The contributions of the Huguenot physician John Andree to the founding of the London Hospital in 1740, and to the development of the new voluntary hospital in its early years, are assessed in the context of his own special interests. These included his promotion of the merits of Tilbury water, his observations on epilepsy and his criticism of the use of hemlock for the treatment of cancer.
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References
1.
Clark-KennedyAE. The London: A Study in the Voluntary Hospital System. Vol. I: The First Hundred Years 1740–1840. London: Pitman, 1962: p. 46.
2.
MunkW.The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians. London, 1878: vol. II, p. 148.
3.
AndreeJohn (1699?-1785). Dictionary of National Biography, Compact Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975: vol. I, p. 34.
4.
SmartWAM. Dr John W Andree. London Hospital Gazette1944; 47: 165–6.
5.
Gentleman's Magazine1785;part 1:156.
6.
BehrensB.The Natural History of Hartz-Forest, in His Majesty's King George's German Dominions; being a succinct account of the caverns, lakes, springs, rivers, mountains, rocks, quarries, fossils, castles, gardens, the famous pagan idol Pustrich or Spit-fire, dwarf-holes, pits, moving islands, whirlpools, mines, several engines belonging to them; smelting-houses; several sorts of ovens, hammer-mills, vitriol and glasshouses, &c. in the said forest: with several useful and entertaining physical observations. Translated from the German by John Andree. London: Osborne, 1730.
7.
DesaultP.A Treatise on the Venereal Distemper Containing a Method of Curing It With Salivation, Without Danger or Great Expense; with two dissertations, the first on madness from the bite of mad creatures, the second on consumptions, with a method of curing them radically. Translated from the French by John Andree. London: Clark, 1738.
8.
Andree, John jun. (fl. 1790). Dictionary of National Biography, Compact Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975: vol. I, p. 34.
9.
ElautL.John Andree's “Essay on Gonorrhoea”. Medical History1975; 19: 87–9.
10.
Letter to Sir William Blizzard from Mr John Andree. Royal London Hospital Archives, LH/A/23/25.
11.
Minutes of the House Committee, 11 June 1824 and 8 June 1824, Royal London Hospital Archives, LH/A/5/17.
12.
LawrenceSC. Charitable Knowledge: Hospital Pupils and Practitioners in Eighteenth Century London. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966: p. 71.
13.
AndreeJ.An Account of the Tilbury Water, containing a narrative of the discovery of the medicinal qualities of this spring, experiments on the water, observations on the experiments, the virtues of the water interspersed with various cases, the manner of drinking it; and, lastly, several remarkable cuRes.. London: Jenour for Larke and Meadows, 1737.
14.
The second edition of the tract was published in 1740, with subsequent editions in 1764, 1779, 1781 and 1786.
15.
Broadsheet advertisement. “Tilbury Alterative Water”. London Hospital Medical College Library, n.d.
16.
AndreeJ.An Account of the Tilbury Water (4th edn, with alterations). London: For John Ellison, 1779: p. 7.
17.
Ibid.: 8.
18.
Ibid.: 23.
19.
A quart bottle used for “genuine” Tilbury water is in Thurrock Museum, Grays, Essex.
20.
ChristieMThreshM.History of Mineral Waters and Medicinal Springs of the County of Essex. Essex Field Club, 1910: 15, special memoir no. 4: 222–3.
21.
DoyleRBBingleyR). A Georgian spa in Essex. Country Life, 23 October 1969: 1051.
22.
Register of Admissions. Royal London Hospital Archives, 1760, LH/M/1/1; 1791, LH/M/1/2; 1792, LH/M/1/3.
23.
Charter and Bylaws of the London Hospital, 1759. Royal London Hospital Archives, LH/4/1/3.
24.
AndreeJ.Cases of the Epilepsy, Hysteric Fits, and St. Virus's Dance, with the Process of Cure: interspersed with practical observations. To which are added cases of the bite of mad creatures treated after the method of Dr Desault with some additional means of my own, observations upon the same, and remedies proposed for the cure of hydrophobia. London: Meadows and Clarke, 1746. A second edition was published with a similar title page, but “With Emendations and Additions in the Introduction, and some new CASES and Inspections of Dead Bodies”. London: Meadows and Clarke. 1753. The quotations and page references given here are from the second edition.
25.
Ibid.: 1–2.
26.
PurcellJ.A Treatise of Vapours or Hysterick Fits. London: Newman and Cox, 1702: p. 122.
27.
CookeJ.A Treatise on Nervous Affections. In Two Volumes. Vol. II: On Palsy and on Epilepsy. London: Longman, 1823.
28.
HunterRMacalpineI.Three Hundred Years of Psychiatry. London: Oxford University Press, 1963: p. 288.
29.
AndreeJ (op. cit. ref. 24): 4–5.
30.
London Hospital Inventory, 1824. Royal London Hospital Archives, LH/A/18/3.
31.
StörckA.An Essay on the Medicinal Nature of Hemlock: in which its extraordinary virtue and efficacy, as well as internally as externally used, in the cure of cancers, schirrous and oedematous tumours, malignant and fistulous ulcers, and cataracts, are demonstrated and explained: the whole being founded on observations made in a variety of the respective cases, where this remedy was administered by Dr Storck and others of the eminent physicians and surgeons at Vienna. Translated from the Latin original. London: Nourse, 1760.
32.
AndreeJ.Observations Upon a Treatise on the Virtues of Hemlock in the Cure of Cancers, written by Dr Stoerck, an eminent physician in the Imperial City of Vienna; wherein the doctor's cases in favour of the vegetable are candidly examined and proved insufficient to be depended upon in divers instances. With some practical remarks upon canceers in general and cautions interesting to all afflicted with the kind of malady. London: Meres, 1753: preface, p. vii.
33.
Ibid.: vi—vii.
34.
MarryatHBroadbentU.The Romance of Hatton Garden. London: Cornish, 1930: p. 53.
35.
AndreeJ.Mercury in case of fits and case of the bite of a mad dog. Gentleman's Magazine1777; 47: 440–1.
36.
SymonsJ.Huguenots in the Medical World. Exhibition catalogue, Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1985: p. 7.
37.
McGrewRE. Encyclopedia of Medical History. London: Macmillan, 1985: “Epilepsy”, p. 111.
