A physician and medical reformer enthused by the scientific and cultural progress of the Enlightenment as it took hold in Britain, Thomas Percival (1740–1804) wrote on many topics, including public health and demography. His influential Medical Ethics (also reissued in this series) is considered the first modern formulation. This one-volume reissue brings together two volumes of his essays on a variety of medical subjects, published in a revised second edition of 1772 and a follow-up collection of 1773. Many of the essays reflect his concern for public health, particularly for the citizens of Manchester. The appendix to the first volume includes two essays that were previously unpublished. Several of the pieces record medical oddities encountered by Percival, and others document his observations on the possible medicinal applications of certain plants, including coffee. His four-volume Works (1807), containing additional essays that appeared after 1773, is also reissued in this series.
