Letter 0382

Posted on August 2, 2016 by -

John Ray to Hans Sloane – August 16, 1693


Item info

Date: August 16, 1693
Author: John Ray
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4036
Folio: f. 155


Original Page


Transcription

Ray was glad to read Sloane’s account of Jamaican birds, which he would reference in his Synopses. His book is ‘ready for the press’. He does not believe his work will be of use to those familiar with ‘Mr Willughbyes Ornithology & Ichthyology’. This letter was supposed to have been arrived earlier, but the postman failed to deliver it. Ray was a theologian and naturalist who collected and catalogued his botanical findings in the much lauded Historia plantarum (1686, 1688) (Scott Mandelbrote, Ray , John (16271705), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2005 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23203, accessed 18 June 2013]).



Patient Details

  • Patient info
    Name: N/A John Ray
    Gender:
    Age:66-67 years of age.
  • Description
  • Diagnosis

    Painful ulcers on the patient's legs and in his stomach.

  • Treatment
    Previous Treatment:

    Ray took sassafras and 'shavings of Hartshorn' during the summer.


    Ongoing Treatment:

    Ray is taking mercury, Calomelanos (in 10 gram doses) and moderate purges. Plasters are being applied to his legs.


    Response:

    The mercury and other treatments are proving unsuccessful. Ray claims they do little but give him sweats and keep him from sleeping. The combination of plasters with the mercury only serves to aggravate the pain.

  • More information
  • Medical problem reference
    Injuries (includes wounds, sores, bruises), Sleep, Ulcerous legs, Skin ailments, Age, Pain, Stomach