Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Nehemiah Grew to Mary Grew –
Item info
Date:
Author: Nehemiah Grew
Recipient: Mary Grew
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: MS 4066
Folio: f. 359
Original Page
Transcription
Nehemiah Grew writes the following to his wife: “My Dear, If I have let ship one day, there is no better excuse for a fault, than ye mending of it. Which I am resolved to do this day. For I Should not be a little troubled to meet with ill news, when I come to Waltham but would much more gladly promote ye pleasure of yr beeing there, if my writing may contribute any thing there unto.” Directly following the previous passage comes the next portion, which is crossed out in Grew’s letter: “Withall I have a mind to tell you, how often, & with how much con- tentment I think of you[.]” The next portion directly follows the previous portion of text but none of it is crossed out: “I remember my self oblig’d not only to an- swer yr Expectation, but [therin?] to to obey my Mothers Comand. Withall I have a mind to tell you how often, & with how much con- tentment, I think of you; & would also add true engagement to your self to do yr[.]” Cannot provide a complete transcription because the bottom the letter is torn off – there is also additional text written alongside the left margin of the letter but part of it is also missing because the letter is torn. Nehemiah Grew was a botanist and physician who, in 1677, was appointed joint secretary of the Royal Society along with Robert Hooke (Michael Hunter, Grew, Nehemiah (bap. 1641, d. 1712), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, May 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11521, accessed 11 May 2011].
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Samuel Smith to Samuel Smith – June 29, 1692
Item info
Date: June 29, 1692
Author: Samuel Smith
Recipient: Samuel Smith
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4036
Folio: f. 130
Original Page
Transcription
Dale asks Smith to pass 6 botanical queries on to Sloane. Smith requests Sloane provide his answers ‘wth w’t convenient speed you can’.
Samuel Dale was an apothecary, botanist, and physician who contributed several articles to the Philosophical Transactions. He was John Ray’s executor and good friend, and from Dale’s letters to Sloane we learn many details of Ray’s final moments (G. S. Boulger, Dale, Samuel (bap. 1659, d. 1739), rev. Juanita Burnby, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7016, accessed 5 July 2013]).
Samuel Smith apprenticed to the book trade in 1675 and was indentured to the bookseller Samuel Gellibrand followed by Moses Pitt. Smith joined the Stationers Company and became freeman of the company and then freeman of the city of London in 1682. Smith published the Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions from the beginning of his career and he and his partner Benjamin Walford were officially named ‘printers to the Royal Society’ in 1693 (Marja Smolenaars, Ann Veenhoff, Smith, Samuel (bap. 1658, d. 1707), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/63289, accessed 27 June 2013]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Thomas Gibson to Hans Sloane – September 20, 1720
Item info
Date: September 20, 1720
Author: Thomas Gibson
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4046
Folio: ff. 19-20
Original Page
Transcription
Gibson outlines the terms of the ‘Lease relating to the hall in the College, and the Candidates Room’. There has been a row over the use of the rooms. The matter is to be discussed at a meeting tomorrow.
Thomas Gibson (1648/9-1722) was a physician. He studied at St. John’s College, Cambridge and Leiden University. Gibson published ‘The Anatomy of Humane Bodies Epitomized’ in 1682, which went through 6 editions. He was expelled from the Royal College of Physicians for his association with the Cromwells, but was eventually reinstated (Gordon Goodwin, Gibson, Thomas (1648/91722), rev. Patrick Wallis, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10635, accessed 23 Aug 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Samuel Haliday to Hans Sloane – August 20, 1717
Item info
Date: August 20, 1717
Author: Samuel Haliday
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: f. 34
Original Page
Transcription
Haliday congratulates Sloane on the marriage of his daughter to Mr Cadogan. He informs him of a secret method of corn cultivation that improves crop yield twenty to sixty fold.
Haliday was a minister who studied in Glasgow and Leiden before being ordained in Geneva, Switzerland (A. D. G. Steers, Haliday , Samuel (16851739), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2005 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11930, accessed 28 June 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Thomas Tufton, 6th Earl of Thanet to Hans Sloane – February 25, 1720/21
Item info
Date: February 25, 1720/21
Author: Thomas Tufton, 6th Earl of Thanet
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4046
Folio: ff. 68-69
Original Page
Transcription
Thomas Tufton (1644-1729), 6th Earl of Thanet, was a nobleman and politician. He served as Captain of the Troop of Horse, Member of Parliament for Appelby from 1668 to 1679, and was eventually invested as a Privy Councillor in 1702. He was Lord-Lieutenant of Cumberland from 1712 to 1714 (G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, ‘The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant’, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume III, page 297).
Patient Details
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Patient info
Name: N/A Young Maid
Gender:
Age:
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Description
Tufton thinks he has gout, but is unsure as the condition subsided after 'four daies'. Then his stomach began to act up. He has had a 'loosness' for a few days, which was 'Occasioned by something that did not Agree with [his] stomach'.
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Diagnosis
He believes a 'Goutish humour' has something to do with his illness.
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Treatment
Previous Treatment: He took 'Gore Stone and Gascoin powder', which had little effect so he took 'Rawleighs Cordiall and the Gore Stone'. Tufton also took 'pearl powder in A glass of Bath water', but it did not agree with him. He found that 'Mixing Bath water with [his] wine at meals' agrees with him.
Ongoing Treatment: He is going to take 'Rhubarb' and continue with 'this Cordiall' as Sloane suggested.
Response: The 'gripings [have] much lessend' after he adjusted the dosages. His pains are less pronounced 'when [he is] Empty'. Tufton complains: 'I am too old to take Potions and Pills but Any sort of Cordialls Agrees with me'. His pain has subsided, but he is still taken by 'A gripeing'.
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More information
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Medical problem reference
Smallpox, Mental Illness, Pain, Gout, Stomach, Digestion
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Richard Bradley to Hans Sloane – October 17, 1723
Item info
Date: October 17, 1723
Author: Richard Bradley
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4047
Folio: ff. 73-74
Original Page
Transcription
Bradley requests that Sloane provide him with a recommendation. He is applying for the ‘Professorship of Botany’ at Oxford, which would include responsibilities at the university’s ‘Physick Garden’.
Richard Bradley (1688?-1732) was a scientific author, Fellow of the Royal Society, and Professor of Botany at Cambridge (Frank N. Egerton, “Bradley, Richard (1688?-1732)”, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2005 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3189, accessed 10 Nov 2012]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Alexander Stuart to Hans Sloane – June 30, 1717
Item info
Date: June 30, 1717
Author: Alexander Stuart
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: ff. 16-17
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Language
English
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Library
British Library, London
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Categories
Patronage, Scholarship, Scientific, Trade or Commodities, Travel
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Subjects
Debts, Flanders, Medical Practice, Medical Theses, Military Service, University Degree
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Date (as written)
June 30, 1717
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Standardised date
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Origin (as written)
Leyden
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Others mentioned
James Petiver Sir David Hamilton Mr Finley Sir Isaac Newton Mr Tims
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Patients mentioned
Original Page
Transcription
Stuart informs Sloane that he received his degree at the price of ‘two hundred and fourty two Gilders’ or ‘twenty four pounds’. He names Sloane and Sir David Hamilton as his patrons. His thesis is on the ‘molu musculari’. Stuart wants to visit London when he has finished his business in Flanders. He has incurred student debt, which he charged to the accounts of Sloane and Hamilton. Medical theses are being sent to Petiver and Newton. Stuart will soon be in Flanders working as a physician if Mr Cardinal, the ‘Duke of Malbrough’s Secretary’, and his friends in the army find him a position.
Stuart was a physician and natural philosopher. He served as a ship’s surgeon from 1701-1707 and corresponded with Sloane while at sea, sending him natural history specimens. Stuart contributed articles to the Philosophical Transactions from the 1720s, mostly on physiology (Anita Guerrini, Stuart, Alexander (1673?1742), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/47081, accessed 3 July 2013]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Samuel Haliday to Hans Sloane – June 14, 1717
Item info
Date: June 14, 1717
Author: Samuel Haliday
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: ff. 12-13
Original Page
Transcription
Haliday is publishing a book, which he thinks Sloane will enjoy as ‘a Lover of the Protestant Religion, and of the Liberties of Mankind’. He notes that Mr Sloane will soon be leaving Geneva. William Sloane, Sir Hans Sloane’s nephew, was traveling the Continent at the time.
Haliday was a minister who studied in Glasgow and Leiden before being ordained in Geneva, Switzerland (A. D. G. Steers, Haliday , Samuel (16851739), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2005 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11930, accessed 28 June 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Martin Martin to Hans Sloane – August 2, 1697
Item info
Date: August 2, 1697
Author: Martin Martin
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4036
Folio: ff. 338-339
Original Page
Transcription
Martin is travelling throughout the Hebrides looking for natural curiosities to send to the Royal Society. He will soon be heading for Edinburgh.
Martin studied medicine in Leiden and practiced as a doctor in Middlesex, England until his death in 1719 (Domhnall Uilleam Stibhart, Martin, Martin (d. 1718), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/18201, accessed 19 June 2013]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
James Sherard to Hans Sloane – Dec 1, 1732
Item info
Date: Dec 1, 1732
Author: James Sherard
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4052
Folio: f. 227
Original Page
Transcription
MS 4052 Fol. 227
Sr
I send herewith a copy of the Hortus Eltha-mensis which Mr Dillenius is now publishing, you will see that he has not studied to adorn wither his Book or my Garden, his Cheifcare having been to me prove and advance the knowledge of Botany, how-ever such as it is I beg you’l do me the Honour to accept it as a token of freindship and gratitude from
Sr your most obliged and very obedient serv
James Sherard
Eltham
Der 1.1732
I design to present one Book to the Colledge of Physitians and have desired Dr Monro to learn the proper time and manner of doing it.
James Sherard (1666-1738) apprenticed as an apothecary to Charles Watts. He practiced as an apothecary in Mark Lane, London and retired in 1720. Sherard was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1706. In his retirement he pursued the collection of rare plants and became a well known botanist, though not as well known as his brother William Sherard (FRS 1720). James Sherard spent the 1720s travelling and collecting specimens by 1730 was managing the Chelsea Gardens. (W. W. Webb, ‘Sherard, James (1666–1738)’, rev. Scott Mandelbrote, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 2013 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/25354, accessed 16 June 2015]).