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  1666

Rhachitis   (1666 June 4)

Location:   Bodleian Library, MS. Locke d. 9, p. 68.

Description:   Notes on a post-mortem examination on a child with rickets, dated June 4 [16]66, with the caption “Rhachitis.” The entry is in Locke’s hand and is initialed at the end.

Publications:

1. “Post-mortem examination on case of rickets performed by John Locke” / by Kenneth Dewhurst. // IN: British medical journal. – 1962:v. 2:1466.

Discussions:   Dewhurst, publication #1 above.

“Respirationis usus”   [1666]

Location:   Public Record Office, London, PRO 30/24/47/2, ff. 71-74^v.

Description:   A Latin paper on the purpose of respiration, in Locke’s hand. According to Walmsley, it most likely dates between May and November 1666. The manuscript consists of two pieces of paper folded in half, the one inserted into the other, to form 8 pages. Fol. 71 contains only the title “Respirationis usus”; f. 71^v contains several questions for disputation. The outer sheet measures 206 × 156 mm; the inner sheet, 198 × 156 mm.

The manuscript is currently misbound in a volume in the Shaftesbury papers, the inner sheet bound back-to-front. The correct sequence is ff. 71^r, 71^v, 73^r, 73^v, 72^r, 72^v, 74^r, 74^v.

Publications:

1. “Locke’s essay on respiration” / Kenneth Dewhurst. // IN: Bulletin of the history of medicine. – 34 (1960):257-273. – The text appears on p. 270-273, and an English translation, “The purpose of respiration,” on p. 263-269. Dewhurst was not aware of the misbinding, and his transcription is out of order. His transcription is inaccurate and incomplete.
2. John Locke’s natural philosophy (1632-1671) / Jonathan Craig Walmsley. – Thesis (Ph.D.)--King's College London, 1998. – p. 262-271.

Discussions:   Dewhurst, publication #1 above; Walmsley, publication #2 above; J.R. Milton, “Locke at Oxford.” // IN: Locke’s philosophy : content and context / edited by G.A.J. Rogers. – Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1994. – p. 29-47, describes the misbinding of the manuscript (p. 33n).

Morbus   [1666 or 1667]

Location:   British Library, Add. MS. 32,554, pp. 232-233, 237, 246, 248-250.

Description:   An unfinished entry in Locke’s hand in a medical commonplace book. The word “Morbus” appears in the margin at the head of the entry, as well as on each subsequent new page. Walmsley dates the entry between September 1666 and May 1667, based primarily on its reference to Boyle’s Origine of formes and qualities, which Locke was reading during that time.

Publications:

1. “Transcript of Locke’s ‘Morbus’ (c. 1666).” // IN: John Locke and medicine : a new key to Locke / by Patrick Romanell. – Buffalo, N.Y. : Prometheus Books, 1984. – p. 207-209.
2. John Locke’s natural philosophy (1632-1671) / Jonathan Craig Walmsley. – Thesis (Ph.D.)--King's College London, 1998. – p. 272-276.
3. “Morbus : Locke’s early essay on disease” / Jonathan Walmsley. // IN: Early science and medicine. – 5 (2000):390-393.

Discussions:   Romanell, publication #1 above, chapter 3; Walmsley, publications #2 and #3 above.