William Salmon
William Salmon (1644–1713) was an English
Salmon "copied, translated, abridged, enlarged and compiled from the texts of others" to create popular books emphasizing practice over theory, and often marketing his own medications.[2] A prolific author on a broad range of medical topics, Salmon's works were widely read in his time.[3] His books were owned by respected men including Isaac Newton, Daniel Defoe, William Congreve and Samuel Johnson.[2]
Life
According to an inscription under his portrait in Ars Anatomica (1714), William Salmon was born on 2 June 1644.[4] Almost nothing is known about his upbringing or his education.[5] He may have travelled in New England or the West Indies.[6] It was rumoured that his earliest teacher was a travelling charlatan from whom he inherited his original stock-in-trade.[7]
Salmon set up in business near the
By 1698, when he published Ars chirurgica, he indicated that his residence was the Great House by Black Friars' Stairs.[3]William Salmon fills his medical works with observations about cases, but the extent to which he draws on other authors makes it difficult to characterize his personal practice.[9] Nonetheless, from the focus of his books, it is clear that he emphasized Medicina practica, or, Practical physick.[10] He recommended herbal preparations such as the "spirituous tincture" of dried lavender to cure "hysterick fits" and as a poultice for bites.[11] His descriptions of
Salmon produced proprietary medicinal products that included pills, powders, elixirs and lozenges,[1] sometimes with accompanying instructions e.g. The Vertues and Use of Dr. William Salmon Family Pills.[12] His products were heavily promoted in his published books.[1]
William Salmon's (1644-1713) method of advertising exhibits nothing that is antiquated even in the eyes of this shop-window age. The writing of elaborate treatises with a profound air, in a learned style, and to sell the same at substantial prices, with the purpose of keeping oneself in the publick eye, cannot be excelled by modern medical pundits. – Kronos, 1905[13]
Critics differ in their opinions on Salmon's writing style. In his books Salmon uses a mixture of the language of 'modern' chemistry and philosophy and the language of older
He actively challenged attempts by others to use his name and mark to advertise their own products. He successfully allied with other apothecaries in blocking an attempt by the
Partly as a result of such tensions, Salmon became a target of satire and "collegiate obloquy."[14] Surgeon James Yonge published the pamphlet Medicaster medicatus, or, A remedy for the itch of scribbling (1685) criticizing the writings of John Browne and of William Salmon.[15] In 1699 Yonge's Sidrophel Vapulans: or, The Quack-Astrologer tossed in a blanket was directed at Salmon, and he was satirized in physician Sir Samuel Garth's mock-heroic poem, "The Dispensary".[14][1]: 375 Salmon is also referred to in the satirical poem "Hermetick Raptures", as a "little Salmon trout" who industriously plys his "Fam'ly Pills".[16]
Between his medical practice, the sale of medicines, and the sales of his books, Salmon is presumed to have had a considerable income. He accumulated an extensive library, and owned scientific and mathematical instruments including two microscopes and a calculating device called Napier's bones.[5] "If one may judge by his library, Salmon must have been a man of erudition, and of wide and liberal tastes; he must also have been a thorough-going bibliophile and possessed of means sufficient to gratify his acquisitiveness."[5] In addition to his collection of books, he owned curiosities from the West Indies, and paintings from the Netherlands, again indicating well-off status.[7]
He attended the meetings of a religious sect at the
Salmon's works frequently included portraits, with surrounding details that vary between editions.[2] George Vertue lists several portraits of Salmon in A catalogue of engravers (1782). Robert White is credited with a portrait of "William Salmon, M.D." in 1700, while a painter named Burnford "is known only by a print of William Salmon, chymist, 1681."[20] A third portrait by William Sherwin, dating to 1670, is included in Portraits of doctors & scientists in the Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine.[21] Other engravings include one by Michael Vandergucht after White.[2]: x
Works
Salmon's published works covered an incredibly wide range of topics, including
In 1671 Salmon published Synopsis Medicinæ, or a Compendium of Astrological, Galenical, and Chymical Physick, in three books. Although he dedicated the volumes to Dr. Peter Salmon and Thomas Salmon of Hackney, there is no evidence to indicate that they were in any way related. The work also included laudatory verses by Henry Coley and others. The publisher of Synopsis Medicinæ was Richard Jones of the Golden Lion in Little Britain. A second edition appeared in 1681, a reissue in 1685, and a fourth edition in 1699.[7]
In 1672 the same publisher, Richard Jones, brought out Salmon's Polygraphice, the Art of Drawing, Engraving, Etching, Limning, Painting, Washing, Varnishing, Colouring, and Dyeing. The first edition was dedicated to Peter Stanley of Alderley.[7] Like Salmon's medical books, it emphasized techniques, meeting "a thirst for practical production skills".[2]: 113 In subsequent editions, lavish illustrations were added and the range of topics was extended to include cosmetics, chiromancy, alchemy, hermetic philosophy, and medicine.[2]: 111–116 Considerable scientific information was included, e.g. fifty experiments published by Robert Boyle in his Experiments touching colour.[22]
Polygraphice was probably Salmon's most successful book.[2]: 110 It went through eight editions and sold 15,000 copies by 1701,[23] and held sustained popularity as an art manual.[24] It was one of the earliest and most successful "printed academies", with wide geographical impact. Such works supported the transfer or visual knowledge and helped to create a broad taste for art. Expanding far beyond their initially intended audience of amateur and profession artists and craftsmen, they found a dominant audience among middle and upper-class women.[23]
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Polygraphice, Plate IV (facial features)
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Polygraphice, Plate VIII (soldier)
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Polygraphice, Plate XIII (woman)
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Polygraphice, Plate XIV, portraits of Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza
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Polygraphice, Plate XXII (chiromantic right hand)
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Plate XVII (landscape)
In 1678, publisher Thomas Dawks released the first edition of Salmon's Pharmacopœia Londinensis. Or, the New London Dispensatory. In six volumes, it purported to cover "the whole Art of Healing", giving practical advice "translated into English for the publick Good".[25]
In 1679 Dawks released Salmon's Horæ Mathematicæ seu Urania – The Soul of Astrology. Dawks also reissued Sytema Medicinale (1681) and published Salmon's Iatrica, seu, Praxis medendi, The practice of curing being a medicinal history of above three thousand famous observations in the cure of diseases (1681, reissued 1684).[7][26] In 1683, Dawks published Doron Medicon: Or a supplement to the New London Dispensatory.[7]
In 1684, Salmon published the first in a series of prophetic
In 1687 Salmon published Paraieremata, or Select Physical and Chirurgical Observations.[29] In 1689 he published The anatomy of human bodies, a translation of Isbrand van Diemerbroeck of Utrecht.[30] It was reprinted in 1694.[31]
His Medicina Practica, with the Claris Alcymiae (3 vols. London, 1692), a , reveals its scope in its subtitle:
Practical Physick. Shewing the Method of Curing the most Usual Diseases Happening to Humane bodies. As all Sorts of Aches and Pains,
Artesius Longævus, Nicholas Flammel, Roger Bacon, and George Ripley. All Translated out of The best Latin Editions, into English...[5]
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Medicina Practica, Main title page, 1692
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Frontispiece, William Salmon by William Sherwin, 1671
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Book II title page
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Book II, Plate I, Geber's furnaces
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Book II, Plate III, Geber's furnaces
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Book III, Artephius
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Book III, Rogerii Bachonis Radix Mundi
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Book III, Plate I, Flammel's Hieroglyphicks
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Book III, Plate III, Flammel's Hieroglyphicks
In 1693, Salmon published Seplasium. The compleat English physician : or, The druggist's shop opened.[32]
In 1694, he published a translation of the work of court physician George Bate under the title Pharmacopoeia Bateana: Or Bate's Dispensatory. Editions appeared in 1694, 1700, 1706, and 1713.[33]
In 1696 Salmon published The family-dictionary, or, Household companion, a work on cookery and domestic medicine. Containing recipes such as
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Doron medicum : or, A supplement to the New London dispensatory, 1688
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Seplasium. The compleat English physician : or, The druggist's shop opened, 1693
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The family-dictionary : or, Household companion, 1705
In 1698 Salmon published a general surgical treatise, Ars chirurgica: a Compendium of the Theory and Practice of Chirurgery,[38] and became involved in the Dispensary controversy. In the
Salmon published A rebuke to the authors of a blew-book call'd, The state of physick in London ... written in behalf of the apothecaries and chirurgians of the city of London (1698).[40][41] James Yonge published Sidrophel Vapulans: or, The Quack-Astrologer tossed in a blanket (1699) specifically attacking Salmon.[42] Garth himself weighed in with a mock-heroick poem, "The Dispensary" (1699), in which physicians were "on the side of charity against the intrigues of interest, and of regular learning against licentious usurpation of medical authority".[39] Salmon is mentioned in "The Dispensary" when an apothecary is trying to get to sleep. "Cowslips and poppies o'er his eyes he spread, and S[almon]'s works he laid beneath his head."[14][1]: 375
In the preface to Collectanea Medica: The Country Physician: Or, a Choice Collection of Physick: Fitted for Vulgar Use (1703), Salmon defended himself against critical physicians:[43]
I deem it a very great Honour done me, to be thought worthy of their Envy and Malice... I have unfolded the whole Medical Art in our English Tongue, and improved and advanced the same in all its Parts of Anatomy, Pharmacy, Chymistry, Chirurgery and Physick, beyond not only what these Warwick-Lane Fellows have done, ever since they have been a fraternity, to this day, but beyond all what ever was done before in the World by any one Man or Body of Men; As also because I have withal laid myself out in the Service of the Publick[43]
In 1707 he published a translation from Latin into English of Dr. Thomas Sydenham's Processus Integri in Morbis Fere Omnibus Curandis under the title Praxis Medica: The Practice of Physick, crediting the original author and expanding the text.[44]
In 1710–1711 Salmon published Botanologia; or the English Herbal (2 vols.), dedicated to Anne, Queen of Great Britain.[7][45][46] He mentions his travels in the British colonies of North America, making the first known reference to the
Preparations of cannabis root are suggested for the treatment of gout, arthritis, and painful joints.[49]Other titles by Salmon include Officina Chymica, Systema Medicinale (1686), and Phylaxa Medicinæ (1688). He has also been credited with parts of the Bibliothèque des Philosophes (1672) and the Dictionnaire Hermetique (1695).[7][50]
References
- ^ ISBN 9780300123586.
- ^ ISBN 9780226315874. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ^ ISBN 9783039111855. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ^ Salmon, William (1714). Ars anatomica: or, the anatomy of humane bodies. In seven books. Representing to the mind a true and compleat idea of the whole humane frame. Deliverd in A Compendious Method. Extracted Out of the Works of the most Learned and Accurate Anatomists, both Ancient and Modern, and reformed according to all the later Discoveries. Illustrated with XXIX anatomical sculptures, engrav'd on copper, with their several Explications. The most compleat Work of this Kind yet publish'd in English. By William Salmon, M.D. London: Printed by I. Dawks, for D. Browne, at Exeter-Change in the Strand; W. Taylor, at the Ship in Pater – Noster – Row; and J. Browne, at the Black Swan without Temple-Bar. p. Frontispiece.
- ^ a b c d e f g Ferguson, John (1906). "Salmon (William)". Bibliotheca chemica: a catalogue of the alchemical, chemical and pharmaceutical books in the collection of the late James Young of Kelly and Durris. Glasgow: J. Maclehose. pp. 318–321. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ISBN 9780773590502. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Moore, Norman (1897). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 50. pp. 209–210.
- ^ ISBN 9789401079280. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- PMID 25557513.
- ^ Salmon, William (1692). Medicina practica, or, Practical physick shewing the method of curing the most usual diseases happening to humane bodies ... London: Printed for T. Howkins ... J. Taylor ... and J. Harris ... Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ISBN 9780415284868. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ^ ISBN 9780521552264. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
- ^ Kronos (29 April 1905). "Collecteana". Pharmaceutical Journal: 624.
- ^ . Retrieved 14 November 2017.
- ISBN 9781580461191. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ISBN 0824075994. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
- ^ Salmon, William (1674). An apology for the innocency and justice of the Quakers cause. And a short elucidation of their principles. With some reflections upon J. Ives his papers. Written in the behalf of the Christian religion. By William Salmon professor of physick. London. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ^ ISBN 1570030006. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ISBN 9781275784444. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ^ Walpole, Horace; Caulfield, J.; Vertue, George; Neuman, Mark (1782). A catalogue of engravers, who have been born, or resided in England. London: Printed for J. Dodsley. pp. 83, 138, 150. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ^ "William Salmon. Line engraving by W. Sherwin, 1671, after himself". Wellcome Trust. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ^ ISBN 9780226577029. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
- ^ Ogden, H V S; Ogden, Margaret Sinclair (1955). English taste in landscape in the seventeenth century. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. pp. 77=–79.
- ^ Salmon, William (1678). Pharmacopœia Londinensis. Or, the New London Dispensatory. In Six 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 LIfe. Together with several choice Medicines added by the Author. As also the Praxis of Chymistry, as it's now Exercised, fitted to the meanest Capacity (First ed.). London: Thomas Dawks.
- ^ Salmon, William (1681). Iatrica, seu, Praxis medendi, The practice of curing being a medicinal history of above three thousand famous observations in the cure of diseases, performed by the author hereof : together with several of the choicest observations of other famous men ... : wherein for the most part you will find 1. the constitution of the body of the sick, 2. the symptoms predominant, 3. the cause of the disease, what? 4. the exact method which was taken in the cure, 5. an exact account of the medicines exhibited, with the order of their exhibition, various doses and success thereupon ... / perform'd by William Salmon ... London: Printed for Th. Dawks and Langley Curtiss.
- ISBN 978-2503530932.
- ISBN 978-9004172500. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
- ^ Salmon, William (1687). Paraieremata, or, Select physical and chyrurgical observations. London: Printed for Thomas Passinger, and John Richardson, and are sold by Randal Taylor ... Josias Mitchel ...
- ^ Diemerbroeck, Ysbrand van (1689). The Anatomy of Human Bodies, Comprehending the most Modern Discoveries and Curiosities in that Art. To which is added a Particular Treatise of the Small-Pox and Measles. Together with several Practical Observations and Experienc'd Cures. ... written in Latin by Ijsbrand de Diemerbroeck ... ; translated from the last and most correct and full edition of the same, by William Salmon ... London: Printed for Edward Brewster.
- ^ Diemerbroeck, Ysbrand van (1694). The anatomy of human bodies, comprehending the most modern discoveries and curiosities in that art to which is added a particular treatise of the small-pox & measles : together with several practical observations and experienced cures ... / written in Latin by Ijsbrand de Diemerbroeck ... ; translated from the last and most correct and full edition of the same, by William Salmon ... London: Printed for W. Whitwood.
- ^ A Catalogue of the Library of the Medical and Chirurgical Society of London. London: Printed by Richard and Arthur Taylor. 1816. p. 352.
- ^ Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain; Knapman, John William (1880). Catalogue of the library of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, in London. London: Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. p. 334. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ISBN 075243991X.
- ISBN 978-1-45970-669-9.
- ISBN 9780231049313.
- ISBN 9780859912594.
- ^ Salmon, William (1698). Ars chirurgica a compendium of the theory and practice of chirurgery in seven books ... shewing the names, causes, signs, differences, prognosticks, and various intentions of curing all kinds of chirurgick diseases ... : to which is added Pharmacopoeia chirurgica, or, The medical store, Latin and English ... / by William Salmon ... London: Printed for J. Dawks ... and sold by S. Sprint...
- ^ a b "'The Dispensary': Sir Samuel Garth's mock-heroic poem". Royal College of Physicians. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
- ISBN 9781147130997.
- ^ Salmon, William (1698). A rebuke to the authors of a blew-book call'd, The state of physick in London which is indeed the black and blew state of physick, dated from the college, and signed by Th. G. and R.M. / written in behalf of the apothecaries and chirurgians of the city of London by William Salmon ... London: Printed and sold by E. Whitlock ... Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ^ Ormsby-Lennon, Hugh (1990). Fink, W. (ed.). "Swift and the Quakers, II". Swift Studies: The Annual of the Ehrenpreis Center: 75.
- ^ ISBN 9781611490121. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
- ^ Fuller, Thomas (1714). Pharmacopoeia extemporanea: [microform] or, a body of medicines, containing a thousand select prescripts, answering most intentions of cure. To which are added, useful scholia, a catalogue of remedies, and copious index. London: W. Innys. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ^ Elliott, Brent (2009). "'The Forgotten Herbal". The Garden. 134: 42–43.
- ^ Henrey, Blanche (1975). British Botanical and Horticultural Literature before 1800. Vol. 2. London: Oxford University Press. pp. 5–7.
- ISBN 978-0786439614. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ISBN 9780521316231. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- PMID 29082318.
- ^ Watt, Robert (1824). Bibliotheca Britannica, or, A general index to British and foreign literature. Edinburgh: Constable. p. 829. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
External links
- Engravings from Polygraphice are freely available for download in a variety of formats from the Science History Institute's Digital Collections