Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 734.5

FRANCIS CLIFTON (d.1736) The state of physic, ancient and modern, briefly consider’d : with a plan for the improvement of it. Printed by W. Bowyer, for John Nourse. 1732 First Edition. [40], 192 p. , 2 folded leaves. 20 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 9

This copy contains 3 groups of 8 blank leaves bound in throughout the text, apparently ready for corrections and annotations for another edition. This fine work on the history of medicine is divided into five sections starting from the Greeks (heavier on Hippocrates), to the Romans, and to Arab practitioners through the Restoration, and on to the present time (with an emphasis on English medicine, especially Sydenham and Harvey). The last section contains the author’s plan for improving the work; perhaps the reason for the blanks bound in. Of interest is Clifton’s comparison of ancient and modern medical practices, raising issues such as why the ancients used bathing and exercise so much more than the moderns. Among his many topics, Clifton relates the need for observation, and discusses material medica, methods of cure, and inoculations. In addition, he here states that Hippocrates had anticipated Newton in his idea of the system of gravitation. Clifton was a physician at London, a member of the College of Physicians and the Royal Society. He ultimately left London for Jamaica where he lived until his death. Provenance: Sir James Stonhouse (1716-1795), Physician to the Prince of Wales, Fellow of the College of Physicians as well as the Royal Society, matriculated from St. John’s College, Oxford in 1732. He studied medicine at St. Thomas’ Hospital and also at Paris, Lyons, Montpelier, and Marseilles. Stonhouse had a successful medical practice for over twenty years, and was himself a widely published author.

Cited references: Osler 5764; Wellcome II p.360.

John Martin M.D. Endowment