John Locke, 1632-1704, physician and philosopher : a medical biography / with an edition of the medical notes in his journals.

  • Kenneth Dewhurst
Date:
1963
Catalogue details

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

Credit: John Locke, 1632-1704, physician and philosopher : a medical biography / with an edition of the medical notes in his journals. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    344/374 (page 306)
    and when about to return to London from Oxford died suddenly, leaving Locke and Tyrrell to share his funeral expenses. When Dr. Sibelius arrived on his way to Ireland, Locke advised him to anglicize his name to Sibley, and asked Molyneux to help him as a favour to me. 1 Locke frequently met the leading London physicians, and he carried on a large correspondence with foreign doctors. For many years Le Fevre 2 and Thoynard had supplied him with medical news, books, and natural curiosities from France; and over three hundred letters from his Dutch friends have been traced, a third of them dealing with medicine. His main informants were Guenellon and Veen, but unfortunately, Locke's replies cannot be found. At various times he corresponded with Guenellon on the treatment of rheumatism, 3 asthma, 4 fevers, 5 pustulous herpes, 6 bronchitis, 7 and gangrene. 8 Guenellon also sent a detailed account of the treatment of dysentery which struck young people more fatally than old; 9 the advantages of quinine, 10 and his preference for herbal remedies rather than chemical ones, in the treatment of scurvy. 11 The correspondence shows that Guenellon 12 profited from Locke's friendship in his method of teaching. You ask me what course of lectures I am giving at present; 'tis a course of practice on the plan of my economy—although trying to profit by the light that you have given me. I always take care to subordinate true reasonings to the facts of practice. Two of Guenellon's letters deal with important aspects of operative surgery which Locke passed on to the London doctors. One gives a description of a lateral lithotomy performed by Jacques Beaulieu, an unqualified French surgeon. This method had been practised in Provence by Pierre Franco, nearly a hundred years earlier. Beaulieu 13 was taught the rudiments of the operation by an Italian, and during his army service had ready access to post-mortem material on which to perfect his art. He then became a wandering monk, and after perform ing a number of successful operations in Paris, moved on to Amsterdam, where Guenellon 14 sent this description of his technique. 'Bi., MS. Locke, c. 18, ff. iio-n, 5 April, 1692. ä Ibid., c. 13, f. 154, 27 May, 1701. 3 Ibid., c. II, ff. 78-9, 3-13 Aug., 1697. 4 Ibid., ff. 122-23, 29 Aug.-9 Sept., 1704. 5 Ibid., ff. 10-17, 11-16 Sept., 1689; f. 45, 28 Oct-7 Nov., 1691. 6 Ibid., f. 103, 21 Dec., 1701-1 Jan., 1702; ff. 104-5, 2 3 Jan.-4 Feb., 1702. ' Ibid., ff. 99-100, 19-30 April, 1701. 8 Ibid., ff. 59-60, 31 Aug.-io Sept., 1694. * Ibid., ff. 67-8, 10-28 Aug., 1695. 10 Ibid., ff. 46-7, 22 Jan.-i Feb., 1692. 11 Ibid., ff. 196-7, 1-10 Nov., 1703. 12 Ibid., ff. 20-7, 11-21 April, 1690. 13 Sir D'Arcy Power, Frère Jacques, Rupture Curer Sc Lateral Lithotomist, Brit. Med.J. (1897), ii, 1349- 14 D.L., MS. Locke, c. Ii, ff. 89-90, 22 Sept.-2 Oct., 1699.