Loimographia : an account of the Great Plague of London in the year 1665 / by William Boghurst, apothecary ; now first printed from the British Museum Sloane MS. 349 for the Epidemiological Society of London ; edited by Joseph Frank Payne.

  • Boghurst, William, (1631-1685)
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Loimographia : an account of the Great Plague of London in the year 1665 / by William Boghurst, apothecary ; now first printed from the British Museum Sloane MS. 349 for the Epidemiological Society of London ; edited by Joseph Frank Payne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    for publication, some difficulty arose as to how far the eccentric and variable spelling of the original should be retained. Some of the peculiarities of orthography evi- dently arose from ignorance (as plauge for plague): others were mere slips of the pen, and others were individual eccentricities which would not have been respected by the printer. It seemed best, therefore, to correct the spelling, for the most part, so as to agree with what was usual in printed works of the period. But a certain number of peculiarities, which seem to have been specially affected by the author, have been retained, and will serve to give some individuality to the diction. The punctua- tion and the capricious use of capitals have been freely corrected. Still greater difficulty has been experienced in presenting in an intelligible form the numerous and complicated pre- scriptions of the old apothecary, obscured as they are by wrong spelling, by puzzling contractions, and by crabbed handwriting. It may be thought, perhaps, that this obsolete pharmacology was hardly worth reprinting; but, on the other hand, a precise contemporary record of the medical practice of our forefathers will always have an historical value, independent of its relation to a particular epidemic; and this historical interest rather gains than loses with the lapse of time. These portions of the work have been carefully corrected by reference to the Pharma- copoeia Londinensis (edition of 1662), and to contemporary medical works. It is hoped that they have been made tolerably clear ; but if some obscurity still remains, the reader will kindly remember that the blame must, at all events, be divided between the author and the editor. Medical Value of Boghurst's Treatise. This treatise contains undoubtedly the best medical account of the great epidemic, which has been preserved. In order to substantiate this statement, which constitutes the main reason for printing the document, it is necessary