Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 784.5

THOMAS GUIDOTT (fl. 1698) Thomæ Guidotti Anglo-Britanni, de thermis Britannicis tractatus : accesserunt observationes hydrostaticæ, chromaticæ, & miscellaneæ, uniuscujusq[ue] Balnei apud Bathoniam naturam, proprietatem, & distinctionem, curatius exhibentes : experientiæ diuturnioris opus, & plurium annorum pensum, cum indicibus necessariis : ad Regale Collegium Medicorum Londinensium. Excudebat Franciscus Leach, sumptibus authoris, Veneunt apud S. Smith, sub insignium principis signo in Cæmeterio D. Pauli, aliosq. (Printed by Francis Leach, at the expense of the author, printed at St. Smith, under the standards of the sign in the cemetery of St. Paul. 1691 1st edition in Latin. [28], 24, [8], 25-412, [4], 28, [16] p., [9] leaves of plates : plans, tables. 21 cm (4to).

Thomas Guidott was a physician who practiced for a time in Bath, where invalids and socializers gathered to take the waters. Although he was well set up there by the noted Dr. John Maplet in 1668, he had lost most of his practice a decade later through what DNB calls ‘imprudence, lampooning, and libeling.’ According to Wood, although Guidott was learned and versed in his profession, he ‘was so much overwhelmed with self-conceit and pride as to be in a manner sometimes crazed, especially when his blood was heated by too much bibbing.’ In any case, his self-directed infatuation left him unsuitable as a physician, and he took to writing books, especially on the topic of therapeutic baths. His treatment in the present work is certainly exhaustive, covering the properties and layout of baths all over England, although Bath in particular [sic]. He discourses on the mineral content of the waters, their various curative powers, the advisability of drinking versus bathing in the waters, hot versus cold baths, and so on. – bookseller’s blurb

Cited references: Wellcome III p. 178; Cushing G446; NLM 17th c. #5120

John Martin M.D. Endowment