Leyden about 1634. He practised medicine there for several years and obtained a great reputation. He was offered the chair of medicine at the university of Leyden in 1640, and two years later a similar offer was made by the elector of Brandenburg. Johnstone, however, preferred to study independently. He retired in 1655 to his private estate, near Liegnitz in Silesia, where he continued until his death on 8 June 1675. He was buried at Lessno in Poland.
Johnstone was twice married, first, in 1637, to Rosina, daughter of Samuel Hortensius of Fraustadt; secondly, in 1638, to Anna, daughter of Mathias Vechner, by whom he had four children. One daughter, Anna Regina, who married Samuel von Schoff, a noble of Breslau, alone survived him.
Johnstone's works were for the most part extremely laborious compilations, and according to Chaufepié and other critics they exhibit more learning than judgment; they were, however, much esteemed in England during the seventeenth century (cf. Wilkes, Encycl. Londinensis, xi. 235). The chief of them are as follows:
- ‘Thaumatographia Naturalis in decem classes distincta,’ Amsterdam, 1632, fol.
- ‘Historia Universalis, Civilis et Ecclesiastica,’ Leyden, 1633, 12mo.
- ‘Disputatio medica inauguralis de febribus,’ Leyden, 1634, 4to.
- ‘Horæ subcisivæ, seu rerum toto orbe ab Universi exortu gestarum loca,’ 1639, 8vo.
- ‘Systema Dendrologicum,’ 1646, 4to.
- ‘De Piscibus et Cetis,’ Frankfort, 1649, fol.; ‘De Avibus,’ 1650; ‘De Quadrupedibus,’ 1652; ‘De Serpentibus et Draconibus,’ 1653. The four works together, forming a complete survey of the animal world, are illustrated by copper-plates executed by Merian. They have been frequently re-edited, translated into German, Latin, Dutch, and ‘rendred into English by a person of quality,’ 1657, fol.
- ‘Naturæ Constantia,’ Amsterdam, 1652, 16mo; translated by J. Rouland, 1657, 8vo.
- ‘Idea Universæ Medicinæ Practicæ,’ Leyden, 1655, 8vo.
- ‘Enchiridion Ethicum ex sententiosissimis dictis concinnatum,’ Breda, 1658, 12mo.
- ‘Polyhistor, seu rerum ab exortu universi ad nostra usque tempora,’ Jena, 1660, 8vo; ‘Continuatus,’ Jena, 1667.
- ‘Notitia regni Vegetabilis. …,’ Leipzig, 1661, 12mo.
- ‘Notitia regni Mineralis,’ 1661, 12mo.
- ‘Dendrographia sive historia naturalis de arboribus et fructibus,’ Frankfort, 1662, fol.
- ‘De Festis Hebræorum et Græcorum Schediasma.’
- ‘Syntagma Universæ Medicinæ Practicæ,’ Jena, 1674, 8vo.
[Niceron's Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire des hommes illustres dans la République des lettres, 1729, tom. xli. 269–76; Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste, H–N, 2nd sect. p. 325; Moreri, v. 151; Biog. Universelle; Irving's Scotish Writers, ii. 41; Chalmers's Biog. Dict.; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
JOHNSTONE, JOHN (1768–1836), physician and biographer, sixth son of James Johnstone, M.D. [q. v.], and brother of Edward Johnstone [q. v.], was born probably in Kidderminster, where his father was temporarily practising, in 1768. He entered at Merton College, Oxford, in 1786, and graduated B.A. 1789, M.A. 1792, M.B. 1793, and M.D. 1800. He became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London in 1805, and delivered the Harveian oration in 1819. He practised medicine in Worcester from 1793 to 1799, when he removed to Birmingham, where he gained a large practice. From 1801 to 1833 he was physician to the Birmingham General Hospital. He was president of the second meeting of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association (afterwards the British Medical Association) in 1834. He died at Birmingham on 28 Dec. 1836, aged 68. He left two daughters, one of whom married Walter Farquhar Hook [q. v.]
Johnstone's medical skill and general learning were considerable, and his character was highly valued. He was the intimate friend of Dr. Samuel Parr [q. v.], and wrote his ‘Memoirs’ (1828)—a bulky book, in which he did not conceal Parr's defects—for the ponderous edition of Parr's works in eight volumes. Parr assisted him in his Harveian oration (1819) and in his ‘Reply to Mr. Carmichael Smyth’ (1805). Johnstone also published:
- ‘An Essay on Mineral Poisons,’ in ‘Medical Essays and Observations,’ by James Johnstone, senior (his father), Evesham, 1795, 8vo.
- ‘On Madness, with Strictures on Hereditary Insanity, Lucid Intervals, and the Confinement of Maniacs,’ Birmingham, 1800, 8vo.
- ‘An Account of the Discovery of the Power of Mineral Acid Vapours to Destroy Contagion,’ London, 1803, 8vo; see, in reference to this, Dr. James Carmichael Smyth's ‘Letter to William Wilberforce’ on Johnstone's pamphlet, London, 1805.
- ‘A Reply to Dr. James Carmichael Smyth, containing remarks on his “Letter to Mr. Wilberforce,”’ &c., London, 1805, 8vo.
- ‘Presidential Address at the Second Anniversary of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association at Birmingham,’ 1834.
- ‘Address at the Birmingham School of Medicine on 6 Oct. 1834;’
both these are published with the Harveian oration.
