8 MEMOIR OP SIR HANS SLOANE, BART. 



much attached to the subject of this memoir, that he took him into 

 his house, and strongly recommended him to his patients. 



In 1707, Sir Hans Sloane published, in folio, the first volume of 

 his " Voyage to the Islands of Madeira, Barbadoes, Nieves, St. 

 Christopher's, and Jamaica, with the Natural History of the herbs 

 and trees, four-footed beasts, fshes, birds, insects, reptiles, §c, illus- 

 trated with the figures of the things described, which had not hereto- 

 fore been engraved, in large copper-plates as big as the life." This 

 was his first contribution to the general stock of knowledge, and 

 when questioned on the subject of his voyage, he was used to say, 

 that, independently of the gratification of a laudable curiosity, he 

 deemed it a sort of duty in a medical man to visit distant countries ; 

 for that the ancient and best physicians were wont to travel to the 

 places whence their drugs were brought, to inform themselves con- 

 cerning them. Speaking of the part of the globe which he had 

 visited, he never ceased to deplore the irreparable loss of fame which 

 this country had suffered in not being the first to partake in the 

 glory of its discovery. " When Bartholomew Columbus" said Sir 

 Hans, " was sent to England by his brother Christopher, in 1488, 

 to persuade Henry VIII. to fit him out for this expedition, a sea- 

 chart, of the parts of the world then known, was produced, and a 

 proposal made to the king ; but, after much delay and many unto- 

 ward circumstances, both the map and the proposal were disregard- 

 ed, and the money that had been first set apart for the purpose, 

 and thought sufficient for the discovery of the new world, was ulti- 

 mately expended in the purchase of a suite of fine tapestry hang- 

 ings, brought from Antwerp, and afterwards used for the decoration 

 of Hampton Court." 



Notwithstanding the war between England and France at this 

 period, the Doctor was elected a foreign member of the Royal Aca- 

 demy at Paris. His fame, indeed, as a physician, now rapidly in- 

 creased. He was consulted by the nobility and by royalty itself. 

 Queen Anne often sought his advice, and was attended by him in 

 her last illness. When George I. came to the throne, in 1716, the 

 Doctor was created a Baronet, an honour which had never before 

 been conferred on any English physician ; the king also made him 

 physician-general to the army, which he enjoyed till 1727, when 

 he was appointed physician in ordinary to George II., and continued 

 to prescribe for the royal family till his death. He was a particular 

 favourite with Queen Caroline, who placed the greatest confidence 

 in his prescriptions. Sir Hans Sloane was elected president of the 

 College of Physicians in 1719, an office which he held for sixteen 



