Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

In vi books. translated into english for the publick good; and fitted to the whole art of healing. illustrated with the preparations, virtues and uses of all simple medicaments, vegetable, animal and mineral, of all the compounds, both internal and external: and of all the chymical preparations now in use. together with some choice medicines added by the author. as also, the praxis of chymistry, as it's now excercised, fitted to the meanest capacity. by william salmon professor of physick. the fifth edition, corrected and amended, by william salmon, professor of physick: at the blue ball by the ditch-side nigh holbourn bridge.

Item Description

8vo. 7 x 4.5 inches. [xvi] + 887 +[3] pp. COPY LACKS 2D7, p.413-414. Title with double line border. Text in double columns. Includes dedication (to the king), preface, errata, contents, list of medical characters and index. Bound in contemporary calf, with blind stamped borders on boards; spine in compartments with raised bands. Age related wear to extremities, including corners corners and head and tail of spine, with title label very worn. Page edges darkened and occasional traces of foxing, but otherwise a very good interior. Contents divided into six books, divided into a total of eighty chapters: Of Simple Vegetable Medicaments (e.g. Of Roots, Of Barks); Of Animals (e.g. Of Man, Of Serpents); Of Minerals (e.g. Of Gold, Of Stones); Of Compounds Internal (e.g. Of Elixirs, Of Tinctures); Of Compounds External (e.g. Of Balsams, Of Ointments), The Practice of Chymistry (e.g. Of Fermentation, Of Distillation). William Salmon (1644-1713), 'Professor of Physick', had no formal medical education and acquired his early knowledge by being apprenticed to a travelling entertainer and quack. In 1671 he set up his practice outside St Bartholomew's Hospital to provide a service for those patients who failed to gain admission to it; the College of Physicians ultimately failing to suppress the activities of irregular practitioners like Salmon, in spite of many vituperative attacks made upon him. Author of numerous publications, partly synthesised from the works of other writers, Salmon emphasised practical medicine based on his observations. This title was first published in 1678 (ESTC R232150. Wing S441).