English physicians of the past : short sketches of the life and work of Linacre, Gilbert, Harvey, Glisson, Willis, Sydenham, Mead, Heberden, Baker, Latham, Bright / by R.T. Williamson.

  • Richard Thomas Williamson
Date:
1923
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: English physicians of the past : short sketches of the life and work of Linacre, Gilbert, Harvey, Glisson, Willis, Sydenham, Mead, Heberden, Baker, Latham, Bright / by R.T. Williamson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    men distinguished in medicine, science and literature are so often very little above, and sometimes below, the average Englishman. But on account of the part they played in the advance of English medicine, the lives of the physicians we shall consider are of interest and value. As Mr. H. F. B. Wheeler has pointed out in his life of Lord Roberts, biography is of little service if it merely interests but does not inspire. It is the writer’s hope that the following sketches may stimulate as well as interest. The lives of many other physicians would have been also suitable subjects for this little work, but those considered were the lives which interested me most. Only physicians who were born before the nineteenth century are considered. Writing in 1920, the details as to the careers of these English physicians of the past can only be second-hand information; but we have their books in many of' our larger medical libraries, which we can to-day all study for ourselves, first hand, if we wish. The brief accounts of the work of these twelve physicians are based on their published writings. For many details as to their careers I am indebted to Ur. Munk’s Roll of the Royal College of Physicians, and to the various separate biographies and biographical sketches indicated subsequently; for many historical details and dates to the standard historical works of Prof. Tout, Mr. Green, and Dr. Collier. 2, St. Peter’s Square, Manchester, R. T. W.