Pharmacopoeia extemporanea, sive praescriptorum chilias, in quâ remediorum elegantium & efficacium paradigmata, ad omnes ferè medendi intentiones accommodata, candidè proponuntur; cum viribus, operandi ratione, dosibus, et indicibus annexis.

xxxii+264 pages; 152 pages; 66 pages with index, [1 blank]; 112 pages with appendix. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 5") bound in full leather with label to spine in gilt lettering. First published in 1701.

All Venice editions include three additional pharmaceutical works: a collection of recipes by Philipp Fraundorffer first published in 1699, Wolfgang Christian's "thesaurus" of the work of Daniel Ludwig first published in 1707 and Joseph Jackson's medical compendium first published in 1698. Pharmacopoeia extemporanea caused quite a stir by giving away medical recipes previously guarded jealously by doctors. He explains his motives in The Preface.

Thomas Fuller was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge. He studied Descartes and Willis, and retained till old age a liking for their methods (Exanthemologia, p. xii). In 1676 he graduated M.B., and in 1681 M.D., and in February 1679 was admitted an extra-licentiate of the College of Physicians of London. He commenced practice at Sevenoaks, Kent, and there continued throughout life, attaining large practice and great popularity, which was increased in his old age by his undertaking at his own charge the proceedings in chancery necessary for a reform of the Senoke charity.

He published three collections of prescriptions, 'Pharmacopœia Extemporanea,' 1701 (3rd edition, 1705; 4th, 1708; 6th, 1731), 'Pharmacopœia Bateana,' 1718 (based on the prescriptions of Dr Bate, 'Pharmacopœia Domestica,' 1723. These were issued in Latin, but an advertisement of a pirated edition in English having appeared in the 'Postman,' 18 Sept. 1708, he published a translation of the first in 1710, of which a fifth edition appeared in 1740. In 1730 appeared his 'Exanthemologia, or an attempt to give a Rational Account of Eruptive Fevers, especially of the Measles and Small-pox,' the most interesting of his works. It contains many of his own notes of cases of small-pox, of measles, and of other fevers. He is the first English writer who points out clearly how to distinguish the spots produced by flea-bites from the spots seen in the eruptive fevers, and his is the first English book by a physician in which the qualifications necessary in a sick nurse are set forth in detail. He narrates his cases with precision, and those illustrating the progress of small-pox after inoculation, of which he approved, are of permanent interest.

He suffered from gout, and in 1727 he was threatened with blindness from cataract in both eyes to such a degree that he was unable to read the minute but clear handwriting of his youthful notes. He was, however, able to publish three collections of precepts:—'Introductio ad Prudentiam, or Directions, Counsels, and Cautions, tending to Prudent Management of Affairs in Common Life,' 2 vols. 1727 (2nd edition, 1740); 'Introductio ad Sapientiam, or the Art of Right Thinking,' 1731; 'Gnomologia: Adagies, Proverbs, Wise Sentiments, and Witty Sayings, Ancient and Modern, Foreign and British,' 1732. The first is most original, and includes 3,152 precepts for the guidance through life of his son John, of which some are copied with little alteration from the psalms, proverbs, and gospels, while none of the remainder rise above the level of the advice of Polonius, to which they have a general resemblance.

Condition: Corners bumped, edge wear, foxing to page ends, some stains and soiling to text