Letter 0353

Posted on August 2, 2016 by -

William Courten (alias Charleton) to Hans Sloane – July 12, 1690


Item info

Date: July 12, 1690
Author: William Courten (alias Charleton)
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4036
Folio: f. 89


Original Page


Transcription

[fol. 89] Middle Temple July ye 12th 1690 Sr. I humbly thanke you for yo’r kind vissit and I am verry glad to heare by yo’r letter which I rece’d this afternoon that you are got safe to Newhall, yo’r kind & ample directions I shall often peruse & put in practise as occasion requires, I thanke God I am at present in a better state of health then when you went out of towne & as as yet I have not ventured to eat flesh but to morrow if I am not feaverish I intend to eat a little chicken broath I cannot expresse how great a sence I have of yo’r reall freindshp [sic] towards me for which I must owne my self for ever obliged to you, that am Sr. Entirely at yor devotion Wm Charleton

William Courten, alias Charleton (1642-1702) was a naturalist and collector. He may have adopted the name Charleton to avoid creditors. Courten befriended Hans Sloane and Tancred Robinson while studying at Montpellier and was well acquainted with other physicians and scientists including Martin LIster and Leonard Plukenet. After his death Courten’s collection came into the hands of Sloane and the latter authored Courten’s epitaph (B. D. Jackson, ‘Courten , William (1642–1702)’, rev. A. J. Turner, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6447, accessed 22 July 2014]).



Patient Details

  • Patient info
    Name: N/A William Courten (alias Charleton)
    Gender:
    Age:
  • Description
  • Diagnosis

    The patient has been feverish for a long while.

  • Treatment
    Previous Treatment:
    Ongoing Treatment:

    Refraining from eating any sort of flesh.


    Response:

    Sloane's (unspecified) ministrations from an earlier visit has Courten feeling better; to the point where he believes he may eat chicken tomorrow.

  • More information
  • Medical problem reference
    Fevers