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Perciva's Essays Medical and Experimental is more than a collection of therapeutic observations; it is a window into the transformation of medicine during the Enlightenment. Through its blend of chemistry, clinical practice, public health, and medical philosophy, it embodies the 18th century’s shift from tradition-bound healing to empirical, socially conscious medicine.

Percival’s essays cover a wide range of subjects in materia medica and environmental medicine. He investigates the medicinal properties of columbo root, orchis root, and fixed air (an early term for carbon dioxide), as well as the reputed health effects of spa waters at Buxton and Matlock in Derbyshire.

The section on Matlock Water, for instance, includes controlled chemical experiments designed to determine the composition and reactive properties of the spring. Percival describes step-by-step procedures involving the addition of salts and reagents, recording temperature changes and precipitate formations. This anticipates modern hydrotherapy studies and reflects the broader 18th-century fascination with therapeutic springs.

Other essays address more conceptual or philosophical aspects of medicine, including “The Dogmatic or Rationalist,” which critiques overly theoretical medical systems and argues for a balance between empirical observation and rational deduction. Percival invokes classical authorities to argue for a humane, reasoned, and practical approach to the healing arts, positioning himself within the ongoing debate between rationalists and empirics.

One of the most historically important sections is Percival’s “Proposals for Establishing More Accurate and Comprehensive Bills of Mortality.” Here, he advocates for a standardized, detailed classification of causes of death across the population. His proposal is among the earliest serious efforts to create an empirical foundation for public health surveillance and epidemiology—concepts that would blossom in the 19th century through figures like William Farr and Florence Nightingale.

Volume I: 1772; Essays Medical and Experimental to which is added an appendix including: on the empiric; on the dogmatic; on astringents and bitters; on blisters; on the resemblance between the chyle and milk; on water; on inoculation; on sore throat; 267 pages, 10 unnumbered leaves

Volume II: 1773; Essays Medical and Experimental on the following subjects: on the columbo coot; on the orchis root; on the waters of Buxton and Marlock in Derbyshire; on the medicinal use of fixed air; on the antiseptic and sweetening powers and on the varieties of factitious air; on the noxious vapours of charcoal, on the atrabilis, on sea salt, on coffee to which are added select histories of diseases; 384 pages, 16 unnumbered leaves

The "pioneer sanitary reformer and medical statistician" Percival (1740-1804) gathers here numerous essays and observations on many subjects.  Thomas Percival was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1765, at the age of twenty-five. Two years later, Percival moved to Manchester, where he remained the rest of his life. "His essays, medical and experimental, published between 1767 and 1776, attracted wide attention" 

BOOK DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION

This is a well-preserved two-volume set of Thomas Percival’s Essays Medical and Experimental, comprising the 1772 second edition (with added appendix) and the 1773 continuation volume. Both volumes retain their original full calf bindings, with red morocco spine labels stamped “Percival’s Medical Essays.” The spines show rubbing and light wear typical of 18th-century medical books, though the bindings remain tight and intact. Internally, the pages are clean and crisp with only minor age-related discoloration, and ex-library stamps from Manchester Infirmary Library. Printed for Joseph Johnson, London; 2 volumes, good condition, brown leather.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thomas Percival was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1765, at the age of twenty-five. Two years later, when he published this volume, Percival moved to Manchester, where he remained the rest of his life. "His essays, medical and experimental, published between 1767 and 1776, attracted wide attention" (ODNB 43:675-676).

Thomas Percival was the son of Joseph Percival of Warrington and his wife Margaret Orred of Newton in Cheshire. He was born on 29 September 1740. His grandfather was Peter Percival, who came from a family farming at Latchford and practiced medicine in Warrington. When Thomas Percival was only three years old, both his parents died and he was left in the care of an elder sister.

He was educated initially in classics at the grammar school in Warrington and was at that time an Anglican. In 1750, at the age of 10, Thomas received the bequest including a library from his father's eldest brother, Thomas Percival MD, a physician in Warrington. Thomas became a Dissenter which prevented him from going to Oxford University. Instead he went to Warrington Academy in 1757. The Academy was set up for the higher education of those who could not go to the universities as they did not subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles.

Percival then studied medicine for three sessions at Edinburgh University before qualifying as MD at Leyden in Holland on 6 July 1765. This was a common route for Nonconformists to study medicine in the early 18th century. In the later 18th century many Nonconformists qualified at Edinburgh. Between his studies in Edinburgh, Percival spent a year in London where he came to know a number of men of science including Lord Willoughby of Parham, vice president of the Royal Society who proposed him for fellowship. It is thought that he was the youngest member of the Royal Society at the time. While in Edinburgh, Percival formed a friendship with David Hulme, the philosopher

From 1765, Percival practiced medicine in Warrington and during that period he married Elizabeth Bassnett the daughter and sole heiress of Nathaniel Bassnett a London merchant. In 1767 he moved to Manchester where he lived for the rest of his life. He published articles on medicine and science in the Philosophical Transactions, the journal of the Royal Society, between 1767 and 1776, which brought his name to the leading men of science. Thomas Percival's experiences of medical life in Manchester stimulated him to write two pamphlets - Internal Regulation of Hospitals 1771 and A Scheme of Professional Conduct Relative to Hospitals and other Medical Charities 1772. Among other early publications were Essays, Medical and Experimental, in 1767, and Essays, Medical, Philosophical and Experimental, in 1773

In 1775 he published the first of three parts of A Father's Instruction, which was finally completed in 1800. He was interested in the use of mortality statistics for insurance purposes and wrote Proposals for establishing more accurate and comprehensive bills of mortality in Manchester.

.The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society began as a monthly meeting at Percival's house in 1781. Percival was initially the joint president then sole president until the end of his life with the exception of one year. In 1785 he helped to establish the Manchester Academy, which began as the academy at Warrington came to an end. He was the president from 1793 to 1800. Together with other members of the Literary and Philosophical Society he was involved in trying to establish a college of arts and sciences which soon faltered but was finally set up in the middle of the 19th century as a result of the bequest of John Owens.

Percival was one of the founder members of the first board of health in Manchester in 1795. This was a voluntary organisation that campaigned for improved sanitation. The background to this event is given in more detail in the article on John Ferriar. Percival suggested that public baths were made available. In 1796, at a meeting of the Manchester Board of Health, he spoke on the need for legislation on factory labour.

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Thomas Percival - Essays Medical and Experimental - 1772-1773

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