Samuel Foart Simmons , FRS (17 March 1750 – 23 April 1813) was a British physician. He was born in

Sandwich, Kent Sandwich is a town and civil parish in the Dover District of Kent, south-east England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour and has a population of 4,985. Sandwich was one of the Cinque Ports and still has many original medieval build ...

and educated at a seminary in France. He started to study medicine in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, but after three years he moved to Holland, and qualified as a

doctor of medicine A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin language, Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of ph ...

at Leyden in 1776. He then visited Groningen, Aix-la-Chapelle and various universities in Germany. He returned to England and was admitted a Licentiate of the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations ...

in 1778. In 1780 he was appointed physician to the Westminster dispensary and in 1781 physician to

St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics was founded in London in 1751 for the treatment of incurable pauper lunatics by a group of philanthropic apothecaries and others. It was the second public institution in London created to look after mentally ill p ...

, dealing from that time onwards mainly with cases of insanity and acquiring a high reputation. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1779 and delivered their

Croonian Lecture The Croonian Medal and Lecture is a prestigious award, a medal, and lecture given at the invitation of the Royal Society and the Royal College of Physicians. Among the papers of William Croone at his death in 1684, was a plan to endow a singl ...

in 1784 ''on the Irritability of the Muscular Fibres''. He was also made a Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

in 1791. He was elected President of the London Medical Society in 1780. He was for many years the sole editor of the "London Medical Journal" and " Medical Facts and Observations." He was also the compiler of the "

Medical Register The General Medical Council (GMC) is a public body that maintains the official register of medical practitioners within the United Kingdom. Its chief responsibility is to "protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the public" by c ...

", an early Medical Directory. In 1804 he was appointed one of the mentally deranged

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

's physicians extraordinary. He resigned his position at St Luke’s hospital in 1811, but was retained as a consulting physician. He died at his house in Poland Street, London and was buried in the churchyard of St Clement’s, Sandwich. He left one son, Richard Simmons, who was also a physician and Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal Society.

Written works

* ''Elements of Anatomy and the Animal Economy''. Translated from the French of M. Person, with Notes. London, 1775. * ''Observations on the Cure of the Gonorrhoea''. London, 1780. * ''An Account of the Tenia, and the Method of treating it, as practised at Morat, in Switzerland''. London, 1778. * ''Practical Observations on the Treatment of Consumption.'' London, 1780. * ''An Account of the Life and Writings of Dr. William Hunter''. London, 1783.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Simmons, Samuel Foart 1750 births 1813 deaths People from Sandwich, Kent Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 18th-century English medical doctors 19th-century English medical doctors Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London