Thomas Muffet
Thomas Muffet | |
|---|---|
 Title Page of Theatrum Insectorum (Theater of Insects) | |
| Born | 1552 |
| Died | 5 June 1604 |
| Nationality | English  |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Known for | Insects in Medicine |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Natural Philosophy, Medicine |
Thomas Muffet (c. 1552- 5 June 1604) also Moufet, Moffet was an English naturalist and physician. He is best known for his Puritan beliefs, his study of insects in regards to medicine (particularly spiders), his support of the Paracelsian system of medicine, and his emphasis on the importance of experience over reputation in the field of medicine.
Biography
Timeline
ca. 1552: Born the son of Thomas Moffet (d. 1583) in Shoreditch, London, GB. (occasionally thought born in 1553)
ca. 1560-1568: Educated at the Merchant Taylor's school
1569 May: Matriculated to Trinity College, Cambridge
1572 October: Transferred to Gonville Hall
1573: Graduated from Gonville Hall with a BA; studied medicine under Thomas Lorkin and John Caius
1576: Began MA Program at Trinity College, subsequently expelled from Gonville Hall
1578 Spring: Boarded with Felix Platter, chief physician of Basel, where he adopted Paracelsian system of Medicine
1579 February: Awarded MD from Basel with censored version of his thesis, De anodinis medicamentis (1578)
1580: Studied silkworms in Italy before returning to England. In December, he married his first wife, Jane, at St. Mary Colechurch, London
1582 December: Recognized as qualified physician by College of Physicians in London regardless of belief in Paracelsian system of medicine; he met Tycho Brahe and Petrus Severinus in the same year, but there is no evidence to the effect they had on his career or mode of thought
1584: Finished De jure et praestantia chemicorum medicamentorum which has been said to anticipate Bacon's emphasis on the advancement of learning; wrote an offensive statement criticising the London College of Physicians for Papist influences through a spirited declaration of his own Puritan beliefs
1585: Admitted candidate to the College of Physicians in London
1588 February: Became a fellow at the College of Physicians in London; became a censor the same year
1588: Published Nosomantica Hippocratea arguing in support of Hippocrates
1590: Was in attendance on Sir Francis Walsingham at Barn Elms, Surrey
1597 October: Elected Member of Parliament of England for Wilton
1600: His wife, Jane, died; married Catherine Brown the same year
1604 June 5: Died at Bulbridge Farm, Wilton, Wiltshire
Early life and education
Thomas Muffet was born around 1552 to Thomas Moffet in Shoreditch, London, Great Britain. From the ages 8 to 16 years, Muffet attended the Merchant Taylor's School. The following year, in May 1569, he entered Trinity College at Cambridge. He, however, only stayed there for two and a half years. In October of 1572, Muffet transferred to Gonville Hall. He continued his education there until his graduation the following year, in 1573, when he received his Bachelor Degree. Afterward, Muffet studied medicine with Thomas Lorkin and John Caius. Three years later, he began his Master's program at Trinity College, at which point he was expelled from Gonville Hall. In 1579, Muffet was awarded his MD from Basel with a censored version of his thesis, entitled De amodinis medicamentis.
Later life and post-graduate work
The year after receiving his MD, in 1580, Thomas Muffet studied silkworm anatomy in Italy before finally returning to England. That December, Muffet married his first wife, Jane, in St. Mary Colechurch, London, Great Britain. Two years later, he was recognized as a qualified physician by the College of Physicians in London. This was not expected, as Muffet was a strong advocate for the Paracelsian system of medicine, which was not widely respected by the medical community. The same year, Muffet met both Tycho Brahe and Petrus Severinus. Two years later, in 1584, Muffet finished his De jure et praestantia chemicorum medicamentorum. This document is said to have been the predicessor to Bacon's emphasis on the advancement of learning. That same year, Muffet wrote a letter attacking the London College of Physicians for Papist influences through the lense of his own Puritan beliefs. The following year, however, he was admitted to the College of Physicians in London, becoming a fellow in February of 1588. Later in 1588, Muffet published his Nosomantica Hippocratea, advocating support for the work and writings of Hippocrates. Nine years later, in October 1597, Muffet was elected as a member of Parliament of Wilton. Three years later, in 1600, Muffet's wife, Jane, died. He married Catherine Brown that same year. Four years later, on June 5, 1604, Thomas Muffet died at the Bulbridge Farm, in Wilton, Wiltshire.
Scientific contributions
Insects
Thomas Muffet first studied silkworms while working in Italy, beginning his continued facination with insects in general, particularly spiders. He is most well known for editing and expanding the work Theatrum Insectorum (Theater of Insects), an illustrated guide to the classification and lives of insects. Although he is popularly believed to have authored it, he merely inherited and furthered its progress toward publication, which would not occur until thirty years after his death. The prime reason it was published posthumously was that the English market for books on natural science was weak at the time. It appears that it was ready for the press in 1589 or 1590. The original title page (unused) is dated 1589. His negotiations with printers in The Hague failed in 1590. The original illustrations were given up as too expensive and replaced with the wood cuts that appear in the 1634 edition. Interestingly, there is the possibility that the same work appears under the name of Théodore Turquet de Mayerne (b. Geneva, Switzerland, 1573 - d. Chelsea, England, 1655), published in the same year, 1634. Only the introduction of this edition, however, is believed to have been written by de Mayerne.
Good health and nutrition
Muffet's work in nutrition was collected in his book Health's Improvement which was designed more for the layman than for contemporary medical professionals. More interestingly this work is the first list of British wildfowl, recognizing for the first time the migratory habits of many of them. This book was published even later than Theatrum Insectorum, not until 1655, in an edition edited by Christopher Bennet. Robert Lovell's Panzoologia is supposedly indebted to Muffet's descriptions of birds from Health's improvement and of insects from Theatrum Insectorum.
Sources
Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, Eds. Dictionary of National Biography (London: Oxford University Press, 1922)
Charles C. Gillispie, Ed. Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1974)
Margarent Pelling, Medical Conflicts in Early Modern London (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2003)