Sir John Pringle and his Circle 127 SII~ JOHN PI~INGLE AND HIS CII~CLE.--PART I. LIFE. By DOROTI~EA WALEY SINGEB. CONTENWS. Page § 1. Introduction ................................................ 127 §2. Early Life .................................................... 128 § 3. London ..................................................... 133 § 4. Closing Years : the Controversy concerning Lightning Conductors .. 163 §1. Introduction. SIR JoH~ P~I~GL~. was a typical figure of the eighteenth century, though he foreshadows activities of the following centuries, both in his sense of public responsibility for the living and working conditions of the labouring population and in his appreciation of the importance of public measures for the prevention rather than the cure of disease. His view of medicine might almost be epitomized as cleanliness, to be achieved by purification of the air without and of the bloodstream within the patient. The first he would effect by ventilation, the second by correct diet. For the former he would utilize the skill of the engineer. For the latter he recognized the need of laboratory experiments, to ascertain the " septic " and " antiseptic " qualities inherent in various substances. His own experiments to this end were highly rated by his Annals of Science 1949.6:127-180. contemporaries. They were carried out on substances organic and inorganic. Pringle was not an innovutor, but his alert and benevolent mind was concerned to apply the creative activity of his contemporaries. In view of his preoccupation with " putrescent " diseases, it is re- markable that Pringle never associates them with living contagion 1, though references to this conception are scattered through the literature of his own and preceding ages. The analogy between putrefaction and fermentation, their association with contagious disease and the suggestion that all alike are caused by minute living organisms, had been familiar in medical writings since the sixteenth century 2. But Pringle, though he emphasized the " fermentation " of the blood in typhus patients, seems never to have considered the hypothesis of living contagion. It is i The only disease that Pringle ascribes to animalcula is Scabies, " best accounted for by Leeuwenhoek ". See Part II. For a review of the subject see C. and D. Singer, " The Development of the Doctrine of Contagium Vivum," in Proceedings of the International Medical Congress, Section of the History of Medicine, London, 1913. But see below, Part II. 128 Dorothea Waley Singer on noteworthy that the Royal Society, which had been the recipient of Leeuwenhoek's e~rly microscopic obserwtions 3, reports no microscopic work during the presidency of Pringle, and indeed very little during his lifetime. Perhups we m~y detect here one reason for Pringte's failure to suspect living contagion in connexion with typhus. His great contri- bution was his continuous and strenuous advocacy of cleanliness and fresh air to combat typhus alike in barracks, g~ols and hospitals. § 2. Early Life. John Pringle was born in 1707 into a comfortable home ~nd an assured social position. He was the youngest son of a Scottish baronet, a neighbour and intimate friend of Lord Auchinleck, father of James Boswell. Two of John's uncles reached distinction, one in the law and one in politics 4. The stages in his education are related by his biographer and younger contemporary, Andrew Kippis (1725-1795), on the authority of Boswell ~. Kippis was himself F.R.S. (1779) as well as F.S.A. (1778). The son of a Nottingham silk hosier, he became a Nonconformist minister, ~nd from 1753 was pastor of the Presbyterian congregation in Princes Street, Westminster. His wife was the daughter of a Boston merchant. Kippis was a prolific writer and edited the second (incomplete) edition of the Biographia Britannica. His affection for Pringle is manifest in the biography, which of course depended on Pringle's older friends (and doubtless on Pringle's own anecdotes) for the earlier years. He mentions that he was also indebted to " the Anecdotes of Mr Bowyer by my friend Mr Nichols " 6. This refers to two remarkable members of tim 3 A~ltony va~l Leewenhoek (1632-1723) communicated one hundred and twelve papers to Annals of Science 1949.6:127-180. the I~oyal Society, all of which were published in the Phil. Trans. either in full or in part. Sir Robert Pringle (1581-1649), son of George Pringell of :Newhall, settled at Stitchill. Of his six children, his eldest son, John Fear (died 1646), predeceased him but, havmgmarried ~iargaret Scott of Buccleugh, left seven children, of whom the eldest was Robert Pringle (c. 1635-1649), who became heir to his grandfather and the first baronet of Stitchill. This Sir Rober~ married Margaret Hope and had nineteen children, of whom ttfirtecn grew up. The eldest, Sir John Pringle, was the father of our subject and was married to Magdalen, daughter of Sir Gilbert Eltio~ of Stobs. The second was Walter :Fringle (1664-I736), who in 1718 became a Scottish Judge with the title Lord ~ewhall and was at £he same time knighted. The third brother was Robert Pringle (died 1736), who became Secretary of State for Scotlar/d and l~ter Secretary to the Scottish Commissioners who negotiated the Union. See also foot-note 11 and Alexander Pringle, The Records of the Pringles or Ho39- ringills, Edinburgh and London, 1933. We have not traced relationship between this f~mily and Thomas Pringle (1789-1834), poet and secretary to the Anti-Slavery Society. Andrew Kippis, Six Discourses delivered by Sir John Pringle Bart. when Presiden~ of the Royal Society on the occasion of six annual assignments of Sir Godfrey Copley's Medal, to which is prefixed the life of the Author, London, 1783. C:f. p. 139. 6 Kippis, op. cir., Preface, pp. iv-v. John Nichols published in 1782, Bibliographical and Literary Anecdotes of William Bowyer, Printer, E.S.A. and many of hi.~ learned frienda Sir John Pringle and his Circle 129 Nonconformist circle in London. William Bowyer the younger (1699- 1777), " the learned printer," was educated first at Headley under the non-juror Ambrose Bowicke who became his life-long friend, and sub- sequently at St. John's College, Cambridge, where, however, he appears not to have proceeded to a degree. He joined the printing-house of his father, also an author of some mark, but in 1757 the younger Bowyer set up his own printing-press and took as apprentice John Nichols (1745-1826), who became his partner and whose son and grandson successively carried on the firm. Bowyer was printer to the Society of Antiquaries (of which he was Fellow), to the Royal Society and to the House of Commons, the latter a remarkable appointment to be bestowed on a non-juror. He was a prolific writer on literary and historical topics. Nichols Mso was F.S.A., and was a friend of Dr. Lettsom (p. 143) and intimate with Dr. Johnson. He was the author of numerous biographical, historical and antiquarian works, many of which are still important to scholars. He was well known to Pringle, who is said to have given considerable financial contributions to assist some of his publications from 1776 onwards. After private tuition, Pringle was sent to study under his relative, Francis Pringle, who was Professor of Greek in the University of St. Andrews. In 1727, at the age of twenty, he proceeded to the University of Edinburgh, where he studied medicine. BUt it seems that he was still uncertain as to his future career. According to Boswell, he was destined for commerce, and was therefore sent, after only a year in Edinburgh, to " learn business " in Amsterdam 7. Visiting Leyden, he attended a lecture by Boerhaave and immediately determined to study medicine under him. Annals of Science 1949.6:127-180. Both Kippis, however, and Charles Hutton s state that Pringle did not deviate from his intention of practising medicine and that he hastened, after only a year in Edinburgh, to Leyden in order to make sure of not losing the opportunity to study under Boerhaave, who wa~ then advanced in years. In July 1730, Pringle graduated in medicine at Leyden with a thesis on Senile Decay 9. In it he exhibits familiarity with both classical ? Ibid., p. iv. 8 Ibid., p. iv; and Ctlarles Ilutton, Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary, ii, 279 (cf. below, Part III). 9 Dissertatio medica inauguralis, De Marcore Senili quam, ammente Deo ter Opt. l~iax., ex auctoritate Magnifici Rectoris, D. Hermanni Boerh~ave, A.L.M. Phil. et Med. D. et Professoris Ordinarii, necnon Amplissimi Senatus Academici Consensu, et Nobilissimae Facultatis Medieae Decreto, Pro Gradu Doctoratus, Summisque irL Mediciila. Honoribus et Privilegiis rite et legitirae consequendis, Eruditorum Exaxaini submittis Joalmes Pringle Scoto-Brit~rmus, ad diem 20 Julii 1730. hora locoque solitis. Lugduni Batavorum, Apud Joh. Arnold : Langerak, 1730. [Foot-note continued on p. 130. 130 Dorothea Waley Singer on and contemporary views on Che subject. In spite of a good deal of repetition, the little work has something of the ease and sweep of his later writing. He describes how, in advanced age, the circulation of the blood is hindered by hardening and shrinking of the vessels, especially the arteries as well as the secretory glands. This, he says, constitutes senile decay and he gives the resulting fatal diseases. He fortifies his argument by citing post-mortem findings, with which he shows he is familiar. The work is dedicated to two men, both named Francis Pringle ; the first, President of the l%oyal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and the second, Professor of Greek in the University of St. Andrews, his " former great teacher, his kinsman and dear friend ". The President of of the Edinburgh I~oyal College was no doubt John's uncle, who had himself been educated in Leyden.