Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 10.djvu/22

 , at the mandate of the queen, prevailed with the president and censors, and Peter was released (, p. 8).

Chamberlen would appear to have spent his latter days chiefly at Downe in Kent, where and in the surrounding villages he had purchased property. He died in London in December 1631, and was buried on the 17th in the parish church of St. Dionis Backchurch (Registers, Harleian Society, iii. 220). His will, as ‘of London, chirurgion,' dated on 29 Nov. 1631, was proved on the 16th of the following December (Reg. in P. C. C. 130, St. John). By his wife Anne, who died before him, he had an only daughter, Esther.



CHAMBERLEN, PETER, the younger (1572–1626), surgeon, younger brother of the elder [q. v.], although bearing the same christian name, was born at 'Southampton on 8 Feb, 1572, a posthumous son. Electing,lilts his brother, to follow medicine, he became in due time a member of the Barber Surgeons' Company. About 1660, when residing in the parish of St. Anne's, Blackfriars, he obtained a license from the bishop of London to practise midwifery, and by his skill therein acquired considerable reputation and wealth. He possessed the family secret as to the midwifery forceps, and often incurred the censure of the Coll of Physicians. In October 1610 he sought to put an end to a long series of prosecutions, which had their origin in his want of medical diplomas, by joining the college, and appearing before the censors was examined for the Brat time. We are not told what the result was, but as he never proceeded further, it is probable that he was rejected for insufficient knowledge of his profession. In 1616 he interested himself in an attempt to obtain from the crown authority to organise the midwives of London into a company. On the petition being referred to the consideration of the college, they reported unfavourably of the scheme. ‘It was afterwards revived in 1684 by Chamberlen's eldest son, Dr. Peter Chamberlen, only to meet with a similar fate.

Peter Chamberlen the younger, dying at his house, in the parish of St. Anne's, Blackfriars, in August 1026 (Probate Act Book, 1628), was buried on the 16th at Downe in Kent, in accordance with the wish expressed -in his will. His will, as of London, surgeon, bearing date 12 Aug. 1626, was proved on the 22nd following (Reg. in P. C. C. 106, Hele). He had married Sara, daughter of William de Laune, a French protestant clergyman and refugee, and a licentiate of the College of Physicians. By her, who predeceased him, he had a family of five sons (of whom Peter is noticed below) and three daughters.



CHAMBERLEN, PETER, M.D. (1601–1683), physician, was son of the younger [q. v.], a London barber-surgeon, and great-grandson of Chamberlen, a French protestant, who settled in England in the reign of Elizabeth. The invention of the short forceps has been attributed to him, but a passage (p. lviii) in Smellie's ‘Treatise of Midwifery’ (London, 1752) shows that in the early part of the last century it was Chamberlen's grandfather who was considered the inventor. As the history of this invention is unknown and as none of the Chamberlens ever showed much scientic spirit, it may fairly be doubted whether the family is to be credited with any invention at all, and from the purely commercial spirit in which they treated their knowledge, it is possible that it was originally acquired by purchase from some obscure and forgotten practitioner. The invention consisted in fashioning an instrument of two distinct blades which, when placed together, held the fœtal head as between two hands, but which could be put into position sesprately, could then be interlocked at the handle end of the blades, and used together as an instrument of traction. All previous instruments had a fixed lock or were single levers, and could be useful in very few cases of difficulty, while the Chamberlens' forceps was applicable in many cases and without the use of any dangerous force. Their shape was obviously suggested by that of the human hand slightly flexed. some of the old instruments had approached the same shape and it is fair to conjecture that it was while using such a lever in his right hand aided by his left hand in apposition, that the inventor of the forceps hit upon his happly idea. Whoever was the inventor, the know edge was confined to the Chamberlen family, and Peter Chamberlen's prosperity was due to it. He was born 8 May 1601, and was 'educated at Merchant Taylors’ School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He took the degree of M.D. at Padua nb 1619, and was afterwards incoporated at Oxford and at Cambridge. In 1628 he was admitted a fellow of the College of Physicians (, Coll. of Plys. 1878, i. 194). He lectured on anatomy to the barber-surgeons, end was made physician extraordinary to the king. In the College of Physicians he advocated, in 1634, the incorporation of midwives, a project which, after much controversy, came to nothing. Cham-