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The Tale of Jane Wenham: an Eighteenth-century Hertfordshire Witch?

Posted on October 30, 2014 by - Early Modern History, Gender History, Religion

The Story

F. Goya, Three witches or Fates spinning, with bodies of babies tied behind them.
Credit: Wellcome Library, London.

The tale of Jane Wenham, found guilty of witchcraft in 1712, begins as all early modern witch stories do: with a suspicion.[1] A local farmer, John Chapman had long attributed the strange deaths of local cattle and horses to Wenham’s witchcraft, although he could not prove it. It was not until 1712 that he became sure of her guilt.

On New Year’s Day, Chapman’s servant, Matthew Gilston, was carrying straw outside the barn when Wenham appeared and asked for a pennyworth of straw. Gilston refused and Wenham left, saying “she’d take it”. As Gilston was threshing in the barn on 29 January, “an Old Woman in a Riding-hood or Cloak, he knows not which” asked for a pennyworth of straw. The old woman left muttering at his refusal and Matthew suddenly felt compelled to run to a farm three miles away, where he asked the farmers for some straw. Being refused, “he went farther to some Dung-heaps, and took some Straw from thence”, then took off his shirt and carried the straw home in it.

This was enough evidence for Chapman who “in Heat of Anger call’d [Wenham] a Witch and Bitch”. On 9 February, Wenham went to the local magistrate Sir Henry Chauncy for a warrant for slander, “expecting not only to get something out of [Chapman], but to deter other People from calling her so any more”. Now that the suspicion was in the open, Wenham could try to put the rumours to rest.

Chauncy, however, had “enquired after her Character, and heard a very ill one of her”. He referred the case to the local minister, Rev. Mr. Gardiner on 11 February, who advised them to live peaceably together and ordered Chapman to pay a shilling. Wenham thought this was inadequate; “her Anger was greatly kindled” against the minister and she swore that “if she could not have Justice here, she would have it elsewhere”.

Francis Bragge, another clergyman, stopped by just as Wenham was leaving. Within the hour, the Gardiners’ maidservant Anne Thorn, aged about 17, seemed to become the focus of Wenham’s wrath. The Gardiners and Bragge rushed into the kitchen when they heard a strange noise. There, Thorn was “stript to her Shirt-sleeves, howling, and wringing her Hands in a dismal Manner, and speechless”. She “pointed earnestly to a bundle which lay at her Feet”, which turned out to be oak twigs and leaves wrapped in her gown and apron.

Finally able to speak, Thorn said that “she found a strange Roaming in her Head, (I use her own Expressions,) her Mind run upon Jane Wenham, and she thought she must run some whither; that accordingly she ran up the Close, but look’d back several Times at the House, thinking she should never see it more”. Thorn claimed that she spoke to Wenham, then returned home–all within seven minutes, which meant that she had run over eight miles an hour. This was all the more impressive since she had injured her knee badly the night before. What might have been a wild fancy was verified by two witnesses: John Chapman and Daniel Chapman.

This was only the beginning of Thorn’s torments. The next day, Wenham asked why Thorn lied and warned her: “if you tell any more such Stories of me, it shall be worse for you than it has been yet, and shov’d her with her Hand”. And so she did suffer fron convulsions and pain, compulsions to collect more sticks or to submerge herself in the river, an ability to move quickly despite her injured knee, and a violent desire to draw the witch’s blood.

Wenham claimed that the Devil had come to her in the form of a cat. Here, Beelzebub – portrayed with rabbit ears, a tiger’s face, scaled body, clawed fingers and bird’s legs. (Compendium rarissimum totius Artis Magicae, 1775.) Credit: Wellcome Library, London. 

Wenham was arrested for witchcraft on 13 February. Four women searched Wenham’s body for witch’s teats or other Devil’s marks, but none were found. A local minister, Mr. Strutt, tried to get her to say the Lord’s Prayer, which she could not do. On 16 February, in the presence of Wenham’s cousin, Strutt and Gardiner took Wenham’s confession. She admitted to bewitching Anne and to entering into a pact with the Devil sixteen years previously, just before her husband’s death.

The trial by jury began on 4 March, presided over by Sir John Powell. Several neighbours gave evidence, blaming the deaths of two bewitched infants and various cattle on her. Some mentioned strange visitations by noisy cats, including one with Wenham’s face. Many described Thorn’s continued convulsions, her pinch marks and bruises from invisible sources, and strange cakes of feathers in Thorn’s pillows. The judge was sceptical throughout. For example, he “wish’d he could see an Enchanted Feather; and seem’d to wonder that none of these strange Cakes were preserv’d”. The jury deliberated for two hours before finding Wenham guilty and sentencing her to death. Justice Powell, however, reversed the death sentence and later obtained a royal pardon for Wenham.

The Pamphlet War

F.Goya, The Sleep of Reason produces monsters.
Credit: Wellcome Library, London.

In April 1712, Francis Hutchinson wrote to Hans Sloane about the trial, which he had attended. The case was a cause cĂŠlèbre in England, dividing the educated elite along the lines of rationalism and superstition. On the one side were clergymen such as Bragge, who wrote A full and impartial account of the discovery of sorcery and witchcraft, practis’d by Jane Wenham of Walkerne in Hertfordshire (1712). On the other side were those like Hutchinson, a curate of St. James’s Church in Bury St. Edmunds, who was troubled by the excess of superstition that he had witnessed. Although he shared “some historical Collections and Observations” with Sloane on the subject of witchcraft as early as 1712, it was not until 1718 that Hutchinson published An historical essay concerning witchcraft. Why the delay?

Janet Warner of the Walkern History Society suggests that Hutchinson may have been worried about damaging his own reputation, but I think that the clue is in Hutchinson’s foreword, which he addressed to Sir Peter King, the Lord Chief Justice of Common Pleas, and Sir Thomas Bury, Lord Chief Baron of Exchequer. Hutchinson claimed that he would have continued his historical observations in obscurity “if a new Book [by Richard Boulton], which very likely may do some Mischief, had not lately come forth in Two Volumes, under the pompous Title of A Compleat History of Magick, Sorcery, and Witchcraft, &c.”

Hutchinson feared the public reaction to the book, which promoted the belief in magic and witches. As if people needed more encouragement: Bragge’s Full and impartial account, for example, had gone to four editons within the first month! Such beliefs were dangerous, and not just as a habit of thought, as the events in Walkern had shown. To Hutchinson, the clergymen involved in the Wenham case had behaved irresponsibly, being “as deep in these Notions, even as Hopkins [witchfinder] himself, that hang’d Witches by Dozens”. Instead of preventing superstition from spreading, as Hutchinson intended to do, they had taken a leading role in encouraging it.

Afterword

It was obvious that Wenham could no longer remain in Walkern, given the town’s insistence that she was guilty. Captain John Plummer was described by Hutchinson as a “sensible man” for taking Wenham under his protection—“that she might not afterward be torn to peeces”. Wenham lived there “soberly and inoffensively” until 1720 when Plummer died. She lived another ten years under the care of William Cowper, the 1st Earl of Cowper, dying at the age of 90.[2]

 

[1] This account is taken from Francis Bragge, A full and impartial account of the discovery of sorcery and witchcraft, practis’d by Jane Wenham of Walkerne in Hertfordshire, upon the Bodies of Anne Thorn, Anne Street, &c. (1712). (Yes, this is the same Francis Bragge who gave testimony in the case!)

[2] Both men were also correspondents of Hans Sloane’s.

Bethlem Bed Shortages in the Eighteenth Century

Posted on June 4, 2014 by - Caregiving, Early Modern History, Hans Sloane, History of Medicine

I just read an excellent post by Jennifer Evans (@historianjen) over at earlymodernmedicine on a sad case of madness from Hans Sloane’s correspondence. Go read the post in full, but to sum it up: over several months in 1714, the Earl of Derby was attempting to care for John Getting, who was in clearly declining mental health. The Earl wondered about the possibility of committing Getting to Bethlem, as the case had become too difficult to manage. Although the outcome can’t be traced, Evans wonders if Getting was admitted to Bethlem Hospital (also known as Bethlehem or Bedlam).

Maybe. Getting doesn’t appear in the letters again–but being admitted to Bethlem was not easy, nor did it provide long-term care.

We regularly complain about hospital bed shortages, but the situation was even more complicated in the eighteenth century! Mental health care primarily occurred in the home, although Bethlem Hospital and private care were an option for more difficult cases. There were few charitable hospitals overall and a chronic shortage of space. The early eighteenth-century Bethlem, for example, had only just over 100 places.[1] (The population of London in 1715 was around 630,000, but to make matters more complicated, Bethlem patients like Getting might come from outside of London.)

The Hospital of Bethlem [Bedlam] at Moorfields, London: seen from the south, with three people in the foreground. Etching by J. T. Smith after himself, 1814. Image Credit: Wellcome Library, London.

The Hospital of Bethlem [Bedlam] at Moorfields, London: seen from the south, with three people in the foreground. Etching by J. T. Smith after himself, 1814. Image Credit: Wellcome Library, London.

Bethlem was able to remain a charitable hospital largely through its fundraising: it doubled as a tourist attraction for rich and poor alike, with visitors expected to leave donations. Frenchman Cesar de Saussure, for example, described his tour of Bethlem. On the first floor, visitors could look in the little windows of cells at “these poor creatures” or, in the big gallery, pass by the “many inoffensive madmen” allowed to walk around. Cells on the second floor held “dangerous maniacs, most of them being chained and terrible to behold”. The building may have been grand, but it was a “melancholy abode”.

Patients being assessed could stay at Bethlem, but that did not always result in admission, as this fascinating case from Bethlem Blog suggests. Admission into most early eighteenth-century English hospitals was granted through patronage or—in the case of the Foundling Hospital (founded 1741)—by lottery. As a physician for Christ’s Hospital (1694-1730) and on the Board of Governors for St. Bartholomew’s, Sloane was frequently asked for assistance in obtaining admission for patients. But as the post on Getting reveals, admission to Bethlem could be helped by a charitable donation—and, perhaps, the assistance of important patrons like Sloane and Derby.

Another case from the Sloane correspondence, however, suggests the difficulty of finding long-term care for those in dire need. Ambrose Godfrey, a chemist well-known to Sloane for his analysis of the properties of stones and waters, wrote a distressed letter to Sloane in July 1724 on behalf of Mr. Steiger (an engraver).

Godfrey had known Mrs. Steiger and her brother well for nearly forty years, but the brother “had lost his understanding” and the family hoped to have him admitted to Bethlem. The Bethlem physician, however, “refuses it, alledging that there is no roome”. Godfrey hoped that a letter from Sloane might help. The situation was, indeed, dire.

He has been already been ones before in Bedlem & was sent out as cured. But being now as bad as ever & Threatning to stab them, haveing done already very dangerous things, it would be great charity good S’r if you could be instrumentall to get him in again, the dangerous prancks he has played will else be the ruin of my friend who has already the Burthen & care of 3 of this mad mans children upon his back.

It’s clear that in helping the Steiger family, Godfrey was asking Sloane for a very personal favour: “I am deeply concerned for them”, he wrote, and “it would be as much satisfaction to me see their request fulefilled, as if they ware relations of my own”. In the event that personal recommendation was insufficient, Godfrey also pointed out the brother’s good reputation. He had “ben a man of much credit & served all the offices in ye parish of Gracion’s street”.

Statues of "raving" and "melancholy" madness, each reclining on one half of a broken segmental pediment, formerly crowning the gates at Bethlem [Bedlam] Hospital. Engraving by C. Warren, 1808, after C. Cibber, 1680. Image Credit: Wellcome Library, London.

Statues of “raving” and “melancholy” madness, each reclining on one half of a broken segmental pediment, formerly crowning the gates at Bethlem [Bedlam] Hospital. Engraving by C. Warren, 1808, after C. Cibber, 1680. Image Credit: Wellcome Library, London.

So why the stickiness over admissions and the insistence in discharging an obviously ill patient? A charitable hospital like Bethlem needed to show that it was successful in curing people in order to attract patronage. To that end, according to Bethlem Blog, those patients accepted into Bethlem were most likely to be easily treatable within a year or two. It was not until the late 1720s that Bethlem opened an “incurable” ward—and that was only available to patients already in the hospital. After a year of treatment and assessment, severely ill patients might be transferred to the ward.

Might. The waiting list to enter the ward was long.

It’s hard to say what happened to either Getting or Mrs. Steiger’s brother, but their sad cases predated the incurable ward. At best, if the men were admitted to Bethlem, the Steiger family and Earl of Derby might have had a couple years respite; in the brother’s case, this might even have coincided with the opening of the new ward. At worst? Well, the Earl had the inclination, money and assistance to continue helping Getting. As for the Steiger family, however, I dread to think. Mrs Steiger’s brother was a danger to the family: the costs of caregiving for a family could be high, indeed.

[1] Christine Stevenson, “Robert Hooke’s Bethlem”, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 55, 3 (1996): 254–275.

Letter 1214

Posted on August 2, 2016 by -

William Derham to Hans Sloane – October 26, 1708


Item info

Date: October 26, 1708
Author: William Derham
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4041
Folio: ff. 235-236


Original Page


Transcription

[fol. 235r]
Upminster Oct: 26. 1708.

Sr

I recd some time since a Letter from Maghrafelt in the North of
Ireland, from a very intelligent person ^there^, & great well-wisher to our R. So-
ciety, one Mr Neve: who out of his own good will had collected some of ye
Lough-Neagh Petrifications, pieces of the Giants-Causeway, & other curiosi-
ties, & sent them, he tells me, as far as Bristol: but hearing the So-
ciety had of them already in their Repository, he took no further care of them.

He hath sent me divers particulars relating to Lough-Neagh; which I
give you no account of at present, because there is nothing but what
is in effect in Mr W. Molyneaux’s, & Mr Ed. Smiths accounts, already
published in the Transactions. But there are some other matters related
by him, that I believe will not be unacceptable.

He tells me, that on Oct. 7. 1706 after a very Rainy day, &
Southerly Wind, there happened a prodigious Flood (the like not in the me-
mory of man) which broke down several Bridges, & the sides of some
of the Mountains in that part of Ireland. That it came running
down in vast Torrents from some of the Mountains, & drowned a-
bundance of Black-Cattle & Sheep, spoiled a great deal of Corn and
Hay in the Stacks, that it laid abundance of Houses 2 or 3 feet
deep in water, and broke down several of the Forge and Mill-Dams.
Also on July 3. 1707 they had another Flood, which came so suddain-
ly from the Mountains, as if there had been some suddain Eruption of the
water. And also on the 26th of the same month, in the county of An-
trim, there was a very suddain & surprizing Flood, which raised the
Six-Mile-River ^(so called)^ at that rate, that it broke down two strong Stone
Bridges, & three Houses, & carried away 600 pieces of Linnen-Cloth, that
lay a Bleaching, filled many Houses several feet deep with water
tore down some large Rocks in it’s passage, & left several Meadows
covered a foot or two deep with sand. That they in the South East part of the
County of Derry had that day but little Rain with some Thunder: but be-
yond the Mountains, in the North West part of the County, he River Roe had a great
Flood.

Another thing he gives me an account of, is of some monstrous Birth
viz. That an Alderman of the City of Derry told him That a Cow in the
year 1706 had, within a mile of that City, calved six Calves, then all dead.
That the Barrack-Master told him Dec. 6. 1706 of a Monstrous humane
Birth ^which the Barrack Master saith he himself saw^ in London-Derry, viz With two Heads, 4 arms, and but one Body
at the Navel. That it was of both Sexes, Female on the Right side; Male
on the left. That the Right hand of the Male was behind the Females
Back, and the Left hand of the Female behind the Males back, hold-
ing each other, as in Loving-manner. This Child, or Children were born
alive, but lived but a little while. My Friend was informed that
this monstrous Birth was dissected by the Mayor of Derry (his acquain-
tance) and (if it would be any service or satisfaction to the Society) he
 

Sloane MS 4041, f. 235v


[fol. 235v]
told me he could easily procure a full account of his Observations.
The last curiosity he gives me an account of is as I imagine
that which some call the Northern Streaming, which I do not re-
member the Society had ever any accounts of; and this being (I
must confess) one of the best ^most particular^ accounts I ever, & very met with
of it, and very consentaneous to such another appearance in the Hea-
vens, which my ingenious Neighbour & Friend Mr Barret (of the
Society) was credibly informed of, was seen in his neighbourhood
in Sep: or Oct: 1706, I say that ^Mr Neves^ account being so particular, will I hope
be very acceptable to the Society. ^It is thus^ “On Sunday Nov: 16 1707 after a
“Frosty morning, and Fair still Day, Wind NorthWesterly, about half an
“hour after eight in the evening, there appeared a very strang
“Light in the North. The Evening was clear and Starlight, only
“the Horizon was darkened with condensed Vapours in the North,
“reaching I guess 10 or 15 degrees above the Horizon. Out of this
“Cloud proceeded several Streams or Rays of Light, like the
“Tails of some Comets, broad below, and ending in Points above.
“Some of them extended almost to the Tail of Ursa Minor, and
“all were nearly perpendicular to the Horizon, and it was as bright
“as if the Full Moon had been Rising in the Cloud. But what I won-
“dered at most, was the Motion of the dark and lighter parts run-
“ning strangly through one another in a moment; sometimes to the
“East, and sometimes to the West. It continued, after I first saw it, about
“a Quarter of an Hour, often changing it’s Face and Appearance,
“as to Form and Light; sometimes broken, sometimes entire and
“long Rays of Light in the clear Sky, quite separate from, and
“above the Cloud, and none below in the Cloud.
Not having room in this page in the next you have my observa-
tions of the late Eclipses of the Sun & Moon.

I am Sir with greatest respect both
Yours & the Societies much obliged humble servant
Wm Derham

To prevent mistakes I think I think
it necessary to observe that this Light
which Mr Neve saw is very different
from that like the Tail of a Comet,
which hath been seen in the Constellation of Taurus, or near it; which I
happened to see in 1706. the Figure whereof is published in the Trans:
Number 305 & A which some are pleased to call the Aurora Borealis. Which
name in my opinion would better befit this Lumen Boreali, which is seldom, if
ever seen out of the North.
 

Sl MS 4041, f. 236r


[Fol. 236r]

The Eclipse of the Sun on Sept: 3 in the morning at Upminster

The beginning of the Eclipse we could not see for Clouds
6h.44.15 The Sun peeped out of the Clouds, & I judged by my Eye that about
one Tenth of a Digit was Eclipsed
Then Clouds nearly all the time of the Eclipse. But at
8.31.15 A little obscuration appeared through the Telescope.
8.32.45 A very little obscuration, through the Telescope.
Then Clouds and at
8.35.45 We could discern no remains of the Eclipse through the Telescope.
From these Observations I imagine the End of this Solar Eclipse,
Was much about 8h 33l in the morning.
The Eclipse of the Moon Sep: 18 in the Evening at Upminster
As I was that evening coming from London, I observed for half an
hour, or more, a thin shade to possess that part of the Disk where the E-
clipse began, which remained a good while after the Eclipse was over.
After I got home, I made a shift to mount Telescopes, & get all things
in readiness before the Eclipse began. And the principal Observations I made
thereof were these following.
7h 56 30 A thin Penumbra.
7 57 40 A darker penumbra.
7 59 00 Yet darker, which may pass for the Beginning of the Eclipse.
8 00 00 The Eclipse no doubt begun.
9 1 00 The Lucid parts of the Moon, not long before the Middle of the E-
clipse, were 925 parts of my Micrometer.
9 16 40 Diameter of the Moon 1634 parts of the Micrometer.
10 23 11 The End of the Eclipse draws nigh.
10 25 0 A little obscuration.
10 26 0 Less.
10 28 15 A very little, excepting the Duskishness befor mentioned.

Derham was a Church of England clergyman and a natural philosopher, interested in nature, mathematics, and philosophy. He frequently requested medical advice from Sloane, and likely served as a physician to his family and parishioners (Marja Smolenaars, “Derham, William (1657-1735)”, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7528, accessed 7 June 2011]).

There is the remnant of a red seal on the external part of the letter (fol. 236v].

Sloane MS 4041, f. 236 v



Patient Details

Letter 1127

Posted on August 2, 2016 by -

William Derham to Hans Sloane – April 7, 1707


Item info

Date: April 7, 1707
Author: William Derham
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4040
Folio: ff. 334-335


Original Page


Transcription

[fol. 334] Sr Upminster Apr 7 1707 The Afternoon of Thursday Apr: 3 last I devoted in some measure to the service of the R. Society, to take Angles in order to finish my Observations about Sounds. And as I was returning hence, I perceived in the Western past of the Heavens, about a quarter of an hour after Sun- set, a long slender Pyramidal Appearance, perpendi- cular to the Horizon. The Base of this Pyramid I judged to be doubtless the Sun (then below the Horizon.) Its Apex reached 15 or 20gr above the Horizon. Wh It was through out of a rusty red colour; & when I first saw it, pretty vivid & strong; but the top-part fainter much than the bottom, nearer the Horizon. The At what time this Appea rance began, whether at, or how soon after Sun-set, I cannot say, being at that time in a ffriends house. But about a quarter of an hour after Sun-set, as soon as I was gotten abroad, I perceived it, I had for some time a fair prospect of it, the Horizon being pretty free & open where I then was. But after a while, it grew by de- grees weaker & weaker, so yt in about a quarter of an hour after I first saw it, the top-part (a.b.d. in the inclosed Figure 1) was scarce visible But the lower part remained vivid much longer, but yet grew by degrees Shorter & Shorter. I saw the Remaines of the lower half (b.d.e.f) a full hour after Sun-set; and should perhaps have seen it longer, had the Horizon been open. But it was often in my walk pent up wth trees, wch not only obstructed my sight of the end of this unusual Appearance, but also hindered me from an exquisite obser- vation of all the particulars yt might probably occur. The whole Atmosphere seemed hazy, & full of Vapours, especially towards the Sun-set. The Moon & Stars were yt evening bearded at yt time, & succeeded wth an Halo about ye Moon afterwards. Which disposition of the Air was pro- bably the cause of the Phenomenon. But the Pyramis was undoubtedly imprinted upon the far distant Vapours of the Atmosphere: it being manifestly farther off, or lying beyond some small thin Clouds (c.l:c.l.) that intercepted it and in those parts covered & hit it. Although I have the greatest part of my life been ready enough to take notice of such Appearance, yet I do not remem- ber I ever saw any thing like it, except the white pyrami- dal Glade, or wch is not entituled by ye name of the Aurora Borealis. And it being (except in Colour & Length) so like I have thought it worth your cognizance; & if you think of our most illustrations of famous Society also, because it may perchance in some measure conduce to the solution of that odd Phenomenon, the Aurora Borealis I was just going to give you some of my Observations about the migration of Birds this Year, wch make me hope that that subject is within the reach of the R. Society to discover. But being prevented, I have not time just now, but shall reserve it for a more convenient oppor- tunity when I have more leisure. I therefore desire yt what I now send may be an acceptable testimony of my great respects for you, & the Society, & that I am Sr Your much obliged & humble servant Wm Derham I forgot I tell you that I have searched every night since, for this Pyramis Vespertina, but have not seen any such appearance, although the next evening was hazy & likely. I also looked out to see whether the Aurora Borealis would succeed in the room thereof, but discovered no such thing.

Derham was a Church of England clergyman and a natural philosopher, interested in nature, mathematics, and philosophy. He frequently requested medical advice from Sloane, and likely served as a physician to his family and parishioners (Marja Smolenaars, “Derham, William (1657-1735)”, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7528, accessed 7 June 2011]).



Patient Details

About the Correspondence

Posted on December 1, 2015 by -

The Source

In many ways, the project’s name–The Sloane Letters Project–highlights the nature of the source. This is not a project about Sir Hans Sloane and his close circle; it is about the letters that other people from a wide range of groups wrote to him. Making the correspondence searchable beyond the authors of letters allows us to find specific topics, or people (women, the non-elite, and non-Europeans) who would otherwise be invisible.

 

The Letters

The Sloane correspondence is a rich source for researchers, providing insight into several aspects of the past such as: family history, medical treatments, illness experiences, doctor-patient relationships, family history, patronage, libraries, postal and shipping history, collections, or scientific networks. Although the letters primarily come from well-to-do literate people, the social status of correspondents was wide ranging, including lower-ranking medical practitioners, lower-class curiosity salesmen, and petitioners for charity.

Notably, the letters are often a mix of topics. For example, one letter might very well discuss a meeting of the Royal Society, the process of collecting, and a medical issue! Some letters have multiple authors, or were forwarded to Sloane through several hands, while medical letters might even ask for advice on several cases at once. This means that individual letters will often appear under multiple categories, listing several people, and have many layers of description.

The collection is vast, comprised of thirty-eight volumes of approximately 350 folios each, with authors writing from across the world–the British Isles to China–on a range of scientific, scholarly and medical matters. Sloane, as Secretary and later President of the Royal Society, was at the heart of the scientific world, while his patients came from the highest levels of society. He was, after all, a Royal Physician and, from 1719 to 1735, the President of the Royal College of Physicians. Although Sloane kept most of the letters written to him, he preserved few of his own draft letters. Even so, Sloane can be found through his hastily scrawled Latin prescriptions on patients’ letters or through letter-writers’ references to their encounters with Sloane and his family.

 

The Collection

The Sloane MSS 4036-4069 and 4075-4078 (British Library, London) contain Sloane’s correspondence, ca. 1680-1745. MSS 4036-4069 are largely scientific and occasional medical letters, while MSS 4075-4078 are only medical letters. The first thirty-four volumes are organised by date and alphabetically, while the medical letters are organised alphabetically.

There have been some previous attempts to index the letters, but only by author. The main finding aid is E.J.L. Scott, Index to the Sloane Manuscripts in the British Museum (London, 1904, reprinted 1971). Scott indexed over 4000 volumes of Sloane Manuscripts according to class headings ranging from art and astronomy to theology and zoology, but (unsurprisingly) Scott did not index the contents of individual letters. He did, however, also provide short descriptions of authors where possible. Although Adam Matthew Publications provides a listing by correspondent or MSS 4036-4069 and the British Library has a search function for the index records of each manuscript, such searches are most helpful when a researcher knows a specific author’s name. They are not helpful when a researcher is looking for a particular topic or other people mentioned.

The Sloane Letters database at this site allows researchers to search several volumes in more powerful and useful ways. The database can be searched by names, terms, places or even sex (for example) and will bring up any related references. At present, the following Sloane MSS are available for searching: 4036-4053 and 4075. The database also contains letters from each of the following: Sloane MSS 4054-4055, 4066, 4068-4069 and 4076. Several entries also include transcriptions. Further entries and transcriptions are being made available gradually.

 

 

 

Letter 2459

Posted on August 2, 2016 by -

Richard Richardson to Hans Sloane – March 3, 1720/21


Item info

Date: March 3, 1720/21
Author: Richard Richardson
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4046
Folio: ff. 70-71


Original Page


Transcription

[fol. 70] Hon:d Sir Your extensive knowledge in Naturell History induces be to beleive that the least part of it has not escaped your Curiouse inquiry which putts one upon taking the freedome to kind you a small Collection of mosses & wish you as much pleasure in perusing thm as I had in collecting them; there are not many of the Common ones unles such as are rarely met with instead. The sevear Frosts for six weeks by past have intirely spoyld all prospect of Spring Moss Croping so that looking the small number over which I collected last spring I have sent you the best Collection I can at present make out, which I desire when you have a leasure sooner to last […]merable lye upon till I can send you a letter, which I hope to do if I live to see an other season. My old friend the Consul when he favoured me with his company at his place was the first who put me upon this inquiry which was [?] much better there I [?] considering they have been mostly discoverd in the [?] of three miles from this place a few from Craven & Lancashire excepted & I doubt not but as great a member has been past [?] om the same compass. I know your stone is very valluable to you, & at present being confined to my [?] by a gentle fitt of the [?] have more leasure time upon my hands then usuall to serve my friends in some past particulars, therefore have fixed the mosses upon papers I sent you & added to as many of them as I think Mr Ray has observed his names at length & some few of Mr Bobarts & the rest which I think are not mentiond by any one I have added names of my own I find Signieur Micheli of Florence proposes to print his 50 nova plantaru genera in 30 copper plates wherein he assures us we shall have of Lichenes museo Fungi & musei to the number of 350 which if he performe without multiplying species (as most have don already who have wrote upon this subject) he wil discover more by sea then all have don before him Italy no doubt affords a vast number of Fungi which are strangers to us & are more peculiare to hot Countrys mosses seem to delight in places more remout from the Sun the small inquirys I have made nigh home without the least assistance almost assures me that if our country of [?] was diligently searched it would alone afford more mosses then all Italy. High mountains shady woods & deep Cloughs which the Sun scarce affects in sumer are the most promising places for discoverys of this kind. I have added to them a specimen or two of Alsine latifolia montana flore laciniato CBP which I have found nigh this place in abundance, which Mr. Ray has not noted to be of the growth of our Island & assure a specimen or two of a very beautyfull Capillary which I lately found on some shady moyst rocks not far of in my searches for mosses which I take to be [?]. the mosses are sent by John Hall a Bradford Carier who Inns at the White Horse nigh Cripplegate & wil be in London on Wednesday night. they are packt up betwixt two Boards & directed for you. [fol. 70v] I am very much obliged to you for your last kind letter I had returnd my thanks for it sooner but was very desirouse to add my mite to your most compleat [?] nothing in this world could have been a more agreeable entertainment to me then a through viewe of it, which I hope still one time or other to be so happy as to see. I wish at your leasure you would let me know what Birds Eggs you want which are to be met with in the North & I wil endeavoure to serve you. I have formerly sent some to Mr Dandridge John Scheuchzers Books are come to me in the time of my confinement, (viz) Specimen Agrestographia his Agrestographie [?] & his Agrestographia, I generally have an account from some of my friends when any Books in Nat: Hist: come out of moment & I generally procure the[m], there are some of the old ons that I have not hither to been able to meet with some of German works (viz of his small treatesses) Wagner’s Historia Naturalis Helvetia Schwenekfeltis Cat. Thorpin et fossilin Helvetia Fabÿ Columna phytobasanos, Tregi Historia Cameraro[…] Epitomen [?] with some few more. Looking over part of the Consuls Collection of plants when I was last at London I tould him that I hoped shortly to see his pinax appear abroad he tould me he still labourd at it & had advanced prety far towards it but that without the assistance of one of his Freinds he should scarce be able to compleat it & that it was assured no foreigner could ever pretend to do it. I imediatly askt him who it was, he told me without the perusall of Dr pluquenets & petivers Collections of plants which were mow in your hands he could not be able to go through with it, & that since these Collections were reduced into no method & most of them without names, he could not reduce them to Classes nor adjust theire Synoymas unles he had the Collection by him. I know we have no person in England capable of such an undertaking except your selfe & the Consul. & since your time is much more advantagiously employd for the good of mankind I flatter my selfe that you who we all own to be the great patron of that Learning wil be ready to promoat a Worke of so much use to Botany & so much to the glory of our English Nation; if you think it reasonable to have them out of your Custody, you may be assured they wil be in such hands that you may have them returned upon the least notice; this freedome I take to acquaint you with what past & to name it to you though unknown to him & heartily wish that he may have no pretence to decline the Worke he has labourd at for so many years by part. by this time I may reasonably beleive I have wearied out a good share of your patience & that for the future you wil not desire such tediouse [?]. but be assured that it is the result of my due respect to you upon account of the freedome which you have always alowed your much obliged & obed: servant Ric: Richardson North Bierley mar. 3d 1720

Richardson was a physician and botanist who traveled widely in England, Wales, and Scotland in search of rare specimens. He corresponded and exchanged plants with many well-known botanists and naturalists (W. P. Courtney, Richardson, Richard (16631741), rev. Peter Davis, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2010 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23576, accessed 31 May 2011]).



Patient Details

A Welsh Doctor, Sir Hans Sloane, and the disappearing catheter

Posted on November 14, 2013 by - Hans Sloane, History of Medicine, Patients, Remedies, Surgery

By Alun Withey

Editor’s note: Alun would like to warn all readers that this post contains some graphic description of a particularly uncomfortable surgical technique…

Woodcut preparatio of patient for lithotomy, 1628. Credit: Wellcome Library, London.

Woodcut preparatio of patient for lithotomy, 1628. Credit: Wellcome Library, London.

In 1720, Dr. Alban Thomas was something of a high-flyer. The son of a Pembrokeshire cleric and poet, Alban first matriculated from Oxford in 1708, became librarian of the Ashmolean museum, assistant secretary of the Royal Society and, if that wasn’t enough, obtained his doctorate in medicine from Aberdeen in 1719. At a time when Wales was still a largely rural country, with no medical institutions of its own and fairly poor transport and road infrastructures, these were exceptional achievements for a boy from Newcastle Emlyn.

Also unusual was that Alban appears to have returned to Wales to set up his medical practice; many Welsh practitioners who had trained in Oxford or London chose not to return, choosing the potentially more lucrative market of the larger English towns. Nonetheless, especially in and around the growing Welsh towns, there was still a relatively wealthy Welsh elite to cater for and some, like Alban, positioned themselves to serve the denizens of large estates and houses.

It is clear, though, that Alban still had connections. One of his correspondents was no less a luminary than Sir Hans Sloane, the Irish physician to the fashionable and, indeed, the royal and, later, president of the Royal Society. Surviving letters from Alban Thomas to Sloane suggest that theirs was a fairly regular correspondence, with Sloane acting in an advisory role for particular cases. It is one particular case that interests us here.

In November 1738, Alban Thomas wrote to Sloane regarding a patient, Sir Thomas Knolles of Wenallt, Pembrokeshire, who was causing him concern. Knolles, although “a person of great worth, candour and humanity” was also

a person of very gross habit, of body an unusual size and make and about 20 stone weight with an appetite to his meat but very moderate in his drinking.

Knolles enjoyed exercise but, due to his size, this was often done on horseback.

At some stage, Knolles had become ‘dropsicall’ and suffered from swollen legs. The doctor used a combination of diuretics and tight, laced stockings to countermand this with, he reported, some success as Knolles returned to health, requiring only the odd purge as a ‘spring clean’. About four years previously however Knolles had begun to complain of a swelling in his scrotum, which Alban Thomas assumed to be hydrocele–a condition causing grossly swollen testicles (sometimes treated by injecting port wine into the testicles). After drawing off “about a quart of limpid serum” from the stoic Knolles’ testicles followed by the application of a dressing, and strict recovery routines, the doctor hoped that he had cured the condition for good. This proved to be premature.

When Knolles began to complain sometimes of not being able to pass urine at all, at others a few drops and occasionally losing his bladder control entirely, he took it upon himself to get a second opinion from an unnamed doctor in nearby Haverfordwest. This physician prescribed a ‘Turbith vomit’ which wrought well and even caused Knolles to void a stone about the size of a kidney bean. Rather than being put off by this occurrence, Knolles was encouraged and began to pester Dr Thomas to give him more of these treatments. Unimpressed and undeterred, Thomas decided on a more proactive course. After putting Knolles on a course of diuretic medicines, liquors and balsams for a week he brought in to his consulting room. What happened next highlights the particular horrors of early modern surgery.

Left, Raw's grooved catheter; right, bladder of a male. Engraving with etching. Credit: Wellcome Library, London.

Left, Raw’s grooved catheter; right, bladder of a male. Engraving with etching. Credit: Wellcome Library, London.

When Knolles arrived, Dr Thomas first applied a Turbith vomit, hoping that “so rugged a medicine” would clear the blockage without the need for more invasive procedures. It didn’t. In fact, the symptoms grew worse. It was at this point that Dr Thomas reached for his catheter and introduced it into the unfortunate Sir Thomas’s member. Expecting some resistance, he was surprised to find that the catheter went in without resistance.

On the contrary it seemed to force itself out of my fingers after passing the neck of the bladder as if it was sucked in, which I thought was owing to the pressure of his belly, the crooked end was now upward.

Yes, you read it right. The catheter was ‘sucked’ out of the doctors fingers and upwards further into the bladder! Now, any male readers may want to cross their legs!

In an attempt to probe for the stone that he feared was lurking in the bladder, and to release some water, Dr Thomas decided to turn the catheter around. At this point, the poor patient “cryed out with some violence…TAKE IT OUT I CAN BEAR IT NO LONGER”. Happily for Knolles the catheter came out “with as much ease as it went in without one drop through it or immediately after it”.

Three months later, the patient was still suffering, with the addition of great pain, defying all attempts for his relief. Despite being a “hail, hearty man having good lungs but lyable to hoarseness” and the occasional cold, Alban Thomas perceived him to be a healthy man. His efforts to treat Knolles had so far failed and he appealed to the eminent Sloane to help him “form a right judgement in this case”.

And so we leave the story there. What happened to Knolles is unclear, but the pain of his condition can only have been matched by the pain of his treatment. Suffering a succession of violent vomits, pills, electuaries and, finally, a wandering catheter, it is almost amazing to think that he ever went near Dr Alban Thomas again. Such (uncomfortable) cases remind us of the situation facing patients in the early modern period. For some the decision to see a doctor must have been a balancing act between bearing their illness or facing treatment.

(This post originally appeared on Alun Withey’s blog http://dralun.wordpress.com. Thank you to Alun for cross-posting his Sloane story here!)

Letter 4281

Posted on August 2, 2016 by -

Thomas Harward to Hans Sloane – June 16, 1731


Item info

Date: June 16, 1731
Author: Thomas Harward
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4051
Folio: ff. 255-256


Original Page


Transcription

[fol. 255] Boston June 16th 1731. My most honourd Friend After a very long, & dangerous voyage, by ye Good Providence of God, we landed at ye Port of Boston, ye 13th of November last, a little before night, & were received wth Great Civilities by ye Inhabitants of ye Town. Our Winter here has been very severe, & tedious, much colder than in old England, & our spring scarce perceivable till ye Beginning of May. I have taken some Pains to see a little of this Country for abt three weeks past, & intend to see More before ye summer is over. Here are many Things in these Parts, yt deserve ye Notice of ye Curious, not only in the vegetable, but ye Animal Kingdom. About 8 Days ago I had two Captains at Dinner wth Me, who came from ye Island of Nantucket, wch Place is remarkable for ye sperma ceti whales. And these two Men are ye most famous in all those Parts for catching these, as well as the common whales. Tis these Gentlemen yt supply us wth sperma Ceti, & Amber grease, to a large quantity some Years: And I shall putt them in a way of making it as pure, & white, as any you have from Holland, or any othr parts whatever. Concerning these two Medicines I received ye following account from them, wch I humbly conceive is more perfect, & clean than any Notices you have yet had of these two valuable Druggs. They assure me yt all ye sperma Ceti they have ever gotten, is taken directly out of ye Head of ye particular kind of whale, wch They call ye sperma Ceti Whale, in Distinction from ye othr. And they tell me farthr, yt it is not of an Oily Nature, as some have given out, but rathr of a Marrowy substance, like ye Brain of othr Animals, yt the two ventricles of ye Head are full of it, only parted by some Membrane, yt it must be ye real Brain, there being Nothing to be found in these Cavities besides: wch to me is a Demonstration. And as to ye Amber grease, They declare they allways find it in the Rectum of ye same Whale, near ye Fundamenti, & no where else. yt all the excrement of ye Whale, in the othr Intestines, has exactly ye same smell, tho much Thinner than in ye Rectum. & more of an oily nature; and they believe by evaporation, &c it may be brought to ye same Consistencey wch they have promised the Me to try ye very first Opportunity. That they often discharge this Amber Grease, as excrement, when wounded, & in Pain, like to othr Animals, wch is a Considerable Losse to them, for it usually sinks at first, till it comes to be more inspissated, & hardend in ye water wch will soon raise it to ye surface, & so it will continue floating, till it be driven on some Rocks, or Tossd upon some stone. Besides they often lose those whales after they have wounded them, & yt Mortally, And as soon as they are torn in Peeces, or corrupted in the sea, The Amber grease will be set at Liberty, & immediately be floating till lodged at Last some where, according as ye Current Happens. And this I take to be a Good Reason, why Amber grease is so often found upon ye Rocks, & on ye shores. The first they ever found in the Rectum of this kind of whale, wch they call ye arse gutt, so as to take notice of it, near this Island, was in the year 1721. And they lookd upon it as Excrement, And threw half of it into, ye sea, & was going to throw ye Rest, wch was near hald an hundred weights, but luckily prevent by a Person in the vessel, who had seen some Amber grease before at ye Bahama Islands, & so prevaild on them to save it. I intend very soon to try some Experiments on our Rattle snakes, wch are very rife in these Parts. And I make no Doubt at all, but yt their adops, or oil, if properly prepared, is as Good, & sure an Antidote agst their poisonous Bite, as ye adops viperanum is for the one Thing I know; yt it does better (I mean their Flash) in ye Thoria Androm. & is an higher alexipharmic, than ye flesh of vipers. Here is an Apothecary yt has used their Flesh in ye Thoriaca for some years, & I have ordered ye same Thoiaca wth very good success. Here are many curious Plants, & othr Rarities in this new world, yt have escaped all observation Hitherto, and if my circumstances woud allow me, I shud spend more Time, & be more exact, & Curious in my Enquiries abt them. But my Docket will not give Leave. Doctr Baylston is living Here, I have but small Acquaintance wth Him, He is a rattling sort of spark, & but of small esteem among ye better sort. Doctr Willm Duglass who wrote a small Treatise upon Inoculation, & a practical Essay on ye small pox, wch I suppose you have seen, is a very Ingenious man, & my very Worthy Friend. We have a famous Negroe Doctr in Virginia, who after Doctr Blair, & Doctr Nichols had made some tryals of ye success of his Medicines, & found to answer, the Assembly there set Him free, & settled 20 pds per Ann on Him for Life to communicate his Arcanum, for ye Grand Pox, & ye yaws, wch is the Hereditary Pox. The Decoction is as follows, of Spanish Oak Bark 2 parts [fol. 256] of ye inner Bark of ye White Pine 1 part & of ye Bark of ye Sumach Root 1 part in Common Water. One Pint is to be drank warm, and half a Pint cold immediately after, wch will soon cause vomiting. Then half a Pint is to be drank morning, noon, & night, daily untill ye cure is perform’d, wch is usually finished ina month, or six weeks. I shud be proud of a Line from You; is you please direct for Me Preacher at ye Royal Chapel at Boston in America to be left at ye New England Coffee House near ye Royal Exchange in Cornhill I am Dear Sr, wth ye utmost Deference, & Esteem, yr Honours most obedient, & obliged humble servtt Tho: Harward P.S. I lately recommended a Gentleman to yr prudent Care who has been much disorderd in his Eyes of late, I am affraid there is a Tendency to a Gutta serena. He is a Person of Great Merit, & if a very plentifull estate. He saild for England abt a fortnight ago. P.s. one Thing I had allmost forgott, wch demonstrates ye Amber grease to be ye Excrement of ye whale The spema Ceti whales feed very much of a sort of Fish, wch we call a squid, abt 12, or 16 Inches long, wch a Bill resembling a Hawks, or Parots: And when they take out the Amber grease, they commonly find eithr ye Bone of this Fish, or its Bill, or Both, more or less sticking in ye Amber grease, wch to me is a Proofe of any Contradiction.

Reverend Thomas Harward was a Lecturer at the Royal Chapel in Boston, New England.



Patient Details

Letter 2530

Posted on August 2, 2016 by -

Bernard Guillaume (Bernardi Guilielmini) to Hans Sloane – December 23, 1721


Item info

Date: December 23, 1721
Author: Bernard Guillaume (Bernardi Guilielmini)
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4046
Folio: ff. 162-165


Original Page


Transcription

Fols. 162-165 Sr. The Character which I heard of You some few years ago and some reflexions lately made, occasions the writing this Letter. As I know you not personally, so, Sr. I am not known by You; but that You may know what I am, please to give your self the trouble to read what follows, and you shall never have a just cause to repent you of it. it has pleased God to bless me so, as to attain to the knowledge and preparation of a Universal Tincture, so much talked of and pretended to: but as rarely known and seen. Next to the honour of God and our common Salvation. I prefer the contemplation of this, to all other things; as esteeming you of little or no value in comparison of it for the knowledge of God and universal nature and of this holy science are inseparable: for the more we advance in the later, the more must we, of necessity, in the former also. Notwithstanding this, for my Probation and Humiliation, what has happened to some in all ages, was permitted to befall me also; yt is, to loose so pretious and invaluable a treasure; which reminds me of these words: Ego quos amo, arguo, et eastigo. I have seen in a most eminent manner how the anger of God was inkindled against those who betrayed me in a very cruel manner. God forgive ym: I heartily do. may they truly repent of it, This prediction was occasioned by one mans acquaintance, whom I had for some years made my friend and confident and thought to be a person of unexceptionable piety and fidelity. Ictus Piseator sapit. Nothing but a train of miracles could have extricated me out of such a sea of danger and sorrow, and anxiety of spirit, which brought upon me grievous bodily sickness caused by the inexpressible trouble of my mind. I have been forced to leave France all on a sudden, destitute and forlorn, and to take post and ride day and night, which I could not have done, but by immediately selling a piece of […] Gold and two small Diamonds such I had about me, for I must not return to the Hotel, for fear of falling into the same circumstances as did, Alass! a most venerable sage, whose hairs are as white as a swan, who has been imprisoned and afterwards sent down to L’Isle de Sainte Marguerite, for no other reason than a suspicion of being an Adeptl where, without a miraculous deliverance, he will in all probability spend the rest of his days. I understand since (by Monsr. de Marêchal Bezon who had letters concerning him from Monsieur La Bret Intendant de Provence, and that too by the Duke Regent’s orders) that his manner of living and behaviour is most abidying, wonderfull and amazing. though the Duke of Orleans has vastly enriched himself, at the expence and utter ruin of hundreds of thousands, yet his detestable thirst after Gold continues still the same by which we clearly see, covetousness not […] only to be Idolatry, and the root of all Evil, but in its nature […] insatiable as that abyss from whence it proceeds: though his attempts of this kind will Eternally be in vain; for where God gives so great a blessing; strength and patience to a righteous and innocent sufferer will be given in proportion. In these piteous circumstances, Sr, after several years spent abroad, I lately came for England, where I had left a little brechold [sic] estate, which I found sold by my unkle, in my absence, since dead; which he had no right nor title to do, but poor man falling into strait circumstances, his reflecting upon my being a single person, and having no letter from me for several years, might be one occasion of it, which has put me to very great and pressing inconveniences, yet will I not go to Law if it be: any ways avoidable. Ei qui vult tecum judicio contenere, et tumicam tuam tollere, dimitte ei et pallium. Now by all this, I would not be understood, as if I had the least presumptious [sic] thought to pretend to inform you how to make Gold. God forbid. By so doing I should infallibly incur the displeasure of the Allmighty, and extreamly hazard the salvation of my soul. My design, Sr, is only to know, whither you are in the least manner initiated into that part of our art, wch is the Gift of God, which leads to a Universal Medicine; or whither your heart be, in the sight of God, disposed to receive such a blessing. Otherwise that a certain great person once said to Johannes Baptista Van Helmont a very learned honest man, is applicable to your self, were you President of all the Colledges of Physitians upon Earth Videlicet, Charissime […] nisi eo devenias, quod unico Remedio quea curare quenlibet morbum, manebis in by tocimio, utcun senex eva seris. After the Great Tincture, or medicine for metals, that is reserved for those to who in God will bestow it. T’is a sin through vain curiosity to search after it: yet a much heavier crime is it for those who willfully impose upon the over credulous, which credulity proceeds either from too great a curiosity, or an insatiable Avarice, but very often, if not alwaysm from both. These wretched and detestable pretenders are those, Sui [?] manos pollicentur montes, et petunt drachmas parvasl and justly are they lashed by Mr Johnsons Alchymist: yet he that reproaches the Art it self, as yet remains in a thicker than Ægyptian darkness, as to the pure Light of nature. These unhappy Alchymists can do nothing without quantities of Gold, and why? because the honour of God, and their Neighbours Good they have not at heart, but only vile and sordid gain acquired by fallacious means. He yt knows not what to do with Gold; yt is, he yt cannot find an Ins of Gold in the forever, will never know how to improve and augment it in the later. the most accurate solutions of Gold in the best corrosive liquours, (without out Homogeneal Vegetable Mentruum) do little more than he who dissolves salt in common water, for we cannot call, neither the one, nor the other, a Radical Solution for no Radical Solution can be without a previous putrefaction. This is the key to all true medicine. O how blind are those yt suffer ymselves to be deceived, when they see not their matter putrify in the beginning, according to the joint […] consent and common voice of all true philosophers. This one thing alone, duly considered, will for ever prevent out deceiving ourselves or being deceived by others and this I have faithfully communicated to you, to prevent all kind of imposition, though I should never see you. No perfect putrefaction can be without a Radical solution. no separation, no purification. no purification, no multiplication. All which can never be without a previous death or putrefaction. as it is written: Except a Grain of corn fall into the Earth and dye, it abideth alone, but if it dyes it bringeth forth much fruit. and again; Thou fool, yt which thou sowest is not quickened, except it dye. please to remember the common school Axiom: Corruptis Unius Generatio est alterius; et vice versa. Here, Sr, I have led you to the very central, Cardinal point. what effect these great truths may have upon you, I know not. T’is my duty to resign my self and what is here fundamentally and honestly disclosed to you to the Providence of the most High; as to the Event of what is written I am to be indifferent. if the hand of God is in this matter, His counsel shall stand and prevail. Tho if I did not hope His secret providence to be in it, I would not upon any account or consideration have thus addressed my self to you. You are to answer for what use, you shall make of it. for my part I have given you hints sufficient. my views only regard a medicine for the poor, that God may make use of you as an instrument of His Love, against the now prevailing vials of His wrath, when all Europe is threatened with the fatal scourge of pestilence and famine, for where the former is, the later never is wantingl and all this is a judgment upon Christendom, for its insatiable pride, covetousness, piacular [sic] and perseverance in sin, the forerunner of final impenitence […] the consideration of which makes me fearfull of burying my talent in a napkin; and the Character I have heard of you, has occasioned my thus applying my self to you, hoping to meet with a man of probity and Taciturnity. My business is not to trifle. Do you know, Sr, any thing of our secret fire, or to be plain with you, of our first Agent? for without this subtle and Adeptical preparation first, you can never kill and make alive (or quicken and multiply the principle of Life, and mortifye That of death, wch is all one and the same thing) at one and the same time. T’is by this secret alone we purifye. For want of this, Poutanus [sic] ingenuously declares, he erred two hundred times. He yt has experimentally known this preparation thoroughly is a Master; he yt knows nothing of it is not yet a scholar, and consequently knows nothing of a true medicine. If you know this Art of perfect putrefaction, which I have twice wrought with my own hands, let me have but the smallest hint thereof, and I shall immediately understand you; and this will give me occasion to communicate something to you, which (if I find the aforesaid disposition) will greatly rejoyce you, and wch is more, enable You to do good to some thousands of the poor, whose dayly labour is their whole estate, and who cannot do it, because they languish under distempers ignorantly termed incurable. yea, in such a case, confine not your charity to England, but let the poor in any other Country profit thereby, where any plague or pestilential maladies may rage […] Sr,Your charity to the poor gives excellent and edifying savour, this will render you acceptable to God, and praise worthy of all honest men. If you think it worth your while, let me have your sentiments, as to what I have touched upon. You well know this Command of our Lord. Nolite dare Sanctum canibus, ne que mittatis margaritas vestras ante porcios: ne forte conculcent eas pedibus suis, et conversia dirumpant vos. The Apostle Saint Paul sais: If any one love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. Now no one can love God, but by strenuously endeavouring to keep His commandments. as it is written: If ye Love me, keep me commandments. Let us then avoid this terrible Malediction, and gain His Temporal and Eternal Blessing, which I wish from the bottom of my heart. I am Sr, your most humble and most obedient Servant Gulielmi Please to direct as follows and it will be safely conveyed to me. vizt. For Mr S. to be left at Mr Morris’s near the Duke of Ormonds head at Kensington Kensington December the 23d 1721.

Gulielmi informs Sloane that he has the ability to make ‘a Universal Tincture’.



Patient Details

Letter 1705

Posted on August 2, 2016 by -

William Derham to Hans Sloane – November 3, 1710


Item info

Date: November 3, 1710
Author: William Derham
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4042
Folio: ff. 199-200


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[fol. 200] Sr Upminster Nov: 3 1710 My little Daughter had some time since a sore Throat wch with repelling medicines went off & (as I imagine) turned upon her Lungs. For she was seized immediately wch a great suffocation like to have carried her off divers times. She coughed up several pieces of white stuff like rags wth her violent strainings & agitations of her Lungs. She hathe been blooded, taken Linseed oyl, & Also Pec- toral things, takes now Lucat: Bals. By reason she raise blood oftentimes. Her cough is now for ye most part gone & all other symptoms off, only a great hoarse- ness continues, & sometimes a kind of Palpita- tion of her heart all day long. She hath for near a fortnights time, been taken wth such a Blindness yt she cannot discern leters or small things distinctly, not even know the spots on ye cards from one another. And yet her Eyes are clear, & free from the least appearance of Cata- racts even when peeped into wth a Microscope: neither hath there been any soreness or humour at all in them. Knowing your great judgmt in these matters, I beg the favour of your opinion & di- rections in my poor childs case. I forgot to tell you she is above 9 years old. I am sorry I have been so long detained from the Societies affairs. The occasions whereof were the Lying in of my Wife, & the Death afterwards of that Child at the very time of some frequent Councils I had summons unto; & near 3 weeks agoe my Wife loosing a very dear & indulgent Mother hath occasioned a great many journeys & other in- terruptions from any other business. But I hope in some short time to be able to wait on you in Crane-court, to wch I met Mr Hunts summons last night at my return home. I fear Crane-court house is much too little for us, a Library & a Repository fit for the reception of the benefactions we allready have, or may in all future ages compass, being I think necessary. But you are better judges of these matters than I who have not yet had an opportunity of discoursing a- bout them. Ed: Lucking returns you many thanks for the 5s you sent him by me: he tells me all things are very well at your Farm, & yt he will faithfully advertize you, by me, of any thing Amiss there. Wth great respect I am Sr Your much obliged humble servt Wm Derham

Derham was a Church of England clergyman and a natural philosopher, interested in nature, mathematics, and philosophy. He frequently requested medical advice from Sloane, and likely served as a physician to his family and parishioners (Marja Smolenaars, “Derham, William (1657-1735)”, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7528, accessed 7 June 2011]).



Patient Details

  • Patient info
    Name: Miss. Derham
    Gender:
    Age:
  • Description

    Miss Derham had a sore throat 'which with repelling medecines went off [...] She coughed up several pieces of white fluff like rags' because of the strain on her lungs.

  • Diagnosis
  • Treatment
    Previous Treatment:

    Derham 'turned upon her lungs' which 'seized [her] immediatley with a great suffocation'. She was bled and given 'Linsed oyl' along with a pectoral and 'now Lucat: Bals'.


    Ongoing Treatment:

    Her cough went away


    Response:

    She has 'a kind of Palpitation of her heart' and a 'Blindness' that prevents her from reading. Her eyes remain free of obvious obstructions. Derham dismisses cataracts after having examined her eyes 'with a Microscope'. There is no 'soreness or humour at all in them' either.

  • More information
  • Medical problem reference
    Lungs, Coughs, Childhood Diseases, Blood, Eyes, Heart