JOHN, M. D. a man of such various powers and extensive acquirements, that it is difficult to decide in what department of cultivated genius his excellence was most conspicuous. His merits indeed have been very inadequately appreciated, except by his enlightened and polished contemporaries, the literary brotherhood, who flourished in the time of queen Anne. He was born about the beginning of the reign of Charles II., in the neighbourhood of Montrose, where his father, an episcopal clergyman, then lived. At the university of Aberdeen, he studied with great success, and took the degree of doctor of physic. Leaving the university, he went to London, and tor some time taught mathema tics, a branch of science in which he had attained great proficiency. In 1704, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, in consequence of having presented to that learned body a paper, " On the Regularity of the Births of both Sexes." About the same time, he was appointed physician extraordinary to prince George of Denmark, and soon afterwards he was promoted to the honour of being one of the physicians in ordinary to queen Anne. In 1710, he became a fellow of the col lege of physicians. On the death of the queen, his connection with the court having terminated, his prac tice became more promiscuous. But the incessant avo cations of a laborious profession did not prevent him from pursuing his favourite studies with unrernitted ardour and activity. He died at London, Feb. 27, 1735, leaving behind him a son, and several daughters.
Besides the memoir already mentioned, as having obtained him the honour of being admitted a member of the Royal Society, his acknowledged works are, 1. An Examination of Dr Woodward's Account of the Deluge, published 1697 ; 2. A Treatise on the Useful ness of Mathematical Learning, 1700 ; 3. Tables of An cient Coins, Weights, and Measures, 1727 ; 4. On the Nature and Choice of Aliments, 1732 ; 5. On the Effects of Air on Human Bodies, 1733. Two volumes, enti tled, "The Miscellaneous Works of Dr Arbuthnot," were published in 1751; but many of the articles in these volumes are not genuine.
His humourous and satirical works are interspersed among those of his friends, Pope and Swift ; so that it is difficult to point out the precise share which ought to be attributed to him. The inimitable fragment, called " Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus," is almost with cer tainty known to be his production ; no other man then living possessed the combination of profound learning, with delicate humour and poignant satire, so admirably displayed in that singular work. "The History of John
Bull" bears the same internal evidence to his being the author. The " Treatise concerning the Altercation, or Scolding of the Ancients," and the " Art of Political Lying," both of which he avowed, display a fine vein of irony. The " Epitaph on colonel Chartres" is uni versally known ; but it is perhaps not so well known that the virulence of party spirit, from which this amia ble man was not altogether exempt, contributed to ren der it unjustifiably acrimonious. No man was more obnoxious to Arbuthnot and his associates, than bishop Burnet ; and it is to be lamented that the " Memoran dums of Six Days preceding the Death of a Late Right Reverend," should have contained such manifest proofs of personal animosity. With these two exceptions, however, all the writings of Arbuthnot evince the gen tleness of his disposition, and the benevolence of his heart.
He was by no means destitute of poetical talents, but we can adduce few specimens of the exertions of his muse ; an essay, entitled Ti EfUtrrOY, is one of the few instances in which profound philosophical views have been embellished and illustrated with all the graces of poetry.
If we were required to express our judgment con cerning the talents and acquisitions of this distinguished man, we should think it sufficient to refer to the testi mony of his illustrious confederates, Gay, Swift, and Pope ; not one of whom was ashamed to acknowledge the superiority of his wit'. In learning and science, scarcely any man of that age could contest the palm with him ; in his own profession, he rose to the highest eminence, in consequence of his distinguished merits, not only as being possessed of the most accurate know ledge, but also as being a man of the most exemplary kindness and assiduity. It would be an unpardonable omission, to neglect to mark the dignity and worth of his moral character ; his exalted piety, his integrity, benevolence, and equanimity, claim for his memory a degree 'of respect, equal to the admiration with which we look back to the splendour of his genius. (A)