Page:A History of the Indian Medical Service, 1600-1913 Vol 1.djvu/43

 CHAPTER III SURGEON GENERAL JOHN WOODALL*

" A citizen of credit and renown."

CowPER, John Gilpin.

John Woodall was bom about 1556, the son of Richard Woodall, of Warwick. Of his early hfe Uttle is known. He served as Siu-geon to Lord Willoughby's regiment in 1591, and spent the next seven years abroad, partly in medical study, in Germany, Poland, and France. In 1599 he estabhshed himself in practice in Wood Street, London, and was admitted a member of the London Company of Barber Surgeons, of which he became Warden in 1627, and Master in 1633. On 19th Jan., 1616, he was appointed Surgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and held that office till his death.

When plague broke out in London in 1603, Woodall, who had gained experience of the disease on the Continent, worked hard during the epidemic. He had a secret remedy of his own, which he caUed aurum vitae. In his works he states that he had himself twice recovered from plague, f

He was appointed " Surgeon General " to the East India Company in 1614.$ The first mention of him in the Company's records is in the Court Minutes of 23rd Sept., 1614, when he was sworn to provide competent surgeons, and to fit up their chests properly. He himself gives the foUowing account of his appoint- ment, but mentions no dates. §

Gazette for Jan., 1909 ; partly aisSrm^ h^^l ' "^"""^Y^^f^ the Indian Medical of State Papers, and fr^nf t^he Hfe b? Dr TrmSVon™ ^^^^f ^^^y.'^ Calendar National Biography. ^ JNorman Moore in the Dictionary of

SuipTat^^^t^^ ^ --ists of_ several prefaces, The

on Plague. The Surgeon's Mate -. JS^l^^li^^f^^^^^ ^ .^^^"^"^

A combined edition was pubUshed in 1639, and another nr ./'"''"'^

H.I.M.S.— VOL. I.