1. AN ESSAY ON GLEETS.
2. AN ENQUIRY INTO THE NATURE,
CAUSE, AND CURE OF A SINGULAR DISEASE
OF THE EYES.
By J E A N P A U L M A R A T, M.D.
EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY
JAMES BLAKE BAILEY
LIBRARIAN OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND
PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY
BY
PERCIVAL & CO.
LONDON
1891
INTRODUCTION
The two tracts here reprinted were written in English by Jean Paul Marat during his residence in Church Street, Soho, where he practised as a Physician.
Both of the tracts are exceedingly rare. Speaking of the former one, Mr. Morse Stephens, in his article on “Marat” in the Encyclopædia Britannica,[1] says, “no copy is to be found.” Since the date of Mr. Stephens’s notice of Marat a copy has come to light, and is now in the possession of Dr. J. F. Payne. Of the latter tract there is only one known copy: this is in the Library of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London. I have to thank the Council of the Society and Dr. Payne for their kindness in allowing copies of the pamphlets to be made for the purpose of publication.
The first tract is dedicated to the Worshipful Company of Surgeons in London, and is dated November 1775. As the type is broken the day of the month cannot be read with certainty in the copy from which this was reprinted: there is no other known copy to which reference can be made. The date is either the 21st or 24th: as regards the month and the year there is no doubt. The second tract has an address to the Royal Society, and is dated January 1st, 1776: as Marat returned to Paris in 1777 both these works were issued towards the end of his residence in London.
A few months before the publication of the Essay on Gleets, Marat had received an M.D. degree from the University of St. Andrews. The degree was equivalent to an honorary one, and, as was the custom of the time, was given on the recommendation of two medical men known to the Senate. The two who recommended Marat were Hugh James and William Buchan, doctors of medicine in Edinburgh. Marat passed no examination for the degree, and probably did not even go to St. Andrews to receive it. At that time it was customary to forward the Diploma on receipt of the graduation fee. Mr. Morse Stephens[2] is of opinion that Marat received degrees from other universities, because in 1777 on his appointment as physician to the body-guard of the Comte d’Artois he is described as “docteur en médecine de plusieurs facultés d’Angleterre.” It may, however, be pointed out that at this date there were very few universities or faculties granting an M.D. degree, and also that the older universities did not give the Doctor of Medicine as an honorary degree. It is known that Marat resided for some time at Edinburgh and at Dublin, but there is no record of his having received a degree from either of these Universities.
Although diligent search has been made by historians no record of any other qualification has been found, and it may fairly be assumed that the above description is an exaggeration of the St. Andrews degree.
There is evidence in both pamphlets that Marat practised medicine in Paris before coming to London. In the Essay on Gleets[3] he speaks of his “ten years practice”; this probably gives a clue to the actual date of the beginning of his professional life. The duration of his practice in France before his coming to England must have been short. He took up his residence in England in 1766; the Essay is dated November 1775, and Marat was born in 1742: allowing for the ten years he mentions, he would have started practice about 1765, at which date he was twenty-three years of age.