My contribution here consists mostly of writings by the physician and philosopher Sir Thomas Browne a famous figure in world literature and medicine and a seventeenth century resident of Norwich, U.K. my home City.

For 2005 the year of Browne's quattrocentennary, I've transcribed An Alphabetical Table which appendices

Shorter pieces

I just love these lines-

I wish we knew more clearly the aids of the ancients, their sauces, flavours, digestives, tasties, slices, cold meats, and all kinds of pickles. Yet I do not know whether they would have surpassed salted sturgeons’ eggs, anchovy sauce, or our royal pickles.

Along with gastrognomic pleasures it appears Dr. T.B was well-aquainted with peculiarities of human sexual behaviour -

The impudent wantonness of the ancients placed sponges in the natural parts of women that by expanding they might produce a lewd and as it were haunching movement in the female, whence a keener lust is provoked in the male. In the elaborations of coition almost nothing has been untried.....the indecent egg of Aurelius (from a reading of Athenaeus)

To read a selection of Browne's best quotations go to http://quote.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Browne

The Romantic poet and essayist Coleridge wrote perceptively upon Sir T.B. Letter on Browne. A small piece by Coleridge on The Alchemists is also available.

Other medical authors

Hippocrates (circa 460 BCE - 377 BCE) "the father of medicine"

Paracelsus (1493-1543) Swiss alchemist-physician

Whilst I may appear to be heavily monothematic my interests are more diverse, honest! Visit my vanity page at Wikipedia to find out what else I'm into. http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Norwikian