Sydenham recorded significant observations on dysentery, scarlet fever (p. 387), scarlatina, measles and other conditions. He stressed the clinical study of medicine and kept careful case records. Includes (pp. 272-80) the most minute and careful description of measles that had so far appeared; this is reprinted in Med. Classics, 1939, 4, 313-19.

English translation in No. 64 and prior English editions. The above book is really a third edition of his Methodus curandi febres, 1666; second edition, 1668. The Latin texts of both editions of Methodus curandi were reprinted, with Latham’s translation, an introduction and notes by G.G. Meynell, Folkstone, Winterdoum Books, 1987.

"Sydenham so precisely describes the symptoms of hysteria that even today little can be added to what he said. He maintained that is was the most common chronic disease, and he recognized that in spite of the fact that hysteria refers to the uterus (Greek, hysteron, uterus), males suffer form this disease also... Sydenham recognized for the first time that hysterical symptoms may simulate almost all forms of organic diseases" (Alexander & Selesnick, History of psychiatry, pp. 94-95).

Of the many great works of Sydenham, this is considered his masterpiece. He clearly differentiated gout from rheumatism. For an English translation, see his Works, published by the Sydenham Society, 1850, 2, 123-84.

Contains (Book 3, Cap. 2; Book 5, Cap. 4) an important account of smallpox, particularly the epidemics of 1667-69 and 1674-75. Sydenham attributed smallpox to a specific inflammation of the blood; he clearly distinguished it from measles. His treatment of fevers with fresh air and cooling drinks was an improvement on the sweating methods previously employed. English translation in his Works, ed. R. G. Latham, London, 1848, 1, 123, 219.

Includes (pp. 25-28) his classic description of chorea minor (“Sydenham’s chorea”). Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1939, 4, 327-53. In the Sydenham Society translation (see No. 64) the passage occurs in vol. 2, pp. 198-99.

Sydenham has been called the “Father of English Medicine”. His reputation rests on his first-hand accounts of such conditions as the malarial fevers of his times, gout, scarlatina, measles, etc. A better edition of the above (editio altera) appeared in 1846. The original work, printed in 1685, is called editio altera; although no earlier edition is known to exist. An edition of Sydenham’s Opuscula was published in Amsterdam, 1683. See K. Dewhurst’s Dr Thomas Sydenham, his life and original writings., London, Wellcome Institute, 1966. Digital facsimile of the 1844 edition from the Internet Archive at this link; of the 1846 edition from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Best English translation of Sydenham’s works.

Limited to 200 copies.