Winston, Anatomy, 1659
Anatomy Lectures at Gresham Colledge. By that Eminent and Learned Physician Dr. Thomas Winston. London, Printed by R. Daniel, for Thomas Eglesfield at the Brasen Serpent in St. Paul’s Church-yard. 1659.
Early full brown leather over boards, respined at some point, with black title label with gold text. A bit scuffed and bumped. Early prior owner’s name (Geo: Cleghorn) on title page. Illegible institutional library stamp on title page and pg 33 (with transfer onto 32). Title page with repairs. Joints and hinges strong. Slight loss to bottom corners of C7 and C8. A few other corners with small folds. Mild toning of margins. Rare foxing. Ink mark “ao” (?) on last page. Otherwise, clean, bright, and tight throughout.
Ffep, A^4, A – Q^8, blank, rfep.
Complete in 256 pages.
This work is collected and edited by an otherwise anonymous author who gives only his initials (F.P.) at the end of the preface. According to that preface, Thomas Winston was a practitioner of physick, who at some point also traveled to Padua. He was a fellow of the College of Physicians of London and public Reader of Physick at Gresham College. When he died he was one of the oldest physicians at the college, and his name apparently appears next to Dr. Harvey’s in the college’s Catalogue of Physicians in their Dispensitory. The preface also claims the organization in this work is superior to that “of Dr. Reads or any yet extant in the English.”
According to the Dictionary of National Biography, Thomas Winston (1576-1655) was the son of a carpenter. He graduated with an M.A. at Clare Hall, Cambridge, in 1602, and continued a fellow there util 1617. He then studied medicine at Padua, where he attended the lectures of Fabricius ab Aquapendente, and at Basle, where he studied under Caspar Bauhin. He attained his M.D. at Padua, and was incorporated M.D. at Cambridge in 1608. He was an active member of the Virginia company...and acting as one of the editors of ‘A Declaration of the State of the Colonie and Affaires in Viginia,’ (1620). He was elected professor (of physic) at Gresham in 1615 and held that until 1642. He then went to France but returned in 1652 and was restored to his former professorship until his death. His anatomy lectures were published after his death in 1659 and 1664. His lectures “are well expressed, and show much anatomical reading as well as a practical acquaintance with the anatomy of man and animals. He made no original discoveries, held the old erroneous opinion that there are openings in the septum between the ventricles, showed no acquaintance with Harveys demonstration of circulation and believed that the arteries transmit vital spirit elaborate dint he left ventricle as well as blood.”
The website for the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh records a brief account of a George Cleghorn (1716 – 1789), who lodged with and trained under Alexander Monro for five years, and later attended the anatomical lectures of William Hunter. He practiced as a surgeon, was a pioneer in epidemiology, and lectured on anatomy at Trinity College in Dublin. His correspondence included letters exchanged with John Pringle.
Approximately 6 3/8 x 4 ¼ x 7/8