Richard Boulton (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1697–1724), was a physician and author from England. Boulton was educated at

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The l ...

, and for some time settled at

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

, was the author of a number of works on the medical and kindred sciences, including: :''Reason of Muscular Motion'', 1697. :''Treatise concerning the Heat of the Blood'', 1698. :''An Examination of Mr. John Colbatche's Books'', 1699. For this work on

John Colbatch John Colbatch (1664–11 February 1748), sometimes Colbach, was an English churchman and academic, professor of moral philosophy at Cambridge. Drawn into the long legal struggle between Richard Bentley and the fellowship of Trinity College, Camb ...

, Boulton was helped by Charles Goodall. :''Letter to Dr. Goodal occasioned by his Letter to Dr. Leigh'', 1699. The appendix to the previous work had attacked Charles Leigh of Manchester. :''System of Rational and Practical Chirurgery'', 1699; 2nd edition, 1713. :''The Works of the Hon. Robert Boyle epitomised'', 3 vols. 1699–1700. :''Physico-Chirurgical Treatises of the Gout, the King's Evil, and the Lues Venerea'', 1714. :''Essay on External Remedies'', 1715. :''Essay on the Plague'', 1721. :''Vindication of the Compleat History of Magic'', 1722. This was a defence of an earlier pot-boiler, containing a reply to the sceptical work ''Historical Essay Concerning Witchcraft'' of Francis Hutchinson on

witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...

. :''Thoughts concerning the Unusual Qualities of the Air'', 1724. Boulton fell out with Goodall after the Colbatch pamphlet. Goodall attacked Boulton in a pamphlet, under his footman's name, and asked James Yonge to attack Boulton's ally

William Salmon William Salmon (2 June 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 atte ...

. In a letter to

Sir Hans Sloane Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet, (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector. He had a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British ...

, Boulton states that he undertook to write an abridgment of

Robert Boyle Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, Alchemy, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the foun ...

's works on account of "misfortunes still attending him"; and in another letter he asks Sloane for help. In the preface to the ''Vindication of the History of Magic'' he states that he had been for some time out of England.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Boulton, Richard Year of birth missing Year of death missing 18th-century English people English science writers English medical writers English non-fiction writers 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers 18th-century English non-fiction writers 18th-century English male writers 18th-century English writers 18th-century English medical doctors Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford English male non-fiction writers