Thomas Willis's Diatribæ Medico-Philosophicæ

The manuscript is a careful translation of Thomas Willis's Diatribæ duæ Medico-Philosophicæ quarum prior agit de Fermentatione sive de Motu Intestino particularum in quoris corpore; altera De Febribus sive de Motu Earundem in sanguine animalium, Hague, 1659. To this essay was appended his Dissertatio Epistolaris de Urinis. Both works are here translated. The text is neatly written with headings and rulings in red ink, on pages numbered 1-540. The translator has dated each section, from which it appears that he began his work on the 25th February 1706-07 and terminated it on the 13th December following.

Early 18th century

1 volume 12 mo. 15.3 x 9.5 cm. 279 folios. Black leather binding with pannelled sides, similar to that of MSS. Nos. 12 and 57.

This manuscript is the work of Edmund, son of Christopher Packe, a chemist and empiric, brother of Christopher Packe, M.D. (1682-1749) and uncle of Christopher Packe, junior (1728-1800). Edmund Packe afterwards described himself as "M.D. and Chymist."

Described in: Warren R. Dawson, Manuscripta medica. A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the Library of the Medical Society of London (London, 1932).