Page:Lives of British Physicians.djvu/186



writings of John Huxham have obtained far more notoriety than the incidents of his life, of which scarcely any traits remain. He was the son of a butcher at Halberton,in Devonshire. In early life he appears to have displayed a strong bent towards medical pursuits, which he cultivated with much ardour at Leyden, an university very high in reputation at the period of his studies, and of which he became one of the most eminent graduates. Plymouth was the scene of his professional career, where he finally acquired extensive practice, and realized a considerable fortune. He early obtained entrance into the Royal Society, and communicated several papers on pathology and morbid anatomy, which are printed in the Philosophical Transactions.

Huxham deserves particular honour as being one among those physicians who returned first to the path of observation, and who made nature their especial object of study and reflection, instead of blindly commenting on the dreams of their predecessors. It was not that he despised the knowledge to be gathered from books, or the fruits of former experience; on the contrary he was profoundly versed in the ancient writers, was thoroughly imbued in particular with the works of Hippocrates, and composed in the Latin language