William Salmon

William Salmon by W. Sherwin, 1671
William Salmon by Robert White, 1700

William Salmon (1644–1713) was an English empiric doctor and a writer of medical texts. He advertised himself as a "Professor of Physick". Salmon held an equivocal place in the medical community. He led apothecaries in opposing attempts by physicians to control the dispensing of medicines,[1] and was derided by physicians as "the King of the Quacks".[2]: 118  He has been described as "a brilliant publicist, but not much of a philosopher".[1]

Salmon "copied, translated, abridged, enlarged and compiled from the texts of others" to create popular books emphasizing practice over theory, and often marketing his own medications.[2] A prolific author on a broad range of medical topics, Salmon's works were widely read in his time.[3] His books were owned by respected men including Isaac Newton, Daniel Defoe, William Congreve and Samuel Johnson.[2]

  1. ^ a b Monod, Paul Kléber (2013). Solomon's Secret Arts : The Occult in the Age of Enlightenment. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 129. ISBN 9780300123586.
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Hanson was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Gotti, Maurizio; Salager-Meyer, Françoise (2006). Advances in medical discourse analysis : oral and written contexts. Bern: Lang. p. 45. ISBN 9783039111855. Retrieved 9 November 2017.