Ranby versus Jurin

Dates

1745

Autre(s) titre(s)

The pamphlet war about John Ranby’s Narrative of the Last Illness of the Earl of Orford (= Sir Robert Walpole)

Fiche rédigée par Sophie Vasset . Dernière mise à jour le 27 December 2014.

Synopsis

In 1744, James Jurin, a doctor who was made famous for his pamphlets on inoculation, writes a report on the effects of his newly elaborated treatment, Lixivium on his own disease, the stone and gravel.

When Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister of Britain, starts suffering from the same disease, he prescribes this medicine to cure him. His prescription was not well received by everybody, especially John Ranby, the royal Surgeon, who was part of the medical crew following the disease of the Earl of Orford (Walpole’s title when he retired).

The initial pamphlet was published in March 1745, right after Walpole’s death, when John Ranby, First Surgeon to George II wrote A Narrative of the Last Illness of the Earl of Orford. Very Soon, James Jurin replied, justifying his prescription, and attacking Ranby for his lack of knowledge, and his self importance. Other anonymous pamphlets were published in the same year, accusing Ranby of libel, and pointing out that the surgeon kept insisting on his own importance.

Ranby counter-attacked in his second edition of the Narrative, still in 1745, which made most of the anonymous pamphleteers publish a second edition of their own work, such as The Second Letter to a Physician in Town to Another at Bath.

The pamphlet war died out after 1746, with no obvious reason for it.

Enjeux

Although the use of limewater was often debated among doctors, the status of the patient (prime minister of England) and the severe attacks on the knowledge of the Royal surgeon make it clear that the controversy goes beyond the scope of medical debate. Its real political subtext is that John Ranby was very active in seperating the Barbers from the Surgeons, and eager to assert his “medical” status as a surgeon, which was threatening to physicians like James Jurin.

Chronologie

• 1744 - Jurin publishes his treatise on the use of limewater for the stone and gravel

• 1744-1745 Robert Walpole is treated by several doctors, among whom James Jurin, who prescribes limewater and soap, and John Ranby, the Royal Surgeon.

• 1745 - Several pamphlets were published that same year, criticising Ranby for his wrong diagnosis, and for his lack of writing skills.

Noms propres

Jurin, James

Ranby, John

Walpole, Sir Robert

Références

Corpus

• Anonymous, An Expostulatory Address to John Ranby, Principal Surgeon of his Majesty, and F.R.S. Occasioned by his Treatise on Gunshot Wounds, and his Narrative of the Earl of Orford’s Last Illness. With Remarks on his Adviser, &c., by a Physician (London, 1745).

• Anonymous, A Letter from a Physician in Town to Another at Bath. occasioned By Serjeant Ranby’s Appendix to his Narrative of the Last Illness of the Right Honourable The Earl of Orford (London, 1745).

• Anonymous, A Second Letter from a Physician in Town to Another at Bath. occasioned By Serjeant Ranby’s Appendix to his Narrative of the Last Illness of the Right Honourable The Earl of Orford. By the Author of the former Letter (London, 1745).

• Anonymous, Advice to John Ranby, Esq.; Principal Surgeon to His Majesty and F.R.S. with some Observations on his Narrative of the Last Illness of the Right Honourable The Earl of Orford (London, 1745).

• Jurin, James, An Account of the Effects of the Soap Lye taken internally for the stone in the case of James Jurin, M.D., written by himself (London, 1744)

• Jurin, James, An Epistle to John Ranby, Esq; Principal Serjeant Surgeon to His Majesty, and F.R.S. On the Subject of his Narrative of the Last Earl of Orford, As far as it relates to Sir Edward Hulse, Dr Jurin, and Dr Crowe (London, 1745).

• Ranby, John, A Narrative of the Last Illness of the Right Honourable The Earl of Orford (London, 1745).

• A bill, intitled, An Act for Making the Surgeons of London and the Barbers of London two separate and distinct Corporations, 1745.

Bibliographie critique

• Power, Sir D’Arcy “Ranby, John (1703–1773),” rev. Michael Bevan, in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, eee ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison (Oxford: OUP, 2004); online ed., ed. Lawrence Goldman, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23106 (accessed March 11, 2013).

• Rusnock, Andrea, The Correspondance of James Jurin (1684–1750): Physician and Secretary to the Royal Society (Amsterdam – Atlanta, GA 1996)

• Vasset, Sophie, “How to narrate a medical case: the controversy about John Ranby’s Narrative of the Last Illness of the Earl of Orford, 1745” in Medicine and Narration in the 18th century (Oxford: SVEC, to be published in april 2013).

Liens

Liens vers d'autres querelles associées

Inoculation (Controverse sur l’)

Mrs Stephens' remedy for the Stone and Gravel