  le,  lecture  on  surgical 

operations,  79. 
Benet,     Dr.      Christopher,      75 ; 

method     similar    to    that     of 

Glisson,  113. 
Bentley,  opinion  of  Warburton, 

76 ;    his   remarks   on  his  own 

writings,  89. 
Bentley,  Mrs.,  lamented  that  her 

husband  devoted  so  much  time 

to  criticism,  90. 
Bernard,    works     of,     in    Dover 

Priory,  20. 
Bernard,   Francis,   MS.  book  of, 

134. 
Bernard,  St.,  writings  known  to 

Mirfeld,  51. 
Besace,  Master  Ranulphus,  13. 
Besace,  Ranulphus,  Canon  of  St. 

Paul's,  14,  16. 
Beton,  James,  notes  in  the  hand 

of,  151. 
Betthun,  Dr.,  physician  to  James  I, 

149  ;  took  degree  at  Padua,  ib. 
Beza,Theodore,  who  gave  Codex  to 

University  of  Cambridge,  94. 
Bihliographiae  Anatomicae   Speci- 
men,  by   Dr.    James   Douglas, 

128. 
Bibliotheca  Hispamca,^r8t  Spanish 

dictionary  published  in  London, 

63. 
Bigod,  Roger,  8. 
Blackmore,  praises  Cole's  work, 

85. 
Blackstone,  Sir  William,  4. 
Boerhaave,      of     Leyden,     153 ; 

Aphorisms  published  at  Leyden, 

154  ;  attitude  of  his  school,  157. 
Boethius,     48 ;     de     Consolatione 

Philosophia,  known  to  Mirfeld, 

51. 
Bonetus,  of  Geneva,  consulted  by 

Mayerne  as  to  publication,  109. 
BotalluB  mentioned  by  Sydenham, 

84. 
Botanical   Studies,   influence  on 

medical,  128. 


I 


INDEX 


189 


Botany,  inheritance  from  Middle 
Ages,  66. 

Boyce,  Samuel,  distressed  poet, 
extract  from  letter  of,  in  Sloane 
MSS,  134. 

Boyle,  Robert,  entertains  Moly- 
neux,  135. 

Bracey,  Ion,  98. 

Bradele,  Walter  de,  treasurer  of 
Eleanor  of  Provence,  14. 

Bradshaw,  Henry,  20. 

Brady,  Dr.  Robert,  Master  of 
Caius,  84  ;  Fellow  of  College  of 
Physicians,  85  ;  Keeper  of  re- 
cords in  the  Tower,  ib.  ;  wrote 
a  History  of  England,  ib. ;  wrote 
a  treatise  on  cities  and  boroughs, 
ib. ;  Regius  Professor  of  Physic 
at  Cambridge,  ib. :  represented 
Cambridge,  ib. ;  kept  medical 
act  for  degree  before  Glisson, 
ib. 

BreviaHum  Bartholomei,  by  Mir- 
feld,  25  ;  examination  of,  31, 
46,  55. 

Bridges,  Dr.  Robert,  69. 

British  Islands,  growth  of  clinical 
study  in,  138. 

British  Museum,  foundation  due 
to  Sir  H.  Sloane,  130. 

British  Plutarch,  Wrangham's, 
90. 

Brotherhood  of  early  Irish, 
Scotch  and  Welsh  Physicians, 
148. 

Browne,  Edward,  admitted  a 
Fellow,  1675,  69;  published  a 
volume  of  travels,  tb.  ;  his  edu- 
cation, 70;  published  a  trans- 
lation of  the  Discourse  of  the 
Cossacks,  ib. ;  enters  Trinity 
College,  1642,  71  ;  applies  for 
admission  to  M.B.  degree,  ib. ; 
studies  and  diversions,  72 ; 
attends  lecture  at  Chirurgeon's 
Hall,  73  ;  attends  Dr.  C.  Terne's 
lectures,  74  ;  marriage,  75 ; 
dines  with  Windet,  ib.  ;  calls 
on  Dey  and  King,  77  ;  return 
to  Norwich  and  further  studies, 
78 ;  goes  to  Paris,  79  ;  visits 
Montpellier  and  cities  of  Italy, 
ib. ;  travels  with  Dr.  Paman, 
ib. ;  studies  anatomy  at  Padua 


under  Marchetti,  ib.  ;  visits 
Montpellier  and  Paris  again, 
80  ;  catches  smallpox,  ib. ;  re- 
turns home,  ib.;  goes  abroad 
again  (1668),  visits  Holland, 
Vienna,  Larissa,  Hungary, 
Styria,  Carinthia,  home  in  1669, 
ib. ;  meets  Lambecius,  ib. ; 
Fellow  of  College  of  Physicians, 
ib.  ;  elected  physician  to  St. 
Bartholomew's  Hospital,  1675, 
ib.  ;  died,  1708,  ib. ;  attain- 
ments and  knowledge  of  lan- 
guages, 81  ;  his  reading,  ib. ; 
medical  degrees,  82  ;  notebooks 
in  Sloane  Collection,  133; 
meets  Molyneux,  136. 

Browne,  Joseph,  edition  of 
May  erne's  writings,  106,  109. 

Browne,  Sir  Thomas,  father  of 
Edward  Browne,  69  ;  writings 
and  letters,  70  ;  advises  his  son 
as  to  reading,  82 ;  Common- 
place Books  in  Sloane  Collec- 
tion, 133  ;  Miscellanies,  Observa- 
tions on  Plants,  in  Sloane  Collec- 
tion, 133 ;  De  Plantis  Sacrae 
Scripturae,  136. 

Bruno,  name  occurs  in  Beton's 
MS.,  152. 

Burke,  1. 

Burnet,  Bishop,  description  of 
beginning  of  illness  of  Charles 
II,  77. 

Burnet,  Thomas,  geologist,  135. 

Burwell,  G.  de  Mandeville's 
charter  probably  attested  at, 
11. 

Bustorum  Aliquot  Reliquiae,  2. 

Buttley,  Suffolk,  Priory  of  Augus- 
tinian  canons  of,  11,  161. 

Csedmon,  6. 

Caesar,  Julius,  5. 

Cairbre,  an  Irish  scribe,  151. 

Caius,  Dr.  John,  attainments  of, 
2  ;  praises  Bartlott's  learning, 
31,  56 ;  Greek  scholar  and 
zoologist,  57,  58 ;  description 
of  his  works  on  Natural  History, 
60 ;  De  Ephemera  Britannica, 
ib. ;  one  of  the  representatives 
of  the  kind  of  knowledge  with 
which  the  College  of  Physicians 


190 


INDEX 


began,  66;  first  wrote  an 
original  description  of  disease 
observed  in  his  own  time,  90 ; 
living  in  St.  Bartholomew's 
Hospital  in  1555,  91. 

Calais,  79;  taken  by  Duke  of 
Guise  (1558),  135. 

Calculi,  114. 

Calpurnius,  father  of  St.  Patrick, 
5. 

Cambridge,  University  of,  20. 

Canterbury,  79. 

Canterbury,  Hubert  Walter,  Arch- 
bishop of,  12. 

Canterbury  Tales,  20. 

Carinthia,  80. 

Cartulary  of  Abingdon,  of  Holy 
Trinity,  Aldgate,  10. 

Casaubon,  Isaac,  Mayerne's  notes 
on  illness  of,  110. 

Catalogue  of  Royal  MSS.,  by  Mr. 
J.  P.  Gilson,  45. 

Cecil,  Sir  Robert,  Earl  of  Salis- 
bury, 95. 

Celtic  inhabitants  of  Scotland, 
relation  to  inhabitants  of 
Western  Isles,  France,  and  Low 
Countries,  153. 

Censors,  with  President,  give  im- 
primatur to  Sloane's  Catalogue, 
132. 

Cerebri  Anatome,  11 ;  by  Willis, 
123. 

Chalcondylas,  Demetrius,  55. 

Chambers,  Dr.  J.,  Physician  to 
James  I,  149. 

Chambre,  Dr.,  original  Fellow  of 
the  College  of  Physicians,  10. 

Chandler,  the  late  Professor  Henry 
William,  32. 

Charles  I,  letter  to  Mayerne,  109 ; 
Gaelic  phrases  said  to  have 
been  used  at  his  coronation, 
149 ;  Mayerne's  paper  on  re- 
medies for,  when  Prince  of 
Wales,  110. 

Charles  II,  attack  of  apoplexy, 
123. 

Charles  V,  abdication  ceremony 
of,  61. 

Charleton,  Dr.  Walter,  wanted  to 
recast  Mayerne's  notes,    110 
physician  to    Charles   I,   114 
Exercitationes  Pathologicae, llA 


praised  in  a  poem  by  Dryden, 
115;  method  of  description,  117. 

Chaucer's  physician,  19,  152. 

Chaumpneys,  legacy  to  prisoners 
in  Newgate,  25. 

Cheapside,  5. 

Chemical  History  and  Medical 
Treatment  of  Calculous  Dis- 
orders, Marcet,  Dr.  A.  J.  G.,  127. 

Chlorosis,  115. 

Christ  Church,  Canterbury,  library 
of,  20. 

Christie,  Mr.  Richard  Copley,  his 
collection  of  editions  of  Horace, 
128. 

Chronic  Rheumatism,  Mirfeld  on, 
39. 

Chute,  Thomas,  account  of  his 
smallpox,  117. 

Cicero,  81. 

Cicero,  Quintus,  5. 

City,  charter  to  Deorman  pre- 
served by,  6. 

Clarumbald,  physician  and  chap- 
lain, 10. 

Cleghorn,  Dr.  George,  pupil  of 
Alexander  Munro,  155 ;  Obser- 
vations on  the  Endemial  Diseases 
of  Minorca  from  the  year  1744- 
9,  ib.;  practised  and  lectured 
at  DulDlin,  ib. ;  friendship  with 
John  Fothergill,  156. 

Clement  V,  Pope,  confirmed  pre- 
sentation of  living  of  Reculver, 
29. 

Clement,  Dr.  John,  president  in 
1544,  57  ;  translated  theologi- 
cal works,  ib. ;  Professor  of 
Greek  at  Oxford,  ib. ;  one  of  the 
representatives  of  the  kind  of 
knowledge  at  beginning  of 
College  of  Physicians,  66. 

Clinical  medicine  in  England, 
origin  of  renaissance  in  the,  157. 

Clinical  observation  firmly  estab- 
lished in  England  at  beginning 
of  eighteenth  century,  125. 

Clogher,  Bishop  of,  letter  from 
Molyneuxto,  137. 

Close  Rolls  of  Edward  III,  passage 
in,  relating  to  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's Hospital,  24. 

Clowes,  William,  surgeon  to  St. 
Bartholomew's  Hospital,  93. 


INDEX 


191 


Cloyne,  144. 

Coffee  plant,  Dr.  James  Douglas 

wrote  on,  128. 
Cole,   Dr.  William,    appreciated 

Sydenham,  84 ;  wrote  on  inter- 
mittent fever,  85. 
Colet,  57. 
College  of  Physicians,  1-3 ;   sole 

guardian  of  medical  learning, 

67  ;  examination  of  candidates, 

82. 
Cologne,  80. 
Columquille        (or       Columba), 

Saint,   41 ;   life   of,  at   Schaff- 

hausen,  54. 
Comniuna,  7. 
Comparison   of  works   of  Sir  T. 

Browne  and  Dr.  Windet,  76. 
Confessions  of  Patrick,  5,  6. 
Connla  Gael,  St.,  bell  of,  142. 
Conqueror,  the,  grants  charter  to 

Deorman,  6. 
Constable  of  Henry  I,  8. 
Constantin,    quotations   from,  in 

works  of  Middle  Ages,  89. 
Constantine,   one  of   the    Seven 

Sleepers  of  Ephesus,  37. 
Constantinus  Africanus,  48. 
Continent,  the,  of  Rhazes,  48. 
Cook,     Dr.,     book     on    Nervous 

Diseases,  44. 
Cormac  mac  Airt,  king  of  Ire- 
land, 148. 
Cornhill,  Henry  of,  sheriff  (1189), 

161. 
Coroticua,  Epistle  against,  5. 
Courcy,  John  de,  drove  the  Mac- 

Duinntsleibhes  out   of  Down, 

143. 
Coutances,    William    of,    Arch- 
bishop of  Rouen,  161. 
Craig,    Dr.    John,    physician   to 

James  I,  149. 
Cremonensis,     Gerardus,     name 

occurs  in  Beton's  MS.,  151. 
Cristina,  daughter  of  Jeremias,  m. 

Galfridus  Aspoinz,  162. 
Crocus    autumnalis,     Dr.    James 

Douglas  wrote  on,  128. 
Crokestone,  Abbot  of,  17. 
Cromwell,   Oliver,   his  rooms  in 

Sidney  College,  136. 
Cross,  St.,  Hospital  of,  13. 
Crutched  Friars,  77. 


Cullen,     William,     lecturer     on 

medicine,  154. 
Cursus  Medicus,  by  Nial  O'Glacan, 

145. 
Cusa,  Nicholas  de,  52. 

Dacres,  Lady,  aunt  of  Thomas 
Chute,  117. 

Dal  Cais,  a  group  of  allied  clans, 
146. 

Damascien,  20. 

Dapifers,  8. 

Darwin,  Dr.  Erasmus,  his  MS. 
notes  on  Heberden's  lectures, 
125. 

Degree  of  M.A.,  slight  control  of 
Universities  over  holders,  67. 

Deorman,  charter  granted  to,  6. 

Dey,  Dr.  Joseph,  77. 

Diemerbrock,  mentioned  by  Sy- 
denham, 84. 

Dinnshenchus,  or  Hill  Lore,  140 ; 
prose  and  verse  of,  148. 

Dionysius,  one  of  the  Seven 
Sleepers,  37. 

Dioscorides,  botanical  work  of, 
66  ;  quotations  from,  in  works 
of  Middle  Ages,  89. 

Dominicans,  John  de  Sancto 
Egidio  gives  Hospital  of  St. 
James  to,  30 ;  installed  at  St. 
Bartholomew's  Priory  by  Queen 
Mary,  31. 

Donegal,  the  O'Breslans  in,  142 ; 
Franciscan  convent  of,  144. 

Donnchadh,  member  of  the  Mac- 
Duinntsleibhe  family,  143. 

Douglas,  Dr.  James,  example  of 
relation  of  study  of  Natural 
Science  to  that  of  Medicine, 
128  ;  Lilium  Samiense  (pub- 
lished 1725),  128;  Myogra- 
phiae  Comparatae  Specimen^ 
ih.  ;  Bihliographiae  Anatomicae 
Specimen,  ih. ;  his  text  of  First 
Ode  of  Horace  and  his  catalogue 
of  his  editions  of  Horace,  ih. ; 
became  Fellow  of  the  College 
(1721),  129;  'Fold'  of,  ih.; 
observations  published  in  Philo- 
sophical Transactions,  ih. ;  came 
close  to  discovery  of  cause  of 
cardiac  murmurs,  130. 

Dover,  79. 


192 


INDEX 


Dover  Priory,  19. 

Doyley,  Thomas,  knowledge  of 
Spanish,  62 ;  his  generosity,  63 ; 
buried  in  Church  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew's Hospital,  ih.  ;  one 
of  the  representatives  of  the 
kind  of  knowledge  with  which 
the  College  of  Physicians  be- 
gan, 66. 

Dryden,  Epistle  to  Dr.  Charleton, 
69;  on  'a  happy  genius',  76; 
acknowledged  head  of  world  of 
letters,  136. 

Dublin,  University  of,  1. 

Dublin  University  Magazine,  letters 
of  Molyneux  printed  in,  135. 

Duff,  Mr.  J.  D.,  note  on  Plutarch, 
43. 

Duncan,  Dr.  Matthews,  129. 

Dyneau,  Dr.,  lectures  on  fever, 
79. 

Edinburgh,  birthplace  of  James  I, 
97  ;  University  of,  first  syste- 
matic teaching  of  medicine  in, 
153. 

Edward  VI,  king,  Wotton's  book 
dedicated  to,  58. 

Elector  Palatine,  letter  from 
May  erne  to  Har\'ey  on  treat- 
ment of,  108. 

Elizabeth,  reign  of,  93. 

Elzevir,  Louis,  of  Amsterdam, 
printer,  124. 

Emnienologia,  by  Dr.  John  Freind, 
124. 

England,  intolerable  state  of,  11. 

English  Rose,  by  John  of  Gaddes- 
den,  48. 

Ent,  Sir  George,  69. 

Enteric  fever,  cause  of  death  of 
Prince  Henry,  96. 

Eoghan,  member  of  the  Mac- 
Duinntsleibhe  family,  143. 

Epicurean  philosophy,  82. 

Epilepsy,  40. 

Erasmus,  57. 

Ernulf,  the  physician,  11. 

Erpingham,  Sir  Thomas,  statue 
of,  70. 

Essex  and  East  Anglia,  kingdoms 
of,  6. 

Essex,  Castle  of  Pleshy  in,  11. 

Essex,  Earl  of,  10. 


Estria,  Prior  Henry  de,  20. 

Eudo,  8. 

Exchequer,  officials  of,  7  ;  Hubert 

Walter,  baron  of,  11 ;  court  of, 

13. 

Faritius,  Abbot  of  Abingdon,  9. 

Feidhlimidh  (died  in  1520),  Pro- 
fessor of  Medicine,  148. 

Feoiris  (died  1504),  Professor  of 
Medicine,  148. 

Fever,  May  erne's  notes  on  James  1, 
102. 

Finch,  Sir  John,  of  Christ's 
College,  Cambridge,  79. 

Fitz-Patrick,  Mrs.,  foundress  of 
the  Fitz-Patrick  Lectures,  1. 

Fitz-Patrick,  Dr.  Thomas,  in 
whose  memory  the  Fitz-Patrick 
Lectures  were  founded,  1. 

Flamsteed,  the  astronomer,  136. 

Florarium  Bartholomei,  the,  44, 
46. 

Floyer,  Sir  John,  author  of  The 
Physician  s  Pulse-Watch,  125. 

Foreigners,  in  London,  7. 

Forgaill,  Dalian,  poet,  149. 

Foster,  Sir  Michael,  History  of 
Physiology,  113. 

Fothergill,  Dr.  John,  his  five 
teachers  all  pupils  of  Boer- 
haave,  154;  M.D.  Edin.  (1736), 
156  ;  compared  with  Huxham, 
ih. 

Foxe,  Bishop  Richard,  encourages 
Wotton  in  Greek,  58. 

France,  king  of,  16. 

Franciscan  Convent,  of  Donegal, 
150. 

Freind,  Dr.  John,  wrote  The 
History  of  Physic  from  the  time 
of  Galen  to  the  beginning  of  the 
Sixteenth  Century,  3  ;  medal 
struck  in  honour  of,  56  ;  under- 
stood importance  of  clinical 
observation,  124 ;  Epistola  de 
Purgantihus  and  Emmenologia, 
ib. 

French,  the,  in  London,  men- 
tioned in  charters  before  Eng- 
lish, 7. 

Gaddesden,  John  of,  20 ;  Rosa  Ang- 
Uca,  40,  48  ;  his  works  read  by 


INDEX 


193 


Mirfeld,  50 ;  known  to  old  Irish 
physicians,  148 ;  quoted  by- 
James  Beton,  151. 

Galen  De  Temperamentis,  2,  3,  5 ; 
works  of,  in  Dover  Priory,  20 ; 
his  plan  generally  followed  in 
mediaeval  systems  of  medicine, 
34 ;  observations  on  paralysis, 
43 ;  his  books  read  by  Mir- 
feld,  48,  50 ;  reverenced  by 
both  Mediaeval  and  Renais- 
sance physicians,  55 ;  Opuscula, 
translated  by  Goulston,  65 ; 
read  by  Browne,  81 ;  only 
once  mentioned  by  Syden- 
ham, 84 ;  true  spirit  of  obser- 
vation obvious  in,  88 ;  quota- 
tions from,  in  works  of  Middle 
Ages,  89 ;  quoted  by  James 
Beton,  151 ;  on  the  Humours, 
quoted  in  Beton's  MS.,  152. 

Garth,  understood  importance  of 
clinical  observation,  124. 

'  Gaspar  fert  mirram,'  &c.,  verse 
repeated  in  ear  of  epileptic 
patients,  40. 

Gataker,  Thomas,  published  Goul- 
ston's  work,  184. 

Gerald,  Earl  of  Kildare,  Lord 
Justice  of  Ireland  (1478-1513;, 
146. 

Gerard,  botanist,  66. 

Gesner,  Conrad,  naturalist,  60. 

Giant's  Causeway,  Molyneux's 
notes  on,  137. 

Giffard,  the  chaplain,  10. 

Gilbert,  the  physician,  10  ;  works 
of,  in  Dover  Priory,  20  ;  English 
(Anglicus),  Mirfeld  recom- 
mends a  remedy  of,  40  ;  and 
acquaintance  with  works  of,  48, 
50. 

Gilbert,  William,  De  Magnete,  64 ; 
one  of  the  representatives  of 
the  kind  of  knowledge  with 
which  College  of  Physicians 
began,  66  ;  understood  impor- 
tance of  scientific  observation 
in  medicine,  92. 

Gilla  na  naingel  (died  1335),  Pro- 
fessor of  Medicine,  148. 

Gilson,  Mr.  J.  P.,  iv ;  discoverer  of 
the  Florarium  Bartholomei,  44. 

Glan villa,  Ranulf  de,  161. 


Glasgow,  University  of,  10. 

Glauber,  the  chemist,  81. 

Glissou,  Dr.  Francis,  influence  on 
medicine,  65,  66;  Regius  Pro- 
fessor of  Physic,  72 ;  lectures 
and  disputations,  81  ;  portrait 
of,  111 ;  president  of  College 
(1667),  111  ;  Tractatus de  Rachi- 
tide,  fii-st  English  complete 
account  of  a  disease,  ib.  ;  me- 
thod, 112  ;  praised  by  Virchow, 
113;  De  Ventriculo,  113;  one 
of  the  three  great  clinical 
observers  in  the  seventeenth 
centurj-,  120;  one  of  those  who 
established  the  study  of  clini- 
cal medicine  in  England,  123  ; 
twelve  volumes  of  lectures,  &c., 
in  Sloane  Collection,  133. 

'  Gold-headed  cane,'  3. 

Goldsmith,  Oliver,  1. 

Goodall,  Goulstonian  Lecturer, 
Harveian  orator,  and  President 
of  College,  85. 

Gordon,  Bernard  de,  38  ;  books 
read  by  Mirfeld,  50  ;  writer  of 
the  school  of  Montpelier,  147  ; 
books  of,  read  by  old  Irish  phy- 
sicians, 148 ;  quoted  in  James 
Beton's  MS.,  151. 

Goulston,  Theodore,  made  trans- 
lations from  Galen,  65  ;  his 
copy  of  the  Opuscula  of  Galen, 
182 ;  lived  in  parish  of  St. 
Martin,  Ludgate,  183;  ac- 
quainted with  Harvey,  ib. ; 
died  1632,  ib.  ;  work  on  Galen, 
published  1640,  ib. 

Grammar  School  at  Norwich, 
70.  ^ 

Grandison  (or  Cronson),  John, 
Bishop  of  Exeter,  46. 

Grant,  Field-Marshal  Sir  Patrick, 
knowledge  of  Gaelic,  149. 

Gratitude,  of  lecturer  to,  H. 
Bradshaw,  20 ;  H.  W.  Chandler, 
32;  R.  C.  Christie,  128;  F. 
Darwin,  125;  J.  P.  Gilson,  iv ; 
Sir  P.  Grant,  149;  J.  H. 
Herbert,  iv;  R.  Macadam,  147; 
S.  H.  O'Grady,  145, 147  ;  R.  W. 
Raper,41 ;  Royal  College  of  Phy- 
sicians, iv ;  T.  W.  Stronge,  145. 

Gravesend,  79. 


194 


INDEX 


Great  Seal,  affixed  to  letters 
patent,  17. 

Greek,  knowledge  of,  in  Western 
Europe  in  Middle  Ages,  54 ; 
importance  of,  at  time  of  be- 
ginning of  College  of  Physicians, 
66 ;  Greek  literature,  predo- 
minant influence  in  College  at 
its  foundation,  89. 

Greffier,  M.  le  Natier,  Mayerne's 
note  on,  106. 

Gregory,  John,  lecturer  on  medi- 
cine, 154. 

Gregory  IX,  Pope,  14. 

Grew,  Nehemiah, botanist,  Fellow 
of  College,  135. 

Grey-backed  crows  observed  by 
Molyneux,  136. 

Grimbald,  physician  to  Henry  I, 
8 ;  witnesses  charter  of  Abbey 
of  Abingdon,  8  ;  witnesses  grant 
of  Queen  Matilda,  9  ;  various 
other  charters  witnessed  by, 
158,  159,  160. 

Grosseteste,  Robert,  Bishop  of 
Lincoln,  his  classical  and  medi- 
cal knowledge,  friendship  with 
John  de  Sancto  Egidio,  30 ; 
his  considerable  attainments  in 
Greek,  54. 

Gualterus,  Irish  translation  of, 
143. 

Guildhall,  6. 

Guise,  Duke  of,  takes  Calais,  135. 

Haemorrhoids,  Mayerne's  notes 
on  James  I,  102. 

Haimo,  8. 

Hali  Abbas,  34. 

Hall,  Bishop,  Epistle  to  Mr.  Mil- 
ward,  71. 

Harney,  Dr.  Baldwin,  wrote  Bus- 
torum  Aliquot  Reliquiae,  2  ; 
Harvey's  letter  to,  181. 

Hamo  Magi^tter,  12. 

Harveian  Oration,  delivered  by 
Terne,  75. 

Harvey,  William,  Harney's  epi- 
gram on,  2  ;  his  additions  to 
knowledge,  65;  one  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  kind  of  know- 
ledge with  which  the  College 
of  Physicians  began,  66 ;  ac- 
quaintance with  Sir  G.  Ent,  69  ; 


mutual  esteem  of  Harvey  and 
Hobbes,  86  ;  handwriting,  181. 

Heberden,  Dr.  William,  one  of 
the  greatest  English  physicians, 
wrote  (in  1745)  Antitheriaca,  28 ; 
wrote  Commentarii  Morborum 
Historia  et  Curatione,  125  ;  last 
important  Latin  Medical  trea- 
tise in  England,  ib. ;  lectured  at 
Cambridge,  ib. ;  Fellow  of  St. 
John's  College,  Cambridge, 
ib. ;  Commentaries  showing  his 
method,  ib. ;  method  of  exam- 
ining patients,  126  ;  death,  ib. 

Helme,  Brother  John's  mixture 
against  plague,  35. 

Helsham,  Dr.  Richard,  Regius 
Professor  of  Physic  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Dublin,  138  ;  friend- 
ship with  Swift,  ib.  ;  same  kind 
of  physician  as  Arbuthnot,  ib. 

Hemicrania,  40. 

Henrietta  Maria,  queen,Mayerne's 
notes  on,  107,  176  ;  letter  to 
May  erne,  109. 

Henry  I,  king,  grants  land  to 
Abingdon,  8 ;  other  charters 
and  an  ordinance,  9  ;  founda- 
tion of  Hospital  and  Priory  of 
St.  Bartholomew  in  reign  of,  26. 

Henry  II,  king,  witness  of  a  char- 
ter, 12. 

Henry  III,  king,  queen  of,  14; 
Jew  physicians  in  London  in 
his  reign,  17;  medical  studies 
in  his  reign,  30. 

Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  Mayerne 
consulted  in  last  illness  of,  96  ; 
Mayerne's  notes  on,  110. 

Heraclius,  patriarch  of  Jerusalem, 
13. 

Herbert,  Bishop,  of  Norwich,  9. 

Herbert,  Mr.  J.  H.,  IV. 

Hereditary  physicians  of  Ireland, 
142. 

Hereditary  professions  of  Ireland, 
142. 

Hertford,  John  of,  abbot  of  St. 
Albans,  14. 

Hertfordshire,  Ashbridge  in,  46. 

Hervey,  Bishop,  of  Bangor,  8. 

Hieracosophion  of  de  Thou,  36. 

Higden,  Ranulf,  48. 

Highmore  of  the  antrum,  134. 


INDEX 


19.5 


Hippocrates,  MSS.  of,  2;  works 
at  Dover  Priory,  20 ;  observa- 
tions on  injury  to  brain,  43  ; 
quoted  by  Plutarch,  44 ;  in- 
fluence on  Linacre  and  his  con- 
temporaries, 55 ;  practised  at 
Larissa,  80  ;  Aphorisms,  81, 145 ; 
often  mentioned  by  Sydenham, 
84,  88. 

History  of  the  Study  of  Clinical 
Medicine  in  the  British  Islands 
(Lecture  III),  84. 

Hodges,  Dr.  Nathaniel,  notebook 
in  Sloane  Collection,  13-3 ; 
heroic  conduct  and  sad  death 
of,  lb. 

Holland,  80  ;  medicine  in  Univer- 
sity of  Edinburgh  derived  from, 
153. 

Holy  Land,  Hubert  Walter  goes 
to,  12. 

Holy  Sepulchre,  Hubert  Walter 
admitted  to,  12. 

Holy  Trinity,  Aldgate,  Augusti- 
nian  Priory  of,  10;  Prior  of, 
11. 

Horace,  works  of,  known  to  Mir- 
feld,  48,  50. 

Hospitallers,  Master  of  the,  13. 

Hospitals,  statutes  of,  22 ;  under 
care  of  Augustinians,  24. 

H6tel  Dieu,  at  Amiens,  23 ;  at 
Angers,  22 ;  at  Paris,  Browne 
visits,  79  ;  at  Troyes,  24. 

Hungary,  80. 

Hunter,  William,  10. 

Hutton,  Richard,  46. 

Huxham,  Dr.  John,  example  of 
influence  of  Boerhaave  in  Eng- 
land, 156  ;  Essay  on  Fevers,  ih. ; 
treatise  On  the  Malignant  Ulcer- 
ous Sore-throat,  ih.  ;  compared 
with  Fothergill,  ih. 

Hydatid  of  the  ?t>er,  Harvey's  notes 
on,  92. 

Hydrocephalus,  case  of  operation 
on  by  Mirfeld'p  master,  26. 

Hysterical  aphonia,  possible  case 
of,  27. 

Index  to   the    Sloane   MSS.,  by 

Edward    J.    L.    Scott,   133,  to 

the    Fitz-Patrick   Lectures  by 
MUicent  Moore,  187. 


Initials  in  MS.,  making  Mirfeld'a 

name,  45. 
lona,  St.  Columba  sees  vision  in, 

42. 
Ireland,  history  of  learning  in, 

139. 
Irish,  never  a  printed  literature, 

139  ;  catechism  in,  published  in 

Paris,  144. 
Irish  elk,  first  described  by  Moly- 

neux  in  A  Discourse  concerning 

the  Large  Horns  frequently  found 

Underground  in  Ireland,  137. 
Isaac,  son  of  Solomon,  48. 
Isaac,  quotations  from,  in  worka 

of  Middle  Ages,  89. 
Isidore,  St.,  of  Seville,  Liher  Etij- 

mologiarum,   19  ;  works  known 

to  Mirfeld,  48,  51. 
Islip,    Simon,     constitutions    of, 

45. 
Italy,  St.  Columba's  vision  of  fire 

in,  42. 
Iwod,  the  physician,  11. 

Jacobin,  origin  of  name,  30. 

Jamaica,  Sloane's  catalogue  of 
plants  of,  132. 

James,  Dr.  Montague  Rhodes,  20. 

James,  St.,  Hospital  of,  in  Paris, 
given  by  John  de  S.  Egidio  to 
Dominicans,  30. 

James  I,  king,  Mayerne's  notes  on, 
97-105,  149. 

Jaundice,  Mayerne's  notes  on 
James  I,  1(  2. 

Jenner,  William,  writings  of,  93. 

Jeremias,  father  of  Cristina,  162. 

Jerome,  St.,  writings  known  to 
Mirfeld,  51. 

Johannes  Scotus  Erigena,  trans- 
lated the  Pseudo-Dionysius,  54. 

Johannicius  on  Scrophulus,  40. 

John,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells, 
witnesses  charter  of  Henry  I,  8. 

John  {Comes  Moretoniae),  after- 
wards King  John,  makes  grant 
to  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital, 
7 ;  illness  and  death,  17  ;  his 
visit  to  London  in  1191,  161. 

John,  Dr.,  of  London,  physician 
to  Richard  I,  13. 

John,  Dr.,  of  St.  Giles  (de  Sancto 
Egidio),  16,  30,  31. 


196 


INDEX 


John,  one  of  the  Seven  Sleepers 
of  Ephesus,  37. 

John,  Bon  of  Alexander,  the  car- 
penter of  Walthamstead,  15. 

John,  son  of  Walter  le  Lever,  15. 

John,  the  physician,  receives 
grant  from  Dean  of  St.  Paul's, 
10. 

John  the  Baptist,  St.,  illumina- 
tion of.  in  MS.,  32. 

Johnson,  Dr. ,  affected  by  fate  of 
Hodges,  134. 

Justiciar  of  England,  Hubert 
Walter,  12. 

Justiciars  of  foreign  birth,  7. 

Karlsruhe,  MS.  at,  140. 

Kent,  Kingdom  of,  6. 

Kilmacrenan,  143. 

King,  Mr.,  surgeon,  afterwards  Sir 

Edmund,  77  ;  attends  Charles  II 

in  his  last  illness,  ib. 

La  Charite,  Browne  visits,  79. 

Lambecius,  Librarian  at  Vienna, 
80,  81. 

Lambeth  Palace,  MS.  in,  47. 

Lambeth,  St.  Thomas's  Hospital 
in,  25. 

Lanfranc,  works  known  to  Mirfeld, 
48,  50. 

Larissa,  80. 

Latin,  the  language  of  com- 
position and  communication 
at  time  for  foundation  of 
College  of  Physicians,  66. 

Laycock  Abbey,  Mayeme  sees 
Queen  at,    106. 

Lea,  James,  writes  commendatory 
verse  to  Spanish  Dictionary,  64. 

Lsabhar  Breac,  41. 

Le  Bell,  Dr.,  lectures  on  surgery, 
79. 

Leland,  Commentarii  de  Scrip- 
tor  ibus  Britannicis,  31  ;  esti- 
mate of  Bartlott,  56. 

Leprosy,  Bernard  of  Gordon  on, 

Letters  of  famous  Physicians,  in 

Sloane  Collection,  133. 
Leviathan,  The,  86. 
Lewis     of    France,  invasion    of 

England,  17. 
Leyden,  University  of,  136. 


Liher  de  Ephemera  Britannica,  by 
CaiuB,  90. 

Liber  Etymologiarum,  known  to 
Mirfeld,  48,  51. 

Liber urinarum  Theophili,  abstract 
of  in  Beton's  MS.,  152. 

Lifesholt,  grant  of  land  in,  8. 

Lilium  Medicines,  by  Bernard  de 
Gordon,  Mirfeld's  knowledge  of, 
38,  48 ;  Irish  translation  of, 
147. 

Lilium  Sarniense,  Dr.  James 
Douglas  on,  128. 

Linacre,  Thomas,  Founder  of  the 
College  of  Physicians,  3, 10,  55  ; 
Greek  Studies,  55,  57,  89;  takes 
degree  of  M.D.  at  Padua,  55  ; 
one  of  the  representatives  of 
the  kind  of  knowledge  with 
which  the  College  of  Physicians 
began,  66. 

Lincoln,  Bishop  of,  18. 

Lincolnshire,  Abbey  of  Swinestead 
in,  17. 

Linnaeus,  botanists  precise  before 
his  day,  127. 

Lismore,  Book  of ,  146. 

Lister,  Sir  Matthew,  goes  with 
Mayerne  to  Exeter,  108 ;  Phy- 
sician to  James  I,  149. 

Lister,  Martin,  made  brief  notes, 
120. 

Little  Britain,  77. 

Lives  of  the  British  Physicians,  by 
MacMichael,  Munk  and  others,  3. 

Lobel,  66. 

Locke,  Two  Treatises  on  Civil 
Government,  86,  on  Shaftes- 
bury's case,  120. 

London, inRoman times,  5;  foreign 
influence  in,  6,8;  Magnates  of,  7 ; 
Civil  institutions  of,  ib. ;  first 
large  monastic  foundation  in, 
10  ;  Bishop  of,  ib. ;  Physician  of, 

Londonstone,  Henry  of,  first 
Mayor  of  London,  161 ;  its 
position,  ib. 

Longchamp,  Bishop  of  Ely,  161. 

Louis,  writings  of,  93. 

Low  Countries,  80. 

Lower,  Richard,  120. 

Lucretius,  5,  81. 

Ludford,  Simon,  68. 


INDEX 


197 


Macadam,  Robert;  former  owner 

of  an  O'Hickey  MS.,  147. 
MacBetha,  or  Beton,  John,  of  a 

race  of  physicians,  151. 
MacCarthy    riabhach,     chief    in 

south  of  Munster,  145. 
MacCarthy,     Finghin,     son      of 

Dermot,  146. 
MacDubhgall,     son    of    Ranald, 

daughter  of,  151. 
MacMichael,    Gold-headed   Cane, 

3. 
MaicAedhagain,  hereditary  Irish 

judges,  142. 
Maic  Conmidhe,  hereditary  poets 

or  orators,  143. 
MaicDuinntsleibhe,     family      of 

hereditary  physicians,  143;  Cor- 

mac,  works  of,   144,   145 ,  his 

MSS.  compared  to  those  of  the 

O'Liaigh,  147 ;  took  degree  of 

Bachelor  of  Physic,  150. 
Malchus,     one     of     the     Seven 

Sleepers  of  Ephesus,  37. 
Malthus,  the    Apothecary,    117 ; 

political  economist,  ih. 
Mandeville,    Geoffrey    de,    chief 

Constable  of  the  Tower,  10. 
Marcellus     Empiricus,      medical 

charm  from,  41. 
Marcellus,     wrote     on     materia 

medica,  50. 
Marcet,   Dr.   A.  J.  G.,  an  exact 

writer,  127. 
Marchetti,       demonstrator       of 

Anatomy  at  Venice,  79. 
Marci,  Serlo  de,  great  landowner 

of  Essex,  7. 
Marci,    William    de,    agreement 

with  Dean  and  Canons  of  St. 

Paul's,  10. 
Marcian,     one     of     the     Seven 

Sleepers  of  Ephesus,  37. 
Marshalsea,  Chaumpney's  legacy 

to  prisoners  in,  25. 
Martin-le-Grand,  St.,  Deans  of  the 

College  of,  7. 
Martiniere  de  la,  travels  in  Arctic 

regions,  81. 
Mary-le-Bow,  St.,  Church  of,  5. 
Mary  without  Bishopsgate,    St., 

Hospital  of,  25. 
Mary,  Queen,  gave  Priory  of  St. 

Bartholomew  to  Dominicans,  31. 


Mary,  Princess,  taught  by  Linacre, 
57. 

Mary,  St.,  of  Dunmow,  cartulary 
of,  7. 

Mason,  Sir  John,  58  ;  his  career, 
61. 

Matilda,  Queen,  grants  by,  8,  9. 

Maureau,  Dr.,  lectures  on  hernia, 
79. 

Maximian,  one  of  the  Seven 
Sleepers  of  Ephesus,  37. 

Maxwell  Lyte's  (Sir  H.  C.) 
Appendix  to  Ninth  Report  of 
Historical  MSS.  Commission^  29. 

Mayerne,  near  Geneva,  94. 

Mayerne,  Sir  Theodore  Turquet 
de,  settled  in  England  1611,  65  ; 
knowledge  of  Chemistry,  ib. ; 
date  of  death,  66  ;  dedication 
of  Pharmacopoeia,  67  ;  devoted 
himself  to  minute  clinical 
observation,  93 ;  his  note  book, 
94  ;  at  Heidelberg,  ih. ;  M.D.  of 
Montpellier,  ih. ;  attacked  for 
using  chemical  remedies,  95 ; 
physician  to  King  of  France, 
and  to  King  James  I  (1611), 
ih. ;  goes  to  Queen  Henrietta 
Maria  at  Exeter,  108;  letters, 
110;  portrait,  ih.-,  his  works 
— method,  111;  clinical  ob- 
servations, 120 ;  one  of  those 
who  established  the  study  of 
clinical  medicine  in  England, 
123 ;  his  MSS.  in  Sloane  Col- 
lection, 133;  notes  on  the 
health  of  James  I,  162-76; 
note  on  the  health  of  Queen 
Henrietta  Maria,  176-80. 

•  Mayor,'  origin  of  term,  7. 

Mead,  understood  importance  of 
clinical  observation,  124  ;  Medi- 
cal Precepts  and  Cautions,  125. 

Measuring  time  by  psalms  and 
prayers,  39. 

Mediaeval  learning  in  Ireland, 
139. 

Mediaeval  physicians,  method  of 
study,  55. 

Medical  Register  of  time  of 
Henry  III,  16. 

Medicine,  outline  of  Mirfeld's  at- 
tainments in,  51. 

Melchior,  40. 


198 


INDEX 


Mercia,  kingdom  of,  6. 

Middle  Ages,  reading  thought 
chief  source  of  medical  know- 
ledge in,  19. 

Miledh,  clan  of,  descendant  of 
Gaedhel  Glas,  148. 

Mirfield,  John,  Fourteenth  Cen- 
tury MS.  of,  19 ;  writings  of, 
25 ;  his  account  of  his  Master, 
26  ;  his  Master  treats  a  Canon 
of  St.  Bartholomew's,  42  ;  on 
broken  bones  and  materia 
medica,  44 ;  initials,  in  MS., 
making  his  name,  45  ;  warning 
against  love  of  money,  47 ; 
attainments  and  character,  48, 
49 ;  summary,  51 ;  seems  to 
have  been  unknown  to  ancient 
Irish  physicians,  148. 

Mithridates,  King  of  Pontus,  28. 

Mithridatium,  28. 

Modern  languages,  study  of,  in 
England,  62. 

Modern  learning  in  Ireland,  139. 

Molins,  Roger  de.  13. 

Molyneux,  Sir  Thomas,  born  in 
Dublin  1661, 135  ;  great  grand- 
son of  Sir  Thomas  Molyneux, 
of  time  Queen  Mary,  ih. ;  gradu- 
ated at  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
ib. ;  studies  at  Leyden,  ib. ; 
letters  of,  ih.  ;  visits  Cam- 
bridge and  Oxford,  136  ;  further 
studies  at  Leyden,  ib. ;  M.D. 
Dublin,  1687,  ih. ;  President  of 
the  Kings  and  Queen's  College 
of  Physicians  in  1702,  137; 
medical  writings,  137  ;  accounts 
of  the  sea-mouse,  Irish  elk. 
Giant's  Causeway,  137 ;  died 
1733,  ib.  ;  tomb  at  Armagh,  ib.  ; 
first  great  physician  in  Ireland, 
ih. ;  resemblance  to  Sloan e,  138. 

Molyneux,  William,  brother  of 
Sir  Thomas,  136. 

Money,  little  in  use  in  Ireland  in 
the  15th  century,  147. 

Monkwell  Street,  73. 

Monro,  Alexander,  set  example  of 
systematic  medical  teaching  in 
Edinburgh,  153 ;  Medical  Essays 
and  Obsetrations  published  by  a 
Society  in  Edinburgh,  ib.  ;  pupil 
of  Boerhaave,  154. 


Montpellier,  79. 

More,     Henry,     the      Platonist, 

136. 
More,  Sir  Thomas,  57. 
Morgagni,  writings  of,  93. 
Morton,      Richard,      a      careful 

observer.    Fellow    of   College, 

1678,  120;  description  of  case 

of  a  plasterer,  130. 
Mowat,  late  J.  L.  G.,  edited  part 

of  Mirfeld's  works,  29. 
Muiris,    member     of   the     Mac- 

Duinntsleibhe  family,  143. 
Munk,    Dr.    William,   3 ;    Notae 

Harveianae,  181. 
Munster,  146. 
Muray,  William,  takes  letter  to 

Mayerne,  109. 
Muscegros,  seneschal  of  Eleanor 

of  Provence,  14. 
Music,  African,  noted  by  Sloane, 

132. 

Natural  History  of  Ireland,   by 

several  hands,  137. 
Nero,  4. 
Newark,    Abbot    of    Crokestone 

attended  King  John  at,  17. 
Newcastle,     Duchess      of.     New 

Blazing  World,  81. 
Newgate  Street,  grant  of  land  on 

south  side  of,  11. 
Newington,  stall  of,  in  St.  Paul's, 

14.  ' 
Newton,    at    meeting    of   Royal 

Society,  136. 
Niall,  wood  belonging  to,  151. 
Nicholas,     wrote      on      Materia 

Medica,  50. 
Norfolk,  ravaged  by  King  John, 

17. 
Norfolk,  Duke  of,  72. 
Norman  Conquest,  6. 
Normans  in  London,  7. 
Northampton,   charter  witnessed 

at,  9. 
Northumbria,  kingdom  of,  6. 
Norwich  Cathedral,  9. 

O'Breslans,  the,  Hereditary 
keepers  of  the  bell  of  St. 
Connla  Gael,  142. 

O'Caiside,  the  hereditary  physi- 
cians of  MacUidhir,  147, 


INDEX 


199 


O'Caiside,  Finghin,  died  1322, 
Professor  of  Medicine,  147. 

O'Callauain,  Aonghus,  writer, 
145. 

O'Callanains,  the  hereditary- 
physicians  of  MacCarthy,  145. 

O'Cearnaigh,  Daibhi,  an  Irish 
scribe,  151. 

O'Clery,  Michael,  144. 

O'Dalaigh,  race  of  poets,  143. 

O'Donnell  family,  143. 

O'Eachoidhern,  Denis,  translation 
made  for,  145,  150. 

O'Glacan,  Nial,  Professor  of 
Medicine  at  Toulouse,  145 ; 
Tractatus  de  Peste,  145. 

O'Grady,  Standish  Hayes,  Cata- 
logue of  Irish  MSS.,  133,  145, 
152  ;  opinion  of  the  O'Liaigh 
MSS,  147. 

O'Hicidhe,  Nicholas,  writer,  145. 

O'Hicidhe,  Thomas,  wrote  a 
treatise  on  the  Calendar 
(Cotton,  Appendix  LIj,  147. 

Oilei,  Roger  de,  8. 

Oilley,  Nigel  de,  9. 

O'Liaigh,  hereditary  physicians 
in  Thomond,  147. 

O'Line,  Dermot  MacDonall,  trans- 
lation made  for,  144. 

O'Mailconaire,  Thomas,  levied 
rent  for  the  Earl  of  Kildare, 
147. 

Oribasius,  3. 

Ormerod,  Dr.  J.  A.,  69. 

Ormond,  Duke  of.  obtained  first 
charter  for  Irish  College  of 
physicians,  135. 

Otuel,  son  of  the  Earl,  10. 

Ovid,  48,  50. 

Oxfordshire,  Sheriff  of,  9. 

Padua,  79. 

Paget,  Sir  George,  181. 

Palestine,  Ranulf  of  Bisacia  ac- 
companies King  Richard  to,  13. 

Paman,  Dr.  Henry,  public  orator 
at  Cambridge,  84. 

Paracelsus,  lectures  at  Basle,  87. 

Paris,  79. 

Paris,  Matthew,  13, 14, 15, 16,  30. 

Parkinson,  the  botanist,  66. 

Patin,  Dr.  Guy,  a  staunch  Galenist, 
79. 


Paul's  Cathedral,  St.,  charters  at, 
9,  10,  29 ;  MS.  of  Avicenna  at, 
21 ;  orchard  held  of,  23 ;  Deans 
of,  7. 

Payne,  Dr.  J.  F.,4. 

Pembroke  College,  Oxford,  copy 
of  Mirf eld's  book  at,  31. 

Percy  vail,  Richard,  63. 

Peter,  St.,  ad  Vincula,  burial- 
place  of  Nicholas  de  Cusa,  54. 

Peter,  son  of  Nevelon,  sheriff  in, 
1191,  161. 

Peterborough,  Lord,  78. 

Petty,  Sir  William,  first  English 
political  economist.  Fellow  of 
College  of  Physicians,  135. 

Pharmacopoeia,  published  by  the 
College,  67. 

Philip  Augustus,  30. 

Philosopher,  the,  quotations  from, 
89. 

Philosophical  Transactions,!! ,  128, 
130,  137. 

Physicians,  mentioned  in  records, 
8 ;  education  of,  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  50;  Irish  pro- 
visions concerning,  141. 

Pinckay,  Mr.,  commissary  of  the 
royal  army,  1 14. 

Plague,  133,  134. 

Plague,  Mirfeld  on,  34. 

Platearius  (of  Salernum),  38,  48, 
50,  151. 

Pleshy,  remains  of  Castle  of,  10. 

Plummer,  pupil  of  Boerhaave,  154. 

Plutarch,  his  interest  in  medicine, 
43. 

Portsmouth,  Lady,  77. 

Printing,  55,  76. 

Ptolemy,  65. 

Pulse,  first  counted  by  Nicholas 
de  Cusa,  53. 

Purchas  his  Pilgrims,  81. 

Pyretologia,  by  Richard  Morton, 
120. 

Quatremares,  Ralph  de,  23. 
Queensbury  and  Dover,I)uke  of,  70. 
Quintus  Serenus  Samonicus,  28. 

Radcliffe,  understood  importance 
of  clinical  observation,  124. 

Rahere,  Founder  of  Hospital  and 
Priory  of  St.  Bartholomew,  26. 


200 


INDEX 


Raleigh,  History  of  the  World,  81. 
Ranulf,  the  chancellor,  9. 
Ranult,  Bishop  of  Durham,  8. 
Raper,  R.  W.,  his  gift,  41. 
Rawdon,  Sir   Arthur,    of  Moira, 

sent    Gardener    to    collect   in 

West  Indies,  132. 
Ray,   127 ;    consulted  by  Sloane 

on  arrangement    of    work   on 

Natural  History,  132. 
Reculver,  living  of,  29. 
Redvers,  Hugh  de,  10. 
Reeves,    Bishop,    owner    of   an 

O'HickeyMS.,147. 
Regimen  Sanitatis  Salertti,  44,  47. 
Reginald,  Dr.,  14. 
Reginald,  physician,  priest  of  St. 

Albans,  16, 
Reichenau,  monastery  of,  140. 
Reiner,  son  of  Berenger,  sheriff 

in  1156,  161. 
Relations  between  Hospital  and 

Priory  of  St.  Bartholomew,  26. 
Renaissance,  medicine  in  the,  55. 
Rhazes,  works  of,  in  Dover  Priory, 

20  ;    The  Continent  of,  48 ;  his 

writings,     50 ;     endeavour    to 

ascertain   origins    of   diseases, 

33;  quotations  from,  in  works 

of  Middle  Ages,  89. 
Rhys,  Professor,  41. 
Richard,  formerly  Archdeacon  of 

Poictiers,  13. 
Richard,  Bishop  of  London,  8. 
Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  12,  13. 
Richard,  son  of  Reiner,  sheriff  in 

1189,  161. 
Richardo  magistro,  IB. 
Riverius,   physician    to  king    of 

France,  95. 
Robert,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  8. 
Robert,  Earl  of  Essex,  63. 
Rochester,  79. 

Roger,  Bishop  of  Sarum,  8,  9. 
Roger  le  due,  sheriff  in  1189  a,nd 

1192,  161. 
Roger,  son  of  Alan,  second  mayor 

of  London,  161. 
Roger  of  Salernum,  48,  50. 
Rogerius  of  Parma,  151. 
Rohaisia,    wife    of   Geoffrey    de 

Mandeville,  11. 
Roll  of  the  Royal  College  of  Phy- 
sicians of  London,  8. 


Rome,  79. 

Romsey,  charter  witnessed  at,  9. 

Rosa  Anglica,  of  J.  of  Gaddesden, 
40. 

Roubiliac,  statue  by,  137. 

Round,  Mr,  J.  R., History  of  Geoffrey 
de  Mandeville,  11. 

Royal  Medical  and  Chirurgical 
Society,  copy  of  Goulston's 
work  in  Library,  184. 

Rufus,  20. 

Rutherford,  Dr.  John,  pupil  of 
Boerhaave  and  Douglas,  gave 
first  clinical  lectures  in  Edin- 
burgh, 1748,  154. 

St.  Albans,  Abbey  of,  15. 

Saladin,  13. 

Salisbury,  Bishop  of,  11,  161. 

Salisbury,  John  of,  48. 

Salisbury,  Lord,  Mayerne's  notes 
on,  106. 

Salters'  Hall,  on  site  of  house  of 
Henry  of  Londonstone,  161. 

Samian  ware,  4. 

Sancroft  (W.  Saner.),  Archbishop, 
47. 

Sancto  Egidio,  John  de  (John  of 
St.  Giles),  16 ;  studied  at  Ox- 
ford, Paris,  and  Montpellier, 
lived  in  Paris,  gave  Hospital  of 
St.  James  to  the  Dominicans, 
Doctor  of  Divinity,  became  a 
Dominican,  died  in  England, 
30-1. 

Scandinavian  encroachment  into 
Scotland,  152. 

Scoti,  ancient  name  of  inhabitants 
of  Ireland,  148. 

Scotland,  kings  of,  149 ;  queen 
of,  15. 

Scott,  Mr.  Edward,  133,  182. 

Sea  air,  formerly  considered  un- 
wholesome, 36. 

Seals  to  Richard  of  Poictier's 
charter,  13. 

'Senchus  Mor,'  Irish  laws  with 
commentaries,  140,  141,  142. 

Serapion,  48;  depicted  lecturing 
plant  in  hand,  52. 

Serapion,  one  of  the  Seven 
Sleepers  of  Ephesus,  37. 

Seven  Sleepers  of  Ephesus,  men- 
tion of  still  made  by  Arabs,  37. 


INDEX 


201 


Shaftesbury,  Lord,  120. 

Shandy,  Captain  Toby,  71. 

Shipley,  Mr.  A.,  80. 

Short,  Dr.  Thomas,  85,  86. 

Sidney  Sussex  College,  letter  of 
Harvey  preserved  in  Library, 
181. 

Sieveking,  Sir  Edward,  182. 

Sinclair,  pupil  of  Boerhaave,  154. 

Sinonima  of  Mirfeld,  29. 

Sittingbourne,  79. 

Sleaford,  Castle  of,  17. 

Sleat,  151. 

Sloane,  Sir  Hans,  2  ;  owned  many 
of  Mayerne's  papers.  111 ;  un- 
derstood importance  of  clinical 
observation,  124 ;  President  of 
College  of  Physicians,  130 ; 
President  of  the  Royal  Society, 
131;  Founder  of  British  Museum, 
ih. ;  studied  at  Paris,  Mont- 
pellier,  and  Orange,  ih. ;  visited 
W.  Indies,  ih. ;  works,  132 ; 
originator  of  British  Museum, 
ih. 

Smithfield,  St.  Bartholomew's 
Priory  in,  26. 

Somerset,  John,  21. 

Southwark,  St.  Thomas's  Hospi- 
tal formerly  in,  25. 

Standard-bearers,  8. 

Standards  of  England,  Hubert 
Walter  reforms,  12. 

Stearne,  Dr.  John,  one  of  the 
original  Fellows  of  Irish 
College  of  Physicians,  138. 

Stephen,  king,  9;  state  of  Eng- 
land in  reign  of,  11. 

Stokes,  Whitley,  140. 

Stronge,  Mr.  F.  W.,  135. 

Study  of  medicine,  best  prepara- 
tion for,  83. 

Styria,  80. 

Suetonius,  4. 

Suffolk,  ravaged  by  King  John,  17. 

Sussex,  kingdom  of,  6. 

Suthwelle,  Johannes  de,  45. 

Swammerdam,  the  zoologist,  81. 

Sweating  sickness,  Caius  on,  91. 

Swift,  1 ;  friendship  with  Dr. 
Richard  Helsham,  138. 

Swinestead,  Abbey  of,  17. 

Sydenham,  felt  importance  of 
observation,  84  ;  work  on  small- 


pox, 88  ;  degree  at  Oxford,  115  ; 
degree  at  Cambridge,  116; 
practised  in  London,  ih. ;  died 
1689,  ih.;  his  works,  118,  119; 
a  great  clinical  observer,  121  ; 
services  to  medicine  in  England, 
123 ;  studied  works  of  Ray,  127. 
Sylva,  Don  Vasco  de,  63. 

Tahidorum   Theatrum,  by  Benet, 

75. 
Tadhg    an  tsleibhe,     hereditary 

historian,  150. 
Tara,  'Temhair',  hearth  of,  146, 

148. 
Templar,  as  witness,  11. 
Terne,  Dr.  Christopher,  74. 
Terne,  Henrietta,  marries  Edward 

Browne,  75. 
Teutonic      encroachment      into 

Celtic  Scotland,  152. 
Thames,  5. 
Theophrastus,  65. 
Theriaca,  28. 
Thessaly,  80. 
Thomas  the  Apostle,  St.,  name  of 

Hospital  changed  to,  25. 
Thomas  the  Martyr,  St.,  hospital 

of,  25. 
Thomond,    old    name    for    part 

of    Munster,    now    Co.  Clare, 

146. 
Thorius,    Raphael,    poem,    110; 

MS.  of  his  Latin  poems,  134. 
Treatment  of  diseases  of  animals 

in  Middle  Ages,  36. 
Trinity  College,  Dublin,  1. 
Trismegistus,  19. 
Trousseau,  advance  of  knowledge 

of  epilepsy  in  his  day,  51. 
Tulpius,  Nicholas,  three  books  of 

observations,  123. 
Tyngewich,  Master  Nicholas,  28 ; 

lectures  of,  29. 
Tyriacum,   attributed  to  Mithri- 

dates,  28. 
Tyson,  Dr.   Edward,  portrait  in 

College,  130  ;  his  works,  ih. 

Ui  Hicidhe  or  O'Hickey,  heredi- 
tory  physicians,  149. 

—  Nicholas,  146. 

—  MS.  in  the  British  Museum, 
146. 


202 


INDEX 


Ulidia,  name  of  later  kingdom 

of  the  Ultu,  144. 
Ulltach,  Maurice,  144. 
UUtach,  Christopher,  144. 
Ulster,  plantation  of,  by  James  I, 

144. 
Ulster,  kings  of,  144. 

Valdes,  Don  Pedro  de,  63. 

Van    Swieten's   commentary  on 

Boerhaave,  155. 
Vandyke,  portraits  of  Henrietta 

Maria,  107. 
Veau,     Doctor    de,    godson    of 

Mayerne,  73. 
Venice,  79. 
Vienna,  80. 

Villa  Nova,  Arnaldus  de,  48. 
Virchow,     Professor,     Croonian 

lecture,  113. 
Virgil,  48. 
Vitry,  Jacobus  de,  Bishop  of  Acre, 

Historia  Occidentalis,  21. 

Walbrook,  5. 

WaldriCjChancellor  of  Henry  I,  8. 
Walter,  Hubert,  Dean  of  York, 

Bishop  of  Salisbury,  11,  161 ; 

Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  12. 
Walter,  son  of  Richard,  8. 
Walterus,  filius  Roberti,  7. 
Warburton,  Dr.,  76. 
Wards  of  the  City,  7. 
Webb,  Mr.  E.  A.,  29. 
Wendover,  Richard  of,  physician, 

Canon  of  St.  Paul's,  16. 
Wepfer,  John  James,  123. 
Werelwast,  William  de,  8. 
Wessex,  kingdom  of,  6. 
Westminster  Abbey,  land  held  of, 

23. 
Westminster,    charter  witnessed 

at,  9. 
Westminster  Street,  hospice  in,  8. 
Whytt,  Robert,  lecturer,  pupil  of 

Boerhaave,  154. 
Wilks,  Sir  S.,  writings  of,  93. 


William,  son  of  Adam,  15. 

William,  Dean  of  St  Paul's,  grant 
by,  10. 

William  III,  king,  Bmdy  refuses 
to  take  the  oath  to,  85. 

William,  physician  of  St.  Albans, 
15. 

Willis,  Thomas,  77  ;  writings  of, 
119;  Cerebri  Anatome,  123. 

Wincfeld,  land  at,  9. 

Winchester,  Richard  of  Poictiers, 
Bishop  of,  13. 

Windet,  Dr.,  poems  by,  75. 

Windsor,  grant  made  at,  8. 

Winterton,  Ralph,  edition  of 
Aphorisms  of  Hippocrates,  81. 

Witch  trial,  70. 

Wrangham,  relates  anecdote  of 
Bentley,  90. 

Wren,  5. 

Writers  on  medicine  in  Middle 
Ages,  89. 

Writing  introduced  into  Ireland 
from  Italy,  139. 

Woodstock,  charter  issued  at,  9. 

Worcester,  King  John's  body 
carried  to,  18. 

Wotton,  Edward,  Greek  lecturer 
at  Corpus  Christi  College, 
Oxford,  58;  President,  1541, 
57 ;  takes  M.D.  degree  at 
Padua,  58 ;  De  Differentiis 
Animalium,  ib. ;  studied  chiefly 
Greek,  89 ;  represents  the  kind 
of  knowledge  with  which  the 
College  of  Physicians  began, 
66. 

Wulstan,  St.,  18. 

York,  Hubert  Walter,  Dean  of,  12. 
Ysaac,  his  work  on  diet,  read  by 
Mirfeld,  50. 

Zoological  collection  in  St.  James's 

Park,  74. 
Zoological  studies,   influence   on 

medical,  128. 


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