6 LIFE OF SIR HANS SLOANE. 



accession of George I. he was created a baronet, being the first Eng- 

 lish ph) T sician on whom an hereditary title of honour had been conferred, 

 and was appointed physician general to the Army, which office he en- 

 joyed till 1727, when George II. made him his own physician. He 

 had, in 1719, been elected President of the College of Physicians, which 

 high honour he continued to hold till 1735, when he resigned. 



During the intervals of relaxation from a life so laborious as that 

 of au eminent London physician, Dr. Sloane arranged his collections 

 and observations, formed while in the West Indies, and preparatory to 

 his great work, printed in 1696, his Catalogue of Jamaica Plants. 

 This he dedicated to the Royal Society and College of Physicians. 



Eleven years after appeared his first volume of his " Natural His- 

 tory of Jamaica," This is a splendid folio, entitled, "A Voyage to the 

 Islands, Madeira, Barbadoes, Nieves, St. Christophers, and Jamaica, 

 with the Natural History of the Herbs and Trees, Four-footed Beasts, 

 Fishes, Birds, Insects, Reptiles, &c, of the last of these Islands; to 

 which is prefixed an Introduction, wherein is an Account of the Inhab- 

 itants, Air, Water, Diseases, Trade, &c, of that place, with some Re- 

 lations concerning the neighbouring Continent and Islands of America, 

 illustrated with the things described, which have not been heretofore 

 engraved, by Hans Sloane, M. D., Fellow of the College of Physicians, 

 and Secretary of the Royal Society." 



The introduction, consisting of one hundred and fifty-four pages, 

 contains a general account of the West Indies, their discovery, climate, 

 rivers, soil, productions, customs, trade and diseases, and more particu- 

 larly those of Jamaica; then follows an account of his voyage in forty- 

 eight pages, and the remainder of the book, occupying two hundred 

 and sixty-four pages, is taken up with an account of the plants. 



To the introduction are attached eleven plates of shells, crabs, 

 &c, and a map, and to the body of the work one hundred and thirty- 

 four plates of plants ; they are all double folio, and arc executed by 

 Michael Vandergutcht in the best style of thai period, and are a 

 proof of the wealth and magnificence of the author. 



It was not till 17"2."> that Sir Hans had leisure to put the recorded 

 volume to press, though the greateal pari of the plates for ii were en- 

 graved at the time the former appeared ; " having," says he, " a multi- 

 plicity of business in the practice of physic, which I esteem one of my 

 first cares and must be minded, if the lives of persons be regarded 



