BOERHAAVE, Il•t3tAxN, the most celebrated physician of the 1811i c., was b. at Voorliont, near Leyden. Dec. 13, 1668. In 1682, he went to Leyden, with the intention of becoming a clergyman, and there studied Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Clialdee, history, ecclesiastical and secular, and mathematics. In 1689, B. was made doctor of philosophy, and in 1690 began the study of medicine, reading carefully Hippocrates among the ancients, and Sydenham among the moderns. Though mainly self-educated in medicine —as in chemistry and botany—he gained his doctor's degree at Ilarderwyck, 1693. and returned to Leyden, where, in 1701, having abandoned theology, lie was appointed lec turer on the theory of medicine, and in his inaugural lecture recommended to the stu dents the ancient method of Hippocrates in medicine; but in 1703 his views had become greatly enlarged. Ile saw the necessity of a-priori speculations, as well as of the Hippo cratic method of simple observation. and elaborated various mechanical and chemical hypotheses to explain the diseases of the body, especially in the case of the fluids. In 1709, he was eletted.ProfeSsor Of medicine and botany in the place of Hatton. About this time, he publishes:the two works on which his great fame chiefly rests: In,tittetionts Medecev en A n h ucc 1,!rercitatiwe Donee.qicoR (Leyd. 1708:, and :17,11,ori,nei Cogleoxeree tits et Cu raneli:.: _ilorlde, in Ustehe ..11cdirinw(Leyel. 1709), both of which went 'through numerous editions, and translated into various European languages, and ajso into Arabic. In the first work—a model of comprehensive and methodical karning—he gives a complete outline of his system, including a history of the art of medicine, an account of the preliminary knowledge necessary to a physician, and a description of the parts and functions of the body. the signs of health and disease, etc.; in the second, he
gives a classification of diseases, with their causes, modes of treatment, etc. 13. also tendered important services to botany. One of his best lectures is that delivered on his resignation of the office of rector of the university, De Comparando Colo in Ph rick To conibine practice with theory, he caused a hospital to be opened, where he gave clinical instructions to his pupils. Though so industrious in his own profession, he undertook, in 1718, after Lemon's death, the professorship of chemistry, and published in 1724 his Ekinenta C'eeneier, a work which much to render this science clear and intellig,ible; and although now entirely superseded by more advanced researches, one that will always occupy a high place in the of chemistry. Ilis fame had meanwlile rapidly increased. Patients from all parts of Europe came to consult him. Pt tee .he great of visited him; and it is even said that a Chinese mandarin sent him a let ter, addressed " HERR BOERIIANYE, celebrated physician, Europe." Ile was a lilt mher of most of the learned academies of the (lay. Ile died Sept. 23, 173S, having realized from his profession a fortune of two millions of florins.-13urtou, Account of the Life and It ritingl of B. (2 vols., Loud. 1743); Johnson, Life of B. (Load. 1834).