Herman Boerhaave (1668–1738): His Life, Thought and Influence upon Japanese Medicine in the Period of Dutch Learning

In turn, pre-eminence passed from Padua to Leyden in the seventeenth century and then on to Edinburgh in the early eighteenth century. The intellectual current from Holland to Britain did not, however, flow in only one direction. Some of the principal influences on Boerhaave were British: Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton in physical science, Francis Bacon in general philosophy, John Ray in Botany, his Scottish teacher Archibald Pitcairne as well as Thomas Willis, William Harvey and of course Thomas Sydenham in medicine. Continental precursors of Boerhaave receive more attention in the book. For example, Lester King compares in fascinating detail Boerhaave's Institutiones medicae with that of Lazarus Riverius and with the Fundamentae medicinae of Friedrich Hoffmann. The book is handsomely produced. Its English texts are excellent and contain only a handful of minor spelling mistakes. However, it is still not possible to choose the 'correct' spelling for the place where Boerhaave lived and worked: the publishers and most of the contributors in English or German use the local form 'Leiden', the Italian scholar Dr. Belloni writing in French uses 'Leyde', but the editor himself and one other contributor use the familiar 'Leyden'. In no other respect does the book fail to satisfy the inquisitive reader, and it forms a most worthy companion to Dr. Lindeboom's splendid biography of Boerhaave.