Mayerne , Sir , Theodore Turquet de , 1573-1655 , Knight , physician

Theodore Turquet de Mayerne was born in Geneva, in 1573. He was educated in Geneva, and the University of Heidelberg. He went to Montpelier to pursue his medical studies and became an MB in 1596, and MD in 1597. He moved to Paris where he lectured on anatomy and pharmacy. He became one of the King's physicians in 1600. He had become greatly interested in chemistry, and made considerable use of chemical remedies in his medical practice. This support of chemical remedies antagonised the Faculty of Paris, who would accept no dissent from Galen. In 1603 Mayerne, in conjunction with Quercetanus, was attacked by the Faculty in print, in Apologia pro Medicina Hippocratis et Galeni, contra Mayernium et Quercetanum. Mayerne responded with an apologetic answer, and his only medical publication, Apologia in qua videre est, inviolatis Hippocratis et Galeni legibus, Remedia Chemice praeparata tuto usurpari posse (1603). He demonstrated that chemical remedies were not only in accordance with the principles but also with the practice of Hippocrates and Galen. He came to England in c 1606 and became physician to James I and his Queen, Anne of Denmark. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, in 1616. He was knighted in 1624. Mayerne is ultimately famous for his copious case notes, the detail of which was extraordinary for his time. He died in Chelsea in 1655.