Prout, John

Collection of medical notes and extracts, mostly from the works of early 19th cent. physicians, notes on materia medica, etc. The next two leaves contain, 'Private notes of the late John Prout Esqr, M.D. Odessa: S. Russia', written by a brother-in-law of the lady mentioned above. The MS. appears to have been begun by Prout when a medical student, and in the earlier part contains notes and extracts from contemporary medical writers. The later part was perhaps written during his Russian period.

c. 1820

1 volume 3 ll. + 323 pp. + 62 ll. + 99 bl. ll. + 4 ll. (last 3 bl.). 4to. 24 × 18 cm. Original vellum binding. Margins slightly cropped.

Presented by Mrs. Comrie 1939.

Dr. John Prout is stated to have received the Degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Heidelberg in November 1833, after having studied medicine at Guy's Hospital and St. Thomas's Hospital in 1815. In the same year he received a Certificate for Surgery from the Royal College of Surgeons: he was elected a member of the Medical and Chirurgical Society in 1833. By 1839 he appears to have become Staff Surgeon in the Imperial Russian Army, and was in that year appointed Collegiate Assessor to H.I.M. Nicholas I [1796-1855]. He was later private physician to the family of Field Marshal Prince Michael Voronzoff [1782-1856], Governor General of South Russia. No other particulars about him have been ascertained, and his name does not appear in the medical directories.

Database description transcribed from S.A.J. Moorat, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1962-1973).

The first preliminary leaf contains a holograph letter, laid down, from Mrs. Helen H. de Spiganovicz, dated 2 Oct. 1925, with address 33 Castle St., Edinburgh, to Dr. John Dixon Comrie [1875-1939]. In this she states that the book has been given to him by her late husband, a grandson of John Prout. A typescript copy of a letter from Dr. Comrie acknowledging the receipt of this MS. is also inserted.