This Edition consists of 84 copies, of which 75 copies are for sale.
This is No..........
TWO
MEDICAL TRACTS
BY
J. P. MARAT, M.D.
Reprint of Two Tracts
1. AN ESSAY ON GLEETS.
2. AN ENQUIRY INTO THE NATURE,
CAUSE, AND CURE OF A SINGULAR DISEASE
OF THE EYES.
By J E A N P A U L M A R A T, M.D.
EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY
JAMES BLAKE BAILEY
LIBRARIAN OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND
PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY
BY
PERCIVAL & CO.
LONDON
1891
INTRODUCTION
The two tracts here reprinted were written in English by Jean Paul Maratduring his residence in Church Street, Soho, where he practised as aPhysician.
Both of the tracts are exceedingly rare. Speaking of the former one, Mr.Morse Stephens, in his article on “Marat” in the EncyclopædiaBritannica,[1] says, “no copy is to be found.” Since the date of Mr.Stephens’s notice of Marat a copy has come to light, and is now in thepossession of Dr. J. F. Payne. Of the latter tract there is only oneknown copy: this is in the Library of the Royal Medical and ChirurgicalSociety of London. I have to thank the Council of the Society and Dr.Payne for their kindness in allowing copies of the pamphlets to be madefor the purpose of publication.
The first tract is dedicated to the Worshipful Company of Surgeons inLondon, and is dated November 1775. As the type is broken the day of themonth cannot be read with certainty in the copy from which this wasreprinted: there is no other known copy to which reference can be{viii} made.The date is either the 21st or 24th: as regards the month and the yearthere is no doubt. The second tract has an address to the Royal Society,and is dated January 1st, 1776: as Marat returned to Paris in 1777 boththese works were issued towards the end of his residence in London.
A few months before the publication of the Essay on Gleets, Marat hadreceived an M.D. degree from the University of St. Andrews. The degreewas equivalent to an honorary one, and, as was the custom of the time,was given on the recommendation of two medical men known to the Senate.The two who recommended Marat were Hugh James and William Buchan,doctors of medicine in Edinburgh. Marat passed no examination for thedegree, and probably did not even go to St. Andrews to receive it. Atthat time it was customary to forward the Diploma on receipt of thegraduation fee. Mr. Morse Stephens[2] is of opinion that Marat receiveddegrees from other universities, because in 1777 on his appointment asphysician to the body-guard of the Comte d’Artois he is described as“docteur en médecine de plusieurs facultés d’Angleterre.” It may,however,