A Claim to Fame: Thomas Sydenham

A claim to fame: Thomas Sydenham.

Thomas Sydenham.

T Sydenham is undoubtedly the most celebrated British physician. He has been considered the father of English medicine and the English equivalent of Hippocrates.1 Sydenham was born on September 1624 in Wynford Eagle, Dorset. He joined Magdalene Hall, Oxford at the age of e ighteen to study m e d i c i n e . H o w e v e r there was an interruption in his studies because o f h i s p a r t i c i p...

Selected Works of Thomas Sydenham, M.D., with a Short Biography

ness to see a celebrated " Dr. Robinson," who had made a special study of his disease. The patient started out from London on what was in those days a long and difficult journey. Some time afterwards Sydenham met him on his return to London; and after he had failed .to find the imaginary " Dr. Robinson." " Are you better? " enquired Sydenham. " Yes," replied the patient I am now quite well; but...

Dr. Thomas Sydenham (1624–1689): his Life and Original Writings

Dr. Thomas Sydenham (1624-1689): his Life and Original Writings, by KENNEH DEWHURST, London, Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 1966, pp. viii, 180, illus., 35s. Thomas Sydenham was 'the greatest physician this country has ever produced', Dr. Dewhurst claims boldly (p. vii). Parliamentarian soldier, member of a family which had helped to run England for Oliver Cromwell, himself a radical Whig...

Sydenham on Hysteria

This historical essay outlines early ideas and clinical accounts of hysteria. It reproduces verbatim parts of a remarkable text of Thomas Sydenham. This provides the most detailed description of hysterical symptoms, contemporary treatment and particularly Sydenham’s opinions about the nature of the disorder. His portrayal is compared to later and modern concepts and classification. © 2016 S. Ka...