Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/9

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
CONNOR.
5

But his reputation in the court of Poland was very great, and highly raised by the judgment he passed on the Duchess of Radzevil's distemper, which the court physicians had pronounced to be an ague, from which she might be easily recovered by bark; but Connor, when consulted, declared and insisted that she had an abscess in her liver, and that her case was desperate. As this lady was the king's only sister, his prediction created great agitation, more especially when it was justified by the event; for she not only died within a month, but, upon the opening of her body, the opinion he had delivered of her malady was fully verified. Great as Connor's fame was in Poland, he did not propose to remain longer than was requisite to conclude his inquiries into the natural history and other remarkable curiosities of that kingdom; and as he foresaw the king's decease, and that he had no prospects of advantage afterwards, he determined to quit that country and visit England, for which a very advantageous opportunity occurred. The king had an only daughter, the Princess Teresa Cunigunda, who had espoused the Elector of Bavaria, by proxy, in August 1694; and as she was to make a journey from Warsaw to Brussels, of near one thousand miles, and in the midst of winter, it was thought necessary that she should be attended by a physician; Connor, with much address, procured himself to be nominated to that employment, and, after reaching Brussels, took leave of the princess, set out for Holland, and from thence to England, where he arrived in February 1695. He remained a short time in London, and then went to Oxford, where he read public lectures on the animal economy. In his travels through Italy he had conversed with Malpighi, Bellini, Redi, and other eminent persons, of whose abilities he had availed himself; and he now explained the new discoveries in anatomy, chemistry, and physic in so clear and judicious a manner that his reputation was soon raised to a considerable height; and it was increased by printing, during his residence at Oxford, some learned and accurate dissertations in Latin, under the