Benjamin Marten and His "New Theory of Consumptions" - Microbiology and Molecular ...
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MICROBIOLOGICAL REVIEWS, Sept. 1978, p. 521-528 Vol. 42, No. 3
0146-0749/78/0042-0521$02.00/0
Copyright © 1978 American Society for Microbiology Printed in U.S.A.
Benjamin Marten and His "New Theory of Consumptions"
RAYMOND N. DOETSCH
Department ofMicrobiology, University ofMaryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
INTRODUCTION 521
MARTEN'S THEORY 521
ORIGINS AND ANTECEDENTS ......................... ............ ... 523
RE:FERENCES TO MARTEN'S THEORY ................................... 525
MARTEN'S LIFE .......................... 526
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LITERATURE CITED ................ ..... ... .... ...... .... 528
INTRODUCTION MARTEN'S THEORY
Although historians of microbiology find an The world in general and readers of London
embarrassing wealth of material on towering coffeehouse sheets in particular were first in-
figures, such as Pasteur, Koch, and Winograd- formed of Marten's book in a series of identical
sky, extreme difficulty attends efforts to uncover advertisements placed in one-penny papers. Ad-
details on contributions and lives of the "un- vertisements for nostrums, unctions, ointments,
known soldiers" of science. The role played by and elixirs, as well as for pamphlets and books
less distinguished persons is as important in its on medical subjects, appeared in the coffeehouse
way as later, epic syntheses, but early arrivals at sheets of Queen Anne's London. They generally
the scene of great victories seldom are heralded were written by quacks and charlatans and
as heroes. The history of the germ theory of promised spectacular cures and remarkable re-
disease is not especially well documented, and coveries for such ailments as consumption, pla-
the following essay on the efforts of an obscure gue, gonorrhea, syphilis, and various skin dis-
figure to apply animalcular information of the eases. Hence, Marten's book was simply one
late 17th and early 18th centuries to the causes among many.
of tuberculosis and other infectious diseases may According to the Weekly Journal or, British
be a case in point. Gazetteer for Saturday, 19 March 1720 (p. 1558),
Early in 1720, a small volume (186 pages) the fatal diseases reported for the previous week
titled A New Theory of Consumptions: More included "aged-54, consumption-78, convul-
Especially of a Phthisis or Consumption of the sion-143, fever-88," and a few deaths were as-
Lungs (16) was published in London. In addition cribed to intriguing causes, such as "griping in
to the text, this book (price, three shillings and the guts-10, rising of the lights-1, water in the
sixpence) consisted of a 12-page preface signed, head-5, and worms-4." Definite identification of
"Benjamin Marten, From my House in Theo- the cause of consumption (tuberculosis), and its
bald's-Row near Red-Lyon Square in Holbourn, possible cure, obviously would have been of in-
Sep. 1st, 1719." The title page is dated 1720. terest to a number of persons, including not only
There is a 22-page table of contents at the end victims, but also physicians of the time.
of the book. Briefly, Marten's theory stated that The number of copies of A New Theory pub-
"the prime, essential, and hitherto accounted lished in the first edition is unknown-perhaps
inexplicable cause of that disease" was, in fact, only a few hundred at most-but, in any event,
a specific animalcule infecting the lungs. This there appeared in the Post-Boy of Tuesday, 3
remarkable proposal was experimentally verified April 1722 (no. 5102), an advertisement stating
by Robert Koch 163 years later. that "this Day was publish'd the 2d Edition,
The notion of a possible relationship between Corrected of A NEW THEORY OF CON-
animalcules and infectious organjsms became SUMPTIONS:" the remaining text was an un-
commonplace shortly after Leeuwenhoek's dis- altered reprint of the old 1720 advertisement,
covery of bacteria in 1676, but little was made of and, as then, it was printed in several other
this for over 150 years. Benjamin Marten and sheets, namely, the Weekly Journal or Satur-
the antecedents of his theory have elicited little day Post and the British Journal. There is
interest among medical microbiologists and his- doubt as to the propriety of designating this
torians (10, 22, 27) concerned with the genesis of work as a "second edition," since the only change
the germ theory of disease. This neglect may be was the addition of two new paragraphs to the
due partly to Marten's obscurity; indeed, only preface (dated 7 February 1722), the text re-
one serious study on Marten has been published, maining unaltered.
and that was in 1911 (22). Whatever Marten's formal educational back-
521522 DOETSCH MICROBIOL. REV.
ground might have been, there is no doubt that The material contained in chapter 2 is of most
he was a fairly skillhfl writer, although he de- interest and importance to modem medical mi-
murs in the preface, "Correctness of Stile, and crobiologists and historians concerned with the
Beauty of Expression, is what I make no Preten- conquest of infectious diseases. This chapter is
sions to, all that I have endeavor'd, in respect to titled "An Enquiry Concerning the Prime, Es-
the Language, is, to be as plain and intelligible sential, and hitherto accounted Inexplicable
as possible, and to deliver my Sentiments as Cause of Consumptions, etc." It is a theoretical
clearly, and in as few Words as conveniently I statement of the germ theory of epidemic dis-
could, to be well understood" (16, p. iii). Clearly, eases that is entirely consistent with what one
the book was not addressed to physicians of the finds in any modem textbook of medical micro-
day. In fact, Marten stated, "It is not the most biology. Chapters 3 and 4 review current meth-
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uncommon Thing in the World for Authors, ods for treating phthisis and include Marten's
especially in Physick, to declare the Publick own recommendations.
Good was the sole Motive of their Works; for my After reviewing opinions on the cause of
Part I shall not say so, but this I do solemnly phthisis as proposed by various writers, Marten
aver, that if I had not really believed what I wrote, "Thus I have given the Opinion of the
have wrote would be serviceable to my Fellow Ancients, and some of the most eminent Modern
Creatures, and particularly to those unhappy Authors, concerning the cause of a Consumption
Persons who are afflicted with a Phthisis or of the Lungs, who yet, I think leave us in the
Consumption of the Lungs, it should never have Dark, as to the true and original Essence of it;
been printed" (16, p. ix-x). for what the vicious Saltness or Sharpness of the
Chapter 1 describes specific symptoms of Catarrhous Humour of the Ancients, or the Salt-
"Consumption ofthe Lungs," and it is a perfectly ness or some other way visciousness of the Chy-
understandable exposition of phthisis as it was mist's Tarter, or Helmont's singular strange Fer-
observed at the time. The medical knowledge ment, or Sylvius's Salt Acrimony, Willis's Sour-
evinced here in terms of diagnosis, symptoms, ness of the Juices, Dolaeus's sharp Volatile Par-
and signs appears accurate and current. One of ticles, Etmiuller's Acrimony and Sharpness of
Marten's principal sources of information may the Blood and Lympha, or Morton's Malignant,
have been Richard Morton's (1635-1698) Phthi- III-Natur'd, or Peculiar Quality of the Humour
siologia, first published in Latin in 1689 but included in the Tubercles or Swellings in the
translated into English by S. Smith and B. Wal- Lungs, really and essentially are, they have left
ford in 1694. Morton's work is alluded to in this us at a Loss to guess" (16, p. 47). Then, alluding
chapter, as are treatises by Etmiiller (14), Willis to "modern Discoveries and Microscopical Ob-
(28), Dolaeus (13), and Baglivi (6), all of which servations," we are introduced to Marten's new
were available in English by 1720. One may theory. "The Original and Essential Cause,
assume that Marten read translated Latin med- then, which some content themselves to call a
ical texts, and in fact, many of his cited quota- vicious Disposition of the Juices, others a salt
tions obviously are taken directly from, or are Acrimony, others a strange Ferment, others a
paraphrases of, the English translations. malignant Humour (all which seem to me dark
Although the picture of 18th-century tuber- and unintelligible) may possibly be some certain
culosis was graphically painted by Marten, he species of Animalcula or wonderfully minute
was optimistic about recovery chances of the living Creatures, that, by their peculiar Shape,
victims: "And indeed no greater Harm can be or disagreeable Parts, are inimicable to our Na-
well done to Consumptive Persons, than for ture; but however capable of subsisting in our
People to tell them they are incurable, or even Juices and Vessels, and which being drove to the
to act, look, or any way seem as if they thought Lungs by the Circulation of the Blood, or else
so; when on the contrary, it is doing them real generated there from their proper Ova or Eggs,
Service to be chearful in their Company, to tell with which the Juices may abound, or which
them they look better, and to strengthen their possibly being carried about by the Air, may be
Hopes of soon getting well, by the help of proper immediately convey'd to the Lungs by that we
Means, as all who are acquainted with the pro- draw in, and being there deposited, as in a proper
digious Effects the Mind has upon the Blood Nidus or Nest, and being produced to Life, com-
and Juices, very well know" (16, p. 4). Marten ing to Perfection, or increasing in Bigness, may
recognized the contagiousness of phthisis, and be then spontaneous Motion and injurious Parts,
Morton, Etmiuller, and others are quoted in sup- stimulating, and perhaps wounding or gnawing
port of this view, and he wrote, "For this Distem- the tender Vessels of the Lungs, cause all the
per as I have observed by Frequent Experience, Disorders that have been mentioned, viz. a more
does infect those that lie with the sick Person, than ordinary Afflux of Humours upon the Part,
with a certain taint" (16, p. 7-8). Obstruction, Inflammation, Exulceration, and allVOL. 42, 1978 BENJAMIN MARTEN'S "NEW THEORY OF CONSUMPTIONS" 523
other the Phaenomena and deplorable symp- ber of those little Animals, which Microscopes
toms of this Disease" (16, p. 51-52). discover to us in Liquors, and generally in all
Marten postulated infection by contact with Bodies, we shall easily find that there is nothing
specific entities in the cases of itch, leprosy, and in Nature, into which the Seed of Insects may
"venereal distemper." Regarding the latter, he not insinuate it self, and that a great Quantity of
wrote, "... I conceive Venereal Disease to be
... them may enter into the Body of a Man, as well
communicated after the same manner; only as as into those of other Animals, by means of the
we may conjecture Animalcula abounding in the Air and Ailments. Then since Heat is sufficient
purulent Matter flowing from the small Ulcers to bring forth the Worms contained in these
in that Distemper are of a different Species, Eggs, when these Eggs meet with a convenient
Shape and Magnitude from those of Itch...." Matter, it is easy to comprehend, that several
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(16, p. 67). Species of them may be produced in the Body
Chapter 2 concludes with this statement: of a Man according to the different Matter they
"These Speculations are indeed of a very nice find there ... so that a Man, whose Body
Nature, and may not admit of being very easily abounds with a certain sort of Humour, will
demonstrated, as beforesaid, but I have often produce Worms of a certain sort, whilst he who
admired that the Learned Gentlemen of our abounds with another Humour will produce
Profession, who have so excellently well acquit- Worms of another" (5, p. 8-9; this is directly
ted themselves in mechanically accounting for quoted by Marten [16, p. 56]). The words "little
many Distempers, upon the grand Philosophick anials, " "animalcules," and "ova" or "eggs")
Principle of Sir Isaac Newton, viz., that of At- and the notion of these occurring in the air, in
traction or Gravitation, or the Universal Ten- food, and in bodies were current during Marten's
dency that one part of Matter has towards an- time, and he obviously adopted them. It is note-
other, have not at the same time considered worthy that Marten did not believe in abioge-
what Injuries the Body of Man may receive from nesis (12), for he wrote, ".... there being no such
the spontaneous Motion of voluntary Agents or thing as Equivocal Generation, as the Leamed
Animalcula in our Fluids and small Vessels, World now all agree, every such minute living
which Animalcula can hardly be suppos'd to creature must be produced from an Ovum or
regulate their Motions by Rule and Compass, Egg...." (1, p. 55-56). The learned world prob-
but act and move according to the natural In- ably included W. Harvey (1578-1667), but spe-
stinct, the Divine Author of all Beings has im- cific works or references leading Marten to this
planted in them" (1, p. 89-90). conclusion are not given.
There is a letter to Andry written by Nicolaas
ORIGINS AND ANTECEDENTS Hartsoeker (1656-1725) reproduced in the for-
Fifteen of 19 papers published in the Philo- mer's book (5) in which he stated, "To tell you
sophical Transactions before 1720 and indexed my thoughts, Sir, I believe that Worms occasion
under "Animnalcula" were written by Antony van most Diseases with which Mankind is attack'd;
Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723); furthermore, 57 pa- and likewise that those who have the Distem-
pers and notes are listed under "Microscopical pers that are called Venereal, nourish in their
Observations," and, although there is some du- Bodies an infinite number of invisible Insects,
plication among these two entries, 51 of the who grow and deveour everything that comes in
latter also are by Leeuwenhoek (19). Marten was their Way, and occasion all the Disorders that
aware of Leeuwenhoek's fantastic discoveries, are known to attend that Distemper" (5, p. 213).
and his animalcular theory of infectious disease Marten was strongly influenced by this idea and
was based upon these experimental results borrowed it (16, p. 67-68).
rather than on theoretical and philosophical Another idea appropriated by Marten was
constructs (11). Since Leeuwenhoek is not men- probably derived from his acquaintance with
tioned in any of the medical texts current in William Oliver's (1659-1716) Practical Essay on
Marten's time, it may be asumed that he read Fevers (20). The specificity of animalcules and
the Dutch master's work in the Philosophical the diseases they generate was proposed in the
Transactions. Marten also knew of Robert course of a discussion on smallpox. Oliver wrote:
Hooke's (1635-1703) Micrographia. This great "Thus the Seed once sown has propagated its
English work appeared in 1665, and several Poison in all Ages since, and when it will be
pages of it are quoted by Marten (16, p. 74-76). worn out God knows. I call it a Seed because I
The work of Nicholas Andry (1658-1742) (5) find Diseases keep regular Types and have par-
influenced Marten in the development of his ticular Attributes that distinguish them one
theory. For example, Andry wrote: ".... if we from the other, as the Seeds of Plants do their
consider the Eggs of Caterpillars, Flies, and particular Species" (20). Almost two centuries
other small Insects with the almost infinite num- elapsed before this notion was experimentally524 DOETSCH MICROBIOL. REV.
demonstrated by Robert Koch and Louis Pas- been made by the help of Microscopes-There
teur. is a great deal of Pleasure in prying into This
The idea of "volatile insects" capable of World of Wonders which Nature has laid out of
spreading diseases was incorporated into Mar- Sight, and seems industrious to concel from us.
ten's theory in modified form from a paper writ- Philosophy has ranged over all the visible Cre-
ten by F. Slare (1647?-1717) (23). In observa- ation, and began to want Objects for her Enqui-
tions on a "Murren" of cattle, Slare noted that ries, when the present Age, by the Invention of
this disease had spread in a progressive manner Glasses, opened a new and inexhaustible Maga-
from Italy into Switzerland and thence into Ger- zine of Rarities more wonderful and amazing
many. To account for this it was proposed that than any of those which astonished our Fore-
the infection was carried by a "volatile insect." fathers-If we consider those Parts of the Ma-
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The agent was thought to be volatile in the sense terial World, which lie nearest to us, and are
that it was transported over a distance through therefore subject to our Observations and En-
the air and insect in that it would have proper- quiries, it is amazing to consider the Infinity of
ties of smallness and infectivity, and, as Marten Animals with which it is stocked" (2).
believed, "... we may then easily conceive how Several years later, Addison wrote in The
they [infectious entities] are convey'd to and Spectator. "Every Part of Matter is Peopled:
from Distant Countries or Climates, viz. by such Every green Leaf swarms with Inhabitants.
Volatile Animalcula or their Ova or Eggs being There is scarce a single Humour in the Body of
deposited in the Bodies or Cloaths, or Goods of Man, or of any other Animal, in which our
Travellers, etc." (16, p. 66). Slare's note, pub- Glasses do not discover Myriads of Living Crea-
lished in the Philosophical Transactions, most tures. The Surface of Animals are also covered
certainly echoes in Marten's theory, and, like with other Animals, which are in the same man-
Marten, Slare was skeptical of current ideas on ner the Basis of other Animals, that live upon it;
the causes of infectious diseases. He wrote: "For nay we find in the most solid Bodies, as in
the account of the Ancients concerning the Marble it self, innumerable Cells and Cavities
grand pestilential Contagions is very little sat- that are crowded with such imperceptible Inhab-
isfactory to the Age, who derive from it a blind itants as are too little for the naked Eye to
putrefaction, from the incantations of ill Men; or discover" (3). Marten was so impressed by these
from the conjunctions of inauspicious Planets. speculations that he quoted them completely,
I wish Mr. Leeuwenhoek had been present at but referring merely to "... the most ingenious
some of the dissections of these infected animals. Author of the best Essays that were ever wrote
I am persuaded He would have discovered some and publish'd, with design at once to improve
strange Insect or other in them" (23). Earlier and divert Mankind" (16, p. 53-54), rather than
observations by Pierre Borelli (1629?-1689) and directly acknowledging Addison.
Theodore de Mayerne (1573-1655) also influ- In Johnathan Swift's (1667-1745) Bickerstaff
enced Marten, but, although he quotes both Papers and Pamphlets on the Church (26),
these authors, it is not clear that he ever read there is a passage (written in 1708) as follows:
their works. Nonetheless, Borelli had seen tiny "I remember some Years ago a Virtuoso writ a
insects on bandages placed on fistulous ulcers small Tract about Worms, proved them to be in
and observed, "Thus we are held of many Dis- more Places than was generally observed, and
eases which come from invisible Animals, or made some Discoveries by Glasses. This having
such as can only be perceived by Microscopes" met with some Reception, presently the poor
(16, p. 72). de Mayerne also wrote about Man's Head was full of nothing but Worms; all
".... Thousands of Living Creatures in the Can- we eat and drink, all the whole Consistence of
cerous Brest of a Woman" (16, p. 72), and ideas human Bodies, and those of every other Animal,
of insect infection as a prime cause of infectious the very Air we breathe; in short, all Nature
diseases were still being considered by John throughout was nothing but Worms: and by that
Crawford (1746-1813) in the early 1800s (11). System, he solved all Difficulties, and from
In addition to using works of authors on med- thence all Cases in Philosophy" (p. 76). It ap-
ical topics to support his arguments, it is inter- pears, therefore, that some literary figures in
esting to discover that at least two essays by Queen Anne's time were privy to the same ideas
literary figures influenced Marten. Joseph Ad- as Marten.
dison (1672-1719) is not named by Marten, but Addison's views on microscopical studies were
he used two quotations written by that illus- not always enthusiastic, as, for example, in his
trious figure in his coffeehouse sheets, The Ta- essay titled "Will of a Virtuoso" (1). Referring
tler and The Spectator. In the former, Addison to Nicholas Gimcrack's collection of microscopic
wrote: "I have lately apply'd my self with much specimens, he wrote that such persons represent
Satisfaction to the curious Discoveries that have ".... a sort of learned men who are wholly em-VOL. 42, 1978 BENJAMIN MARTEN'S "NEW THEORY OF CONSUMPTIONS" 525
ployed in gathering together the refuse of nature palatable ... Everything he could find men-
... able to discover the sex of a cockle, or describe tioned in the seventy or eighty authors he cites,
the generation of a mite ... the mark of a little all that the old women of both sexes had ever
genius to be wholly conversant among insects, told him of, gets into his text, or squeezes itself
reptiles, animalcules, and those trifling rarities... into his margin ... He piles his prescriptions one
Whatever appears trivial or obscene in the com- upon another, without the least discrimination.
mon notions of the world, looks grave and phil- He is run away with all sorts of fancies and
osophical in the eyes of a virtuoso" (1) superstitions..." (15). Cotton Mather was famil-
iar with the writings of Kircher, "Lieuwenhoek,"
REFERENCES TO MARTEN'S THEORY and others, and it is not too surprising that he
It has been noted that Marten's book reap- alludes to them in The Angel of Bethesda. Re-
peared as a "second edition" in 1722, so we may markable, though, is the fact that he was the
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surmiise that it was of sufficient interest, perhaps only early American medical writer who imme-
only among laymen, at least, to merit this action. diately seized upon Marten's theory as a valid
The book probably did not strike a proper note explanation for the cause of many diseases.
with physicians of his day, but two new para- Chapter 7 of The Angel is titled "Conjecturalies,
graphs in the preface of the second edition pro- or some Touches upon, A New Theory of many
claim, "It may not be amiss in this Second Diseases," and this exposition is the sole 18th-
Edition to add concerning this Theory, that it is century American work dealing with the ani-
no small satisfaction to me to find many learned malcular hypothesis of disease.
Gentlemen approve of it; and that since these Chapter 7 contains long passages copied di-
Papers were first wrote, several have given into rectly from Marten's book. Marten's references
it, in respect to the Cause of many Diseases who also were included, with little indication of their
had no Idea of it before" (17, p. xii). Marten being "borrowed," so that an unwary reader
never identified these "many learned Gentle- would likely assume that he was reading
men," but he says, "And I do verily believe it Mather's rather than Marten's words. Mather
may be easily proved that Animalcula are much believed that the origin of most human ailments
more probably the true and direct Cause of the was the stomach and that if one knew what
Plague we at this time so much dread, than factor(s) induced this organ to become a proxi-
whatever else has or can be conjectur'd; and that mate cause of disease, one would have found the
they are not the Effect only of Pestilential Pu- key to many human ailments. Mather was con-
trefaction, as supposed by a very learned and vinced that Marten had hit upon the essential
worthy Physician, who has lately published a factor. But, as Beall and Shryock noted, "'The
Piece on that subject, but the real and absolute Angel' was never published, and even if it had
Cause of it" (17, p. xii). been, it is doubtful whether the local medical
Singer (22) was unable to discover any direct men would have been in a mood to give it serious
mention of Marten's theory in the medical lit- attention. Mather, then, failed in his effort to
erature on phthisis published at the time, but he introduce the animalcular concept into Ameri-
does mention two possible slighting allusions to can medicine" (9, p. 92).
Marten. There are, in fact, at least two direct The other work that noted Marten's theory
references to the "new theory." was written by Edward Barry (1696-1776), a
In 1724, Cotton Mather (1663-1728), in Bos- book titled A Treatise on A Consumption of the
ton, completed a lengthy manuscript titled The Lungs (8). Barry, however, rejected Marten's
Angel of Bethesda. This was essentially a com- ideas, as the following passage indicates. ". . . I
pilation of various medical pamphlets and un- cannot well avoid mentioning the Author of a
published papers written by Mather over a pe- late Hypothesis [i.e., Marten (16, p. 50-51)]
riod of time. The work was first analyzed in which some may be more inclined to believe,
depth by Beall and Shryock (9), and later by since no less than Ocular Demonstration is of-
Jones (18). Indeed, The Angel of Bethesda was fered to confirm the Truth of it. This Person
never published in Mather's time, and the com- takes Notice, that Ulcers in the Lungs, when
plete text first appeared in print in 1972 (18). narrowly viewed with Microscopes, are covered
Perhaps the nature of this work may be sensed with several Insects; and from thence concludes
from the following evaluation by Oliver Wendell that they take their first Origins from such An-
Holmes: "The divine takes precedence over the imalcules, which being inspired with the Air, fix
physician in this extraordinary production. He their Situation on the Lungs, and erode and
begins by preaching a sermon at this unfortunate ulcerate the Vessels: and from the same irregular
patient. Having thrown him into a cold sweat by Way of Reasoning, these Animalcules have been
his spiritual sudorific, he attacks him with his by others supposed the Cause of Several Distem-
material remedies, which are often quite as un- pers, and particularly such as are Contagious:526 DOETSCH MICROBIOL. REV.
But these Appearances may be easily accounted poisonous Mercury Sublimate, is desir'd to take
for, as the unavoidable Effects, not the Cause of Notice that Mr. Joshua Stephens... tells People
these Diseases: For it is certain, that there is that he is the Author of the translation of Dr.
almost an infinite Number and Variety of such Greenfield's Book that is printed with the Name
Aninalcules perpetually floating in the Air, of John Martin in its Title Page. This makes
whose chief Business consists in searching out a People suspect, that the said John Martin is an
Place where they may find Nourishment, and a imposing, cheating quack, and an ignorant pre-
proper Situation for themselves and their tender, and that his Letters, Stories of Cures,
Young: But every living Part of a human Body pretended Medical Secrets, etc., are (like his
has a perpetual Pulsation, which, tho' impercep- Pretentions of being the Author of the said
tible to our Eyes, is sufficiently strong to give Translations) but so many Shams and Imposi-
the most uneasy Motion to these Animalcules tions on the Publick; as to which Particulars, the
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so minutely small and entirely prevents them said Martin is desir'd to publish the Truth of the
from fixing there for any Time" (8). So, Marten Matter, in some one of the News-Papers, that
is dismisse, and we do not hear of him again, he has impudently monopoliz'd for his own, his
although others may have used his ideas without Brother Ben, the Chymical Soap-Boiler, and his
acknowledgment. Singer put it correctly when Brother Spooner, the Taylor...." Thus, we infer
he wrote, "Thus vanishes into darkness a meteo- that Benjamin Marten had at least two brothers,
ric prophet of the parasitic nature of the infec- namely, John and Spooner. Singer (22) wrongly
tious diseases" (22, p. 98). denied that John was Benjamin's brother.
Spinke's small book (24), published later in 1709,
MARTEN'S LIFE was titled Quackery unmasked: or reflections
Until the present time, the only clue to Marten on the sixth edition of Mr. Marten's treatise of
was in his book, namely, an address listed at the the venereal Disease, and its appendix; and the
end of the preface, "From my House in Theo- pamphlet call'd, the charitable surgeon, etc.
bald's-Row near Red-Lyon Square in Hol- Inside the front cover, opposite the title page,
bourn...." Theobald Road in London exists to- was pasted an addition which stated, "N. B.
day, as does Red Lion Square, but the former is Since the Publication of this Book, I am credibly
a wide, multiple-lane motorway, and the latter inform'd that Mr. Benj. Marten never was (as I
is a pleasant little park completely surrounded was told) a Soap-boyler, but he has by his own
by public housing apartment buildings. Any Industry, acquir'd a competent Knowledge of
traces of Benjamin Marten's dwelling place must the Theory and Practice of Physick; and does on
have been obliterated long ago. all Accounts behave himself as a Gentleman,
What can be deduced about Marten's life meriting a good Character, which in justice to
comes mainly from advertisements appearing in him, I thought myself oblig'd to publish."
coffeehouse sheets published from 1705 to 1722. One may surmise from this that in the first
John Marten, a London "surgeon" who flour- decade of the 1700s, Benjamin Marten absorbed
ished at this period, was notable for the popular much of "the theory and practice of physick" by
books on medical topics that he wrote and sub- reading his brother John's books. Perhaps he
sequently advertised. His special forte was ve- occupied himself with preparing his brother's
nereal diseases, and his book A Treatise of all medicines. In any event, Spinke's book supplied
the Degrees and Symptoms of Venereal Dis- further information on the Martens. For exam-
eases in both Sexes had gone through seven ple, one learns that ". . . your Taylor, I presume
editions, the last published in 1711. The various to be Mr. Spooner ... But, Sir, that Taylor
unctions and medicines recommended and the having, as I'm informed, marry'd your own Sister
quick cures claimed in this book were disrupted (in point of good Manners) ought not, by you to
continually in the form of counteradvertise- be call'd a Quack; especially, he only vending, as
ments by another probable quack, John Spinke, I am also inform'd, Medicines prepar'd by Ben,
"licence'd practitioner in physick and surgery." the Chymical Soap-boyler.. ." (24, p. 49). From
Spinke, it seems, also wrote a book on the sub- this passage it appears that (Taylor) Spooner
ject of venereal diseases and hence was in com- was not a brother of John and Benjamin and,
petition with John Marten for readers. furthermore, that they had at least one sister. In
One of the most informative of Spinke's coun- the second edition of Spinke's book (25), we
teradvertisements appeared in Daniel Defoe's learn that John Marten was a poor tailor's son
newspaper, A Review of the State of the British who obtained his medical knowledge by working
Nation (Tuesday, 5 April 1709, 6:4): "The Hat- as a surgeon's apprentice. Spinke also mentioned
ton Garden Clap-Preventer [this was John Mar- another brother, James, and, indeed, the Com-
ten, of course!] that treats his Patients with pany of London Apothecaries' book (GuildhallVOL. 42, 1978 BENJAMIN MARTEN'S "NEW THEORY OF CONSUMPTIONS" 527
Library, London, manuscript 8206/1) noted that to James Marten the only Surviving Son of my
on 8 February 1706, James Marten was liberated late Brother James Marten ... Apothecary One
from his apprenticeship to James Tubb, "having Shilling." Here, then, we have named the sister
served his full term of his appt. swom and made and brothers of Benjamin Marten. Apparently,
free." John Marten did not believe his relatives to be
We may infer that Benjamin Marten, one of in need of money or else did not wish to endow
several sons of a poor tailor, was continuously them with any degree of his wealth, since one
exposed to both medical and apothecary lore shilling was considered a token gift.
and practice in his early youth. It comes as no "Boyd's Burial Index" (Guildhall Library, roll
surprise to discover, then, that in 1717 he re- 11 [3] item 21722) shows that only three men
ceived an M.D. degree from the University of named Benjamin Marten were buried in London
Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland. This degree was in the 18th century. They were all members of
Downloaded from http://mmbr.asm.org/ on March 31, 2021 by guest
often awarded on application and recommenda- St. Dunstan's in the West and were interred in
tion, without the necessity of taking formal 1758, 1764, and 1782. St. Dunstan's is far re-
courses or examinations, and thus it was for moved from Theobald's Road. It should be em-
Marten. In Officers and Graduates of Univer- phasized that the names Martin, Marten, Mar-
sity and King's College, Aberdeen, 1495-1860, tine, etc., were often misspelled and erroneously
there appears the following entry under the date transcribed in documents of the time. There is,
9 December 1717: "Dr. Benjamin Marten An- in fact, one administered will in the Public Rec-
glus, M.D. (£ Stg. paid)" (4). In addition, the ords Office, Chancery Lane, London, dated May
manuscript minutes for King's College, Univer- 1751, for a Benjamin Martin (AA Probate 6, p.
sity of Aberdeen (King's College Library, man- 224, 1751). This will was administered by the
uscript K41), show that on that day "the said city of London and reads "Benjamin Martin on
day Dr. Patrick Urquhart mediciner with the the Twenty Third day Admcom of the Goods
principall and Masters subscribed a Diploma in Chattels and Credits of Benjamin Marten late
favour of Mr. Benjamin Marten of London as of the Parish of St. James Clerkonwell in the
Doctor of Medicine and appointed the huma,nist County, of Middsex a Widower deceased was
to append the Colledge seall thereto and to granted to Russell Marten the natural and law-
receave from Dr. Urquhart the four pounds Ster full Son of the said deceased having first made
due to the Bibliotheck. (Signed) George Chal- a Solomn and Sincere Declaration of Affirma-
mer, Principall." tion according to Act of Parliament duly to agr.
Shortly before Marten bought his medical May 1752." Among the reasons for believing that
degree, he married one Hannah Fisher (7), who this was our Benjamin Marten is that the date
was either a widow or a spinster (unmarried is about right. If Marten was born circa
women over 30 years of age were commonly 1690-1695, he would have been 56 to 61 years
referred to as "Mrs."). The marriage register of old when he died. Clerkenwell Road is continu-
St. Stephen's Walbrook states, "On Nov. 17, ous with Theobald's Road and hence is situated
1716. Mr. Benjamin Marten of St. Michael Bas- where Marten lived. A survey of 35 church burial
sinshaw, b., & Mrs. Hannah Fisher, of St. Bo- lists for the 18th centuryt did not reveal anyone
tolph without Adersgate, London, s. Lic. L. B. named Benjamin Marten, and the brevity and
L." (7). The "b" signifies "bachelor," the "s" the lack of a legally prepared will and testament
signifies "spinster," and "Lic. L.B.L." means "li- suggests that he may have been poor when he
censed by the Bishop of London." The list of died-perhaps even buried at public expense.
"London Marriage Licences 1715-1719" (p. 241) No other published evidence of Benjamin Mar-
at Guildhall Library shows: "Marten, Ben. and ten for the period 1722 to 1751 has been uncov-
Fisher, Hann 6-11-13." This would be 13 Novem-
ber 1716 rather than 17 November as shown in t St. Vidast; St. Helen's, Bishopsgate; St. Paul's, Covent
the St. Stephen's register. It is of interest that Garden; St. Martin, Outwitch; St. Benet and St. Peter; St.
Mildred, Bread Street; St. Margaret Moses, Friday Street; St.
the "Names of Inhabitants" of St. Michael Bas- Mary le Bow; St. Olave, Hart Street; St. Mary le Bone,
sinshaw fails to identify Benjamin Marten as a Middlesex; St. Marye Monthain, St. Dionis, Backchurch; St.
member of that church. Mary Aldermarie; St. Thomas the Apostle; St. Michael's,
John Marten died at Middlesex on 8 January Cornhill; St. Antholin and St. John Baptist; St. James, Cler-
kenwell; Stourton County; Wilts; Christ Church, Newgate;
1737, and his will reveals that he was an affluent Bath Abbey; St. Mary Somerset, London; St. Mary the Virgin,
man (Guildhall Library, manuscript 2501/1). Aldermanbury; St. Mathew and St. Peter Cheap; St. Mathew,
The important part of this document is the Friday Street; St. Clement, Eastcheap; St. Martin Orgar; St.
following: "I thereby give to my Brother Benja- Lawrence Jewry; St. Mary Magdalen, Milk Street; St. Michael,
min Marten Doctor of Physick, one Shilling and Bassinshaw; St. Catharine, by the Tower, St. Dunstan, in the
East, London; St. Edmund the King and Martyr, Temple
to my sister Elizabeth Spooner One Shilling and Church; St. Giles in the Field; St. George the Martyr.528 DOETSCH MICROBIOL. REV.
ered after a search of numerous British archives, coli of 1776. Bacteriol. Rev. 40:270-275.
libraries, and repositories of 18th-century mate- 13. Dolaeus, J. 1686. Systema medicinale, a compleat
rials. Singer (22) said that Marten was not a system of physick, theoretical and practical. T.
member or fellow of the Royal College of Phy- Passinger, London.
14. Etmiiller, M. 1699. Ettmillerus abridg'd; or, A
sicians in London, but only doctors who qualified compleat system of the theory and practice of
at Oxford or Cambridge were eligible for election physick. E. Harris, London.
to this body (21). 15. Holmes, 0. W. 1883. Medical essays 1842-1882,
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS p. 359. In The writings of Oliver Wendell
Holmes, vol. 9. Cambridge University Press,
I thank Janet H. Doetsch for invaluable assistance Boston (1891).
in library research carried out during the course of this 16. Marten, B. 1720. A new theory of consumptions:
investigation. Deep appreciation is expressed to the more especially of a phthisis or consumption of
Downloaded from http://mmbr.asm.org/ on March 31, 2021 by guest
numerous helpful librarians and officials at the British the lungs. T. Knaplock, London.
Museum, London; the Public Records Office, Chan- 17. Marten, B. 1722. A new theory of consumptions:
cery Lane; Guildhall Library; the Greater London more especially of a phthisis or consumption of
County Council; the Welicome Institute of the History the lungs, 2nd ed. T. Knaplock, London.
of Medicine Library, London; the National Library of 18. Mather, C. 1972. The angel of Bethesda (G. W.
Medicine, Bethesda, Md.; the University of Maryland, Jones, ed.). American Antiquarian Society,
College Park; and to the patient vicars and vergers of Barre, Mass.
London churches. 19. Maty, P. H. 1787. A general index to the Philo-
The work was made possible by grants from the sophical Transactions from the first to the end
National Library of Medicine (LM-02669) and the of the seventieth volume. Royal Society of Lon-
University of Maryland. don, London.
20. Oliver, W. 1704. Practical essay on fevers con-
LITERATURE CITED taining remarks on the hot and cool methods of
1. Addison J. 1710. Will of a virtuoso. The Tatler their cure, wherein the first is rejected. London.
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1695-1860, p. 125. New Spalding Club, Aber- 24. Spinke, J. 1709. Quackery unmask'd: or reflec-
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5. Andry, N. 1701. An account of the breeding of of the venereal Disease, and its appendix, and
worms in human bodies. London. the pamphlet call'd, the charitable surgeon, etc.
6. Baglivi, G. 1704. The practice of physick. Andrew London.
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7. Bannerman, W. B., and W. B. Bannerman the second edition of quackery unmask'd con-
(ed.). 1919. Register of St. Stephen's Walbrook taining useful observations and remarks on the
for 1716, register II, p. 148. Publications of the seventh edition of Mr. Marten's Treatise of the
Harleian Society, The Registers of St. Ste- venereal disease, p. 17 and 24. In J. Spinke,
phen's, Walbrook and St. Benet, Sherehog, Lon- Quackery unmask'd: etc., 2nd ed. London.
don, vol. 49, part 1. 26. Swift, J. 1708. Remarks upon a book, entitled,
8. Barry E. 1727. A treatise on a consumption of the The Rights of the Christian Church asserted,
lungs, 2nd ed., p. 273-274. William and John against the Romish, and all other Priests, who
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