Thomas Muffet
Encyclopedia
Thomas Muffet (1553 – 5 June 1604) 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.
, London
. From the ages 8 to 16 years, Muffet attended the Merchant Taylors' 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 Spring 1578 Muffet boarded with Felix Platter, chief physician of Basel
, where he adopted the Paracelsian system of Medicine. In 1579, Muffet was awarded his MD
from Basel
with a censored version of his thesis, entitled De amodinis medicamentis (1578).
, 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
. 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, though there is no evidence as to either's intellectual influence upon him. Two years later, in 1584, Muffet finished his De jure et praestantia chemicorum medicamentorum. This document is said to have anticipated 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 lens of his own Puritan beliefs. The following year, however, he was admitted to the College of Physicians, becoming a fellow in February 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
.
, beginning his continued fascination with arthropods in general, particularly spider
s. He is most well known for editing and expanding the work Insectorum sive Minimorum Animalium Theatrum (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 book contained significant contributions by other scientists, notably the Swiss scientist Conrad Gesner (1516–65). 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. 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.
'Little Miss Muffet', which, it is argued refers to an incident with one of his stepchildren. Although the name and subject fit the verse, there is no clear evidence of a connection and the verse was only printed in 1805.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
and physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
. He is best known for his Puritan beliefs, his study of insects in regards to medicine (particularly spiders), his support of the Paracelsian
Paracelsus
Paracelsus was a German-Swiss Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist....
system of medicine, and his emphasis on the importance of experience over reputation in the field of medicine.
Early life and education
Thomas Muffet was born in 1553 to Thomas Moffet in ShoreditchShoreditch
Shoreditch is an area of London within the London Borough of Hackney in England. It is a built-up part of the inner city immediately to the north of the City of London, located east-northeast of Charing Cross.-Etymology:...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. From the ages 8 to 16 years, Muffet attended the Merchant Taylors' School
Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood
Merchant Taylors' School is a British independent day school for boys, originally located in the City of London. Since 1933 it has been located at Sandy Lodge in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire ....
. The following year, in May 1569, he entered Trinity College
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
at Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
. 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
John Caius
John Caius , also known as Johannes Caius, was an English physician, and second founder of the present Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.-Early years:...
. Three years later, he began his Master's program
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
at Trinity College, at which point he was expelled from Gonville Hall. In Spring 1578 Muffet boarded with Felix Platter, chief physician of Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
, where he adopted the Paracelsian system of Medicine. In 1579, Muffet was awarded his MD
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
from Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
with a censored version of his thesis, entitled De amodinis medicamentis (1578).
Later life and post-graduate work
The year after receiving his MDDoctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
, in 1580, Thomas Muffet studied silkworm anatomy
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...
in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
before finally returning to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. That December, Muffet married his first wife, Jane, in St. Mary Colechurch, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Two years later, he was recognized as a qualified physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
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
Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe , born Tyge Ottesen Brahe, was a Danish nobleman known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical and planetary observations...
and Petrus Severinus, though there is no evidence as to either's intellectual influence upon him. Two years later, in 1584, Muffet finished his De jure et praestantia chemicorum medicamentorum. This document is said to have anticipated Bacon's emphasis on the advancement of learning. That same year, Muffet wrote a letter attacking the London College of Physicians for Papist
Papist
Papist is a term or an anti-Catholic slur, referring to the Roman Catholic Church, its teachings, practices, or adherents. The term was coined during the English Reformation to denote a person whose loyalties were to the Pope, rather than to the Church of England...
influences through the lens of his own Puritan beliefs. The following year, however, he was admitted to the College of Physicians, becoming a fellow in February 1588. Later in 1588, Muffet published his Nosomantica Hippocratea, advocating support for the work and writings of Hippocrates
Hippocrates
Hippocrates of Cos or Hippokrates of Kos was an ancient Greek physician of the Age of Pericles , and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine...
. Nine years later, in October 1597, Muffet was elected as a member of Parliament
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
of Wilton
Wilton (UK Parliament constituency)
Wilton was the name of a parliamentary borough in Wiltshire. It was represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of England from 1295 to 1707, then in the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and finally in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of the Parliament of the...
. 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
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
.
Insects
Thomas Muffet first studied silkworms while working in ItalyItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, beginning his continued fascination with arthropods in general, particularly spider
Spider
Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
s. He is most well known for editing and expanding the work Insectorum sive Minimorum Animalium Theatrum (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 book contained significant contributions by other scientists, notably the Swiss scientist Conrad Gesner (1516–65). 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
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
failed in 1590. The original illustrations were given up as too expensive and replaced with the wood cuts that appear in the 1634 edition. There is the possibility that the same work appears under the name of Théodore Turquet de Mayerne
Theodore de Mayerne
Sir Théodore Turquet de Mayerne was a Swiss-born physician who treated kings of France and England and advanced the theories of Paracelsus....
(b. Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, 1573 - d. Chelsea
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, 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. 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 liar liar is supposedly indebted to Muffet's descriptions of birds from Health's improvement and of insects from Theatrum Insectorum.Nursery rhyme connection
It has been suggested that Muffet is the subject of the nursery rhymeNursery rhyme
The term nursery rhyme is used for "traditional" poems for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the 19th century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:...
'Little Miss Muffet', which, it is argued refers to an incident with one of his stepchildren. Although the name and subject fit the verse, there is no clear evidence of a connection and the verse was only printed in 1805.
Sources
- Charles C. Gillispie, Ed. Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1974)
- Margaret Pelling, Medical Conflicts in Early Modern London (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2003)