Complete Record

JAMES HART, OF NORTHAMPTON (1585-?) [Klinikē], or, The diet of the diseased : divided into three bookes : wherein is set downe at length the whole matter and nature of diet for those in health, but especially for the sicke ... : besides many pleasant practicall and historicall relations, both of the authours owne and other mens, &c. ... : collected as well out of the writings of ancient philosophers, Greeke, Latine, and Arabian, and other moderne writers, as out of divers other authours Printed by Iohn Beale for Robert Allot 1633 1st 14 unnumbered pages, 27 pages, 1 unnumbered page, 411 pages, 17 unnumbered pages 29 cm

This pioneering work is concerned with food, drink, health (both mental and physical), air, and exercise. Sections discuss the various types of wines and their effects; the times during which meals should be eaten (including “Something concerning breakefasts”); nourishment; dietary recommendations for those who are sick; gluttony; how to understand and treat sorrow, grief, and fear; the nature of joy and gladness; and cures for small pox, fevers, jaundice, and measles. “Hart’s principal work, Klinike, or the diet of the diseased…though little known, is of interest and value…It had scarcely any forerunner in medical literature since the classical times, and though the importance of such matters is now generally recognized, it has had til quite recently but few successors…In rationality and freedom from the tyranny of therapeutic routine it is far in advance of most medical works of the time, and apart from its professional interest presents instructive pictures of the manners and customs of the seventeenth century.” – D.N.B.

Cited references: NLM 17th 5278

John Martin M.D. Endowment