Sir Thomas Browne

Abstract Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682) was an English physician, wordsmith, and polymath who contributed hundreds of words to the English language (such as medical, electricity, migrant, and computer). After studying medicine in Montpellier, Padua, and Leiden he settled in Norwich, where he practised as a doctor and wrote some of the greatest books of the seventeenth century, still read for their accessibility and eloquence. Religio Medici (‘Religion of the Doctor’) examined the vexed question of faith in a God who, to a physician, seemed indifferent to suffering. Pseudodoxia Epidemica (‘Vulgar Errors’) gave free rein to an agile curiosity and sought to debunk notions then commonly believed, such as that dead kingfishers indicate the direction of the wind, or that a woman could get pregnant from sharing a bath with a man. Urne Buriall was Browne’s meditation on mortality, occasioned by a find of funerary urns, while The Garden of Cyrus was his exploration of vitality and patterns in nature. Works published posthumously include Christian Morals (another exploration of faith and a series of encouragements for life), while Museum Clausum (‘Hidden Museum’) postulated a series of thought experiments and counterfactuals, such as how history might have been different had Alexander the Great marched west instead of east. In Sir Thomas Browne: The Opium of Time, Dr Gavin Francis examines Browne’s work through a variety of themes: Ambiguity, Curiosity, Vitality, Piety, Humility, Misogyny, Mobility, and Mortality, and argues that his books have lost little of its power and wisdom, and none of its beauty.