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Letter 2225

Henry Barham Sr. to Hans Sloane – December 11, 1717


Item info

Date: December 11, 1717
Author: Henry Barham Sr.
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: ff. 77-79



Original Page



Transcription

[fol. 77] Worthy Sr In my last I gave you some [word missing] of the Oars of Jamaica wch that Island Superabounds with and to give a Perticular account of every sort would make a large Treatise of its self at 16 mile Walk in one Palmers Grouns is found Upon the Earth Loose Stones (that seems to Rowl down from A mountain Near the Place) Iron Stones so Rich of that Mettall as seem to be all Iron and very Hard to Brake a Sunder, the Hammer makes an Impression as if Malabell before it would [text blurred] in peeces; and when Parted a Sunder the Inside Lookt as Red as Lapis Hematites I saw A Sharp Corroded Stone Seem to be Broke off from a large Stone of the Same Colour above Mentioned and brought from the Same Place that would Attrack Iron or Steel as Strong as any Magnett in Proportion to its Bigness: it is Certain that there is many Mines in Jamaica as Rich: if there were a Sett of Rich and Publick Spirited Men would Sett Heartily about the Work and with good Resolution to see the Depth or Bottom of them (and I Could Direct them where to begin) But to proceed to the Intended Matter you mention Introduction page 17 of Anti Neasts brought from the Woods in wch are found Clay Balls of Strange Different Shapes as if made by the Art of Man: and in those Wood Wnti Neasts the Amphosbona found I have seen them about 5 or 6 Inches with Perfect Heads at each End Running Swiftly either Direct or Retrogate or to the Right and Left with Equal Swiftness without Turning about: and in Digging Up of Old foundations I have seen those sort of A Worm like Shape Described and figured in Pisol wch when the Negros saw them, would flye from them [as] if Death its self was there saying they have them in their Country and are Present Death to any that are bitt or stung by them. Introd: page: 54- you Mention the Negroes Remedy: of Clay and Water Plaistering over their bodys with it its True some Negroes may use Barly or no other thing than Clay and Water: and I Thought soo for some years that they had used no Other thing: but upon a more Strickt Inquiery I found it was a yellowish Root wch they Call Altoo the Same Root you Mention in your Catalogus Plantarum page 214 viz Radix Firuticosa: glycyrrhia Similis cortica fuses[.] Besides Cleaning their Teeth with this Root they take it and Grind it very fine between two stones with Water and make an Islutamentum with wch they illuse or Plaister them selves with it and When Dry looks like A yellow Earth: Sometimes they only Illutate the Head and Face, if thats effected Sometimes their Stomach if their Heart is effected for they attribute all inward ails or illness to the Heart Saying their Heart is Noo Boon not Knowing the situation of the Stomach from that of the Heart: if their Limbs and Solid parts are effected they Illutate them selves all over saying their Skin Hurts them: The Affricans hath such Confidence and Opinion of this Root outwardly Applied or Inwardly given Decocted they wholly Dispair of any Relief believing it to be the most Soveraigne Remedy that they know Amongst all the Plants that comes Within their Knowledge. This Root was Much used by an Honrbl: Coll: in Ligano and Cryed Up to be one of the Greatest Remedies in ye World in Colicks or Belly aches: He Telling me the many Experiments He had made by A Simple Decoction of this Root: I had a fair Opportunity to Try Wither this Root was of such efficacy and Matter of Fact in a following Case: I Sent A Servant of Mine A Carpenter Up in to the Mountains to fall and Square Some Timber: who [fol. 78] who was takeing Such Care of Him Self when [word blurred] as He Should Soon found the effect of His Neglect Getting A Great Cold and was seized with most violent Pains in His Viscera and in 24 Hours was Thrown into Strong Convulsions: A messenger bringing this Information: I Rid Up to Him: it being A Place of Great Distance from a Town and where Compound me decides was not to be had: I Thought of the Poll: Root wch Grows in Great Plenty within, 3 or 4 Miles of this Place wch I Sent for and Decocted it in Spring Water and Gave this Poor Man (who had had Several Strong Convulsions and in Violent Pains) of this Decoction Warm about half a pint at A time Repeating it very often. the effect it had it first eased Him of His Pains in A Short time after it wrot [?] Gentrly Downwards and in 3 or 4 Days He thought Him Self as Well as ever He was and is easy all His Convulsive Tremors and Symptoms Left Him: His Appetite Returned and was Throughy Recoverd and So Continued without being Nerviated Paralyzed or Conculsed afterwards. In the Same Page it is Certain as you mention the Negroes make use of Fingrigo Roots for Claps and Some of them ad ye Roots of Prickly yellow Wood and Lime Tree Roots: but the most knowing or skillfull Negroes such as they Call (Oba men) or their Country Doctors use yellow Nickers Beaten to A Powder wch they Say Purges and Bindes them after it: like to our Myrabolins. But a Certain Negro Discovered to a Patient of Myne (that had Labourd under an Old Gleet wch Could not be stopt (after due Purging) by no Restringent or Natural Balsams whatsoever) A Plant wch I Shall Mention Hereafter that only by Decocting it and Drinking about half A pint of itt for 3 or 4 Mornings made Him perfectly Well and Sound of His Gleet as He affirmed to me with Reflections that Negroes Could doo more with their Herbs than Wee Practitioners with all our Art or Skill and I had Reason to Believe Him in this Particular Case: because I gave it my Self afterwards with good Success in the Like Case: Introd: page 55 you say one of the Greatest Remedies the Planters living here have to Prevent Diseases or ill effects of What they Call ill Fumes or Vapours is their Contrayerva wch you Call (and not Without Reason) A ristolochia Scandons Odo [?] ratissima: floris labello purpureo Semino cordato et Odoratissima and is Hernandez Tomahuetlopath. [?] and one of His Ingredients in His Grand Elixir or Great Antidoteas I have been Informed by the Spaaniards: and Besides that Remarkable [ink blot] (you mention Performed by an Indian Upon Dr Smallwood when Wounded by a Poison Arrow it hath been found Since by Daily Experiments to be one of the Greatest Antidotes and Antifribriticis inward by Given that is yet or every was Discovered and Besides the Work Hernandez ascribes to it Mentioned in your Natural History of Jamaica page 162 and that of H:M: it Drives out the Small Pox and Measles and is Prevalent in Calentures and Hectick Fevers This is to its Vertues in Generall: in Particular I know one Mr Henry Hill: or a Lusty Fatt Jolly Man When in Health He happened to be seized with the Belly ach wch what with its Violence and Missing of the Expected Help by Remedies He was Reduced to A miserable State and Condition Given over by all that Set Him being emaciated Lost the use of His Limbs Lingring and Walking about with Help like a Disconsolate and Dispairing Man: at Last He was advised to make use of Contrayerva Infused or Decocted in Spring Water and Drink About half A Pint every Morning for some Week wch Recoverd Him as He Told mee Himself: I being one Day in His Company And to all Appearance Seem to be as fatt and as Jolly as ever I Saw him: and Knowing in what Condition I had Seen Him before askt Him how and by what means He was soo Straingly Recoverd: He Told me it was Purely own to the Great Vertues in Contrayerva [fol. 79] Contrayerva for after He had Tried all things as He Called it and took every bodys advice to Noo effect He took to Drinking of an Infusion of Contrayerva every morning for some time: He said it first Brought a Way Gently for some days very Black Stools: afterwards it wrought strongly by Urine and Sweat Creating a very Great Appetite and Restored Him to A Miracle: it is unspeakable the Praise and Character He Gave the Plant it is Now become in Great use in Jamaica for Loss of Appetites Scraped and infused in Wine or A Tea Made off it; if the Vertues of it was as Well Known in Europe as it is in America There would not be A Drugg in Shopes would be of more Demand than this: I saw A Tymponite Girl Cured with the Contrayerva infused or steept in Spring Water with Rusty Iron put with it: I know one Mr Legott that was subject to A Void Much Blood after wch A Great Swelling and Hardness of His Belly followed that I have been Surprised to See Him He Tould me He Valued not His Swelling for I can Take that Away as I Please with Contrayerva the effect I saw and was Matter of Fact it is Experienced to Kill Worms. I hope you excuse me for being so long Upon this Subject: and am Sr. your most Humble and Obliged Servant Henry Barham London December 11th 1717

Henry Barham (1670?-1726) was a botanist. He lived in Jamaica and corresponded with Sloane on the plant and animal life of the island. Parts of Barham’s letters to Sloane appeared in the latter’s Natural History of Jamaica (T. F. Henderson, Barham, Henry (1670?1726), rev. Anita McConnell, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1374, accessed 13 June 2011]).




Patient Details

Letter 0857

Thomas Hardy to Hans Sloane – July 2, 1703


Item info

Date: July 2, 1703
Author: Thomas Hardy
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4039
Folio: ff. 157-158



Original Page



Transcription

Lely sends brass medals and Beverland’s account of them. Charleton had been willing to buy them. Lely hopes they are worth his guineas. He discusses antiquities and their display in museums and statuaries. Sloane’s hand records: ‘July. 2. 1703. Recd. in pursuance of the above sd order five gineas…’ John Lely (b. 1674) was the son of Sir Peter Lely, the portrait painter and art collector, and his common-law wife Ursula. John married the daughter of Sir John Knatchbull (Diana Dethloff, ‘Lely, Sir Peter (1618–1680)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/16419, accessed 28 May 2015]). Sir Thomas Hardy (1666-1732) was a naval officer (J. K. Laughton, ‘Hardy, Sir Thomas (1666–1732)’, rev. J. D. Davies, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/12289, accessed 28 May 2015]).




Patient Details

Close Call at Bloomsbury Square

By Matthew De Cloedt

Hanging Outside Newgate Prison. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

When John Ray received Hans Sloane’s letter of 6 April 1700 he could not help “but be moved with indignation”. He was livid that four “vile Rogues, who when they failed in their attempt of breaking open [Sloane’s] house… set it on fire.” Ray believed it was by God’s grace that Sloane, along with his residence at Bloomsbury Square, were not consumed by the conflagration.

The event took place on 5 April 1700 and was a close call for the Sloane family. During the night a group of three or four men snuck into Sloane’s backyard, which was backed by a field. After failing to open the back door they proceeded “by Instigation of the Devil… to set the House on Fire in several places”. They planned to force the family to evacuate the premises and “under the pretence of Friendly assistance they were to rush in and Robb the House”. Using splinters cut from the door the men set the window frames on fire, which were “of a thin and dry” board that sparked easily. The pantry window “burnt with great Violence” and all seemed to be going according to plan.

What the robbers did not count on was Elizabeth Sloane’s alertness. Smelling the smoke, she sent the servants downstairs to investigate. Upon coming to the pantry a male servant opened the door, “was almost Chok’d, with the violence of the Smoke and Flame… [and] Cry’d out Fire”. Instead of panicking the household took to action and immediately set to extinguishing the fire with water collected for washing the linens.

When the back door was opened to let the smoke out the men had already fled. The culprits had not expected the fire to be put out so efficiently and ran when they realized their plot was foiled. Luckily the neighbours had noticed a group of strange men waiting in the backyard and reported their number.

Sloane offered a reward of one-hundred pounds to anyone who could catch the arsonists, but he did not have to pay up. One of the men was arrested for another “Notorious Crime” in Westminster and, to secure his release, gave up the names of his companions. John Davis and Phillip Wake were apprehended and incarcerated at Newgate shortly thereafter.

Both men were repeat offenders and had a laundry list of previous offences. Had they been successful, it was suggested, the “Docters Family who went to Bed in peace” would have “miserably Perish’d by the merciless and devouring Flames”. For this reason Davis and Wake faced the death penalty. At the Old Bailey the man who identified his two accomplices testified against them and assured a conviction. Nothing is mentioned of Sloane participating in the trial.

On 24 May 1700 Davis and Wake, along with six others, were executed. Wake “seemed very Penitent” while Davis” seemed very much Concern’d and Dejected… They both desired all Persons to take warning by their shameful and deplorable tho’ deserved Deaths.”

Sloane and his family were lucky to survive their ordeal for, as Squire Aisle’s servant’s experience made clear, it could have unfolded in a much more unpleasant manner. Near Red-Lyon Square, where the man resided, his house was broken into, his wife murdered, and the house set ablaze, “wherein she was Burnt to Ashes”.

Had Sloane’s family been subjected to a similar fate the fire would have consumed his library and collection (not to mention the potential loss of life. It might be worth reiterating that Elizabeth Sloane’s concern alerted the rest of the household. In saving the house she not only rescued her family and servants but all of the possessions in the household. Perhaps the smoke woke her up; maybe she was having difficulty getting to sleep. Whatever the case, it might be worth considering her an important guardian of the things that would later form the collections of the British Museum and Natural History Museum.

Stay tuned for part two on the trial at the Old Bailey!

References

An Account of the apprehending and taking of John Davis and Phillip Wake for setting Dr. Sloan’s house on fire, to robb the same, with their committed to Newgate… London: Printed by J. W. in Fleet Street, 1700.

An Account of the actions, behaviours, and dying vvords, of the eight criminals, that were executed at Tyburn on Fryday the 24th of May, 1700… London: Printed by W.J. near Temple-Bar, 1700.

Both texts available at Early English Books Onlinehttp://eebo.chadwyck.com/home

Letter 2230

Henry Barham Sr. to Hans Sloane – December 11, 1717


Item info

Date: December 11, 1717
Author: Henry Barham Sr.
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: ff. 77-79



Original Page



Transcription

[fol. 77] Worthy Sr In my last I gave you some [word missing] of the Oars of Jamaica wch that Island Superabounds with and to give a Perticular account of every sort would make a large Treatise of its self at 16 mile Walk in one Palmers Grouns is found Upon the Earth Loose Stones (that seems to Rowl down from A mountain Near the Place) Iron Stones so Rich of that Mettall as seem to be all Iron and very Hard to Brake a Sunder, the Hammer makes an Impression as if Malabell before it would [text blurred] in peeces; and when Parted a Sunder the Inside Lookt as Red as Lapis Hematites I saw A Sharp Corroded Stone Seem to be Broke off from a large Stone of the Same Colour above Mentioned and brought from the Same Place that would Attrack Iron or Steel as Strong as any Magnett in Proportion to its Bigness: it is Certain that there is many Mines in Jamaica as Rich: if there were a Sett of Rich and Publick Spirited Men would Sett Heartily about the Work and with good Resolution to see the Depth or Bottom of them (and I Could Direct them where to begin) But to proceed to the Intended Matter you mention Introduction page 17 of Anti Neasts brought from the Woods in wch are found Clay Balls of Strange Different Shapes as if made by the Art of Man: and in those Wood Wnti Neasts the Amphosbona found I have seen them about 5 or 6 Inches with Perfect Heads at each End Running Swiftly either Direct or Retrogate or to the Right and Left with Equal Swiftness without Turning about: and in Digging Up of Old foundations I have seen those sort of A Worm like Shape Described and figured in Pisol wch when the Negros saw them, would flye from them [as] if Death its self was there saying they have them in their Country and are Present Death to any that are bitt or stung by them. Introd: page: 54- you Mention the Negroes Remedy: of Clay and Water Plaistering over their bodys with it its True some Negroes may use Barly or no other thing than Clay and Water: and I Thought soo for some years that they had used no Other thing: but upon a more Strickt Inquiery I found it was a yellowish Root wch they Call Altoo the Same Root you Mention in your Catalogus Plantarum page 214 viz Radix Firuticosa: glycyrrhia Similis cortica fuses[.] Besides Cleaning their Teeth with this Root they take it and Grind it very fine between two stones with Water and make an Islutamentum with wch they illuse or Plaister them selves with it and When Dry looks like A yellow Earth: Sometimes they only Illutate the Head and Face, if thats effected Sometimes their Stomach if their Heart is effected for they attribute all inward ails or illness to the Heart Saying their Heart is Noo Boon not Knowing the situation of the Stomach from that of the Heart: if their Limbs and Solid parts are effected they Illutate them selves all over saying their Skin Hurts them: The Affricans hath such Confidence and Opinion of this Root outwardly Applied or Inwardly given Decocted they wholly Dispair of any Relief believing it to be the most Soveraigne Remedy that they know Amongst all the Plants that comes Within their Knowledge. This Root was Much used by an Honrbl: Coll: in Ligano and Cryed Up to be one of the Greatest Remedies in ye World in Colicks or Belly aches: He Telling me the many Experiments He had made by A Simple Decoction of this Root: I had a fair Opportunity to Try Wither this Root was of such efficacy and Matter of Fact in a following Case: I Sent A Servant of Mine A Carpenter Up in to the Mountains to fall and Square Some Timber: who [fol. 78] who was takeing Such Care of Him Self when [word blurred] as He Should Soon found the effect of His Neglect Getting A Great Cold and was seized with most violent Pains in His Viscera and in 24 Hours was Thrown into Strong Convulsions: A messenger bringing this Information: I Rid Up to Him: it being A Place of Great Distance from a Town and where Compound me decides was not to be had: I Thought of the Poll: Root wch Grows in Great Plenty within, 3 or 4 Miles of this Place wch I Sent for and Decocted it in Spring Water and Gave this Poor Man (who had had Several Strong Convulsions and in Violent Pains) of this Decoction Warm about half a pint at A time Repeating it very often. the effect it had it first eased Him of His Pains in A Short time after it wrot [?] Gentrly Downwards and in 3 or 4 Days He thought Him Self as Well as ever He was and is easy all His Convulsive Tremors and Symptoms Left Him: His Appetite Returned and was Throughy Recoverd and So Continued without being Nerviated Paralyzed or Conculsed afterwards. In the Same Page it is Certain as you mention the Negroes make use of Fingrigo Roots for Claps and Some of them ad ye Roots of Prickly yellow Wood and Lime Tree Roots: but the most knowing or skillfull Negroes such as they Call (Oba men) or their Country Doctors use yellow Nickers Beaten to A Powder wch they Say Purges and Bindes them after it: like to our Myrabolins. But a Certain Negro Discovered to a Patient of Myne (that had Labourd under an Old Gleet wch Could not be stopt (after due Purging) by no Restringent or Natural Balsams whatsoever) A Plant wch I Shall Mention Hereafter that only by Decocting it and Drinking about half A pint of itt for 3 or 4 Mornings made Him perfectly Well and Sound of His Gleet as He affirmed to me with Reflections that Negroes Could doo more with their Herbs than Wee Practitioners with all our Art or Skill and I had Reason to Believe Him in this Particular Case: because I gave it my Self afterwards with good Success in the Like Case: Introd: page 55 you say one of the Greatest Remedies the Planters living here have to Prevent Diseases or ill effects of What they Call ill Fumes or Vapours is their Contrayerva wch you Call (and not Without Reason) A ristolochia Scandons Odo [?] ratissima: floris labello purpureo Semino cordato et Odoratissima and is Hernandez Tomahuetlopath. [?] and one of His Ingredients in His Grand Elixir or Great Antidoteas I have been Informed by the Spaaniards: and Besides that Remarkable [ink blot] (you mention Performed by an Indian Upon Dr Smallwood when Wounded by a Poison Arrow it hath been found Since by Daily Experiments to be one of the Greatest Antidotes and Antifribriticis inward by Given that is yet or every was Discovered and Besides the Work Hernandez ascribes to it Mentioned in your Natural History of Jamaica page 162 and that of H:M: it Drives out the Small Pox and Measles and is Prevalent in Calentures and Hectick Fevers This is to its Vertues in Generall: in Particular I know one Mr Henry Hill: or a Lusty Fatt Jolly Man When in Health He happened to be seized with the Belly ach wch what with its Violence and Missing of the Expected Help by Remedies He was Reduced to A miserable State and Condition Given over by all that Set Him being emaciated Lost the use of His Limbs Lingring and Walking about with Help like a Disconsolate and Dispairing Man: at Last He was advised to make use of Contrayerva Infused or Decocted in Spring Water and Drink About half A Pint every Morning for some Week wch Recoverd Him as He Told mee Himself: I being one Day in His Company And to all Appearance Seem to be as fatt and as Jolly as ever I Saw him: and Knowing in what Condition I had Seen Him before askt Him how and by what means He was soo Straingly Recoverd: He Told me it was Purely own to the Great Vertues in Contrayerva [fol. 79] Contrayerva for after He had Tried all things as He Called it and took every bodys advice to Noo effect He took to Drinking of an Infusion of Contrayerva every morning for some time: He said it first Brought a Way Gently for some days very Black Stools: afterwards it wrought strongly by Urine and Sweat Creating a very Great Appetite and Restored Him to A Miracle: it is unspeakable the Praise and Character He Gave the Plant it is Now become in Great use in Jamaica for Loss of Appetites Scraped and infused in Wine or A Tea Made off it; if the Vertues of it was as Well Known in Europe as it is in America There would not be A Drugg in Shopes would be of more Demand than this: I saw A Tymponite Girl Cured with the Contrayerva infused or steept in Spring Water with Rusty Iron put with it: I know one Mr Legott that was subject to A Void Much Blood after wch A Great Swelling and Hardness of His Belly followed that I have been Surprised to See Him He Tould me He Valued not His Swelling for I can Take that Away as I Please with Contrayerva the effect I saw and was Matter of Fact it is Experienced to Kill Worms. I hope you excuse me for being so long Upon this Subject: and am Sr. your most Humble and Obliged Servant Henry Barham London December 11th 1717

Henry Barham (1670?-1726) was a botanist. He lived in Jamaica and corresponded with Sloane on the plant and animal life of the island. Parts of Barham’s letters to Sloane appeared in the latter’s Natural History of Jamaica (T. F. Henderson, Barham, Henry (1670?1726), rev. Anita McConnell, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1374, accessed 13 June 2011]).




Patient Details

Letter 0858

John Lely to Hans Sloane – July 2, 1703


Item info

Date: July 2, 1703
Author: John Lely
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4039
Folio: ff. 157-158



Original Page



Transcription

Lely sends brass medals and Beverland’s account of them. Charleton had been willing to buy them. Lely hopes they are worth his guineas. He discusses antiquities and their display in museums and statuaries. Sloane’s hand records: ‘July. 2. 1703. Recd. in pursuance of the above sd order five gineas…’ John Lely (b. 1674) was the son of Sir Peter Lely, the portrait painter and art collector, and his common-law wife Ursula. John married the daughter of Sir John Knatchbull (Diana Dethloff, ‘Lely, Sir Peter (1618–1680)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/16419, accessed 28 May 2015]). Sir Thomas Hardy (1666-1732) was a naval officer (J. K. Laughton, ‘Hardy, Sir Thomas (1666–1732)’, rev. J. D. Davies, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/12289, accessed 28 May 2015]).




Patient Details

Letter 3055

Mark Catesby to Hans Sloane – August 15, 1724


Item info

Date: August 15, 1724
Author: Mark Catesby
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4047
Folio: ff. 212-213



Original Page



Transcription

[fol. 213] Charles Town Augt – 15th – 1724 Honourable Sr I received yrs of the 17th Aprile last. I shalle according to your order make a Collection of Snakes &c but the season is so far spent before I received the Bottles to put them in that I fear I shall make but a small progress this summer especially in larger Snakes, for which I have not had before now bottles large enough to put them in. I send Now the first half of the summers collection which I hope will afford you many new plants for many of them are ye same of those destroyed by the Pyrates. The Bird’s head in the Box has a Body as big as a goose and web footed, I call it the fisher from its preying on fish, which it does after the manner of the kingsfisher precipitating it self from on high into the water with great violence and there remaining about a minute, they are never seen but at sea Bays and the mouths of large Rivers. The large skin is that of a black Fox, They are very rare and are caught only in the mountains. The small skin is that of a Polcat, they all vary in their marks two being never seen alike some almost all white, others mostly Black with but little white which […] & sport of Nature Peculiar to this little Beast, as least I know of no wild Beast but what are all of ye same colour I hope are Now Sr You have a Box of Shells and dryed Birds by Capt Robinson with a Lr of the 12 March last My sending Collections of plants and especially Drawings to every of my subscribers is what I did not think would be expected of me My design was Sr til you’l pleas to give me your arrival to keep my Drawing intire that I may Get them Graved, in order to Give A genll History of the Birds And other Animals, which to distribute separately would wholly frustrate that designe And be of little value to those who have so small fragments of the whole. Besides as I must be obliged to draw Duplicates of whatever I send, that time will be loss which otherwise I might proceed in the design And consequently be so much short in proportion to what is sent. I beg Sr if you (as I flatter my self you will) think this reasonable that you will pleas to satisfy Ld Persival, who no doubt but will be influenced by what you say That I might not be thought remiss and to give all content I can to my subscribers I designe to tarry here Another year, unless the following designe requires my being at home sooner which Sr I beg leave to communicate to you, which is this. Here is a Gentleman who practices phisick his Name is Couper and is of Wattham Colledge in Oxford and tho’ he has extradrdinary business in his profession And by far the best of Any Body in the Country. He designes to leave it through a desire of seeing the remote parts of this Continent in order to improve Natural knowledge, And as his Genius bends most to the Mathematicks, he proposes to communicate to the R. Society what observations he makes in Astronomy. And Perticularly in his way of practice. The principal obstruction in such an undertaking, I concieve is the unsafe traveling amongst so treacherous and jealous people as the Spaniards. It’s conceived a pasport or Lr of protection might be procured from Old Spain to facilitate the designe, with more safety which if it could, would be a sufficient obligation to grately the learned in Such observations as Should be required of him. And as he is so kind to tel me my Company is one principal inducement to his undertaking it So I could with no less satisfaction embrace such a designe with a Moderate encouragement, if it could be accomplished without the danger of being imprisoned and as delineating Birds and other Natural Productions would be no small embellishment to […] an undertaking If ffrom London I could not I would if possible procure from Paris or Amsterdam an painter to goe with me which probably in a very few years would produce No mean Collection of Unknown Productions I cant Sr without to much confidance And regret request the favour of your advice in this affair when I have Already transgressed so long on your important hours So I conclude Sr Your most Dutifull Humble Servt M Catesby

Mark Catesby was a naturalist, influenced by John Ray and Samuel Dale. In 1712 he went to Virginia and collected botanical specimens, gaining the attention of Dr Sherard and Sloane upon his return in 1719. In 1725 he explored the Bahamas and published his ‘The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands’ a year later (F. Nigel Hepper, Catesby, Mark (16831749), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 2012 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/4882, accessed 23 July 2013]).




Patient Details

Of a leveret brought up by a cat

Tales of cross-species ‘friendships’ always warm the cockles of our modern hearts. It is difficult not to be charmed by accounts of Koko the Gorilla’s attachment to kittens and her grief when one died, or tales of a tiger suckling piglets . Early modern people were also fascinated by these odd pairings. In 1654, for example, John Evelyn reported that he “saw a tame lion play familiarly with a lamb” at a London fair. (Evelyn also stuck his hand in the lion’s mouth to touch its tongue—not sure I’d have taken my chances, no matter how tame the lion!)

In 1743, Montague Bacon, the Rector of Newbold Verdun in Leicestershire, offered up another strange pairing for the interest of Sir Hans Sloane (BL Sloane MS 4066, f. 127). “Pray tell Sr. Hans”, he wrote to Captain Tublay, “that my brother has got a Leveret, that has been suckled & bred up by a cat”. Not quite lion and lamb status, but still…

The cat & the Leveret are as fond of one another, as can be. The Cat take’s it to be of her own kind, & sometimes bring’s live mice to it to teach it it’s own hare: and when she see’s, that the Lever[e]t has no relish of the employment, she boxe’s her ears for not learning her bus’ness, as she should do.

A hare. Coloured wood engraving. Credit: Wellcome Library, London.

A hare. Coloured wood engraving.
Credit: Wellcome Library, London.

Both animal odd couples were clearly curiosities, but viewers would have had very different interpretations. During the Interregnum (1649-1660), the lion and lamb pairing would have had religious and political resonance. Religiously, it evoked Isaiah 11:6 and the dual nature of Christ (lion as conquest and lamb as sacrifice): “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.”

"Peaceable Kingdom of the Branch" by Edward Hicks - http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/full.php?ID=18738.Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

“Peaceable Kingdom of the Branch” by Edward Hicks – http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/full.php?ID=18738.Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Politically, the lion and lamb pairing also showed up in Royalist works celebrating the return of the king, such as the popular ballad “The King Enjoys His Own Again”:

When all these shall come to pass,
then farewell Musket, Pipe and Drum,
The Lamb shall with the Lyon feed,
which were a happy time indeed:
O let us all pray, we may see the day,
that Peace may govern in his Name:
For then I can tell all things will be well
When the King comes Home in Peace again

The leveret and cat pairing was a much cozier domestic matter. It took place within the home of Bacon’s brother and the cat acted as mother to the leveret, even trying to teach the leveret to hunt. Bacon emphasised the cat’s maternal instinct as overriding its predatorial instinct, so much so that he never even indicated why and how the cat came to be suckling the leveret. (But perhaps it was something like this account of another cat and leveret.) England of 1743 was at peace, but the ever-expanding British empire that brought them into contact with new people, lands and animals: could they be brought under British domestication, too? A homely little tale of predator and prey living together might have been very appealing.

Bacon’s interpretation also has similiarities with our own modern tendencies in anthropomorphization; we look for examples of nurturing behaviours–our own best selves, as reflected in the animal world. But his interpretation differs from ours, as well. Where we might read the animal behaviour as emotion (as with the video showing Koko’s grief), Bacon was more circumspect in making that comparison, describing the pair “as fond of one another, as can be”.

In any case, the real animal curiosity as far as Bacon was concerned, was not the cat and leveret relationship. In the letter, he gave as many lines to another point of interest:

I know not whether it be a curiosity to mention, that our neighbor Mr. Crawley has a breed of white, quite white Game hares. The young ones are speckled, when young, but grow quite white, as they grow up. Sr. Hans can tell whether these things are worth mentioning or not.

Now that line of enquiry is very different from our modern interests, but certainly fit with the eighteenth-century attempts to classify the world around them. When looking at accounts of animal friendships, then and now, context is indeed everything.

Letter 3853

William Stukeley to Hans Sloane – December 29, 1730


Item info

Date: December 29, 1730
Author: William Stukeley
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4051
Folio: ff. 158-159



Original Page



Transcription

[fol. 158] Honor’d & dear Sr I recd your ler with a very particular pleasure because there in I flatterd my self, that I perceiv’d you had a favor for me, in a matter you will guess by the station I am now in. my living here is worth £200 pound. & I have lately a salary of £25 pound settler on me by the Bishop of Lincoln, as I am governor of an hospital at Stanford, by vertue of my living. & I have a further expectancy of a living in our neighborhood. but it will be some trouble & charge to vindicate the Bishops intended favor to me. which I should dave, as well as the time I could employ better: if you should please more plainly to encourage my hopes. & then I should think only of pushing my future fortunes, in a different quarter of the world. our common friend Mr Gale who well knows all my views, can explain this, if you please to ask him about it. All I have to say, in my own favour is, that no one in life ever had a greater respect for Sr Hans Sloan, than my self, or has upon all occasions more I endeavord to vindicate this honor, when I liv’d in town. & the doing it has cost me some friendships, which I never regretted. I could mention in particular, that it bred a great coolness in a neighbor of mine of Ormond Street. as I always espousd your interests cordially, so I shall be more engag’d to do it when you are my patron, & shall be more enabled to do it, when fixd nearer the Thames, for which I shall willingly enough change my present station, tho’ a very pleasant one. I should then be set more in the eye of the world, & could be then a constant member again of the R. Society, & should endeavor to be an useful one. I have some discourses which I wrote in town, with a view of sheltering them under your name. they are some considerable curiositys in Botany never yet taken notice of. I might then have opportunitys of improving them so as not to be unworthy of your patronage. I hope you will excuse the freedom I here take, in confidence of the long acquaintance I have had with you. no Would I have it thought, that i have done any dishonor to the profession of physick by taking another gown. the first founder of the College did the same, Dr. Linacre, I mean, & dyd a dignitary of the church. & one of my views in it, under direction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, was to combat the infidel spirit that prevails so much in this generation, for which I have made some preparation, & may perchance, doe it more effectually, when I cam to enter the lists, than some others have done, that were altogether bred up in Divinity studys. I heartily pray, dear Sr for your health & happyness, & for the prosperity of your family in all its branches, & am with great truth Dear Sr Your most obliged obedient servant Wm Stukeley Stanford 19 Dec. 1730. I drank your health yesterday at the Duke of Ancasters. the Dutchess & Marquisse of Lindsey are now under my care. I have some curiositys in my colletion, the few yet very remarkable, which I should think honor’d by being added to your invaluable Museum. & I have had some thoughts about that, which I should be glad to communicate, if you have not better settled it your self: so as to be a most noble monument of your fame & learning & industry &c. Pardon haste – I expect to be in town in February.

William Stukeley was an antiquary and natural philosopher. He studied medicine at Corpus Christi, Cambridge and practiced medicine in London and Boston before setting up a practice in Grantham in 1726. Stukeley was acquainted with Dr Richard Mead, Sir Hans Sloane, Edmond Halley, and other prominent intellectuals and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1718. He published several medical treatises and important texts on the stone circles at Stonehenge and Avebury (David Boyd Haycock, Stukeley, William (16871765), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26743, accessed 19 Aug 2013]).




Patient Details

Letter 2227

Henry Barham Sr. to Hans Sloane – December 11, 1717


Item info

Date: December 11, 1717
Author: Henry Barham Sr.
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: ff. 77-79



Original Page



Transcription

[fol. 77] Worthy Sr In my last I gave you some [word missing] of the Oars of Jamaica wch that Island Superabounds with and to give a Perticular account of every sort would make a large Treatise of its self at 16 mile Walk in one Palmers Grouns is found Upon the Earth Loose Stones (that seems to Rowl down from A mountain Near the Place) Iron Stones so Rich of that Mettall as seem to be all Iron and very Hard to Brake a Sunder, the Hammer makes an Impression as if Malabell before it would [text blurred] in peeces; and when Parted a Sunder the Inside Lookt as Red as Lapis Hematites I saw A Sharp Corroded Stone Seem to be Broke off from a large Stone of the Same Colour above Mentioned and brought from the Same Place that would Attrack Iron or Steel as Strong as any Magnett in Proportion to its Bigness: it is Certain that there is many Mines in Jamaica as Rich: if there were a Sett of Rich and Publick Spirited Men would Sett Heartily about the Work and with good Resolution to see the Depth or Bottom of them (and I Could Direct them where to begin) But to proceed to the Intended Matter you mention Introduction page 17 of Anti Neasts brought from the Woods in wch are found Clay Balls of Strange Different Shapes as if made by the Art of Man: and in those Wood Wnti Neasts the Amphosbona found I have seen them about 5 or 6 Inches with Perfect Heads at each End Running Swiftly either Direct or Retrogate or to the Right and Left with Equal Swiftness without Turning about: and in Digging Up of Old foundations I have seen those sort of A Worm like Shape Described and figured in Pisol wch when the Negros saw them, would flye from them [as] if Death its self was there saying they have them in their Country and are Present Death to any that are bitt or stung by them. Introd: page: 54- you Mention the Negroes Remedy: of Clay and Water Plaistering over their bodys with it its True some Negroes may use Barly or no other thing than Clay and Water: and I Thought soo for some years that they had used no Other thing: but upon a more Strickt Inquiery I found it was a yellowish Root wch they Call Altoo the Same Root you Mention in your Catalogus Plantarum page 214 viz Radix Firuticosa: glycyrrhia Similis cortica fuses[.] Besides Cleaning their Teeth with this Root they take it and Grind it very fine between two stones with Water and make an Islutamentum with wch they illuse or Plaister them selves with it and When Dry looks like A yellow Earth: Sometimes they only Illutate the Head and Face, if thats effected Sometimes their Stomach if their Heart is effected for they attribute all inward ails or illness to the Heart Saying their Heart is Noo Boon not Knowing the situation of the Stomach from that of the Heart: if their Limbs and Solid parts are effected they Illutate them selves all over saying their Skin Hurts them: The Affricans hath such Confidence and Opinion of this Root outwardly Applied or Inwardly given Decocted they wholly Dispair of any Relief believing it to be the most Soveraigne Remedy that they know Amongst all the Plants that comes Within their Knowledge. This Root was Much used by an Honrbl: Coll: in Ligano and Cryed Up to be one of the Greatest Remedies in ye World in Colicks or Belly aches: He Telling me the many Experiments He had made by A Simple Decoction of this Root: I had a fair Opportunity to Try Wither this Root was of such efficacy and Matter of Fact in a following Case: I Sent A Servant of Mine A Carpenter Up in to the Mountains to fall and Square Some Timber: who [fol. 78] who was takeing Such Care of Him Self when [word blurred] as He Should Soon found the effect of His Neglect Getting A Great Cold and was seized with most violent Pains in His Viscera and in 24 Hours was Thrown into Strong Convulsions: A messenger bringing this Information: I Rid Up to Him: it being A Place of Great Distance from a Town and where Compound me decides was not to be had: I Thought of the Poll: Root wch Grows in Great Plenty within, 3 or 4 Miles of this Place wch I Sent for and Decocted it in Spring Water and Gave this Poor Man (who had had Several Strong Convulsions and in Violent Pains) of this Decoction Warm about half a pint at A time Repeating it very often. the effect it had it first eased Him of His Pains in A Short time after it wrot [?] Gentrly Downwards and in 3 or 4 Days He thought Him Self as Well as ever He was and is easy all His Convulsive Tremors and Symptoms Left Him: His Appetite Returned and was Throughy Recoverd and So Continued without being Nerviated Paralyzed or Conculsed afterwards. In the Same Page it is Certain as you mention the Negroes make use of Fingrigo Roots for Claps and Some of them ad ye Roots of Prickly yellow Wood and Lime Tree Roots: but the most knowing or skillfull Negroes such as they Call (Oba men) or their Country Doctors use yellow Nickers Beaten to A Powder wch they Say Purges and Bindes them after it: like to our Myrabolins. But a Certain Negro Discovered to a Patient of Myne (that had Labourd under an Old Gleet wch Could not be stopt (after due Purging) by no Restringent or Natural Balsams whatsoever) A Plant wch I Shall Mention Hereafter that only by Decocting it and Drinking about half A pint of itt for 3 or 4 Mornings made Him perfectly Well and Sound of His Gleet as He affirmed to me with Reflections that Negroes Could doo more with their Herbs than Wee Practitioners with all our Art or Skill and I had Reason to Believe Him in this Particular Case: because I gave it my Self afterwards with good Success in the Like Case: Introd: page 55 you say one of the Greatest Remedies the Planters living here have to Prevent Diseases or ill effects of What they Call ill Fumes or Vapours is their Contrayerva wch you Call (and not Without Reason) A ristolochia Scandons Odo [?] ratissima: floris labello purpureo Semino cordato et Odoratissima and is Hernandez Tomahuetlopath. [?] and one of His Ingredients in His Grand Elixir or Great Antidoteas I have been Informed by the Spaaniards: and Besides that Remarkable [ink blot] (you mention Performed by an Indian Upon Dr Smallwood when Wounded by a Poison Arrow it hath been found Since by Daily Experiments to be one of the Greatest Antidotes and Antifribriticis inward by Given that is yet or every was Discovered and Besides the Work Hernandez ascribes to it Mentioned in your Natural History of Jamaica page 162 and that of H:M: it Drives out the Small Pox and Measles and is Prevalent in Calentures and Hectick Fevers This is to its Vertues in Generall: in Particular I know one Mr Henry Hill: or a Lusty Fatt Jolly Man When in Health He happened to be seized with the Belly ach wch what with its Violence and Missing of the Expected Help by Remedies He was Reduced to A miserable State and Condition Given over by all that Set Him being emaciated Lost the use of His Limbs Lingring and Walking about with Help like a Disconsolate and Dispairing Man: at Last He was advised to make use of Contrayerva Infused or Decocted in Spring Water and Drink About half A Pint every Morning for some Week wch Recoverd Him as He Told mee Himself: I being one Day in His Company And to all Appearance Seem to be as fatt and as Jolly as ever I Saw him: and Knowing in what Condition I had Seen Him before askt Him how and by what means He was soo Straingly Recoverd: He Told me it was Purely own to the Great Vertues in Contrayerva [fol. 79] Contrayerva for after He had Tried all things as He Called it and took every bodys advice to Noo effect He took to Drinking of an Infusion of Contrayerva every morning for some time: He said it first Brought a Way Gently for some days very Black Stools: afterwards it wrought strongly by Urine and Sweat Creating a very Great Appetite and Restored Him to A Miracle: it is unspeakable the Praise and Character He Gave the Plant it is Now become in Great use in Jamaica for Loss of Appetites Scraped and infused in Wine or A Tea Made off it; if the Vertues of it was as Well Known in Europe as it is in America There would not be A Drugg in Shopes would be of more Demand than this: I saw A Tymponite Girl Cured with the Contrayerva infused or steept in Spring Water with Rusty Iron put with it: I know one Mr Legott that was subject to A Void Much Blood after wch A Great Swelling and Hardness of His Belly followed that I have been Surprised to See Him He Tould me He Valued not His Swelling for I can Take that Away as I Please with Contrayerva the effect I saw and was Matter of Fact it is Experienced to Kill Worms. I hope you excuse me for being so long Upon this Subject: and am Sr. your most Humble and Obliged Servant Henry Barham London December 11th 1717

Henry Barham (1670?-1726) was a botanist. He lived in Jamaica and corresponded with Sloane on the plant and animal life of the island. Parts of Barham’s letters to Sloane appeared in the latter’s Natural History of Jamaica (T. F. Henderson, Barham, Henry (1670?1726), rev. Anita McConnell, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1374, accessed 13 June 2011]).




Patient Details

  • Patient info
    Name: N/A Unnamed
    Gender:
    Age:
  • Description

    Man had a cold and suffered from stomach pains that led to 'strong Convulsions'.

  • Diagnosis
  • Treatment
    Previous Treatment:

    He was given 'Contrayerva' with spring water.


    Ongoing Treatment:
    Response:

    '3 or 4 Days' after taking the initial dose the man was in good health, suffered no further convulsions, and a had full proper appetite.

  • More information
  • Medical problem reference
    Pain, Stomach, Sleeplessness, Stomach

Letter 2231

Henry Barham Sr. to Hans Sloane – December 11, 1717


Item info

Date: December 11, 1717
Author: Henry Barham Sr.
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: ff. 77-79



Original Page



Transcription

[fol. 77] Worthy Sr In my last I gave you some [word missing] of the Oars of Jamaica wch that Island Superabounds with and to give a Perticular account of every sort would make a large Treatise of its self at 16 mile Walk in one Palmers Grouns is found Upon the Earth Loose Stones (that seems to Rowl down from A mountain Near the Place) Iron Stones so Rich of that Mettall as seem to be all Iron and very Hard to Brake a Sunder, the Hammer makes an Impression as if Malabell before it would [text blurred] in peeces; and when Parted a Sunder the Inside Lookt as Red as Lapis Hematites I saw A Sharp Corroded Stone Seem to be Broke off from a large Stone of the Same Colour above Mentioned and brought from the Same Place that would Attrack Iron or Steel as Strong as any Magnett in Proportion to its Bigness: it is Certain that there is many Mines in Jamaica as Rich: if there were a Sett of Rich and Publick Spirited Men would Sett Heartily about the Work and with good Resolution to see the Depth or Bottom of them (and I Could Direct them where to begin) But to proceed to the Intended Matter you mention Introduction page 17 of Anti Neasts brought from the Woods in wch are found Clay Balls of Strange Different Shapes as if made by the Art of Man: and in those Wood Wnti Neasts the Amphosbona found I have seen them about 5 or 6 Inches with Perfect Heads at each End Running Swiftly either Direct or Retrogate or to the Right and Left with Equal Swiftness without Turning about: and in Digging Up of Old foundations I have seen those sort of A Worm like Shape Described and figured in Pisol wch when the Negros saw them, would flye from them [as] if Death its self was there saying they have them in their Country and are Present Death to any that are bitt or stung by them. Introd: page: 54- you Mention the Negroes Remedy: of Clay and Water Plaistering over their bodys with it its True some Negroes may use Barly or no other thing than Clay and Water: and I Thought soo for some years that they had used no Other thing: but upon a more Strickt Inquiery I found it was a yellowish Root wch they Call Altoo the Same Root you Mention in your Catalogus Plantarum page 214 viz Radix Firuticosa: glycyrrhia Similis cortica fuses[.] Besides Cleaning their Teeth with this Root they take it and Grind it very fine between two stones with Water and make an Islutamentum with wch they illuse or Plaister them selves with it and When Dry looks like A yellow Earth: Sometimes they only Illutate the Head and Face, if thats effected Sometimes their Stomach if their Heart is effected for they attribute all inward ails or illness to the Heart Saying their Heart is Noo Boon not Knowing the situation of the Stomach from that of the Heart: if their Limbs and Solid parts are effected they Illutate them selves all over saying their Skin Hurts them: The Affricans hath such Confidence and Opinion of this Root outwardly Applied or Inwardly given Decocted they wholly Dispair of any Relief believing it to be the most Soveraigne Remedy that they know Amongst all the Plants that comes Within their Knowledge. This Root was Much used by an Honrbl: Coll: in Ligano and Cryed Up to be one of the Greatest Remedies in ye World in Colicks or Belly aches: He Telling me the many Experiments He had made by A Simple Decoction of this Root: I had a fair Opportunity to Try Wither this Root was of such efficacy and Matter of Fact in a following Case: I Sent A Servant of Mine A Carpenter Up in to the Mountains to fall and Square Some Timber: who [fol. 78] who was takeing Such Care of Him Self when [word blurred] as He Should Soon found the effect of His Neglect Getting A Great Cold and was seized with most violent Pains in His Viscera and in 24 Hours was Thrown into Strong Convulsions: A messenger bringing this Information: I Rid Up to Him: it being A Place of Great Distance from a Town and where Compound me decides was not to be had: I Thought of the Poll: Root wch Grows in Great Plenty within, 3 or 4 Miles of this Place wch I Sent for and Decocted it in Spring Water and Gave this Poor Man (who had had Several Strong Convulsions and in Violent Pains) of this Decoction Warm about half a pint at A time Repeating it very often. the effect it had it first eased Him of His Pains in A Short time after it wrot [?] Gentrly Downwards and in 3 or 4 Days He thought Him Self as Well as ever He was and is easy all His Convulsive Tremors and Symptoms Left Him: His Appetite Returned and was Throughy Recoverd and So Continued without being Nerviated Paralyzed or Conculsed afterwards. In the Same Page it is Certain as you mention the Negroes make use of Fingrigo Roots for Claps and Some of them ad ye Roots of Prickly yellow Wood and Lime Tree Roots: but the most knowing or skillfull Negroes such as they Call (Oba men) or their Country Doctors use yellow Nickers Beaten to A Powder wch they Say Purges and Bindes them after it: like to our Myrabolins. But a Certain Negro Discovered to a Patient of Myne (that had Labourd under an Old Gleet wch Could not be stopt (after due Purging) by no Restringent or Natural Balsams whatsoever) A Plant wch I Shall Mention Hereafter that only by Decocting it and Drinking about half A pint of itt for 3 or 4 Mornings made Him perfectly Well and Sound of His Gleet as He affirmed to me with Reflections that Negroes Could doo more with their Herbs than Wee Practitioners with all our Art or Skill and I had Reason to Believe Him in this Particular Case: because I gave it my Self afterwards with good Success in the Like Case: Introd: page 55 you say one of the Greatest Remedies the Planters living here have to Prevent Diseases or ill effects of What they Call ill Fumes or Vapours is their Contrayerva wch you Call (and not Without Reason) A ristolochia Scandons Odo [?] ratissima: floris labello purpureo Semino cordato et Odoratissima and is Hernandez Tomahuetlopath. [?] and one of His Ingredients in His Grand Elixir or Great Antidoteas I have been Informed by the Spaaniards: and Besides that Remarkable [ink blot] (you mention Performed by an Indian Upon Dr Smallwood when Wounded by a Poison Arrow it hath been found Since by Daily Experiments to be one of the Greatest Antidotes and Antifribriticis inward by Given that is yet or every was Discovered and Besides the Work Hernandez ascribes to it Mentioned in your Natural History of Jamaica page 162 and that of H:M: it Drives out the Small Pox and Measles and is Prevalent in Calentures and Hectick Fevers This is to its Vertues in Generall: in Particular I know one Mr Henry Hill: or a Lusty Fatt Jolly Man When in Health He happened to be seized with the Belly ach wch what with its Violence and Missing of the Expected Help by Remedies He was Reduced to A miserable State and Condition Given over by all that Set Him being emaciated Lost the use of His Limbs Lingring and Walking about with Help like a Disconsolate and Dispairing Man: at Last He was advised to make use of Contrayerva Infused or Decocted in Spring Water and Drink About half A Pint every Morning for some Week wch Recoverd Him as He Told mee Himself: I being one Day in His Company And to all Appearance Seem to be as fatt and as Jolly as ever I Saw him: and Knowing in what Condition I had Seen Him before askt Him how and by what means He was soo Straingly Recoverd: He Told me it was Purely own to the Great Vertues in Contrayerva [fol. 79] Contrayerva for after He had Tried all things as He Called it and took every bodys advice to Noo effect He took to Drinking of an Infusion of Contrayerva every morning for some time: He said it first Brought a Way Gently for some days very Black Stools: afterwards it wrought strongly by Urine and Sweat Creating a very Great Appetite and Restored Him to A Miracle: it is unspeakable the Praise and Character He Gave the Plant it is Now become in Great use in Jamaica for Loss of Appetites Scraped and infused in Wine or A Tea Made off it; if the Vertues of it was as Well Known in Europe as it is in America There would not be A Drugg in Shopes would be of more Demand than this: I saw A Tymponite Girl Cured with the Contrayerva infused or steept in Spring Water with Rusty Iron put with it: I know one Mr Legott that was subject to A Void Much Blood after wch A Great Swelling and Hardness of His Belly followed that I have been Surprised to See Him He Tould me He Valued not His Swelling for I can Take that Away as I Please with Contrayerva the effect I saw and was Matter of Fact it is Experienced to Kill Worms. I hope you excuse me for being so long Upon this Subject: and am Sr. your most Humble and Obliged Servant Henry Barham London December 11th 1717

Henry Barham (1670?-1726) was a botanist. He lived in Jamaica and corresponded with Sloane on the plant and animal life of the island. Parts of Barham’s letters to Sloane appeared in the latter’s Natural History of Jamaica (T. F. Henderson, Barham, Henry (1670?1726), rev. Anita McConnell, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1374, accessed 13 June 2011]).




Patient Details