BOERHAAVE, Hermann, Dutch physician: b. Woorhout, near Leyden, 31 Dec. 1668; d. 23 Sept. 1738. Boerhaave re ceived from his father a liberal education. In 1682 he was sent to Leyden to study theology. In 1688 he received a gold medal from the city for an academic oration, in which he attacked the doctrines of Spinoza. In 1689 he received the degree of doctor of philosophy and main tained an inaugural dissertation, 'Destinctione Mends a Comore,' in which he attacked Epi curus, Hobbes and Spinoza. He commenced, at the age of 22, the study of medicine, first taking up anatomy, on which he afterward ex ercised a salutary influence, as the use he made of mechanical illustrations induced anatomists to apply themselves to a more accurate study of the forms of the organs. He made a special study of Hippocrates, with whose superior ex cellence and correct method he was forcibly struck. In 1693 he was made doctor of medi cine at Harderwyck. In 1701 the University of Leyden chose him to deliver lectures on the theory of medicine. Boerhaave now began to develop those great and peculiar excellences which make him a pattern to all who undertake the office of instruction. Pupils crowded from all quarters to hear him. His method was eclectic, combining the speculations of opposing schools; but this led him to attach too much im portance to mechanical and chemical theories of vital actions. In 1709 the University of Ley den appointed him to the chair of medicine and botany. The course of instruction to which Boerhaave was now devoted induced him to publish two works, on which his fame still rests, namely, 'Institutiones Medics:' (1708), and 'Aphonsmi de Cognoscendis et Curandis Morbis' (1709). In the former, which is a
model of comprehensive erudition and clear method, he unfolds his system in its fullest ex tent; in the latter he undertakes the classifica tion of diseases and discourses separately on their causes, nature and treatment. He ren dered essential services to botany by his two catalogues of plants in the garden of Leyden by his description and delineation of new plants and the introduction of new species. In 1714 he was made rector of the university and pro fessor of practical medicine. In the latter of fice he had the merit of introducing clinical in struction, that is, of lecturing to his students at the bedside of patients in hospital, for the first time in Europe. On the death of Lemort he was appointed to the professorship of chemis try, which science he had taught since 1703. His 'Elements of Chemistry' (1724), is still a highly valued book. So conspicuous was the position occupied by Boerhaave that people came from all parts of Europe to ask his ad vice and he raised his university to a pinnacle of fame. It is said that a Chinese mandarin wrote to him with the address, aTo Boerhaave, the celebrated physician in Europe." Boerhaave was a man of piety as well as learning. He used to say that the life of a patient, if trifled with or neglected, would one day be required at the hands of his physician. Consult Bur ton, 'Account of the Life and Writings of Boerhaave) (London 1743); and the life by Johnson (ib. 1834).