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| '''Robert James''' was |
'''Robert James''' (1703–1776) was an ] ] who is best known as the author of ''A Medicinal Dictionary'', as the inventor of a popular "fever powder", and as a friend of ]. | ||
| | url = http://books.google.ca/books?id=8g_P9h2CeEAC&pg=PA311&lpg=PA311 | |||
| | title = Comprehensive Dictionary of the World - Google Books | |||
| | author = null | |||
| | accessdate = 2010-04-27 | |||
| }}</ref> In 1946 he published '''A medical dictionary'''. | |||
| ==Life== | ==Life== | ||
| James was born in 1703, at ] in ], to a major in the English army and a sister of ]. His early education was at the grammar school in ], where he became acquainted with his fellow student Samuel Johnson. He then attended ], from which he received the degree of ] on 5 July 1726. He was admitted as an extra-licentiate of the ] on 12 January 1727/8, and in May of the same year was created doctor of medicine at ] by royal mandate. He practiced at ], Lichfield, and ] before moving to ], where he was admitted as a licentiate of the Royal College on 25 June 1765. He died on 23 March 1776, aged seventy-three.<ref name =roll>{{cite book |title=The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London: Vol. II, 1701 to 1800 |last=Munk |first=William |year=1878 |publisher=Royal College of Physicians |location=London |page=269 |url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=LeMRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA269 |accessdate=14 May 2010}}</ref> | |||
| He was born, in 1703, at ], in ]. His father was a major in the English army; his mother was a sister of ]. | |||
| He went to ], and as a member of that house proceeded A.B. 5th July, 1726. He was admitted an Extra-Licentiate of the College of Physicians 12th January, 1727-8, and the 8th May of the same year was created doctor of medicine at Cambridge, by royal mandate. | |||
| He practised at ], home in Lichfield, ], and ]; and was admitted a Licentiate of the College 25th June, 1765. | |||
| James's most notable publication was his three-volume ''Medicinal Dictionary'' (1743–1745), for which his friend Samuel Johnson wrote the "proposals", as well as several of the dictionary's articles (mainly at the beginning of the alphabet), including those for '']'' and ].<ref>{{cite book |title=Samuel Johnson |last=Bate |first=W. Jackson |year=1975 |publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich |location=New York |page=219 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=bJuD41RzMjgC&pg=PA219 |accessdate=14 May 2010}}</ref> This work retained its popularity for so long that ] felt justified in writing a scathing critique of it in 1890.<ref>Twain, Mark. "A Majestic Literary Fossil". ''Harper's Magazine'', Feb. 1890. Rpt. in {{cite book |title=The Writings of Mark Twain, Vol. 22: Literary Essays |year=1899 |publisher=Harper & Brothers |location=New York |pages=329–345 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=3UsqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA329 |accessdate=14 May 2010}}</ref> | |||
| '''A medical dictionary''' described ] as being "productive of the most deplorable and generally incurable Disorders", and that "there is perhaps no sin productive of so many hideous consequences".<ref name="terror"></ref> | |||
| His fever powder, which he patented in 1747, was one of the most successful of 18th-century patent medicines,<ref name=Wiltshire>{{cite book |title=Samuel Johnson in the Medical World: The Doctor and the Patient |last=Wiltshire |first=John |year=1991 |publisher=Cambridge UP |location=Cambridge |page=96 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=waSr-jycAJEC&pg=PA96 |accessdate=14 May 2010}}</ref> | |||
| He tarnished his image by patenting his powders, and falsifying their specification.<ref>{{cite web | |||
| though he is said to have "tarnished his image by patenting his powders, and falsifying their specification".<ref name=roll /> The use of this preparation, a compound of ] and ], has been cited as a contributing factor in the death of ].<ref>{{cite book |title=England in the Restoration and Early Eighteenth Century: Essays on Culture and Society |last=O'Malley |first=C. D. |year=1991 |editor=Swedenberg, H. T. (ed.) |chapter=The English Physician in the Earlier Eighteenth Century |publisher=U of California P |location=Berkeley |page=154 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=P_jmDFHDXkoC&pg=PA154 |accessdate=14 May 2010}}</ref> | |||
| | url = http://books.google.ca/books?id=LeMRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA269&lpg=PA269&dq=%22Robert+James%22++%22A+medical+dictionary%22&source=bl&ots=oXdZ8TGdmK&sig=DTH7tgSlQB-qgkXFOoXgPTezOEU&hl=en&ei=spzXS9S1KIOClAePu-noAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CB8Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=%22Robert%20James%22%20%20%22A%20medical%20dictionary%22&f=false | |||
| | title = The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London: 1701 to 1800 | |||
| | author = Royal College of Physicians of London, William Munk, G. H. Brown, Richard Robertson Trail, Gordon Ethelbert Ward Wolstenholme | |||
| | first = Royal | |||
| | page = null | |||
| | accessdate = 2010-04-27 | |||
| }}</ref> Dr. James died 23rd March, 1776, aged seventy-three. | |||
| ==Writings== | |||
| A Medical Dictionary, with a History of Drugs. 3 vols. Fol. Lond. 1743. | |||
| ==Selected writings<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brack |first1=O. M., Jr. |last2=Kaminski |first2=Thoams |year=1984 |title=Johnson, James, and the ''Medicinal Dictionary'' |journal=Modern Philology |publisher=U of Chicago P |volume=81 |issue=4 |page=378 |url=http://www.jstor.org/pss/437053}}</ref>== | |||
| ⚫ | A Treatise on the Gout and Rheumatism |
||
| ===Translations=== | |||
| A Translation of Rammazini de Morbis Artificum, &c. 8vo. Lond. 1746. | |||
| *''Dissertation on Endemical Diseases'' ]] and ''Treatise on the Diseases of Tradesmen'' ]], 1746 | |||
| ⚫ | *''The Presages of Life and Death in Diseases'' ]], 1746 | ||
| *''Health's Improvement'' ]], 1746 | |||
| *''A Treatise on Tobacco, Tea, Coffee and Chocolate'' ]], 1746 | |||
| *''The Modern Practice of Physick'' ], with annotations by ] and additions from Friedrich Hoffmann], 1746 | |||
| ===Original works=== | |||
| ⚫ | The Presages of Life and Death in Diseases |
||
| *''A Medicinal Dictionary, Including Physic, Surgery, Anatomy, Chymistry, and Botany, in All Their Branches Relative to Medicine; Together with a History of Drugs, an Account of Their Various Preparations, Combinations, and Uses; and an Introductory Preface, Tracing the Progress of Physic and Explaining the Theories Which Have Principally Prevail'd in All Ages of the World'', 1743–45 | |||
| ⚫ | *''A Treatise on the Gout and Rheumatism'', 1745 | ||
| A Dissertation on Fevers and Inflammatory Distempers |
*''A Dissertation on Fevers and Inflammatory Distempers'', 1748 | ||
| ⚫ | *''A Treatise on Canine Madness'', 1760 | ||
| This rati to eight editions, to the last of which, a posthumous publication, was appended— | |||
| ⚫ | *''A Vindication of the Fever Powder, with a short Treatise on the Disorders of Children'', 1778 | ||
| ⚫ | A Vindication of the Fever Powder, |
||
| Pharmacopoeia Universalis; or, a New Universal English Dispensatory. 8vo. Lond. 1752. | |||
| The Practice of Physick. 2 vols. 8vo. Lond. 1760. | |||
| ⚫ | A Treatise on Canine Madness |
||
| ==See also== | |||
| ] | |||
| ==References== | ==References== | ||
| {{reflist}} | {{reflist}} | ||
| ==Further reading== | |||
| *{{cite journal |last1=Stine |first1=Lulu |year=June 1941 |title=Dr. Robert James, 1705–1776 |journal=Bulletin of the Medical Library Association |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=187–198 |url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC233462/pdf/mlab00277-0007.pdf}} | |||
| ] | ] | ||
Revision as of 19:08, 14 May 2010
Robert James (1703–1776) was an English physician who is best known as the author of A Medicinal Dictionary, as the inventor of a popular "fever powder", and as a friend of Samuel Johnson.
Life
James was born in 1703, at Kinvaston in Staffordshire, to a major in the English army and a sister of Sir Robert Clarke. His early education was at the grammar school in Lichfield, where he became acquainted with his fellow student Samuel Johnson. He then attended St. John's College, Oxford, from which he received the degree of A.B. on 5 July 1726. He was admitted as an extra-licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians on 12 January 1727/8, and in May of the same year was created doctor of medicine at Cambridge by royal mandate. He practiced at Sheffield, Lichfield, and Birmingham before moving to London, where he was admitted as a licentiate of the Royal College on 25 June 1765. He died on 23 March 1776, aged seventy-three.
James's most notable publication was his three-volume Medicinal Dictionary (1743–1745), for which his friend Samuel Johnson wrote the "proposals", as well as several of the dictionary's articles (mainly at the beginning of the alphabet), including those for actuarius and Aretaeus. This work retained its popularity for so long that Mark Twain felt justified in writing a scathing critique of it in 1890.
His fever powder, which he patented in 1747, was one of the most successful of 18th-century patent medicines, though he is said to have "tarnished his image by patenting his powders, and falsifying their specification". The use of this preparation, a compound of antimony and phosphate of lime, has been cited as a contributing factor in the death of Oliver Goldsmith.
Selected writings
Translations
- Dissertation on Endemical Diseases and Treatise on the Diseases of Tradesmen , 1746
- The Presages of Life and Death in Diseases , 1746
- Health's Improvement , 1746
- A Treatise on Tobacco, Tea, Coffee and Chocolate , 1746
- The Modern Practice of Physick , 1746
Original works
- A Medicinal Dictionary, Including Physic, Surgery, Anatomy, Chymistry, and Botany, in All Their Branches Relative to Medicine; Together with a History of Drugs, an Account of Their Various Preparations, Combinations, and Uses; and an Introductory Preface, Tracing the Progress of Physic and Explaining the Theories Which Have Principally Prevail'd in All Ages of the World, 1743–45
- A Treatise on the Gout and Rheumatism, 1745
- A Dissertation on Fevers and Inflammatory Distempers, 1748
- A Treatise on Canine Madness, 1760
- A Vindication of the Fever Powder, with a short Treatise on the Disorders of Children, 1778
References
- ^ Munk, William (1878). The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London: Vol. II, 1701 to 1800. London: Royal College of Physicians. p. 269. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
- Bate, W. Jackson (1975). Samuel Johnson. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. p. 219. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
- Twain, Mark. "A Majestic Literary Fossil". Harper's Magazine, Feb. 1890. Rpt. in The Writings of Mark Twain, Vol. 22: Literary Essays. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1899. pp. 329–345. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
- Wiltshire, John (1991). Samuel Johnson in the Medical World: The Doctor and the Patient. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. p. 96. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
- O'Malley, C. D. (1991). "The English Physician in the Earlier Eighteenth Century". In Swedenberg, H. T. (ed.) (ed.). England in the Restoration and Early Eighteenth Century: Essays on Culture and Society. Berkeley: U of California P. p. 154. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
{{cite book}}:|editor=has generic name (help) - Brack, O. M., Jr.; Kaminski, Thoams (1984). "Johnson, James, and the Medicinal Dictionary". Modern Philology. 81 (4). U of Chicago P: 378.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Further reading
- Stine, Lulu (June 1941). "Dr. Robert James, 1705–1776" (PDF). Bulletin of the Medical Library Association. 29 (4): 187–198.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: year (link)