Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 55.djvu/259

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

the name and apparently some of the manuscript in Sydenham's handwriting. It contains observations on diseases, written at various dates from 1669 onwards. A final note refers to the published ‘Observationes,’ and must have been written after 1676. This was evidently a first sketch of ‘Observationes Medicæ,’ some passages being pretty closely translated in that work, others entirely rewritten, others omitted. 2. ‘Theologia rationalis, by Dr. Thomas Sydenham;’ manuscript in Cambridge University Library; two copies are in British Museum (Sloane, 3828, f. 162; Add. MS. 6469, f. 107); a short treatise on natural theology, containing arguments for the existence of God, moral obligation, &c., a fine and even eloquent composition. It is probably by Sydenham, though the authorship is not absolutely proved; printed (incomplete) in Latham's edition of ‘Works,’ ii. 307. 3. ‘Extracts of Sydenham's Physick Books, and some good letters on various subjects.’ Manuscript, English, imperfect, Bodleian (Rawlinson, C. 406). In the handwriting of John Locke. Internal and other evidence shows it to have been compiled in or after 1685 (Fox Bourne, Life of Locke, 1876, i. 230, 454, &c.). It contains extracts from Sydenham's manuscripts and notes taken down from his lips, often agreeing with the ‘Processus Integri.’ Published by W. A. Greenhill, Oxford, 1845, 16mo; 2nd edit. 1847, as ‘Anecdota Sydenhamiana.’

Letters.—Besides the petition to Cromwell cited above, the British Museum contains two autograph English letters: 1. To Dr. Gould of Wadham College, Oxford, dated 10 Dec. 1687, already quoted as containing biographical details (Sloane, 4376, f. 75). Printed by Dr. J. Brown, ‘Horæ Subsecivæ,’ 2nd edit. 1859. 2. To Major W. Hale, dated 11 Dec. 1687, a letter of advice to a patient (Add. MS. 33573, f. 158, unpublished). 3. An interesting letter to R. Boyle is printed in Latham's life (Works, vol. i. p. lxxii) from Boyle's works. 4. A letter of advice about a child, not dated, is reproduced in facsimile by Sir B. W. Richardson in ‘Asclepiad,’ ix. 385.

The College of Physicians possesses three portrait heads of Sydenham in oils: 1. Presented by William Sydenham the son in 1691. It is evidently the head by Mary Beale, engraved by Blootelink for ‘Observationes Medicæ,’ 1676, and ‘Opera,’ 1685; and copied in other editions. The presumed age is fifty-two; hair brown. 2. Presented by Theophilus Sydenham, grandson, in 1747. Attributed to Mary Beale, but probably by Sir Peter Lely, as suggested by Dr. Nias. It is older than No. 1; the hair grey. Engraved by Houbraken as by Lely for Birch's ‘Heads,’ 1743–52. The engraving was copied by Goldar and others. 3. Presented by Mr. Bayford in 1832; apparently a copy. A bust in marble was executed by Wilton in 1758 at the expense of the college. A life-size statue in stone by Pinker was presented to the University Museum, Oxford, in 1894, by Sir Henry Acland and others (Munk, Coll. of Phys. 1878, iii. 401; Nias, Facts about Sydenham, infra cit.).

[There are several Lives of Sydenham. The memoir in Biographia Britannica, 1747, vi. 3879, was followed by the Lives by Dr. Samuel Johnson, prefixed to Swan's translation of Works, 1742; by C. G. Kühn, Opera, 1827; by W. A. Greenhill (based on Kühn), Opera, 1844; by R. G. Latham, Works, 1848; and by Frédéric Picard, ‘Sydenham, sa Vie, ses Œuvres,’ Paris, 1889 (by far the best life). The Lives of British Physicians and similar collections add nothing new. See also Wood's Athenæ, ed. 1721, p. 839, and Fasti, p. 65; Hutchins's Hist. of Dorset, 3rd edit. vol. ii. 1864; Green's Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser., passim; Rushworth's Hist. Collections, 1692, pt. iii. vol. ii.; Whitelocke's Memorials, 1732; Montagu Burrows's Register of the Visitors of Univ. Oxford (Camd. Soc.), 1881, 4to; Clarendon's Hist. of the Rebellion; Dr. J. Brown's Horæ Subsecivæ—Locke and Sydenham, 2nd edit. 1859; Gee's An Anecdote of Sydenham, St. Bartholomew's Hospital Reports, xix. i. 1883; Nias's Some Facts about Sydenham, St. Bartholomew's Hospital Reports, xxvi. 187, 1890; Mackenzie Walcott's Memorials of Westminster, 1851; Handbook of St. James's, Westminster, 1850; Sir B. W. Richardson's Asclepiad, ix. 385, 1892; Haeser, Geschichte der Medizin, ii. 387, 1881; Gurlt and Hirsch, Lexicon der Aerzte, v. 592, 1887; Milroy in Lancet, 1846 vol. ii. 1847 vol. i. and ii.; Gent. Mag. 1743 p. 528, 1788 i. 34, 1789 ii. 1131, 1801 ii. 684, 1071; Acland, Unveiling the Statue of Sydenham, Oxford, 1894.]

J. F. P.

SYDENHAM, WILLIAM (1615–1661), Cromwellian soldier, baptised 8 April 1615, was the eldest son of William Sydenham of Wynford Eagle, Dorset, by Mary, daughter of Sir John Jeffrey of Catherston (Hutchins, Dorset, ii. 703). Thomas Sydenham [q. v.] was his brother. When the civil war broke out Sydenham and his three younger brothers took up arms for the parliament, and distinguished themselves by their activity in the local struggle (Vicars, God's Ark, pp. 82, 100; Bankes, Story of Corfe Castle, pp. 186, 190). In April 1644 he had risen to the rank of colonel, and on 17 June 1644 Essex appointed him governor of Weymouth (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1644, pp. 137, 220, 271, 461, 478). In July Sydenham defeated