"Matrix and the pain thereof": a sixteenth-century gynaecological essay.

Simon Forman (1552-1611), author of the following essay, practised astrological medicine in London from about 1590 until his death. Lacking formal medical training, Forman was repeatedly called before the examiners of the Royal College of Physicians of London, the licensing body for all physicians who practised in and around the city. ' Although he failed to pass the examinations set by the Cambridgeand Oxfordeducated physicians of the College, he continued to practise without a licence and was repeatedly jailed and fined. Despite this opposition from the College, however, Forman's reputation was considerable, and his medical practice grew rapidly. Forman gained a comfortable financial position and a flourishing practice only after years of turmoil and hardship.2 Born in Wiltshire, the fifth child in a family of eight, Forman apparently showed an early appetite for learning, which his father attempted to satisfy by sending him to school. The father's death on Forman's eleventh birthday put a stop to his schooling, however, and he was eventually apprenticed to a shopkeeper, an apprenticeship from which he asked to be released after six years. After a few months as a schoolteacher, Forman went to Oxford as a poor scholar for fifteen