Scribonius Largus, a Roman physician of the first century of our era. He accompanied, in a.d. 43, the emperor Claudius when he attempted the definite conquest of the island of Britain. Scribonius is the author of the valuable book, Compositiones Medicamentorum seu Compositiones medicæ, the earliest edition of which is due to Ruel, Paris, 1529.
See pages [6]. [35]. [42]. [147]. [179]. [219]. [245]. [331]. [493]. [503].
Simon Januensis—See pages [6]. [44]. [582]. [652].
Sloane, Sir Hans, 1660-1753. In 1687 physician to the governor of Barbados and Jamaica. His library and large collections of natural history formed the nucleus of the British Museum. He wrote (1) Catalogus plantarum quæ in insula Jamaica sponte proveniunt vel vulgo coluntur ... adjectis aliis quibusdam, quæ in insulis Maderæ, Barbados, Nieves et St. Christophori nascuntur, Londini, 1696. (2) A voyage to the islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, St. Christophers and Jamaica. London, 1707-1725, fol.
See pages [18]. [73]. [188]. [203]. [288]. [591]. [615]. [629]. [710].
Susruta. The author of “Ayurvedas,” i.e. the book of health, an old Sanskrit medical work in which a large number of eastern drugs are mentioned. It was first printed in the original language at Calcutta, 2 vols., 1835-1836, and afterwards translated under the name Susrutas Ayurvedas, id est medicinæ systema a venerabili D’hanvantare demonstratum, a Susruta discipulo compositum. Nunc primum ex Sanskrita in Latinum sermonem vertit.... Fr. Hessler, Erlangæ, 3 vols., 1844-1850. And by the same translator, Commentarii et annotationes in Susrutæ ayurvedam, 1852-1855. Susruta was once supposed to have written centuries before Christ, but chiefly the researches of Prof. Haas, London, in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, xxx. (1876) 617 sqq. and xxxi. (1877) 647, make it not improbable that the Sanskrit “Susruta” might have been generated from the Greek Hippokrates by way of the intermediate form “Bukrat.” The oldest testimony as to the time of Susruta (and Charaka, see before) is the statement of Ibn Abu Oseibiah, in the 13th century, that Susruta had been translated into Arabic about the end of the 8th century.
See pages [154]. [188]. [211]. [225]. [295]. [315]. [421]. [425]. [436]. [503]. [547]. [572]. [644].
Tabernæmontanus, Jacob Theodor, physician at Heidelberg; died a.d. 1590. A pupil of Tragus.—Neuw Kreuterbuch, Frankfurt, 1588, folio; second part, 1591, both with fig. Later editions, also in German, by Caspar Bauhin and Hieronymus Bauhin. Latin translation, Eicones plantarum seu stirpium ... Francofurti, 1590, with 2225 engravings.
See pages [308]. [390]. [731].
Talbor, or also Tabor, Robert, 1642-1681. This singular personage having been apprenticed to Dear, an apothecary of Cambridge, settled in Essex, where he practised medicine with much success. He afterwards came to London, and in 1672 published a small book called Πυρετολογία, a rational account of the cause and cure of agues (London, 12°). As stated at page 344, he was appointed physician to the king, and on 27th July of the same year, received the honour of knighthood at Whitehall. But he was not a member of the College of Physicians; and to save him from attack, Charles II. caused a letter to be written restraining that body from interfering with him in his medical practice. (Baker, l.c. at page 344, note 1). The appointment as royal physician, made in consideration of “good and acceptable services performed,” led to the issuing of a patent under the Privy Seal, dated 7th August, 1678, granting to Sir Robert Talbor an annuity of £100 per annum, together with the profits and privileges appertaining to a physician in ordinary to the sovereign. In 1679 Talbor visited France and Spain, as recorded in the Recueil des nouvelles etc. pendant l’année 1679 (Paris, 1780) 466 (this includes the Gazette de France, 23rd Sept., 1679). The journey to Spain he made in the suite of the young queen of Spain, Louise d’Orléans, niece of Louis XIV., of whom he is described as premier médecin. During Talbor’s absence, his practice in London was carried on by his brother, Dr. John Talbor, as is proved by an advertisement in the True News or Mercurius Anglicus, January 7-10, 1679. In France Talbor had the good fortune to cure the Dauphin of an attack of fever, and also treated with success other eminent persons. (See Lettres de Madame de Sévigné, nouv. ed. tome v., 1862, 559; also tome vi., letters of 15th and 29th Sept, and 6th Oct. 1679.) The physicians both in England and France were exceedingly jealous of the successes of an irregular practitioner like Talbor, and averse to admit the merits of his practice. Yet D’Aquin, first physician to Louis XIV., prescribed Vin de Quinquina, as well as powdered bark, for the king in 1686.—See J. A. Le Roi, J. Journal de la santé du roi Louis XIV., Paris, 1862. 171. 431. But Talbor’s happy results brought him into favour with Louis XIV., who induced him, in consideration of a sum of 2,000 louis d’or and an annual pension of 2,000 livres, to explain his mode of treatment, which proved to consist in the administration of considerable doses of cinchona bark infused in wine, as will be seen in the pamphlet: Les admirables qualitez du Kinkina confirmées par plusieurs expériences, Paris, 1689. 12°. Talbor did not long enjoy his prosperity, for he died in 1681, aged about 40 years. He was buried in Trinity Church, Cambridge, where a monumental inscription describes him as—“Febrium malleus” and physician to Charles II., Louis XIV, and the Dauphin of France. In Talbor’s will, proved by his widow, Dame Elizabeth Talbor, alias Tabor, relict and executrix, 18th Nov. 1861, and preserved at Doctors’ Commons, mention is made of an only son, Philip Louis.