John Allen (physician)
Encyclopedia
John Allen, or John Alleyn (1660? – 1741), was an English physician and inventor, mainly remembered for writing medical text books.
on 13 September 1692; practised, and apparently died, at Bridgewater, Somersetshire.
Allen published in 1719 Synopsis universæ Medicinæ practicæ; sive doctissimorum Virorum de Morbis eorumque causis ac remediis judicia, a work which became extremely popular, being printed in many editions at home and abroad, both in Latin and translated into modern languages. This work claims to be entirely practical, and not to deal with the new views and hypotheses which abounded in the medicine of the time, but makes no pretensions to originality. It gives, under the head of each disease, the opinions of various authors, ancient and modern, to which the writer added, especially in later editions, certain observations of his own.
Allen published also Specimina Ichnographica; or a brief narrative of several new inventions and experiments. These inventions were three: (1) a new method of saving coal in the engine for raising water by fire (i.e. Savery
and Newcomen's
atmospheric steam-engine
) by enclosing the fire within the boiler; (2) a further proposal to place such an engine, made by this improvement more portable, in a ship, and, by forcing water out of the stern, to make the vessel move, so that it could be navigated in a calm; if ever carried out, this would have been probably the first known model of a steamship; and (3) a new method of drying malt. These inventions were patented in 1729. Allen is also said to have invented a new model of a chariot going on steel springs, probably at that time a novelty.
In 1730 Allen was elected a fellow of the Royal Society
, to which he had in 1716 communicated a paper containing the plan of a ‘Perpetual Log’ for ships. He died 16 September 1741.
Biography
Allen, the date of whose birth is not positively known, was an M.D., but of what university does not appear. He was admitted extra-licentiate of the College of PhysiciansRoyal College of Physicians
The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...
on 13 September 1692; practised, and apparently died, at Bridgewater, Somersetshire.
Allen published in 1719 Synopsis universæ Medicinæ practicæ; sive doctissimorum Virorum de Morbis eorumque causis ac remediis judicia, a work which became extremely popular, being printed in many editions at home and abroad, both in Latin and translated into modern languages. This work claims to be entirely practical, and not to deal with the new views and hypotheses which abounded in the medicine of the time, but makes no pretensions to originality. It gives, under the head of each disease, the opinions of various authors, ancient and modern, to which the writer added, especially in later editions, certain observations of his own.
Allen published also Specimina Ichnographica; or a brief narrative of several new inventions and experiments. These inventions were three: (1) a new method of saving coal in the engine for raising water by fire (i.e. Savery
Thomas Savery
Thomas Savery was an English inventor, born at Shilstone, a manor house near Modbury, Devon, England.-Career:Savery became a military engineer, rising to the rank of Captain by 1702, and spent his free time performing experiments in mechanics...
and Newcomen's
Thomas Newcomen
Thomas Newcomen was an ironmonger by trade and a Baptist lay preacher by calling. He was born in Dartmouth, Devon, England, near a part of the country noted for its tin mines. Flooding was a major problem, limiting the depth at which the mineral could be mined...
atmospheric steam-engine
Newcomen steam engine
The atmospheric engine invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, today referred to as a Newcomen steam engine , was the first practical device to harness the power of steam to produce mechanical work. Newcomen engines were used throughout Britain and Europe, principally to pump water out of mines,...
) by enclosing the fire within the boiler; (2) a further proposal to place such an engine, made by this improvement more portable, in a ship, and, by forcing water out of the stern, to make the vessel move, so that it could be navigated in a calm; if ever carried out, this would have been probably the first known model of a steamship; and (3) a new method of drying malt. These inventions were patented in 1729. Allen is also said to have invented a new model of a chariot going on steel springs, probably at that time a novelty.
In 1730 Allen was elected a fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
, to which he had in 1716 communicated a paper containing the plan of a ‘Perpetual Log’ for ships. He died 16 September 1741.