Dr. Thomas Sydenham (1624-1689): his life and original writings / [edited by] Kenneth Dewhurst.

  • Thomas Sydenham
Date:
1966
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Dr. Thomas Sydenham (1624-1689): his life and original writings / [edited by] Kenneth Dewhurst. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    for financing the commercial cultivation of senna. 1 Having received some seeds from Barbados, Worsley gained Royal approval after presenting them to the King, who received the sample not only pleasedly, but greedily. Through Lady Ranelagh he then tried to get Boyle's powerful influence and financial support. Worsley suggested that some deeds, in Boyle's name, be handed to Sydenham as security for the loan of ^250 for six months. 2 These negotiations were par ticularly delicate as Worsley felt that he could not put any proposals before Sydenham who clearly disliked him. At the same time Lady Ranelagh had also fallen from Sydenham's favour: (Why I no more know, than I did how I came into it) that he has not since my return home, nor for a good while before made me so much as a civil visit. 3 Henry Oldenburg, the German-born Secretary of the Royal Society, after his imprisonment in the Tower on a charge of having dangerous designs and practises, also complained of Sydenham's changed attitude. During his imprisonment, Oldenburg had come to know [his] real friends. And when he was released, he refused to meet Sydenham, whom he regarded as his principal detractor. I must beg your excuse for not seeing Dr. Sydenham [wrote Oldenburg 4 to Boyle], who hath been the only man that I hear of, who, when I was shut up, thought fit (God knows without cause) to rail against me, and that was such a coward, as afterwards to disown it, though undeniable. I confess, that with so mean and unmoral a spirit I cannot well associate. Sydenham's enforced absence from the metropolis during the Plague gave him an opportunity of completing his five-year study of the London epidemics published as Methodus Curandi Febres, etc. (1666). He dedicated this small volume of seventeen thousand words to the Honourable Robert Boyle who had verified its truth and efficacy as he had gone so far as to accompany me in the visiting of the sick. 5 The book was lengthily reviewed (probably by Hooke) in the Philo sophical Transactions 6 wherein he gave an accurate, expository, and quite uncritical summary. This practical work on the treatment of fevers enhanced Sydenham's reputation in more discerning medical circles. It came into the hands of John Locke, then an Oxford classical don, 1 Further information on the senna project is to be found in the Calendar of Stale Papers (America and West Indies, 1661-1668). Worsley eventually perfected the cultivation of senna, as a licence to plant, dress, and cure it in the American plantations was granted to him for fourteen years. 2 Robert Boyle, op. cit., vol. vi, pp. 528-9, 12 September, 1666. 8 Ibid., pp. 529-30, 18 September, 166 6. I am particularly indebted to Dr. R. E. W. Maddison for information about Worsley and his senna scheme. 4 Ibid., pp. 258-9, 24 December, 1667. 5 Thomas Sydenham, op. cit., vol. I, p. 10. 9 Philosophical Transactions (1665-6), 1, 210-13, 7 May, 1666.